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Are Radical Islamist Choosing Chaplains for Israel's Military Prisons

(Wall Street Journal) Brendan Miniter - The military relies on outside organizations to approve the religious credentials of its chaplains, and it uses only two groups for Muslim accreditation, the Graduate School for Islamic Social Sciences and a subgroup of the American Muslim Foundation, the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Council. The co-founder of the latter group is under arrest for allegedly taking thousands of dollars in illegal payments from Libya. This outside accreditation process is the weakest security link. A third group, the Islamic Society of North America, accredits Muslim chaplains for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. All three groups receive money from Saudi Arabia. Islamic Society board member Siraj Wahhaj is an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Sen. Schumer has been pushing for a thorough review of how the federal government selects chaplains. He wants to know if moderate Muslim accrediting groups are barred from the process and whether the Muslim clerics who are now in the military and federal prisons are a security risk.
2003-10-13 00:00:00
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