Hagel funded group pushing talks with al-Qaida

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imagesCAX0I76Dby Aaron Klein

TEL AVIV – Secretary of defense nominee Chuck Hagel sits on the small board  of a peace fund that finances an international “crisis management” group that  long has petitioned the Algerian government to cease “excessive” military  activities against al-Qaida-linked jihadists, WND has learned.

The organization, the International Crisis Group, or ICG, called on Algeria  to grant legitimacy to the very al-Qaida-linked group reportedly behind the  kidnapping of about 40 foreign hostages, including several Americans, at a  natural-gas field in Algeria.

Two Americans escaped today unharmed as Algerian special forces launched a  rescue operation, according to the state news agency. At least six people were  killed, the Associated Press reported. Dozens more remained unaccounted for,  including Britons, French, Norwegians, Romanians, Malaysians, Japanese,  Algerians, at least one American and the captors.

ICG petitioned for the Islamist group to participate in the Algerian  government.

Hagel  serves on the board of The Ploughshares Fund, a George Soros-financed fund  that pushes for a nuclear-free world.

The Ploughshares Fund identifies itself as a “publicly supported foundation  that funds, organizes and innovates projects to realize a world free from the  threat of nuclear weapons.”

The fund calls itself “the largest grant-making foundation in the U.S.  focusing exclusively on peace and security issues.”

Since its founding in 1981 by San Francisco philanthropist and activist Sally  Lilienthal, Ploughshares says it has awarded many hundreds of grants “whose  aggregate value exceeded $60 million.”

The fund is in turn financed by a small number of foundations, including  Soros’ Open Society Institute, the Buffett Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation  of New York, the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the  Rockefeller Foundation.

One of the groups funded by Ploughshares is ICG.

Soros himself funds ICG directly via his Open Society and also sits on ICG’s  executive committee which consists of eight members.

ICG long has petitioned for the reformation of the Algerian government and  for the inclusion of Islamist political parties, including two groups that seek  to turn Algeria into an Islamic state.

In a July 2004 ICG report obtained by WND, ICG calls on the Algerian  government to curb military action against al-Qaida-affiliated organizations,  particularly the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, currently known as  Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb is reportedly behind the hostage crisis  currently under way in Algeria.

The ICG report also called for Algeria to open talks with an armed Islamic  terrorist group known as Houmat Daawa Salafia, or HDS.

ICG names the two Islamic groups in its recommendations to the Algerian  government.

“Give top priority to ending the remaining armed movements, mainly the GSPC  and HDS, through a political, security, legal and diplomatic strategy,” states  the ICG report.

“Avoid excessive reliance on military means and do not allow these movements’ purported links to al-Qaida to rule out a negotiated end to their campaigns,” continued ICG’s recommendation to the Algerian government.

ICG has issued at least six other reports recommending Algeria transition to  a democracy that will allow the participation of the Islamic groups seeking to  create a Muslim caliphate.

After Algeria’s president, Bouteflika, won more than 80 percent of the vote  against Islamic opposition groups in 2004, Robert Malley, an ICG associate,  recommended, “Rather than exclude all his opponents from the policy making  process, he could empower them.”

ICG’s Malley was an adviser to Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign.  He resigned after it was exposed he had communicated with Hamas. WND  reported Malley long had petitioned for dialogue with Hamas.

WND also reported ICG has  petitioned for the Egyptian government to normalize ties with the Muslim  Brotherhood.

Read more at WND

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