Who CAIRs? You Should Care

Americans are starting to fight back against fundamentalist Islam. Oklahoma passed a law preventing its courts from adopting Sharia law in their decisions. Tennessee made it a crime to support those who plan, finance or commit acts of terror. And Rep. Peter King (R-NY) plans hearings on radical Islam. All of this has been done over the fierce opposition of a lobbying group called the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). But who is CAIR really?

CAIR calls itself a “civil rights” group and claims to be working to protect Muslims from discrimination. But their words and deeds tell a different story. For example, here is CAIR co-founder Omar Ahmad explaining that CAIR’s goal is to impose Sharia law in America:

“Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran should be the highest authority in America.”

And here is CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper agreeing: “I wouldn’t want to create the impression that I wouldn’t like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime in the future.”

But these are just words, so lets look at their deeds.

For starters founders Omar Ahmad and Nihad Awad were officers of the Islamic Association of Palestine, a group described by the Treasury Department as “intimately tied to the most senior Hamas leadership.” CAIR has tried to justify this by saying Hamas wasn’t designated a terrorist organization until later. . . when it started suicide bombings. But the FBI has said CAIR “went to great length and spent much effort hiding their association with [Hamas].”

Also, in 2009 (15 years after Hamas started using suicide bombers), CAIR sued the author of a book which portrayed CAIR “as a subversive organization allied with international terrorists” including Hamas. CAIR sued the author, alleging that the author had harmed them by publishing “unlawfully obtained. . . confidential” CAIR documents. BUT, as Politico noted, “despite the book’s harsh claims that CAIR is part of a ‘jihadist network,’ the suit does not allege libel or defamation.” In modern public relations parlance, that’s as good as an admission by CAIR because the only reason not to include such a claim is fear of what might be discovered during the litigation -- truth is a defense, and defendants have the right to investigate all allegations against them.

Further, a number of CAIR’s employees and founders are criminals with terrorist ties:

● Former CAIR Communications Director Randall Ismail Royer was sentenced to 20 years in prison for training to kill US soldiers. He pled guilty to carying explosives during the commission of a felony and of helping four people gain entry to a terrorist training camp in Pakistan.

● Former CAIR Communications Director Bassem Khafagi pled guilty to bank fraud after being charged with funneling money to terrorists.

● Texas CAIR Chapter founder Ghassan Elashi was convicted of shipping high tech goods to Hamas in Syria.

● CAIR fundraiser Rabih Haddad was deported to Lebanon because of terrorist ties.

CAIR also has defended Osama bin Laden and his conspirators:

● In 1998, CAIR objected to a billboard declaring Osama bin Laden “the sworn enemy” and demanded that it be taken down as being “offensive to Muslims.” They also publicly denied Osama bin Laden’s responsibility for the bombing of American embassies in Kenya and Nairobi.

● They called the conviction of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers “a travesty of justice” and called the conviction of mastermind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman (“the blind Sheikh”) “a hate crime.”

● They called the extradition of suspected Hamas terrorist Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook “anti-Islamic.”

● Florida CAIR Communications Director Ahmed Bedier said: "Catholic priests pose more of a terrorism threat by having sex with young altar boys than those who flew planes into the World Trade Center."

They have also praised and defended various convicted Muslim murders including Black Panther “Minister of Justice” H. Rap Brown, who murdered a police officer in March 2000. Indeed, there is a pattern of CAIR and similar groups coming to the defense (financially and rhetorically) of Muslims accused of violent crimes in the US.

In the Tennessee situation, CAIR misled the public about the meaning of the bill. The law mirrors federal law, which makes it a crime to finance or support acts of terror. It would have no application to the peaceful practice of Islam. Yet, CAIR claims the law makes it a crime punishable by 15 years to practice Islam. Indeed, they told the AP, they "fear the measure would outlaw central tenets of Islam, such as praying five times a day toward Mecca, abstaining from alcohol or fasting for Ramadan” and “this is an anti-Muslim bill that makes it illegal to be a Muslim in the state of Tennessee." Bull. Then CAIR began a smear campaign against Tennessee Tea Party officials, who support the law, and tried to get them banned from public appearances.

CAIR has similarly admitted trying to stop Rep. King's hearing, though they claim the effort is "widespread". . . as if that excuses it. And they tried to block Middle East expert Dr. Walid Phares from testifying at Rep. King's hearings on the basis that as a Christian, he cannot be allowed to testify about the radicalization of Islam as he cannot be impartial. They tried smearing him too, as they do with all who oppose them.

The Anti-Defamation League has accused CAIR of having a long record of propagating antiSemitic propaganda and "offering a platform to conspiratorial Israel-bashers." CAIR’s LA office head, for example, refers to Israelis as “zioNazis.” And while CAIR has at times condemned political violence, the ADL notes that their condemnations have been vague and generic. CAIR founders have also said they would never condemn any "freedom fighters" trying to free the Palestinians.

Even other Muslim groups have criticized CAIR for being “overly conservative,” by for example, taking the stance that all Muslim women are require to veil their hair.

Yet, our MSM has cited CAIR more than 11,000 times in the past 5 years!

So the next time you see a CAIR spokesman on television keep in mind who these people are. This is pretty clear evidence connecting CAIR to radical Islam and terrorism. And it’s not just right-wingers who’ve noticed. Sen. Dick Durbin said, CAIR is “unusual in its extreme rhetoric and its associations with groups that are suspect.” Sen. Chuck Schumer said CAIR has “ties to terrorism” and “intimate links to Hamas.” Of course, that was before the Democrats decided it was politically correct to ignore terrorism.