Dear Congressional Leaders,
Reps. John Shadegg (R-AZ), Paul Broun (R-GA), Sue Myrick (R-NC) and Trent Franks (R-AZ) recently requested an investigation into Muslim congressional interns based on ridiculous accusations against the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest civil rights organization for American Muslims. It's despicable to make congressional interns targets of suspicion simply because of their religion or ethnicity. Further, the "evidence" these members cite comes from a book published by World Net Daily, which is perhaps one of the least credible media organizations in the country and routinely caters to the paranoid fantasies of some of America's most fringe elements.
This type of fear-mongering smacks of McCarthyism. I urge you to use your influence as a leader in your chamber and your party to stop any investigation which would further alienate and intimidate interns based on nothing but their religious beliefs or ethnic heritage.
PFAW: Tell congressional leadership to stand up to anti-Muslim fear-mongering
I wrote about this last week. To me, this episode has all the hallmarks of a witch hunt. It's important that Americans explain to their "leaders" that we don't want this kind of thing happening again in our country. If we don't, it probably will. Fear-mongering bigots never seem to tire of whipping up this sort of thing.
So, please, sign the petition.
9 comments:
Long before “Muslim Mafia” was published several members of Congress had warned of CAIR’s disturbing origins. One of the first consistent and fearless critics of CAIR has been Democrat Senator Charles Schumer who said: “We know [CAIR] has ties to terrorism…intimate links with Hamas.” Senator Schumer made these statements during a September 2003 Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security where the evidence against CAIR was laid out in detail. CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad was invited to testify at this gathering, but chose to avoid the meeting and instead submitted a crude and absurd written statement listing CAIR’s “accomplishments” and childishly attacking critics.
Senator Schumer continues to give unapologetic support in efforts to investigate and exclude CAIR from involvement in government programs, including “training” the FBI. In February of 2009, Senator Schumer joined Senators Kyl and Coburn in contacting the FBI to state their support for the FBI severing ties to CAIR saying “We certainly support that action…”
Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer has also called out CAIR. She recalled an award to CAIR’s Basim Elkarra when she researched and learned of his involvement with CAIR and CAIR’s ties to Hamas. In addition to recalling the award, Senator Boxer also told CAIR to remove her statement endorsing CAIR from their web site. CAIR blasted Senator Boxer saying her actions were rooted in “Islamophobia.” Senator Boxer made clear her feelings about CAIR when she said: “To praise [CAIR] because they haven’t been indicted is like somebody saying, ‘I’m not a crook’”
When Representative Sue Myrick was joined by congressional colleagues and members of the Anti-Terrorism Caucus at a news conference to announce their request for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate efforts by the CAIR to lobby congress illegally and place CAIR interns in sensitive agencies, CAIR thought they had an easy mark with eager media assistance to vilify these Republican representatives as “attacking Muslims” and deflect the attention away from the evidence of CAIR’s dubious ties to terrorism. However, Sue Myrick founded the bipartisan Anti-Terrorism Caucus which consists of over 120 congressional members and includes Representatives Bud Cramer (D-AL), Kay Granger (R-TX), and Jane Harman (D-CA) who are the Caucus co-chairs. A Caucus statement demonstrates that CAIR is a serious problem for all Americans, not just an issue for one political party:
“Terrorists don’t target Democrats or Republicans. They target Americans, and this is why
we must face this issue as Americans. Members of Congress and the American public must know the threats we face from radical jihadist terrorists. The Anti-Terrorism Caucus will give Congress the tools and resources it needs to communicate those threats to the public, as well as help them make more informed decisions when it comes to terrorist issues.”
This isn't the only example of Schumer's scaremongering when it comes to Muslims and the Middle East. He was the loudest Democratic voice decrying the Dubai ports deal, which was an ownership arrangement rather typical of modern American companies.
So far, CAIR's "ties to terrorism" are the usual guilt by association that fear-mongering assholes frequently indulge in.
Americans, real Americans who actually deserve to think they come from "the home of the brave", will demand a stronger level of proof than nonsense shouted at them by people who mostly want them to be afraid.
In the future, if you're tempted to pull entire quotes from other websites, don't. Just leave a URL and a summary. Most readers of this blog are smart enough to click on the blue type.
CAIR is not “any” organization. We’re not dealing with PETA. This group was STARTED for Hamas by Hamas members for the support of Hamas.
Founder Omar Ahmad on FBI wiretaps spoke of starting an organization in the US for Hamas. He went on to say: “Registering an organization is easy. I can register 100 organizations in 100 cities in one day…”
He then said: “I mean, we don’t really have available people whom we could dedicate
for the work we want to hide…”
http://www.txnd.uscourts.gov/judges/hlf2/09-29-08/Philly%20Meeting%207E.pdf
What work were these CAIR founders going to try to “hide”? Answer: Work in support of Hamas.
CAIR was built on a foundation of religiously mandated fascism and death. They and anyone associated with CAIR have no business in our government.
Excellent quote mine, there. In the previous paragraph, Omar explained the work he was trying to hide. He was trying to hide the sort of rhetoric he would use to appeal to Muslims, which would probably alienate most Americans. It's quite clear from the transcript that they feared the reaction of the establishment news. I don't know if they were right to, but they're a small minority in this country. It's easy to feel persecuted in such cases.
If this is the best evidence the government is offering, then I hope that this case is thrown out of court.
Actually he was trying to hide the fact that his current organization, the Islamic Association for Palestine was married to Hamas, and they wanted to keep the taint from IAP off of the new org, CAIR.
Good try though, Cujo.
Omar Ahmad (A.K.A. "Omar Yehya") and Shukri Abu Baker discussed with others at the Philadelphia Meeting the need to hide their affiliation with Hamas by using the name "Samah" instead.
Shukri Abu Baker explains:
"Samah ... Samah is classified a terrorist (organization). By constitution, by law, if I wanted to adopt it's work, they kick me out, they kick me out of this country..."
http://www.txnd.uscourts.gov/judges/hlf2/09-29-08/Philly Meeting 5.pdf
Shukri Baker later makes additional comments:
"I cannot say to him that I am Hamas."
"You can go meet a congressman in your name, in Omar Yehya's name of the Association...and tell him, '(Yassir Arafat) doesn't represent us. Mr. Ahmad Yasin represents us'" http://www.txnd.uscourts.gov/judges/hlf2/09-29-08/Philly Meeting 8.pdf
Cujo said: "If this is the best evidence the government is offering, then I hope that this case is thrown out of court"
Wow, you don't even know that the Holy Land Foundation case this evidence was used for was already tried and the defendants were CONVICTED?
So you really don't know a damned thing about CAIR and their ties to Hamas, do you? That the FBI during this trial said CAIR was a front group created for Hamas?
You just know repugs are calling CAIR out and that's all you need to go on the attack?
Bravo.
People who were not even competent to defend themselves have been convicted of terrorism-related charges. Federal courts seem to be happy to exclude evidence relating to how information is obtained, which is, or at least used to be in the good old days of habeas corpus, illegal.
As for the rest, a Hamas operative started an "educational" organization, the IAP. That's enough for people like you to assume that they were one and the same. So there is bound to be a taint there. You're doing exactly the sort of guilt by association they were trying to avoid.
It's still nonsense, and I don't care who's peddling it. Guilt by association is your rhetorical choice, not mine. To me, that you'd even suggest I think this is a witch hunt just because it's Republicans doing it shows more about how you think than about how I do.
"A Hamas operative started an "educational" organization, the IAP. That's enough for people like you to assume that they were one and the same"
Wow. You really are just purposefully and blissfully unaware of CAIR and simply must secure those blinders on tightly, eh?
The IAP was started by Musa Marzook . He founded and funded the Islamic Association of Palestine and it was assisted in operations by CAIR's Nihad Awad and Omar Ahmad who were top officers of IAP. They translated the Hamas Charter into english. (Cujo, you should read that lovely charter)
Marzook was listed as a Specially Designated Terrorist by the U.S. Treasury Department in 1995. He fled the country for Syria to avoid....JAIL.
He set up the Holy Land Foundation to funnel money to Hamas and had several operatives including CAIR's Omar Ahmad and Shukri Baker (Who was just convicted) of secretly running the operation here in the US.
But you live in OZ my friend, where a terrorist is just a freedom fighter...
My goodness, what a brave soul Anonymous is. Spreading around smears, rumors and innuendo without revealing his (or her) name. I'm so very, very impressed.
Word to the unwise: you're not going to win against Cujo. He's a big dog. You're a wretched little cur. No contest. But it's amusing to watch, so do carry on.
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