Michele Bachmann and four other Republican congressional representatives requested  "that no Muslim Brotherhood-associated entity or individual [be] placed into a position of honor or trust within the programs and operations of the Department of State unless he or she has publicly condemned and disclaimed the previously stated goals of the Muslim Brotherhood." At no time did these congressional representatives imply that Huma Abedin, Deputy Chief of Staff for the State Department, was "part of a nefarious conspiracy." 

Monday, Walid Shoebat published this 37-page booklet entitled "Proof: Huma has Ties to Muslim Brotherhood -- Countless Documents Surface" and this was followed up with Tuesday's update that "Huma Abedin Served on Board with Al-Qaeda Godfather".  Shoebat states that the latest discoveries "include but are not limited to "[p]roof that Hillary Clinton's Deputy Chief of Staff, Huma Abedin served on the Board of IMMA from at least 12/02/02 - 9/24/08" and that "Al-Qaeda Godfather Abdullah Omar Naseef served on IMMA's Advisory Board from at least 12/02/02 - 12/03/03."

Is this not sufficient to vindicate Michele Bachmann's very reasonable concerns?

Besides extensively citing all of Huma Abedin's family connections to the Muslim Brotherhood and Muslim Sisterhood, Shoebat maintains that "[n]either Huma Abedin, Hillary's aid [sic] or any major western media even mention what is common knowledge in the Arab circles regarding Hassan Abedin, [and] his connections or activities."  Hassan is Huma's brother.

Why the virtual silence?

Abedin's brother had a strong working relationship with Abdullah Omar Naseef and Yusuf Qaradawi.  Naseef "chaired other entities considered major security concerns for the United States and ran a charity front for terror."  There is no "six degrees of separation" among these men as has been maintained by the mainstream media.  Central to Shoebat's investigation are the overlapping ties of Abdullah Omar Naseef to a number of Muslim Brotherhood offshoots.  One such group WAMY or World Assembly of Muslim Youth maintains that "[t]he Jews are humanity's enemies: they foment immorality in this world."

Saleha Abedin, Huma's mother, through the Sisterhood branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, works to advance the Brotherhood agendas against Western interests and policies.  In his report, Shoebat shows the interlocking tentacles among various Muslim Brotherhood members which leave "no doubt that the Muslim Brotherhood is the author and the one setting policies and standards for the International Islamic Committee for Woman and Child (IICWC), which Saleha Abedin chairs.  IICWC's 'official policies include marital rape, child marriage, female genital circumcision and polygamy.'"

Yet, Senator John McCain "lambastes five members of the House who are actually serious about addressing threats that the Brotherhood poses to American interests" and Rep. Keith Ellison's indignation toward Bachmann is rather hypocritical considering his own ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

In 2010, Huma arranged for Secretary of State Clinton to speak alongside her mother, Saleha at Dar Al-Hikma.  In fact, the "Saudi newspaper Al-Watan mentions that Abedin's relationship with Huma was key to bringing Clinton to Dar Al-Hikma.  Most revealing is that in 2010, and from 2006-2008, evidence shows that the Abedin membership in IMMA was as a family.  According to Arab sources, IMMA or the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs was founded by Abdullah Omar Naseef, and the Abedins were entrusted with leading IMMA.   Saleha, Huma, and Hassan Abedin all appeared as members together.  Although Huma's name seems to have been scrubbed, Shoebat has a screen shot that clearly shows that Huma worked and partnered together with her family at IMMA.

Central to the controversy surrounding Huma Abedin is the notion of muruna which, in the Islamic world, is permitting behavior normally shunned by sharia law just as long as it benefits the long term goal of ensuring a global caliphate. It is a means of mollifying Westerners who think that they are now seeing a more moderate version of Islam but in effect it is a ruse. Thus, even though Huma Abedin is a practicing Muslim married to a Jew, neither her mother nor brother denounced this marriage.

Most Westerners are not familiar with the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood revival of the doctrine of muruna, which literally means "stealth" or "flexibility." It is "far worse than taqiyya, since it sanctions all prohibitions that block Muslim interests, even blasphemous ones. Muruna allows Muslims to sow division and confusion in the Western world" and is a strategy of deception.

After going into great length about the Muslim Brotherhood connections of the Abedin family, Shoebat maintains that "the burden of proof is on McCain to show that Huma was vetted and does not present a threat to National Security."  Shoebat states that he has provided ample proof for Huma's involvement, ties and relationship with members of the Muslim Brotherhood and "that the organization to which her family belong was founded with the help of Al-Qaeda Godfather Abdullah Omar Naseef."  In fact, Shoebat maintains that "Bachmann is correct with respect to screening and vetting government employees." 

In her 16-page letter to Rep. Keith Ellison, Bachmann maintains that the U.S. government considers the foreign influence of immediate family members as "potentially disqualifying conditions for obtaining a security clearance" and "to raise issues about a highly-based U.S. Government official with known immediate family connections to foreign extremist organizations is not a question of singling out Ms. Abedin.  In fact, these questions are raised by the U.S. Government of anyone seeking a security clearance." This is standard fare in government background checks. Thus, "reasonable fear of 'divided loyalties' is more than sufficient for a clearance to be denied."

Was Huma Abedin properly vetted?  If not, how was she able to avoid being disqualified for a security clearance?  If these known and documented family ties to the Muslim Brotherhood would not disqualify someone for a security clearance, what specifically is the standard to be disqualified on foreign influence grounds?

These are legitimate questions and every American has the right to ask and to know the answers.

Shoebat highlights the "lack of screening by our state department" of Muslim Brotherhood sympathizer Ground Zero Mosque Imam Sheikh Feisal Abdul Rauf.  This is the same Rauf that states that "the only law that the Muslim needs exists already in the Koran and the Hadith."

Nidal Malik Hassan and Louay Safi are also offered as examples of jihadist sympathizers who received no vetting and who slipped by. Hassan murdered 13 Americans at Fort Hood and Louay Safi is director of ISNA's Leadership Development Center.  He has spoken out against various law enforcement raids on Islamic centers.

During an ISNA annual convention, pamphlets featuring "numerous attempts to portray U.S. prosecution of terrorists and terror supporters as anti-Muslim bigotry; dramatic revisionist history that denied attacks by Arab nations and Palestinian terrorists against Israel" were featured items. Steve Emerson says of ISNA that "it is a Muslim Brotherhood group" [which] espouses jihad and anti-Semitism[.]"

Shoebat explains that "Americans have difficulty comprehending that Islamist style terrorism gains familial moral support."  Thus, "loyalty comes before justice and lying in unison is a 'modus operandi.'"

Shoebat also highlights Muslim Brotherhood's connections, and the involvement of the Abedin family members with the Nazis.  For example, Hassan Al-Banna, the grandfather of Tariq Ramadan, whose ban from the United States was lifted by Bill Clinton, the husband of Huma's boss, collaborated with [Shoebat's] grandfather's associate Haj Amin Al-Husseini, who was also Hitler's Arab henchman.

Al-Husseini became the Muslim Brotherhood leader after the war and Al-Banna and Al-Husseini took great pride in their collaboration with the Nazis. Abdul Hakim Abedin was born in 1914 in Egypt and was one of the first regular ranks of the Muslim Brotherhood who married Imam Hassan Al-Banna's sister.

Those who castigate Congressional representatives Michele Bachmann, Louie Gohmert, Lynn Westmoreland, Trent Franks, and Thomas Rooney should be ashamed.

All Americans should be applauding the actions of these brave representatives who seek answers because "[e]vidence indicates that the Obama administration continues to bow before groups associated with the goal of 'destroying Western civilization from within.'"  At a "minimum, an independent inspection regarding the role, the roots and the results of such destructive groups" is mandatory in order to protect all Americans.

That the media has "dropped all pretence of fact-finding and all responsibility for reporting" proves yet again that the fourth estate has become the fifth column in this country.  That's why these lone voices are so critical and why Americans must insist upon the proper vetting no matter how high up it has to go.  Jihad has no bounds.

Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com