Saturday, July 23, 2005

The selective silence of CAIR

The Council on American Islamic Relations, better known as CAIR, fashions itself as a mainstream, moderate group. Well, read this article by noted scholar Daniel Pipes, and see if you agree with CAIR's claims. An excerpt:

CAIR is particularly worrisome because it claims to be nothing but a mild public affairs organization promoting "interest and understanding among the general public with regards to Islam and Muslims in North America," and is widely seen as such. In fact, it is radical to the core; to quote its chairman, Omar M. Ahmad (as reported by the San Ramon Valley Herald in July 1998), "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 Islam the only accepted religion on earth."

CAIR's record includes the following unpleasantries:

  • Apologizing for killers such as Hamas (a group associated with the murder of 7 Americans) and Usama bin Ladin (charged with the devastation of September 11, 2001).

  • Helping promote terrorism: In the words of Steve Pomerantz, a former Chief of Counterterrorism for the FBI, "CAIR, its leaders, and its activities, effectively give aid to international terrorist groups."

  • Intimidation of patriotic Muslims who disagree with CAIR's militant agenda: In one case (Sheikh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani), the FBI has looked into charges that he received death threats after renouncing the chauvinists. In another (Khalid Dur'¡n), CAIR's attack on a writer led to a death edict against him - which CAIR has never denounced. (For details on this latter case, see http://www.danielpipes.org/article/384.)
  • Associating with terrorism: Siraj Wahaj, a potential unindicted co-conspirator in the World Trade Center bombing of 1993, sits on its advisory board.

  • Bias against women: When a prosecutor in Cleveland argued that two Muslim men had engaged in the "honor killing" of their female cousin, CAIR accused him of "ethnic and religious stereotyping" and demanded he be investigated.

  • Sponsorship of blatant antisemitism: At a May 1998 rally at Brooklyn College co-sponsored by CAIR, one speaker referred to Jews as "descendants of the apes."

In short, CAIR represents not the great civilization of Islam but a radical utopian movement originating in the Middle East that seeks to impose its ways on the United States. Americans should consider themselves warned: a new danger exists in their midst.

CAIR also has a history of vituperation and aggressiveness against anyone who opposes its Islamist vision for the United States. In my case, it has sent out nearly a hundred tirades impugning my reputation since July 1999. These have landed everywhere from the op-ed page of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune to the hands of street picketers in Washington, D.C. and Cornell University.

Washington DC based CAIR has denounced the recent London bombings.

And on it's web site, it has an "Action Alert/Incitement Watch." Some of these articles and statements listed by CAIR are truly repulsive and deserve to be called to task for fostering hatred.

But yesterday, this article appeared in one of CAIR's hometown newspapers, the Washington Post, via Reuters.

Free registration to the Post may be required to access, you can use this Yahoo News link to get to the same story.

Drudge has had the Post version on his site since yesterday afternoon, so I think it's a safe bet that CAIR knows of its existence.

Here's an excerpt from that Reuters article:

Militant Islamists will continue to attack Britain until the government pulls its troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, one of the country's most outspoken Islamic clerics said on Friday.

Speaking 15 days after bombers killed over 50 people in London and a day after a series of failed attacks on the city's transport network, Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed said the British capital should expect more violence.

"What happened yesterday confirmed that as long as the cause and the root problem is still there ... we will see the same effect we saw on July 7," Bakri said.

"If the cause is still there the effect will happen again and again," he said, adding he had no information about future attacks or contacts with people planning to carry out attacks.
Bakri, a Syrian-born cleric who has been vilified in Britain since 2001 when he praised the September 11 hijackers, said he did not believe the bombings and attempted attacks on London were carried out by British Muslims.

He condemned the killing of all innocent civilians but described attacks on British and U.S. troops in Muslim countries as "pro-life" and justified.

In an interview with Reuters, Bakri described Osama bin Laden, leader of the radical Islamist network al Qaeda, as "a sincere man who fights against evil forces."

Bakri said he would like Britain to become an Islamic state but feared he would be deported before his dream was realized.

"I would like to see the Islamic flag fly, not only over number 10 Downing Street, but over the whole world," he said.

Okay, CAIR. Are you going to denounce this article? Looks like "incitement" to me.

Important note: If you'd like to e-mail CAIR expressing displeasure with their hypocrisy, do not , I repeat, DO NOT use your work e-mail address. This comes from nemesisis of CAIR, Anti-CAIR:

WARNING: CAIR Will Contact/Attack Your Employer/Cost You Your Job

ACAIR has warned our readers NOT to communicate with the Council on Islamic Relations (CAIR) using a corporate e-mail account. On many, many occasions, CAIR has contacted corporations to complain about receiving "hate e-mail" from employees using their work e-mail accounts.

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