The Investigative Project has published the latest in their reporting on the relationship Chicago-area politicians and the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). According to the IP report:
by IPT News • Aug 17, 2012 at 3:48 pm Chicago area politicians again embraced the head of the city’s Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) chapter during a public event, despite his organization’s roots in a terror support network and ongoing hostility toward law enforcement. Ahmed Rehab spoke Wednesday at an Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) DREAM Relief Rally with U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, Illinois Senate President John Cullerton, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and Gov. Pat Quinn. Organized by Gutierrez and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) the DREAM rally was in honor of the Obama administration’s June 15 decision to permit ‘DREAM Act-eligible youth temporary relief through ‘deferred action.” The FBI cut off its outreach to CAIR in 2008, writing that it was not an ‘appropriate liaison partner’ due to evidence showing the organization and its founders were part of a Hamas-support network in the United States. And Rehab has his own history of radical activity, but the Illinois politicians haven’t let that get in their way. When asked during a 2006 BBC interview to condemn Hamas, Rehab evaded the question, like many of his CAIR counterparts. ‘Do I condemn the hospitals run by Hamas or the schools that help children learn, in Hamas? No. I don’t condemn that,’ Rehab said. ‘But I do condemn the blowing up of Tel Aviv pizzerias or cafes.’ Rehab also reflexively opposes law enforcement counterterrorism measures. In the wake of the New York Police Department’s surveillance controversy, Rehab labeled the NYPD’s actions as ‘illegal’ and ‘unconstitutional.’ ‘Anyone aware of such egregious violation of our Constitution and the very spirit upon which it stands ought to report it,’ he said.
Read the rest here.
In July, the Investigative Project published a report titled “Rahm Emmanuel’s Confounding CAIR Appointment” which discussed the appointment by the Chicago mayor and former Obama Chief of Staff of the head of the Chicago office of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) to the mayor’s “‘New Americans Advisory Committee.”
A post from June reported that President Obama’s deputies have held hundreds of closed-door meetings with the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), despite an FBI policy against engaging with the group. Another post from last May reported that new Congressional legislation contained a report recommending that the Attorney General sever its ties with CAIR as the FBI has already done. A post from 2009 reported on the state of relations between the FBI and CAIR, characterizing them as having no formal contact.
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.”