The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has announced that it is supporting the Obama administration’s recently announced pan to counter “violent extremism.” According to the CAIR press release:
WASHINGTON, Aug. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization today offered its support for the “objective and holistic” approach taken in the Obama administration’s newly-announced national strategy to counter violent extremism. The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) welcomed the fact that the strategy on “Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States” focuses on community-based solutions and addresses all sources of violent extremism. n a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said: “American Muslims support objective and holistic efforts to ensure that all of our nation’s citizens are safe from violent extremists. Programs that build trust between law enforcement authorities and the communities they serve are crucial to this effort. American Muslims are natural enemies of violent extremists and have a vested interest in preventing any attempts by such predatory individuals to recruit members of our community. “Our nation faces a number of threats. Al-Qaeda and its allies, white supremacists, violent anti-Muslim extremists, and violent anti-government activists must all be confronted. A successful counter-extremism strategy will avoid the type of collective guilt and community demonization promoted by House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Peter King (R-NY) and will instead address credible threats based on objective data, not political agendas or personal vendettas.
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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 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 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.”