The Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) hosted a forum in D.C. yesterday on the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in the USA. The event corresponded with the Amazon release of IPT’s film, Jihad in America: The Grand Deception.

The film, created by Steven Emerson, the man behind the similarly titled 1994 TV documentary Jihad in America, showcases the ambitions of the Muslim Brotherhood in America: to subvert the traditional rights and liberties of the Union, and replace them with Sharia.

The film documents the covert, bully-boy tactics, and sometimes criminal activity of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States. It also shows how lawmen and citizens have hesistated to challenge their subversive activities for fear of being labeled Islamophobic, a fear that well-funded Muslim Brotherhood affiliaties are quick to exploit.

For an hour and a half, the forum discussed historical and emerging problems with the Muslim Brotherhood in America. Some key points from the panel members:

• Islamism, a theme present in Islam from the beginning, took on a Marxist totalitarian edge in the 1920s.
• Islamists have realized that conquest via the law is more effective than violence.
• The threat to the Constitution can be stopped as long as it is taken seriously.

(Daniel Pipes, President of the Middle East Forum)

• The Muslim Brotherhood is actively taking over the board membership of moderate Muslim mosques. It operates as a mafia.
• The MB has aligned itself with the left for as long as it takes to seize power.
• The MB has Arab supremacist undertones. Black Muslims are seen as worker bees.

(Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, former Muslim militant, now a moderate Muslim blogger)

• A lot of people refused to be interviewed for the film for fear of their family’s safety. MB leaders in the U.S. were also reticent. But MB leaders outside the U.S. were happily vocal about their goals and contempt for human rights.

(Rachel Milton, Producer of “The Grand Deception” Film)

• The MB is a pragmatic group. It is the parent of Al-Qaeda and Islamic Jihad. It doesn’t carry out the violence itself, but sprouts the language that incites others to violence. Its leaders want to take over the country through the legal system.
• Hollywood sends its scripts to MB affiliates to screen for possible Islamophobic material.
• Government agencies now refer to Islamic terrorism as “violent extremism.” When you can’t identify the enemy, how can you win the battle?

(Steven Emerson, Executive Producer of “The Grand Deception” Film)

• The MB and their affiliates in America are breaking immigration laws, FBI laws, IRS laws, but are not prosecuted, because of their religion.

(Robert Stauffer, Former FBI Special Agent)

From the looks of the trailer, the film takes an alarmist tone. They are among you, and in numbers! That, no doubt, is there to sell the movie, but its source is the combative style of Mr. Emerson. With more measured phrasing, Mr. Pipes had the best words to say on the significance of the threat:

“You can’t imagine replacing the Constitution with the Koran. It takes a leap of the imagination to believe this is a threat. I don’t think it will succeed, but it’s only not going to succeed because we take it seriously.”

It’s time to be watchful, but not quite time to dig the catacombs or stash money under the mattress. Our Constitution has endured threats far greater than Islamism: Westward expansion, secession, social Darwinism, financial collapse, Communism, and world war, among others. From none of these has it emerged unscathed, and yet the nation endures.

There’s a silver lining to the decision of the Muslim Brotherhood to use the law, rather than violence, as their weapon. The civil law of the U.S. is weak just now, but it is our own ground, we have tended it for generations, and we know how to fight on it. In the meantime, until the fight is won, we needn’t flip out at the sight of an unattended bag.