CAIR Sits Up And Takes Notice

I posted yesterday about the publication of a new book that exposes the shady and possibly illegal dealings of CAIR in its attempts to infiltrate and subvert the government and institutions of the United States. As Daniel Pipes puts it:

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has, since its founding in 1994, served as the Islamist movement in North America’s most high-profile, belligerent, manipulative and aggressive agency. From its headquarters in Washington, D.C., CAIR also sets the agenda and tone for the entire Wahhabi lobby.

The authors of Muslim Mafia acquired much of their sensational material from undercover volunteers who penetrated the inner sanctum of CAIR’s head office in Washington D.C. Among many other interesting facts, we learn that CAIR spent $160,000 to silence talk radio host Michael Savage:

An explosive new book based on a daring six-month undercover operation exposing the subversive agenda of the Council on American-Islamic Relations reveals the Muslim group spent $160,000 in an unsuccessful effort to run top-rated nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage off the air.

Internal CAIR documents uncovered in “Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That’s Conspiring to Islamize America” show that despite its high cost and the continued success of Savage’s show, CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad believed the campaign was “worth every penny,” because, he says, the radio star lost at least $1 million in advertising.

Even though the book has only been out for a few days, members of Congress have been roused by the news, and are preparing an investigation. According to FOX News:

Investigate Council on American Islamic Relations?

Four House Republicans on Wednesday accused the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim advocacy group, of trying to “infiltrate” Capitol Hill by placing interns in the offices of lawmakers who handle national security issues. The four lawmakers asked the IRS to investigate the group’s non-profit status after discovering an internal memo noting the group’s strategy. The lawmakers stated that CAIR, which has been accused of having ties to Hamas and Hezbollah, would “focus on influencing congressmen responsible for policy that directly impacts the American Muslim community.”

And according to The Hill:

House Republicans accuse Muslim group of trying to plant spies

Republican members of the Congressional Anti-Terrorism Caucus said the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) have tried to plant “spies” within key national-security committees in order to shape legislative policy.

Reps. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.), John Shadegg (R-Ariz.), Paul Broun (R-Ga.) and Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), citing the book Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld that’s Conspiring to Islamize America, called for the House sergeant at arms to investigate whether CAIR had been successful in placing interns on key panels. The lawmakers are specifically focused on the House Homeland Security Committee, Intelligence Committee and Judiciary Committee.

Those four members of Congress called a press conference at the U.S. Capitol yesterday and demanded an investigation into CAIR’s activities, based on documentary evidence uncovered for the book. Needless to say, CAIR is not taking this affront lying down, and is already fighting back.

WND has a detailed report:

Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., received a fax Tuesday from CAIR’s in-house legal counsel, alleging the authors of the new book, set for release today, had engaged in “criminal actions” and warning that a report already had been filed with law enforcement authorities.

The faxed letter from CAIR’s Nadhira al-Khalili noted the Washington-based group had been forewarned of the press conference Myrick held with fellow members of the House anti-terror caucus leadership, Reps. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., Trent Franks, R-Ariz., and Paul Broun, R-Ga. The lawmakers called for an end to political lobbying by groups, such as CAIR, operating as fronts for the Egyptian-based Muslim Brotherhood, the parent of al-Qaida and Hamas.

But Rep. Myrick and her colleagues are adamant:
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Myrick says in the foreword to “Muslim Mafia” that the WND Books publication — based on a six-month undercover operation that produced 12,000 pages of documents — finally provides the “proof” that radical Muslim “agents living among us have a plan in place, and they are successfully carrying out that subversive plan.”

Holding up the book, Shadegg said, regarding the CAIR fax, “Interestingly, whenever books like these are published, there are efforts to intimidate those who publish them and write them. And efforts to intimidate those who speak out in support of them.”

Shadegg continued, “We need an informed body politic, we need informed Americans to understand the threats against this country. And knowing the kinds of things that are in this book are very important. The latest book provides stunning documentation of many of the things that are said in it about CAIR.”

Franks said the anti-terror caucus fears CAIR has planted “spies” inside Congress targeting sensitive committees dealing with homeland security.

“It’s the water inside the ship that sinks it,” he warned.

Franks said CAIR and its agents are influencing policies related to the USA Patriot Act, the post-9/11 security measure to help law enforcement crack down on terrorists.

“Muslim Mafia” uncovered confidential CAIR memos revealing that in one year alone, officials with the terror-supporting front group made an alarming 72 separate trips to Congress to lobby against the Patriot Act. The same year Congress met fewer than 150 days.

U.S. prosecutors believe CAIR, while claiming to be a civil-rights group, is actually a front group for Hamas and other terrorists. The Justice Department stated in September 2007 during its prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation in Dallas — the largest terror-financing case in history — that CAIR “has been identified by the government at trial as a participant in an ongoing and ultimately unlawful conspiracy to support a designated terrorist organization, a conspiracy from which CAIR never withdrew.”

CAIR is determined to turn the tables on Messrs. Gaubatz and Sperry and brand them as criminals:

CAIR’s Khalili wrote to Myrick that she may not be aware that authors P. David Gaubatz and Paul Sperry “appear to admit to participating in a plot and scheme that spanned several jurisdictions with the apparently admitted intent to permanently deprive CAIR of its business property. The conspirators seem to admit that through their enterprise they stole thousands of pages of CAIR documents via what could be viewed as conspiracy, larceny and fraud.”

The CAIR lawyer told Myrick, co-founder of the Congressional Anti-Terror Caucus, she should “be aware that CAIR has contacted law enforcement authorities and filed a criminal report against those people that we believed have participated in the plot or furthered its goals. CAIR will also pursue civil damages against anyone responsible for defamation, theft of business documents, theft of trade secrets and invasion of privacy.”

This looks like desperation on CAIR’s part. The authors maintain that when the younger Gaubatz saw that he was holding evidence of criminal conspiracy and a possible threat to national security, he was not only within his rights to take them, but was obliged to bring them to the attention of federal authorities.

According to Joseph Farah, the publisher of the book:

“They were, in fact, handed to him by CAIR employees for destruction,” Farah wrote to Myrick. “All of the documents are available for review by appropriate law-enforcement authorities and, in fact, some have already been provided to them.”

Farah concluded Chris Gaubaz’s “patriotic activities within CAIR, an unindicted terrorist co-conspirator, were done on advice of counsel at every step, and were in accordance with District of Columbia and Virginia state law.”

According to a Washington attorney, “it is a federal and state crime to participate in the destruction of evidence of a crime if reasonable suspicion exists the documents are evidence of criminal activity.”

In my layman’s opinion, CAIR is in big trouble on this one. Or, to put it in legal terminology, they are toast. But Mr. Khalili does not agree:

Khalili, for his part, urged Myrick to investigate “criminal actions of the authors” and “withdraw support from those who appear as if they seek to profit from criminal behavior.”

CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper told The Hill newspaper he welcomed scrutiny from the Republican Congress members but said he was disappointed to see them associate with a “hate-monger” like David Gaubatz.

Yes. We’re all “hate-mongers” now. Anyone who criticizes Islam or CAIR is a vicious racist white supremacist hater. Didn’t you know that?

For more detail about the Muslim Mafia affair, see the WND article.

This story looks like it’s going to blow up big. We’ll continue to keep an eye on it as it develops.


Hat tips: JD and AP.