Continuing in its tradition of opposing almost every counterterrorism action proposed or carried out by the US government, the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) has issued a statement appearing to express its opposition to US drone strikes. According to the MPAC statement:
Today, President Obama announced that the US has inadvertently killed two innocent western hostages, Warren Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto. How many people are we going to senselessly allow to be killed by drone attacks? Innocent Afghans, Pakistanis, Yemenis and others have lost their lives as a result of drone strikes. Are drone strikes worth the loss of so many innocent lives? Are drone strikes actually effective in fighting against Al-Qaeda? Is it a motivating factor for violent extremists, as some claim? These are the pressing questions we must address with our government.
MPAC has published a policy paper that while more nuanced than the above statement, still appears directed at curtailing if not eliminating the US drone program.
The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) was established originally in 1986 as the Political Action Committee of the Islamic Center of Southern California whose leaders had backgrounds suggesting they were associated with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. A 1989 US Muslim Brotherhood document introduced as evidence in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial refers to the last name of one of the MPAC leaders, Mather Hathout, in a list of “Islamic Centers and Groups in the field.” MPAC has since developed into the political lobby arm of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood and has opposed almost every counterterrorism action proposed or carried out by the U.S. government, often suggesting that the efforts were aimed at the U.S. Muslim community. MPAC has also acted to support a variety of Palestinian terrorist organizations as well as facilitating a wider range of terrorism by defending or justifying violence carried out by Islamic groups. Nevertheless, MPAC has developed particularly extensive relationships with agencies of the U.S. government including meetings with the Department of Justice and the FBI.
For more on MPAC, go here.