Fox News has reported further information on efforts by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to raise money from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. According to the report:
A letter from the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, and president of an offshoot group, Muslim Peace Foundation to Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi has added fuel to criticisms of the controversial group and what its critics say are some dubious fundraising tactics. In the letter, obtained by Fox News and dated Sept. 23, 2009, CAIR executive director Nihad Awad asks Qaddafi for funding for his new project called the Muslim Peace Foundation. Qaddafi was in New York attending the United Nations General Assembly. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., cited the letter Wednesday at a House Appropriations sub-committee hearing, during which Wolf asked FBI Director Robert Mueller about the FBI’s relationship with CAIR. Mueller replied there ‘is no formal relationship with CAIR.’ A translation of the letter, written originally in Arabic, says in part, ‘I am pleased to send to Your Excellency in my name most solemn assurances of thanks and appreciation for the efforts you exert in the service of Islam, Muslims and all mankind through your initiative to teach Islam, spread the culture of Islam, and solve disputes, for which you are known internationally.’ This was long before the uprising in Libya this year, with international calls for Qaddafi to step down after a brutal crackdown on dissent that has escalated into a civil war with rebel forces. But Wolf said the CAIR director’s 2009 letter still was written with the full knowledge of the regime’s brutal treatment of its opponents and its deplorable human rights record, as well as its long history of acts of international terrorism.
Read the rest here.
An earlier post discussed the Investigative Project translation of a Libyan media article from September 2009 which detailed how CAIR attempted to raise money from Gaddafi during a September 2009 audience with the Libyan dictator. As noted in that post, the IP report does not mention that the Libyan media report also identifies other US Muslim Brotherhood leaders present at the meeting with Gaddafi including Mahdi Bray from the Muslim American Society (MAS) and Johari Abdul Malik, spokesperson for the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque in Washington, DC.
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 US. Brotherhood. A recentpost 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 CAIR and its leaders have a long history of defending almost all individuals accused of terrorism by the US. government, frequently calling such prosecutions a “war on Islam.”
In 2009, a US federal judge ruled “The Government has produced ample evidence to establish the associations of CAIR, ISNA and NAIT with HLF, the Islamic Association for Palestine (“IAP”), and with Hamas.”” The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) along with CAIR are part of the US Muslim Brotherhood.