According to this CAIR press release, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, spoke at the CAIR-OH banquet last Saturday night. During his speech, Gov. Strickland made this outrageous statement:

“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.”

Let’s examine that statement. Gov. Strickland says that CAIR’s vision is to “promote justice and mutual understanding”, which is indefensible considering the fact that they’re unindicted co-conspirators in the federal trial against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.

HLF was shut down by the Treasury Department on December 4, 2001. Here’s what Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill said in his official statement:

Today we are shutting down three Hamas-controlled organizations that finance terror. The Holy Land Foundation masquerades as a charity, while its primary purpose is to fund Hamas. This is not a case of one bad actor stealing from the petty cash drawer and giving those stolen monies to terrorists. This organization exists to raise money in the United States to promote terror.

Last year, Holy Land raised $13 million. Government agents today shut down 4 offices of the Holy Land Foundation in the United States. Innocent donors who thought they were helping someone in need deserve protection from these scam artists who prey on their benevolence.

Similarly, the al Aqsa bank and the Beit al Mal bank aren’t just banks that unknowingly administer accounts for terrorists. They are direct arms of Hamas, established and used to do Hamas business.

Just so there isn’t any question as to CAIR’s knowledge about HLF, it’s important to note that CAIR’s first office was opened in Washington, DC with a $5,000 donation from HLF:

CAIR opened its first office in Washington, DC, with the help of a $5,000 donation from the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), a self-described charity founded by Mousa Abu Marzook. In May 1996, CAIR coordinated a press conference to protest the decision of the U.S. government to extradite Marzook for his connection to terrorist acts performed by Hamas. CAIR characterized the extradition as “anti-Islamic” and “anti-American.”

I think it’s obvious that Gov. Strickland was pandering to a rather unsavory organization whose roots are intertwined with terrorist-financing organizations. I’d hope that this wasn’t anything more than an error of ignorance but I wouldn’t bet on it since there are lots of ties between prominent Democrats and CAIR. Let’s also remember that CAIR complained about an LA billboard that called Osama bin-Laden “the sworn enemy“:

For starters, it’s on the wrong side in the war on terrorism. One indication came in October 1998, when the group demanded the removal of a Los Angeles billboard describing Osama bin Laden as “the sworn enemy,” finding this depiction “offensive to Muslims.”

If that isn’t offensive enough, consider this from that same Daniel Pipes article:

CAIR consistently defends other militant Islamic terrorists too. The conviction of the perpetrators of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing it deemed “a travesty of justice.” The conviction of Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind sheikh who planned to blow up New York City landmarks, it called a “hate crime.” The extradition order for suspected Hamas terrorist Mousa Abu Marzook it labeled “anti-Islamic” and “anti-American.”

After all that, I’m curious to find out why Gov. Strickland thinks that CAIR’s vision is “to promote justice and mutual understanding.” What criteria did Gov. Strickland use in determining that promoting justice and mutual understanding were part of CAIR’s vision? Did he simply take their word on that? Frankly, Gov. Strickland’s staff didn’t do a good job of vetting CAIR. If they had, they wouldn’t have let him make such an unfounded and outrageous statement.

CAIR doesn’t hide the fact that it has a political agenda. Here’s an example of CAIR’s political agenda:

Working with Conyers, the Ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Democrats have introduced legislation to end racial profiling, limit the reach of the Patriot Act, and make immigration safe and accessible. Leader Pelosi is a proud cosponsor of the End Racial Profiling Act, the Security and Freedom Ensured Act (SAFE), and the Safe, Orderly, and Legal Visas Enforcement Act (SOLVE).

The Conyers mentioned there is John Conyers, then the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee and now the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. That information was taken from a CAIR press release dated Thursday, July 15, 2004. CAIR’s goal was to “limit the reach of the Patriot Act…” Their political partners, listed in their press release, were “Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Congressman John Dingell (D-MI), Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY)” and “former Democratic Whip David Bonior (D-MI), Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-NY), and Congressman Nick Joe Rahall (D-WV).”

Based on this information, it’s difficult to defend the notion that CAIR’s vision is to “promote justice and mutual understanding.” I’ve studied CAIR’s statements of the last year. My conclusion of their statements is that their idea of “mutual understanding” is awfully one-sided in nature. Dr. Zuhdi Jasser points out that CAIR doesn’t speak for all Muslims:

M. Zuhdi Jasser, director of American Islamic Forum for Democracy, says the sharp decline in membership calls into question whether the organization speaks for American Muslims, as the group has claimed. “This is the untold story in the myth that CAIR represents the American Muslim population. They only represent their membership and donors,” Mr. Jasser said. “Post-9/11, they have marginalized themselves by their tired exploitation of media attention for victimization issues at the expense of representing the priorities of the American Muslim population,” Mr. Jasser said.

CAIR would like people to believe that the Muslim community is monolithic, which isn’t reality. They’d also like people to believe that they’re the ‘official voice’ for that monolith much like Jesse Jackson would like people to continue believing that he’s the official voice for African Americans.

It’s time that Gov. Strickland understood that it’s likely that CAIR’s days as an influential special interest group will soon be history. It’s important that Gov. Strickland distance himself from CAIR, especially in light of the fact that they’ve had so many interactions with organizations that finance terrorists.

Technorati Tags: Ted Strickland, CAIR, Holy Land Foundation, Osama bin-Laden, al-Qaeda, Hamas, Nancy Pelosi, John Conyers, Charlie Rangel, End Racial Profiling Act, Omar Abdel Rahman, Mousa Abu-Marzook, Muslim Charities, Money Laundering

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

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   Comment by englandfrogm — May 6, 2008 @ 12:07 pm