Republicans Call for CAIR Investigations by Connie Hair

Printer-friendly versionSend to friendPDF versionby  Connie Hair  The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a U.S. non-profit Muslim activist group associated with Islamist terrorist groups such as Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, is reeling under new allegations of highly suspect activity. In a big presser yesterday, spurred by the release of a new book, Reps. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.), John Shadegg (R-Ariz.), Paul Broun (R-Ga.) and Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) yesterday asked federal officials to investigate the actions and non-profit status of the controversial group. The allegations are contained in a new book, Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld that’s Conspiring to Islamize America, by bestselling author Paul Sperry and veteran federal investigator and counter-terrorism specialist Paul David Gaubatz. The book says its information was obtained during a six-month undercover sting investigation and 12,000 pages of documentation including CAIR internal memos and emails. “It’s frightening to think that an organization with clear-cut ties to terrorism could have a hand in influencing policy -- especially national security policy -- within our government,” Myrick said. “The investigations that we’re asking for are simple, and I’m hopeful that they will bring to light any and all information regarding the goals of CAIR.” One 2007 CAIR internal strategy memo in particular exposes CAIR’s plan to place their operatives as interns on the staffs of members of targeted national security-related Congressional committees. The Intelligence, Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees were specifically singled out in their internal memo as the objective of their intern placement operation. “We’ve been concerned for a long time just about the security of all of our systems here on the hill,” Myrick said. “Interns on the hill are extremely smart people for all purposes, and they’re very technically savvy because they’re young… They can pretty much go anywhere they want to go, so access to information is pretty easy. It’s concerning because of the fact that when they actually say that they want to influence policy in those three committees. Why didn’t they talk about the health care committees, or the Education Committee or the Agriculture Committee? They said the three committees that have to do with our national security, that’s why this is concerning for us.” The members have asked the House Sergeant at Arms to work with staff directors and committee chairmen of the House Judiciary, Homeland Security and Intelligence Committees to determine if CAIR was successful in placing interns in the targeted committees since the strategy memo was written in January of 2007. “If an organization is connected to or supports terrorists is running influence operations or planting spies in key national security-related congressional offices, I think this needs to be made known,” Broun said. “As a Marine, member of the House Homeland Security Committee, and member of the Anti-Terrorism Caucus, I believe allegations that CAIR has targeted members of Congress on security related committees must not go uninvestigated.” In 2008, CAIR was named as a co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism case in Dallas, Texas, which led to guilty verdicts on 108 charges based on funneling more than $12 million to HAMAS. Later that same year, the FBI cut all ties with CAIR. The group is also requesting that the Department of Justice share with each member of Congress and their chiefs of staff an executive summary of the findings that led them to name CAIR as a co-conspirator in a terrorism case. Claiming to be a civil rights organization, CAIR enjoys a 501(c)(3) tax exempt, tax deductible charity designation from the Internal Revenue Service, meaning the group does not pay taxes, and contributions are tax deductible. Yet internal memos reveal CAIR exercises an extensive, aggressive lobbying operation aimed at directly influencing policy outcomes in direct violation of their non-profit, tax exempt status. The members of Congress are also asking the Internal Revenue Service to launch a full investigation into the legality of the lobbying activities of CAIR to judge if they are in violation of their federal non-profit status. “I believe we have long-since passed the day when radical Islam, the portion of Islam or those adherents who want to violently overthrow the United States, or infiltrate this country and change our principles and repeal or defeat the basic premises of this country including self-government, laws written by men, and the principles written in the Constitution of the United States, are present here in this country,” Shadegg said. “Interestingly, whenever books like this are published, there are efforts to intimidate those who publish them and who write them, and efforts to intimidate those who speak out in support of them. We are here saying that we need an informed politic body-politic, we need informed Americans who understand the threats against this country.” _________________ Connie Hair is a freelance writer, a former speechwriter for Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) and a former media and coalitions advisor to the Senate Republican Conference.