Letters.(Letter to the Editor)

--Byron York's article ("Fight on the Right," April 7) is, as far as it goes, an important contribution to arousing conservatives to the danger posed by the Islamist/Wahhabi agenda in America and the role Grover Norquist is playing in enabling that agenda.

I would like to correct the record on three points: 1) It would be a mistake to construe the Islamist enterprise in this country as limited to political influence operations, in which Mr. Norquist's Islamic Institute has been active. It is only in the context of the larger Wahhabi agenda involving prison recruitment, placement of chaplains in the military, domination of the nation's mosques, cadre-building on U.S. college campuses, penetration of strategic businesses, etc., that Mr. Norquist can be said to be playing "a bit part." 2) Much is made of the fact that I singled out an associate director for cabinet affairs named Ali Tulbah with regard to ill-advised access the Bush administration is giving to Islamist groups. I did so only because the American Muslim Council thanked Tulbah by name for inviting them and the Council on American-Islamic Relations to the White House. 3) I am astounded that NR would allow Mr. Norquist further to circulate personal attacks on me, such as that "[my] whole life screams of bigotry" without noting that such scurrilous charges are as unfounded as they are offensive to honorable conservatives.

Frank J. Gaffney

President & CEO

The Center for Security Policy

Washington, D.C.

--Now let me see if I've got this right: Grover Norquist is president of Americans for Tax Reform and a board member of the NRA, the ACU, and other conservative organizations.