The Investigative Project on Terrorism (www.investigativeproject.org) exclusively reveals today that a major international interfaith conference set to start Wednesday in Madrid was organized by an alleged associate of a senior Al Qaeda financier and vocal supporter of Palestinian suicide bombings - Abdullah al-Turki. The conference is sponsored by the Muslim World League (MWL), which al-Turki heads.
In 1999, al-Turki is alleged to have been a partner in a Madrid construction project with a senior Al Qaeda financier. Profits from that deal were routed to Al Qaeda cells, according to allegations in WTC Properties v. Al Baraka et. al. Al-Turki's partner was Muhammed Galeb Kalaje Zouaydi, described in the litigation as "a high level al Qaeda financier" and a brother in law of Osama bin Laden. Spanish authorities arrested Zouaydi in 2002 for financing al Qaeda operations in Europe.
In the week following the 9/11 attacks, al-Turki told a radio interviewer that U.S. policy was responsible for the attacks and called Israel "the mother of terrorism." Later that year, at the National Press Club, al-Turki stated that Palestinian suicide bombers had no alternative to killing civilians.
This week's gathering is expected to attract dozens of American-based Muslims, including Sayyed Syeed and Ingrid Mattson from the Islamic Society of North America, Ibrahim Hooper, Nihad Awad from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, as well as six U.S. rabbis, including Marc Schneier of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and Steven Jacobs of Los Angeles. In addition, John Esposito, director of Georgetown University's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding is among a few American academics invited to attend.
U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC), who founded the bipartisan Congressional Anti-Terrorism Caucus, stated, "...I fail to understand how the goals of this conference can be achieved when the man running this summit is a suspected financier of terrorism...Call me old fashion, but actions always speak louder than words." 
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