| Founder(s) | Brigitte Gabriel |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2002 |
| Location | Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States |
| Focus | Threats to the US, Israel, and the West from Islamic fundamentalism. |
| Members | 55,000 (June 2009) |
| Website | americancongressfortruth.com |
American Congress for Truth (ACT) is a non-profit organization based in Virginia Beach[1] that focuses on threats to the US, Israel, and the West from Islamic fundamentalism.[2] Lebanese-American author and human rights activist Brigitte Gabriel founded the ACT in 2002[3] to "give a voice to Americans, Jews and Christians, who have lost their freedom of speech to political correctness."
According to ACT's website, its mission is to:
- • Keep citizens informed through action alerts, issues and legislation
- • Educate millions of citizens about our enemy, and what they can and must do to protect themselves and their country
- • Arm activists with information to get involved and take action
- • Motivate citizens to become active in decisions affecting national security and the American way of life
- • Network organizations with like-minded goals to bring change
- • Empower citizens to have a voice in their government
- • Fearlessly speak out in defense of America, Israel and Western civilization[4]
Gabriel formed ACT when she felt stirred to do something after 9/11 to warn the Western world about the dangers of Islamic fundamentalists.[5][6]
In an interview of Gabriel that was published in The New York Times in August 2008, she was asked: "Are you underwritten by the C.I.A.?" She replied, "No. Are you kidding? In 2000, I voted for Al Gore." The follow-up question was: "But I see that R. James Woolsey, a former director of the C.I.A., serves on the board of American Congress for Truth, your educational foundation." To which she replied, "We also have John Loftus, a staunch Democrat and former Justice Department prosecutor. We are not Red or Blue."[7]
As of June 2009, the ACT organization had 55,000 members and 255 local chapters across the US, and Gabriel was appearing on news and radio shows and the lecture circuit.[8]
Australian Congress for Truth, a branch of American Congress for Truth in Australia, has also been launched.[9]
ACT's Board of Advisors consists of R. James Woolsey, Major General Paul Vallely US Army, (Ret.), Dr. Walid Phares, Dr. Harvey Kushner, Michael Cutler, Kenneth Timmerman, Robert Spencer, John Loftus, Robert Katz, and Rachel Ehrenfeld.
An article in Egypt's Al-Ahram Weekly in 2008 contained the following criticisms of ACT:
"The ... American Congress for Truth (ACT) sites packages its hate and scare tactics much like Ann Coulter and the right-wing anti-Islam Human Events website. According to Campus Watch, Brigitte is modelling her career after Ann Coulter, but she wants to specialise not in simply harassing 'liberals' but to go after 'real terrorists.' Claiming chapters for her ACT advocacy group in all 50 states and Israel, as well as affiliates in many countries, Gabriel is in the process of "going international". As part of her move to Europe, last month she reached out to endorse Susanne Winter, the extreme right-wing Austrian politician with the Freedom Party running for a city council seat in the city of Graz."[10]