“…more than half this battle is taking place in the battlefield of the media.”

Those are the words of Ayman Al-Zawahiri in 2005, he of the internationally renowned public relations and marketing firm of Bin Laden and Zawahiri. Most of us think of these two as enemy combatants, renegade soldiers commanding insurgent troops killing American soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. They are that, of course, but that is not their primary role any more than winning battles in Helmand Province is their primary objective. They are first and foremost master manipulators of public opinion and their target audience is not simply disgruntled, devout Muslims around the world. It is you and me. And when Zawahiri sent the letter quoted above to Abu Zarqawi, who at the time was his principal battlefield commander in Iraq, he was not dreaming up a new public information campaign. He was working from a Muslim Brotherhood strategic plan for the global domination of Islam that had been in place for almost 20 years.

Written some time between 1987 and 1991 by Mohammed Akram, a senior Hamas leader serving on the MB’s board of directors in North America and disseminated widely throughout the network, the plan’s goal was straightforward:

The process of settlement is a “Civilization-Jihadist Process” with all the word means. The Ikhwan (MB) must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and “sabotaging” its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious  over all religions. (Emphasis mine)

Does that sound like peaceful assimilation into American society to you?

Accompanying Akram’s “explanatory memorandum” was a document entitled, “Phases of the World Underground Movement Plan,” which spells out the five phases required to achieve the Civilization-Jihadist Process.

This is the description for Phase Three: “Escalation phase, prior to conflict and confrontation with the rulers, through utilizing mass media“ (me again). Phase Three is currently in progress.

This material was discovered during a 2004 FBI raid in Annandale, Virginia, and subsequently entered into evidence at the 2008 Holy Land Foundation trial, the largest terrorism financing trial in our nation’s history. It was this case that linked the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) to Hamas, and named it along with the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and 27 other organizations as un-indicted co-conspirators.

And there it sits, under-reported by the media and disregarded by the Obama Department of Justice. Indeed, the former president of ISNA is now employed at the White House. All according to plan.

Which brings us to Congressman Peter King and his hearing on the radicalization of the American Muslim community. If you intend to follow these proceedings, it is important to understand what your role should be.

For his efforts to connect the dots between domestic acts of terrorism and radical Islam, King has been branded a racist, an Islamaphobe, and, naturally, a McCarthyite, a particularly radioactive term loved by the American media and feared by the American politician. King has been vilified for wondering whether the motivation driving the murderous actions of Major Nidal Hassan and Abdul Muhammed (the Arkansas recruitment center shooter) might actually be found inside some of the mosques and Islamic centers that proliferate across the country. The Islamic Center of Long Island in King’s congressional district has taken particular umbrage as he pursues this investigation. Yet in Akram’s explanatory memorandum, he refers to Islamic centers as “battalions” to prepare and supply the civilization-jihad process — an odd description for a house of worship.

The ILCC’s founder is Faroque Khan, who is not only a Muslim Brother but a member of the Majlis al Shura for ISNA. These are the legislative councils that traditionally pass judgment over a plan such as the one set forth in the explanatory memorandum.

Do not be surprised if none of this information surfaces during King’s hearings. In fact, his first witness is Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), a practicing Muslim and outspoken critic of King’s efforts. I attended many hearings as a member of Congress myself and have followed several afterwards. Majority parties always control the witness lists for hearings. I cannot recall a majority party ever beginning an inquiry with a hostile witness. Ellison, by the way, has ties to the Muslim American Society, another un-indicted co-conspirator in the HLF trial and whose former national spokesman, Randall “Ismail” Royer, is currently doing 20 years in federal prison for being part of a jihadist network attacking American troops.

King’s principal supportive witness is Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, a devout Muslim who heads up an organization in Phoenix called the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. You may have seen Dr. Jasser already. He frequently turns up on cable news programs debating representatives from CAIR or like-minded organizations over the true goals of Islam in the United States. Dr. Jasser is a brave individual to take on the combined power of all the various Muslim Brotherhood organizations. He is, unfortunately, a coalition of one. As the designated “moderate Muslim” in the media, he is patriotic and articulate but conspicuous by his isolation. His message is often overlooked or drowned out. All according to plan.

So as the King hearings unfold, pay close attention to what you hear. Pay closer attention to what you don’t. If the myriad Muslim Brotherhood organizations wrap themselves in the cloak of political correctness and are not called to accountability, demand to know why, because this is not just Peter King’s investigation.

We probably already believe that Al Qaeda sleeper cells are at work in the United States.

What we may not yet believe is that it is we who have been asleep.

Fred Grandy has been a successful actor on television (The Love Boat), a four-term member of Congress from Iowa, the President of Goodwill Industries, International, and until recently the host of the Grandy Group, a daily news/talk radio program in Washington, D.C. He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in classical acting.