Devil May CAIR
Date: 14 Feb 2008
Comment:
CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, was identified as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial held last September. Over a dozen individuals who have been in various leadership capacities with CAIR have been linked to terrorist activities. And now the federal government, in court papers filed in December, has stated that "From its founding by Muslim Brotherhood leaders, CAIR conspired with other affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood to support terrorists."
Yet all along CAIR has indignantly claimed it is a mainstream Islamic organization with no ties to terrorism or radical Islamists. All along CAIR has tried to intimidate and silence those who criticize it, sometimes with lawsuits.
Many of us in the forefront of the battle against radical Islam have been saying that CAIR’s protestations and tactics have been a smokescreen, intended to deceive the American public and American political leaders. We certainly feel vindicated by the government’s new allegations that "the conspirators used deception to conceal from the American public their connections to terrorists."
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Devil May CAIR
Investors Business Daily, February 8, 2008
Homeland Security: In a new court filing, federal prosecutors describe the Council on American-Islamic Relations as a supporter of terrorists. So why are Democrats still supporting the organization?
CAIR's boosters on the Hill, where it's headquartered just three blocks from the Capitol, have known for some time that several people in positions of power within the group have been directly connected to terrorism and have either been prosecuted or thrown out of the country. Yet lawmakers have gone right on singing CAIR's praises and doing its bidding. That agenda includes suing John Doe witnesses, censoring critics of Islamism and denying the FBI antiterror tools.
These cheerleaders, who include a handful of Republicans (see box), also know by now that CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror-fundraising case last year. And that FBI wiretaps revealed that CAIR's founder, Omar Ahmad, and executive director, Nihad Awad, last decade attended a secret meeting in Philadelphia with Hamas leaders and other terrorist sympathizers.
In fact, Ahmad himself was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the terror case, which counts a CAIR founding director among its criminal defendants.
But now, in a separate case involving a senior CAIR official who trained to kill American soldiers in jihad, prosecutors are tying CAIR even closer to terror. In court papers filed in December, federal prosecutors described CAIR as not just an apologist or sympathizer, but a supporter of terrorists.
"From its founding by Muslim Brotherhood leaders," the filing states, "CAIR conspired with other affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood to support terrorists." The government also cited evidence "the conspirators used deception to conceal from the American public their connections to terrorists." [emphasis added].
Perhaps some members of Congress had been fooled by CAIR's deception. But now they have no excuse. Now Sen. Barbara Mikulski, who saluted CAIR's "important work," and Sen. Paul Sarbanes, who applauded "CAIR's mission," know better.
The criminal briefing should also disabuse Rep. John Conyers, who's trumpeted CAIR's "long and distinguished history." Rep. John Dingell, who said "my office door is always open" to CAIR, now has an obligation to slam it shut.
No red-blooded American lawmaker wants to do anything that would facilitate the support of terrorists, not even Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who's gushed "CAIR has much to be proud of."
Continued support of CAIR plays right into its hands. Such endorsements are promptly posted on its Web site in an attempt to legitimize itself in the media. It also uses outreach events with the government as a kind of insurance policy against investigation.
But CAIR's tricks are wearing thin. Now it is resorting to thinly veiled threats, warning presidential candidates to avoid any "anti-Muslim rhetoric" or suffer a backlash at the polls. The group already attacked former GOP hopeful Rudy Giuliani for using the phrase "Islamic terrorism." Democrats, typically, have taken the hint. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama won't even describe the enemy as terrorists, let alone Islamic.
To continue to embrace CAIR and cater to its demands is the equivalent of legitimizing the Muslim Brotherhood, a group which gave birth to Hamas and al-Qaida.
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American Congress for Truth
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