CAIR Instructs the Media
Do It Our Way
by Robert Spencer:
by Robert Spencer:
In its continuing effort to impede freedom of the press in the United States, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) has issued a new media guide -- available only to “media professionals” -- that purports to “educate the media and disabuse journalists of misinformation” about Islam. The notorious Islamic advocacy group, which has seen several of its officials convicted on various terrorism-related charges, and which was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding case, asserts that “common misperceptions in the media include the notion that Islam is not compatible with democracy or modern culture, that the Quran teaches violence, that Muslims around the world hate the US, that Islam does not respect women’s rights, and that all Muslims are Arab.”Read on.
posted by HeavyHanded at
4:05 PM
2 Comments:
The fact that we come under attack by anti-Muslim extremists is no surprise to anyone who works for positive social change. All proponents of justice have faced similar attacks designed to silence their voices. It is our view that the attacks against us are an indicator of the effectiveness of our advocacy.
Even a cursory examination of the statements and agendas of our detractors will show that they represent the extremes in our society. They have created a network of people who quote each other, creating an illusion of a public outcry against CAIR. In fact, our detractors' allegations do not stand up to objective scrutiny. Moreover, those who defame CAIR have no record of principled advocacy.
In 2004, CAIR officials met with senior FBI officers at their headquarters in Washington D.C. At that meeting, the FBI told us that they have researched the allegations against CAIR and have concluded that all these false claims originate from one or two biased sources.
One senior FBI official said that CAIR will just have to live with these "urban legends."
FACT: WHATEVER ISMAIL ROYER DID OR DID NOT DO HAS NO BEARING ON HIS PREVIOUS WORK FOR CAIR
In January 2004, Royer pleaded guilty to weapons charges and did not plead guilty to any charge of “terrorism.” Notwithstanding the fact that any criminal action to which he pleaded guilty was done when Royer was no longer employed with CAIR and not at CAIR’s direction, it is important to note that the only crimes that he pleaded guilty to were weapons charges, not charges of terrorism.
FACT: DR. BASSEM El-KHAFAGI WAS NEVER AN EMPLOYEE OF CAIR AND WAS NEVER CONVICTED ON TERRORIM CHARGES.
El-Khafagi was an independent contractor for CAIR, effective November 2, 2001. According to the Associated Press (AP) article announcing his plea, federal officials stated that he was charged with writing bad checks in February and June of 2001, before any relationship with CAIR had commenced and without any knowledge on CAIR’s part of any wrongdoing on his part. According to federal officials, on September 10, 2003, EI-Khafagi pleaded guilty to charges of bank and visa fraud.
Bank and visa fraud are criminal offenses and not crimes of terrorism. Surely if there had been strong evidence of terrorist activities, the Justice Department would have vigorously pursued those avenues and not allowed him to plead guilty to non-terrorism related charges.
FACT: GHASSAN ELASHI WAS NEVER AN EMPLOYEE OR OFFICER OF CAIR
CAIR has hundreds of board members and employees and some 50,000 members. It would be illogical and unfair to hold CAIR responsible for the personal activities of all these people.
The fact that Elashi was once associated with one of our more than thirty regional chapters has no legal significance to our corporation given the fact that any actions taken by him were outside the scope and chronology of his association with one of our chapters.
Source: http://www.cair.com/AboutUs/urbanlegends.aspx
By
Anonymous, at 11:02 AM
FACT: THE DONATION WAS LEGAL
The funds referred to were a fee for PR consulting services, not a donation. The payment was made when CAIR was already in operation and at a time when there was no public concern raised about HLF.
Mr. Emerson must also think that United States District Judge Gladys Kessler backs terrorism when she said in an April 23, 2002 Washington Post article about the Holy Land Foundation case: “It seems the government's approach [to the Holy Land case] is too simplistic" and that the case raised "significant and distressing allegations" about government actions in its war on terror.
The HLF case is still working its way through the courts. As Americans we should withhold judgment and assume everyone is innocent until proven guilty in a fair and open trial.
By
Anonymous, at 11:08 AM
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