House Dems Carry Islamists Water
by Steven Emerson
IPT News
July 28, 2009
What has happened in Europe
with Liberals betraying their nation and their peoples for Islamic election money,
and Islamic votes to help them stay in power
– Has now gained a foothold in the US.
Seven House
Democrats have written Attorney General Eric Holder invoking a list of
grievances from radical Islamist groups and asking that Holder meet with
representatives from those groups to hear their concerns, the Investigative
Project on Terrorism has learned.
The
grievances include the use of convicted felons as informants in mosques,
alleged religious profiling of Somali Muslims in Minnesota and elsewhere and
allegations that the FBI is working with foreign governments to question American
citizens who are terror suspects. In the letter, the representatives said:
"These concerns raise legitimate questions about due process, justice,
and equal treatment under the law. We hope you will meet with American Muslim
leaders to ensure that core American values are respected for all Americans,
regardless of race, ethnicity, or faith. For your convenience, we have attached
a contact list of American Muslim leaders."
These issues have been pushed
by radical Islamist groups for months. The letter's close tracking of the
interest groups' positions indicates that their officials dictated its terms
for the members of Congress to sign. In fact, the nine entities all are listed
in exactly the same sequence in this release from the Council on American Islamic Relations
(CAIR). The April 2009 release also cites two of the same issues as in the
letter to Holder.
The letter was signed by California representatives Loretta Sanchez,
Adam Schiff, Mike Honda and Lois Capps, along with
Ohio representatives Mary Jo
Kilroy and Dennis
Kucinich.
Schiff also serves on the House Judiciary Committee and the Permanent Select
Committee on Intelligence.
Many of the groups listed for Holder to meet have radical histories and
agendas. For example, the Islamic Circle of North America adheres to similar ideology
as the Jamaat-i-Islami, which calls for Islamic revolution and creating an
Islamist state in
Three other groups listed for contact have direct roots in the Muslim
Brotherhood, an international movement based in
Prosecutors included CAIR on a list of unindicted co-conspirators in the prosecution of the Holy
Land Foundation for Relief and development, considered the nation's largest
terrorism-finance case. FBI case Agent Lara Burns
labeled CAIR a front group for Hamas during sworn testimony last fall.
While CAIR claims to condemn terrorist attacks, it has not been able to
specifically condemn Hamas suicide bombings or Hizballah bombings of civilian
communities In a 2000 interview with Al Jazeera (translation here), CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad defiantly refused
to criticize Hamas or Hizballah:
"We do not condemn nor will we condemn any liberation movement inside
This is the leadership Holder is asked to meet. As reporter Mary Jacoby recently noted (free registration required):
CAIR "has been working to stoke tensions in local Muslim communities
over FBI investigative tactics. CAIR is angry at the FBI, because the bureau
embarrassed it. How? By cutting off contacts with CAIR's national leadership last
year. Why did the bureau do that? Because evidence in
a major terrorism-support prosecution in
Indeed, a letter from an FBI congressional liaison states that the
Bureau can't rule out an ongoing "connection between CAIR or its
executives and HAMAS" and would cut off outreach communication with the
group until it can.
Letters like the Democrats' letter to Holder representing constituents'
concerns are not unusual and are "part of the propaganda war that goes on
beneath the surface all the time and part of their efforts to undermine law
enforcement," said Bob Blitzer, who led the FBI's domestic terrorism
section in the 1990s. He said he encountered "a couple hundred"
letters of this nature during his career. Each is handled seriously because
members of Congress signed the letters.
Many of the representatives who signed this letter have a history of
supporting CAIR. For example, Kucinich sent a video message praising the
organization to the CAIR-Chicago 4th Annual Banquet on February 23,
2008:
"As the Council on American-Islamic Relations meets I want to pledge to
you. I continue to pledge for your efforts to make sure that the powerful
message of Islam, a message of peace and reconciliation reverberates. I want to
make sure that you know that you have a friend in the United States
Congress."
Sanchez has repeatedly attended annual CAIR banquets in
Moran is included on the same page, saying "It is through the
activities of groups like CAIR that cooperation—rather than competition—between
the various faiths can be achieved." Honda is quoted saying "CAIR's
commitment to social justice and civil rights for all Americans will help our country
to ensure that respect and tolerance exists for people of all religions and
ethnicities."
In their letter, the representatives accept the claims of defendants in two
criminal cases unqustioningly, despite sworn testimony to the contrary.
In
Niazi's supporters say he was entrapped by an agent provocateur and
emphasize the informant's criminal record for forgery. They point out that
Niazi even went to authorities in 2007 to report that the informant was
discussing terrorist plots. In sworn testimony during Niazi's bond hearing in
February, FBI agent Thomas Ropel III said Niazi went to authorities only after
learning of a separate terror-indictment involving an informant and
collaborated with CAIR official Hussam Ayloush to accuse the informant of being
the terrorist.
Niazi then lied repeatedly about his conversations with the informant. For
example, Niazi claimed that he and the informant had discussed jihad once or
twice, when agents already possessed "at least 15 to 20 such
conversations."
The following exchange took place between Ropel and Magistrate Judge Arthur
Nakazato:
Agent Ropel: "We had discussed conducting terrorist attacks and blowing
up buildings. We had discussed Mr. Niazi or anybody talking about sending money
overseas and Mr. Niazi said none of those things were ever discussed between
himself and this individual. And we had personally listened to recordings in
which Mr. Niazi had instigated these conversations with that individual."
Judge: "He instigated the conversations?"
Agent Ropel: "Yes, Mr. Niazi did, specifically regarding these
statements."
Another case involving informants four
The informant issue raised in the letter isn't expected to generate much
excitement. It is "normal" to see informants in criminal
investigations have felony records of their own, said Barry Sabin, former
Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division.
There are guidelines and layers of supervision to ensure the sending informants
into houses of worship are necessary investigative steps. That's a point FBI
Director Robert Mueller made in testimony March 25 before the Senate Judiciary
Committee:
"I will say that we do not focus on institutions, we focus on
individuals. And I will say generally if there is evidence or information as to
individual or individuals undertaking illegal activities in religious
institutions, with appropriate high-level approval, we would undertake
investigative activities, regardless of the religion." [Emphasis
added]
In
Two men have been indicted in connection with facilitating travel for the
young men to
These are among the grievances for which Holder is being asked to devote his
attention. That the representatives would accept at face value the claims of an
organization the FBI has concluded is not "an appropriate liaison partner" is disturbing. CAIR
has documented roots in a U.S-based Hamas support network. Among secretly
recorded wiretaps in evidence in the prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation
for Relief and Development are conversations including two CAIR founders about deceiving Americans about their political ambitions and the
outright declaration that "war is deception."
Before carrying their water again, the politicians may wish to find out
whether the war ended.
http://www.investigativeproject.org/1105/house-dems-carry-islamists-water