A presentation on Islamic terrorism that’s been promoted by the Pottawattamie County Republican Party chairman is drawing criticism, including from the Iowa chapter of an Islamic civil rights organization.
The event, titled “Understanding the Threat — the Muslim Brotherhood’s Secret Strategies for the USA,” will feature a presentation by former FBI agent and current law enforcement trainer John Guandalo and Chris Gaubatz, author of “The Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That’s Conspiring to Islamize America.”
The event — which is scheduled to run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the Oakland Community Center, 614 Dr. Van Zee Road in Oakland — is being hosted by the Omaha-based Global Faith Institute and 88 Tactical Elite Training Organization. The partners are also hosting an event with the speakers in Omaha tonight.
The Iowa chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations has issued a statement calling Guandalo an “anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist.” The organization aims to be “a leading advocate for justice and mutual understanding,” according to its website.
Additionally, the Southern Poverty Law Center has issued a statement saying Guandalo has a history of making anti-Muslim statements. The nonprofit center “is dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry,” according to its website.
Jeff Jorgensen, chairman of the Pottawattamie County Republican Party, isn’t convinced.
“There are a lot of allegations about this guy. The question is, ‘Are these allegations fact?’ There’s always two sides to a story,” he said. “We want to hear his side of the story and make up our own mind. We need to become better informed; we’re promoting people attend.”
In past interviews on “The Jim Bakker Show” and “The Alex Nitzberg Show” about his area of expertise, Guandalo has said that the majority of roughly 3,000 Islamic centers in the U.S. are controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood.
Guandalo said that the Islamic terrorist movement in the U.S. works directly with Black Lives Matter and other groups. He also mentioned the amount of Muslims that work in convenience stores, hotels and as taxi drivers as a sign of the Muslim Brotherhood’s infiltration in the U.S.
“The way you know an Islamic leader is lying is when he’s talking to you, when his mouth is moving,” he told Nitzberg in a podcast episode.
Guandalo has also alleged that CAIR is connected to terrorist organization Hamas. CAIR has also been a lightning rod for Republican lawmakers in years past.
Jorgensen said the Pottawattamie County GOP is not a sponsor of the event. He said the event will discuss attempts by the Muslim Brotherhood and other outside actors to influence American politics.
“We want to know more,” Jorgensen said. “We’ve been hearing, whether it’s rumor or not, there are Muslim international front businesses.”
He said that the American Muslim Alliance is moving from Washington, D.C., to Des Moines.
“Why would the AMA move to Des Moines?” he said, adding that he wants to know if internationally-backed organizations are trying to influence the Iowa caucuses.
“I think this is a legitimate concern we have. What is going on with these outside, international organizations that are looking to influence Iowa elections?” he said.
KCCI in Des Moines reported in June that the American Muslim Alliance is now headed by Iowa State Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad of Des Moines, who’s moved its offices to his hometown.
Asked for evidence or where he had heard about international Muslim organizations working to influence Iowa politics, Jorgensen said: “I’m not at liberty to say.”
Jorgensen questioned CAIR’s backlash to the Oakland event.
“Why would there be so much interest in a little event in Oakland, Iowa? This is beyond the pale, in my opinion,” he said.
Miriam Amer, executive director of CAIR’s Iowa chapter, said the organization is speaking out because “every hate crime starts with a drop. A single seed.”
“We’re really upset that this is happening. These people are being pushed as experts on Islam and neither of them are. These guys are liars,” Amer said. “I’m all for freedom of speech. But there are consequences when that speech is lies. This isn’t something these men should be getting paid for. They’re getting rich doing it. They’re getting rich out of fear. Unfortunately, Islamophobia is lucrative for many people.”
Islamophobia is the irrational fear of or discrimination against Islam and its practitioners.
“If you want to know about Islam, talk to a Muslim,” Amer said. “Mosques are open. We are not hiding anything.”
She said she is working to prevent hate crimes against Muslims in the state.
“People that have been beat up, treated terribly. Why? Because people like these two guys are spreading lies,” Amer said. “That’s my job — to make sure their work does not influence anyone.”
Jorgensen, Naomi Leinen and Jan Tatum, all members of the Pottawattamie County GOP Executive Committee, confirmed to The Nonpareil that both the five-member executive committee and 70-member Central Committee had voted against having the party host, sponsor and pay for an event with Guandalo and Gaubatz. Jorgensen was the lone vote on the Executive Committee in favor of the party hosting the event.
“The County Central Committee and Executive Committee voted this down when Jeff brought it up,” Leinen said. “Our mission statement is to get Republicans elected and support the Republican party platform for Iowa. We thought the event wasn’t doing anything to get Republicans elected.”
Leinen and Tatum said that Jorgensen does not speak on behalf of the party in his promotion of the event. The party also issued a statement on the matter, which is posted to its social media accounts: “The Pottawattamie County GOP is not sponsoring, hosting, or otherwise participating in the event in Oakland on September 14.”
Amer commended the GOP for not supporting the event.
At least two protests are planned on Thursday night at the Oakland Community Center.
Indivisible Iowa will host a “Hate Has No Home Here” event, with the Facebook page noting, “Our intention is not to disrupt, but to remind people who we are as Iowans.” At a national level, Indivisible states that local groups are organized “to resist the Trump agenda.”
Glenn Hurst, who’s declared he’ll run in the 2018 Pottawattamie County Supervisors race, has organized a “Religious Tolerance Gathering and Sit-in” at the event.
“They are playing on the fears of good Iowans as we face real problems, like an impending farm crisis and economic uncertainty,” Hurst said in a press release.
Jorgensen said Indivisible Iowa is upset with the election of President Donald Trump.
“They are opposing everything Trump. They’re just an opposition,” Jorgensen said, stating that the groups are trying to stifle free speech and that liberal opposition is too often referring to Republicans “as racist Islamophobes.”
“I went to college with Muslim students,” he said. “I had Muslim professors. I don’t have a problem with Muslims. What I do have a problem with is Muslim organizations that want to influence the election.”
On Wednesday, Hurst said “we’ll be in the event, but we will not be participating.”
“We’ll occupy seats (at the community center) and we’ll hold up our newspapers and read our papers for two hours and demonstrate this person’s speech is not being heard,” he said.
On the allegation of suppressing free speech, Hurst said: “This isn’t protected speech; this isn’t free speech. We’re not free to yell ‘fire’ in a theater. We don’t stand around and debate what we think of the fire.”
He continued: “This event is hate speech. It incites violence. It is not protected.”
In general, however, hate speech in the United States is still protected by the First Amendment in most cases. Yelling “fire” falls under an exception for speech that could cause “imminent danger,” according to the 1969 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brandenburg v. Ohio.
The Supreme Court recently reaffirmed the hate speech protection in June in the case of Matal v. Tam.
“A law that can be directed against speech found offensive to some portion of the public can be turned against minority and dissenting views to the detriment of all,” Justice Anthony Kennedy in the decision. “The First Amendment does not entrust that power to the government’s benevolence. Instead, our reliance must be on the substantial safeguards of free and open discussion in a democratic society.”