Strickland connects with “radical front group for Hamas”
Gov. Ted Strickland met up with the terror-connected Council on American Islamic Relations on Sunday. From the CAIR website:
(COLUMBUS, OH, 6/18/2007) Ohio Governor Ted Strickland spoke last night at the tenth annual banquet of the Council on American-Islamic Relations chapter in that state (CAIR-OH).
Governor Strickland addressed the crowd of 350 people, saying: “On behalf of all Ohioans, [my wife and I] appreciate your vision to promote justice and mutual understanding. We gather under CAIR-Ohio’s theme this year, ‘American Muslims: Connecting and Sharing,’ to do just that, to connect and share and get to know each other better.â€
Here’s some background on CAIR. From the Cleveland Jewish News:
CAIR has been presented as a civil rights group advocating acceptance of and equality for American Muslims. But there is another side to CAIR. Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) describes it as an organization “which we know has ties to terrorism.†And (anti-terrorist expert) Steve Emerson calls it “a radical front group for Hamas.â€
CAIR officials have been indicted for various charges ranging from fundraising for terrorist organizations to aiding and abetting jihadists. An ADL report observed that CAIR was founded by leaders of the Islamic Association for Palestine, a Hamas-affiliated, anti-Semitic propaganda organization and that CAIR also endorsed and participated in several anti-Israel rallies supporting Hezbollah last August.
And you may remember that Democratic California Senator Barbara Boxer withdrew an award she had issued to a CAIR member. From MSNBC:
Dec. 29, 2006 - In a highly unusual move, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California has rescinded an award to an Islamic activist in her home state because of the man’s connections to a major American Muslim organization that recently has been courted by leading political figures and even the FBI.
Boxer’s office confirmed to NEWSWEEK that she has withdrawn a “certificate of accomplishment†to Sacramento activist Basim Elkarra after learning that he serves as an official with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). After directing her staff to look into CAIR, Boxer “expressed concern†about some past statements and actions by the group, as well as assertions by some law enforcement officials that it “gives aid to international terrorist groups,†according to Natalie Ravitz, the senator’s press spokeswoman.
You have to wonder why Strickland thought the visit was politically necessary, considering the recent news of CAIR’s precipitous decline in membership since September 11, 2001. The Washington Times:
Membership in the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has declined more than 90 percent since the 2001 terrorist attacks, Audrey Hudson will report in Tuesday’s editions of The Washington Times.
According to tax documents obtained by The Times, the number of reported members spiraled down from more than 29,000 in 2000 to less than 1,700 in 2006, a loss of membership that caused the Muslim rights group’s annual income from dues to drop from $732,765 in 2000, when yearly dues cost $25, to $58,750 last year, when the group charged $35.
Obsequious blatherings to CAIR are not restricted to Democrats though, unfortunately. President Bush is among the worst. From National Review Online:
On a weekend when the Bush administration achieved a new CAIR-friendly low, a prominent Democrat, following the lead of other prominent Democrats, distanced herself very publicly from the unsavory Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The Transportation Security Administration is the executive agency created after 9/11 to protect American travelers. Yet, Americans viewing its website this weekend could not have felt very protected. Aghast, instead, would have been the proper response to this posting. As if snuggling up to CAIR, coercing our law-enforcement and intelligence professionals to endure CAIR’s Islamic “sensitivity training,†and inviting CAIR to weigh in on our nation’s foreign policy were not enough, we now have a Bush-administration agency publishing an unedited CAIR press release on publicly subsidized, official government Internet space.
In this instance, right under TSA’s emblem and a memorial banner depicting the late President Gerald R. Ford, Americans were treated to a news announcement beneath the big blue headline, “CAIR Welcomes TSA Hajj Sensitivity Training.†If you have the stomach for it, compare this TSA posting to the official CAIR press release from which it cribbed. They are identical.
There’s a lot more where that came from.
See also BizzyBlog and Central Ohioans Against Terrorism, who says to Strickland:
You don’t speak for all Ohioans in your praise of CAIR-OH, Gov. Strickland. Many Muslims and non-Muslims alike are concerned about CAIR-OH’s extremist agenda, and you do nothing but buttress the public credibility of an organization whose sole purpose is to incite ethnic and religious hatred and create barriers to “promote justice and mutual understanding” between Muslims and non-Muslims. When you praise CAIR-OH, Governor, it is not in our name.
UPDATE: A big post worth reading in full from Right Angle Blog and more from Nasty, Brutish & Short.
[…] OTHER POSTS (to be refreshed from time to time during the day): - California Conservative goes into detail about the Holy Land Foundation, which was shut down by the Treasury Department in 2001, per this press release. - Right Angle Blog has lots of background, including a somewhat-related journey into Ted Strickland’s congressional past. - Matt at Weapons of Mass Discussion has a great post with a great title — “Taxin’ Ted CAIRS” - Columbuser […]
[…] sure they’re both quite charming. Here’s my previous post on Gov. Strickland’s dinner with CAIR. Bookmark | Trackback […]
Emerson, a Jew who gets it
A perspective of a moderate Muslim
At the risk of sounding anti-Semitic, I want to say this: either American Jews are completely clueless about the internal struggle inside Islam or they are so cowardly, that they are even afraid to voice their opinion. Or maybe it’s a combination of both.
Every time there is a development that involves radical Islam, be it a Mayor of New York attending an Islamist parade, DOJ’s officials attending an Islamist conference, or a protester being sued for having the balls to expose an Islamist-sponsored event at an amusement park, the American Jewish community is as quiet as a church mouse. It’s like it is not even there.
The effect of this silence is devastating. Not for the Jewish community, not yet. That time is still to come. The silence affects the American Muslim community. Every time moderate Muslims are ignored and Islamists are legitimized (by either direct support from government representatives or silent support of the ADL), radicals gain ground. In the current PC climate, moderate Muslims have pretty much no choice but to keep their mouths shut.
Luckily for us, not everyone in the Jewish community is like that. There are some Jews that are speaking out. One of them is Steven Emerson, who has been warning the West about the dangers of Islamic fundamentalism since before PanAm 103. Most of his current work is focused on exposing the radicals masquerading as the moderates – those radicals who are embraced by the DOJ and the Pentagon, by the mayor of New York Bloomberg (Rudy would never get into bed with terrorist supporters) and the Treasury Department, by the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security, by the Congress and the White House.
There is a war of ideas within Islam, and moderate Muslims are losing. Most of Muslim clergy and Muslim establishment are paid for by the Wahhabis. Moderate Muslims are being run out of Mosques and community centers, and in many cases are physically threatened. Moderate Muslims have no place in the media or public debate, because the place reserved for Muslims is filled by Islamic radicals, who attempt to make criticizing anything Islamic a taboo. According to the Islamists, a Muslim can do no wrong.
1. When a non-Muslim criticizes Islam or Muslims, he/she is an Islamophobe.
2. When a Muslim criticizes Islam or Muslim, he/she is not a real Muslim, therefore see #1.
This is a tactic used by “moderate” Muslims, the darlings of the government and the media. But how can you call someone who praises bin Laden, or has ties to Hamas, or calls for the elimination of Israel, or wants to replace the Constitution with the Koran a moderate? They are anything but moderates, however nobody except for a few people like Steven Emerson seems to notice that. But even when the Emersons of America appeal to the public, they are often being dismissed as alarmists and racists. Well, they are anything, but. You don’t have to be a clairvoyant to predict the future when it comes to expansion of radical Islam and extinction of moderate Muslims. All you need to do is get your heads out of the sand.
Why our government is so forgiving and forgetful when it comes to individuals or organizations with known terrorist ties and anti-American views is beyond me. Why the Jewish leaders are so timid when it comes to the subject of radical Islam is incomprehensible.
I thank God every day for people like Steven Emerson, because they are the last glimmer of hope for moderate Muslims.
K.M.
Original post