Three Great Faiths

Although not yet seen in mainstream press in the United States or Canada, an accusation by a former FBI agent has been going the rounds on the Internet and on various alternate news sites that claim that President Barack Obama's selection for CIA chief, John Brennan, is a man compromised beyond redemption, and cannot logically and legitimately as a result present as a candidate for that office. 

Since the world and the United States in particular is facing and will continue to face for some time to come, violent challenges to Western values, to democratic liberal governments all over the world, by fundamentalist jihadist groups who devote themselves to meting out bloody violence in their battle to conquer all that they survey to acquire a geography that will eventually result in a global Caliphate with Islam ascendant, it appears rather adverse to select as CIA director a convert to Islam.

If the charges by John Guandolo, a former FBI agent are true, and that is yet to be proven, John Brennan has acted in a manner that would clearly disqualify him for the position in question. Not necessarily by becoming a Muslim, but the manner in which that occurred and the type of Islam he has embraced, along with the fact that in so doing, his professional capacity was corrupted.

The charge is that as CIA chief of the American mission in Saudi Arabia, John Brennen was convinced, perhaps by Islamic recruiters from among the diplomats with whom he would have been familiar, to convert from Christianity to Islam. In this matter, it is well to remember that Saudi Arabia practices a very strict form of Islam, Wahhabism. When the opposite occurs, a Muslim converts to Christianity, under Sharia law, it is considered a capital-punishment offence.

With its vast oil wealth Saudi Arabia paid for the construction of countless madrasses devoted to teaching Wahhabist Islam throughout the Arab and Muslim world and in the West as well, from Australia to Canada and all points in between, including Europe and Asia. Saudi Arabia was the crucible from which al-Qaeda was born, even while that jihadist group is an enemy of the House of Saud. Many wealthy Saudis have funded al-Qaeda and its operations.

The fundamentalist Islam seen throughout Pakistan and Afghanistan, and now Africa as well, has been spread from the same source that al-Qaeda emanated from, and most of the violent jihadist groups seeking to swallow secular or moderate Islamic governments are affiliated with al-Qaeda. So having a CIA director steeped in the belief of such a fanatic sect of the religion does not bode particularly well for the United States and by extension, the international community.

Lest any doubt that John Brennan did indeed convert to Islam, it should be recalled that John Brennan himself described with great admiration the Hajj, the yearly trek of pious Muslims that all practising Muslims are to embark upon at least once during their lives to Mecca as practising faithful. Mecca and Medina, ancient and revered monuments to Islam, are for Muslims only. Non-Muslims are restricted from entry. Yet here is a statement from John Brennan:

“For more than three decades, I have also had the tremendous fortune to travel the world, and as part of that experience, to learn about the goodness and beauty of Islam,” Brennan says. “In Saudi Arabia, I saw how our Saudi partners fulfilled their duties as custodians of the two holy Mosques of Mecca and Medina. I marveled at the majesty of the Hajj, and the devotion of those who fulfill their duty as Muslims by making that pilgrimage. And in all my travels, the city I have come to love most is Al Quds — Jerusalem — where three great faiths come together.”

Finally, as American station chief for the CIA in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Mr. Brennan's trusted position was to represent the interests of his government and his country. How that could be accomplished in a country like Saudi Arabia with its strict Sharia law and its Wahhabist practise of Islam, when the very intelligence agent tasked with protecting the security of his country and gather intelligence on the host country, is puzzling indeed.