The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) has issued a statement expressing concern over a North Central Texas Fusion System bulletin that identified CAIR as a supporter of Middle Eastern terror groups. According to the statement:
CAIR is deeply troubled that the North Central Texas Fusion System bulletin labels monitoring the legal activities of American Muslims exercising their constitutional privileges as ‘imperative.’ In light of similar monitoring of peace and anti-death penalty activists in Maryland, CAIR believes it is time for Congress to conduct a deeper evaluation of our nation’s new domestic surveillance infrastructure. “The author’s unprofessional presentation of known anti-Muslim sources as outlets of credible information also calls the integrity of the entire fusion system into doubt. This second point is an overt manifestation of the ‘Inaccurate or Incomplete Information’ identified in a December, 2008 Department of Homeland Security report on a number of risks to privacy presented by the fusion center program. “Based on this and other recent incidents and initiatives targeting the Muslim community nationwide, we are concerned that the rights of American Muslims to participate fully in our country’s political process and practice their faith free of government intrusion is under assault.”
CAIR is likely reacting to the following part of the bulletin in question:
Middle Eastern Terrorist groups and their supporting organizations have been successful in gaining support for Islamic goals in the United States and providing an environment for terrorist organizations to flourish. A number of organizations in the U.S. have been lobbying Islamic-based issues for many years. These lobbying efforts have turned public and political support towards radical goals such as Shariah law and support of terrorist military action against Western nations. Add to this the Hezbollah training of Mexican Drug Cartel members on bomb making techniques; the threats to Texas are significant. We give some examples of these lobbying activities. The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) presents itself as a Muslim Civil liberties group yet it was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Justice Department’s case in Dallas against the Holy Land Foundation, a Hamas-linked Islamic charity. CAIR’s agenda was best illustrated by founder Omar Ahmad who told the San Ramon Valley Herald, “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.”
The memo went on to recommend:
Given the stated objectives of these lobbying groups and the secretive activities of radical Islamic organizations, it is imperative for law enforcement officers to report these types of activities to identify potential underlying trends emerging in the North Central Texas region.
Given the list of sources used by the memo, the known “anti-Muslim sources” referred to in the CAIR statement are probably Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy and Robert Spencer, director of the Jihad Watch website. Both men have been heavily criticized in the past by CAIR and labeled as anti-Muslim.
Documents released in the Holy Land Trial have revealed that the founders and current leaders of CAIR were part of the Palestine Committee of the Muslim Brotherhood as well as identifying the organization itself as being part of the U.S. Brotherhood. A recent post discussed an interview with the Deputy leader of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in which he confirms a relationship between his organization and CAIR. Investigative research posted on GMBDW had determined that CAIR had it origins in the U.S. Hamas infrastructure and is an integral part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood with a long history of support for fundamentalism, anti-Semitism, and terrorism. The FBI has recently decided to sever its relationship with CAIR as discussed in an earlier post.
Another previous post discussed a statement by the American Muslim Taskforce (AMT), a coalition of U.S. Muslim Brotherhood organizations, that threatened to suspend outreach efforts with the FBI and claiming that “FBI abuses” are damaging U.S. interests internationally. The AMT has announced a news briefing to be held on Monday to discuss President Obama’s upcoming visit to Turkey as well as a number of issues including both the FBI and Fusion centers. It should be noted that according to its website, the AMT is made up of all the major U.S. Muslim Brotherhood organizations including CAIR. It appears that CAIR is using a organization of which it is a predominant member in order to defend itself against the increasing pressure on the organization.