In June 2001, Khan personally accepted an award from the convicted Al-Qaeda financier Abdurahman Alamoudi, then head of the American Muslim Council (AMC). Khan thanked his patron, saying “Abdurahman Alamoudi has been very supportive of me. . . . I hope, inshallah, we can keep working together.”
In recently exposed video Adbulrahman Alamoudi can be seen giving a glowing endorsement of Suhail Khan as he prepares to honor him with a plaque from the American Muslim Council (AMC):
When Suhail Khan started not too many people were aware that we had to do something. I am really proud to be with Suhail Khan. Some of you saw in today the White House but inshallah soon you see him in better places in the White House. Inshallah. Maybe sometimes as vice-president soon, inshallah. [APPLAUSE] Allah akbar.
By 2001 there was substantial documentation of Alamoudi’s radicalism and militancy in the public domain:
- In 1998 the New York Post reported that Alamoudi had stated “If we are outside this country, we can say, ‘Oh, Allah, destroy America'” at a pro-Hamas convention in Chicago.
- At an anti-Israel event outside the White House in 2000, Alamoudi openly voiced support for terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah, saying, “Anybody a supporter of Hamas here? Hear that Bill Clinton! We are all supporters of Hamas! Allahu Akbar!”
In 2004 Alamoudi was sentenced to 23 years in federal prison for his role in an al-Qaeda and Libyan plot to assassinate the Saudi royal family.
Evasions:
In a January 2011 letter to the ACU board, Suhail Khan defended his appearance with Alamoudi with the following statement:
In the New York Post Paul Spery [sic] attacks me for speaking to the American Muslim Council (AMC) and to being the recipient of their award: I was sent by the White House and was speaking there on behalf of the President. The person who introduced me (Mr. Alamoudi) was years later convicted of carrying money overseas on behalf of opponents of the Saudi monarchy. I had no choice in who introduced me.
Bottom Line:
Suhail Khan’s excuse is at best an evasion of responsibility. Every individual has the prerogative to say “no,” even employees of the U.S. president, when their duties conflict with their values. It is perhaps understandable, though still incompetent, that a Republican administration in the pre-9/11 era was fooled by a clever Alamoudi that the American Muslim Council was a moderate group. It is inexcusable for a Muslim-American political activist such as Suhail Khan – a professed expert on the subject of Islam in America – to be unaware of Abdulrahman Alamoudi’s ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.
In this situation Suhail Khan, as a member of the Muslim community, should not only have refused to accept the award and speak at the event, but should have warned the Bush administration about the true nature of Alamoudi and the AMC in his duty as a high-placed federal official and a loyal American citizen.
Notice also that Khan describes Alamoudi’s crime as “carrying money overseas on behalf of opponents of the Saudi monarchy,” as if Alamoudi was a liberal trying to free Saudis from a tyrannical regime. The reality is that Alamoudi opposed the Saudi regime because they were not Shariah-compliant enough.