The Democrats And CAIR
CAIR will hold an event in a tony venue tomorrow in the DC area, a panel discussion on the effect of global attitudes towards Islam on American policy. The venue? A conference room in the Capitol building, courtesy of New Jersey Democrat Bill Pascrell. The organization got access to the room despite the history of CAIR leadership in support of terrorism:
A House Democrat has arranged for a conference room in the Capitol building to be used tomorrow by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim advocacy group criticized for its persistent refusal to disavow terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.The District-based group also is singled out by other Democratic lawmakers and some law-enforcement officials because of financial ties to terrorists.
Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., New Jersey Democrat, reserved the basement conference room for CAIR's panel discussion Tuesday titled "Global Attitudes on Islam-West Relations: U.S. Policy Implications." ...
CAIR officials have been charged with -- and some convicted of -- offenses related to the support of terrorism, including CAIR fundraiser Rabih Haddad, founding board member Ghassan Elashi and former CAIR civil rights coordinator Randall Royer.
CAIR's ties to terrorism have been outlined by Joe Kaufman at Front Page for some time. They first came to light when the Islamic organization attempted to hijack 9/11 donations by sending them to the Holy Land Foundation -- a "charity" that funded Hamas. After getting caught, CAIR explicitly noted that the funds would go to the HLF and to a new entity called Global Relief Foundation -- which sent money to Al-Qaeda and other related groups.
In other words, CAIR attempted to exploit the generosity of Americans towards the victims of 9/11 in order to send their money to the people who perpetrated it. Nice.
Now the House Democrats want this front group to conduct its business in the halls of the Capitol. One may wonder how New Jersey voters, who felt the impact of 9/11 as much as New Yorkers, will feel about Pascrell's invitation. Even prominent liberal Democrats like Chuck Schumer understand the nature of CAIR. Schumer stated categorically that CAIR had ties to terrorism, specifically to Hamas.
Is this the new focus on national security that the Democrats promised in 2006? Allowing terrorist apologists to use Capitol Hill to conduct their business hardly seems like getting tough on terrorists.
Posted by Ed Morrissey on March 12, 2007 6:44 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (7)
