Midamar Corporation

The Midamar Corporation says it is a “leading USA based Halal Food Brand and Global Supply Chain Management Company serving the Middle East, South East Asia and the Far East.”[1]

The business was established by Bill Aossey, a prominent member of the Islamic Center of Cedar Rapids. He served on the board of the American Muslim Council, which was led by Abdurrahman Alamoudi, [2]  who was convicted on terrorism-related charges in 2004 and has admitted to being a secret Muslim Brotherhood operative. He wrote from his prison cell, “I am, I hope, still a member of the Muslim Brotherhood organization in the USA.”[3]

Midamar regularly sponsors events held by U.S. Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups like Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Islamic Society of North America, Islamic Circle of North America and Muslim American Society.[4]

In 2002, Aossey spoke a Muslim Students Association event in Iowa, as did radical Imam Siraj Wahhaj of Masjid At-Taqwa. Aossey’s speech was titled, “Martyrdom in Islam.”[5] The following year, he spoke at the same Muslim Students Association event as Nihad Awad, executive-director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Aossey’s topic was “Islam and the Changing World Order,” while Awad spoke on “Politics, Media and Islam.”[6]

In 2010, the Department of Agriculture suspended inspections of Midamar after it learned about incidents where its food product was mislabeled as halal. The inspections resumed in July 2011 after Midamar submitted a corrections plan.

On October 17, 2012, the Internal Revenue Service and Department of Agriculture raided Midamar’s office and seized books and computer files and $454,000 from its bank account, though the search warrant authorized the freezing of $1.7 million. Court documents show that the investigation was triggered by evidence of ongoing mislabeling.[7]

Aossey responded to a December 2011 article about him and the Islamic Center of Cedar Rapids by Clarion Project National Security Analyst Ryan Mauro. He called Mauro a “hatemonger” with a “lack of self esteem” and a “psychological inferiority complex.” Aossey mocked him for his online education at American Military University, which serves national security professionals and U.S. soldiers.

Mauro challenged Aossey via email to “unequivocally repudiate Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and all attempts to establish an ‘Islamic world order’ as the Islamic Center of Cedar Rapids’ website states.”

On January 31, 2012, Aossey responded evasively:

“Just as neither you nor I have any official recognition or support to either of these two groups, there is no reason for either one of us to repudiate or give NON-recognition.  It is irrelevant of what we do or think about these groups, as neither of us have absolutely any bearing on their policies or practices.  I am sure you have heard of the old adage, ‘when are you going to stop beating your wife?’  How do you answer this when you never beat your wife?  So since neither of us have any affiliation to Hamas or Muslim Brotherhood, non-recognition or repudiation is irrelevant.”

He denied that there is a movement to establish an “Islamic world order.” He referred to his time in the Peace Corps in the Middle East, Africa and Asia and said, “Please do not fear an Islamic world order for this diversified region and a non-existent threat to the Western world.”[8]