Don’t soft pedal group’s ties to radical Islam

To the editor:

Mainstream media whitewashes of radical Islam are hardly a new occurrence. Neither, for that matter, are government partnerships with radical Islamic groups. On Nov. 4, however, reporter Lynnette Curtis of the Review-Journal gave readers a glimpse into both phenomena.

In an article headlined, "Answering questions: Council puts friendly face on Islam," Ms. Curtis attempts to detail the opening of a new chapter office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and what it means for the local community.

Not once in the article does the word "Hamas" appear. Yet CAIR’s founders came directly from top positions within the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), a Hamas front group tasked with distributing propaganda in the United States for the terrorist group, including publishing Hamas communiqués after terrorist attacks.

IAP was found liable for $156 million in damages in a civil lawsuit brought against Hamas front groups by the parents of an American teenager slain by Hamas terrorists.

Ms. Curtis does mention that CAIR has been implicated in the nation’s largest terrorism financing case against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.

Despite this, Ms. Curtis reports that the FBI is thrilled with CAIR’s newly minted presence in the desert, writing:

"Local FBI spokesman David Staretz said his office welcomes CAIR to the community.

‘We understand that they have an important mission in increasing the awareness of the Islamic culture," he said. "We look forward to building a relationship with them.’ "

The FBI looks forward to building a relationship with an organization labeled by federal prosecutors in Texas as an unindicted co-conspirator of a Hamas fundraising group? Once again, Mr. Staretz demonstrates that one hand of the Department of Justice has no idea what the other is doing.

CAIR’s ties to terrorism are well-known and well-documented. What is less well-known, but should give the FBI pause in "building a relationship" with CAIR, is the amount of time, energy and effort that CAIR spends demonizing the FBI and the government.

As recently as last month, in a fundraising letter addressed "Dear CAIR Supporter," DePaul University law professor M. Cherif Bassiouni penned a lengthy diatribe against the Department of Justice, accusing the government of engaging in a campaign of "intimidation and harassment" of the Muslim community.

He accused the government of fomenting a climate of "Islamophobia" and described terrorism prosecutions, including the trial which resulted in the guilty plea of Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative Sami Al-Arian, as nothing more than a "guise" for the government’s true agenda of discriminating against the constitutional freedoms of Muslims.

Not to be outdone, CAIR’s new Nevada Executive Director, Yasser Moten, at his branch’s inaugural fundraiser, engaged in typical CAIR-style fear-mongering and conspiracy theorizing, complaining of the government’s campaign of "Islamophobia, culminating with the statement:

"So almost six years have passed since 9/11, and Americans are now getting wise to what this Bush administration is doing to Muslims. They are blaming everything on Islamic terrorism.

"And they are getting wise to the one-sided political media domination by pro-Israeli groups, and they’re demanding a better foreign policy from our administration."

The local FBI office in Las Vegas "welcomes" the opportunity to "build a relationship" with Mr. Moten and CAIR in the future. One would think that CAIR’s demonstrable lies, let alone its ties to radical Islam and terrorism, would be more than enough for the FBI to remove it from the list of organizations deserving of government partnership.

As the soft pedaling of CAIR continues in the media, and certain elements in the government refuse to acknowledge reality, it is increasingly incumbent upon those who understand CAIR’s origins and agenda to stand strong in the face of false charges of racism by Islamist radicals, and deny an organization with documented, extensive links to Hamas an exalted position as the chief spokesman and representative for the American Muslim community.

Steve Emerson

WASHINGTON, D.C.

THE WRITER IS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE INVESTIGATIVE PROJECT ON TERRORISM, A NONPROFIT GROUP THAT INVESTIGATES RADICAL ISLAM IN THE UNITED STATES.