Former CAIR Member Pleads Guilty to Terrorism
Charges
By Andrew L. Jaffee;
Cross-posted at netWMD
The Council on American Islamic Relations' (CAIR) ties to terrorism
just keep getting more and more obvious. We're not talking accusations and
indictments anymore. Now a former CAIR member has pled guilty to
terrorism charges.
According to FOXNews.com last Friday, CAIR's former Communications Specialist and Civil Rights
Coordinator, Randall Todd "Ismail" Royer, pled
guilty to involvement with the Kashmiri terrorist group
Lashkar-e-Taiba, ties to Afghanistan's Taliban, connections to Chechnya's
terrorists, and last but not least, involvement with Osama bin Laden's
al-Qaeda network. Specific indictments against Royer included explosives
and weapons charges. He also admitted to helping several people "gain
entry to a terrorist training camp in Pakistan."
In September, 2003, Royer was served with charges that he "...conspired
to provide material support to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda organization and
to his Taliban protectors in Afghanistan," according to the Washington Post. Royer had already been arrested
and charged on June 27, 2003 for "...conspiring to join a Muslim extremist
terror group that has been blamed for thousands of deaths in the disputed
Kashmir territory of India and Pakistan," according to ABC.
Last Friday's charges added to a long list of evidence that CAIR has
ties to terrorist groups. Siraj
Wahhaj, one of CAIR's advisory board members, is an unindicted
co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing case. Nihad Awad,
CAIR’s Executive Director, has declared himself a supporter of Hamas and
the PLO, which are both on the official U.S. list of terrorist
organizations. And Bassem Khafagi, CAIR's director of community relations,
"was arrested by the FBI in January in connection with a terror-financing
front group he helped found that is allegedly tied to both Iraq and al
Qaeda." Note that Khafagi has pled guilty to "charges of visa and bank fraud in federal court in
Detroit."
For some strange reason, CAIR had been considered a "mainstream" Muslim
group, a notion most likely encouraged by the legions of the politically
correct. That all seems to be changing. All these indictments -- and now
convictions -- have caused a rethinking of the group's "mainstream" label.
CAIR has also tempered its previous bold-faced arrogance. In September of
2003, CAIR's Chairman Omar Ahmed and Executive Director Nihad Awad were
invited to testify before hearings held by the Senate Judiciary
Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security. Guess what?
Neither of them showing up. According to FrontPageMagazine.com, during the hearings,
Senators turned out in force to connect the dots between
CAIR and the deviant Islamic extremism that led to the vicious attacks
of 9/11. In his opening statement, Chairman Jon Kyl said, “a small group
of organizations based in the U.S. with Saudi backing and support, is
well advanced in its four- decade effort to control Islam in America
-from mosques, universities and community centers to our prisons and
even within our military. Moderate Muslims who love America and want to
be part of our great country are being forced out of those
institutions.”
Senator Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat who
has been steadfast in his efforts to uncover the nexus of Hamas front
groups in the U.S., was ruthless in his portrayal of CAIR as part of an
international terror network. In his opening remarks, Senator Schumer
stated that prominent members of CAIR—referring specifically to Nihad
Awad and Omar Ahmed—have “intimate links with Hamas.” Later, he remarked
that “we know [CAIR] has ties to terrorism.”
Even Senator
Richard Durbin, who has made common cause with some of America’s
Wahhabi-backed groups, came down hard on CAIR. In his final comments he
conceded that CAIR is “unusual in its extreme rhetoric and its
associations with groups that are suspect,” and requested that the
committee seek the testimony of mainstream Muslim groups in its place in
the future.
The Senate is not the only branch of government catching on to CAIR's
terrorist connections. In October, President Bush didn't invite CAIR to his annual iftaar dinner, which
marks the end of fasting in Ramadan. Bush also recently signed the Syria
Accountability Act into law, and appointed Daniel
Pipes to USIP -- both issues which CAIR vociferously opposed.
Does CAIR sound "mainstream" to you? I'm not sure why so many people
became enraptured with this group. There are truly moderate and mainstream
Muslims and Islamic groups out there like Shaykh Prof. Abdul
Hadi Palazzi -- who has been implicitly threatened by CAIR -- and the
Islamic
Supreme Council of America (ISCA) whom, incidentally, CAIR has tried to smear and silence.
I really don't understand why so many people choose political
correctness over sanity and pragmatic reason. Supporting CAIR is
insanity.
Cross-posted at Israpundit and netWMD (http://netwmd.com/articles/article392.html)
Posted by Donnel Jones at January 19, 2004 08:49 PM |
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Former CAIR Member Pleads Guilty to Terrorism Charges
By Andrew L. Jaffee; Cross-posted at netWMD
The Council on American Islamic Relations' (CAIR) ties to terrorism just keep getting more and more obvious. We're not talking accusations and indictments anymore. Now a former CAIR member has pled guilty to terrorism charges.
According to FOXNews.com last Friday, CAIR's former Communications Specialist and Civil Rights Coordinator, Randall Todd "Ismail" Royer, pled guilty to involvement with the Kashmiri terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, ties to Afghanistan's Taliban, connections to Chechnya's terrorists, and last but not least, involvement with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. Specific indictments against Royer included explosives and weapons charges. He also admitted to helping several people "gain entry to a terrorist training camp in Pakistan."
In September, 2003, Royer was served with charges that he "...conspired to provide material support to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda organization and to his Taliban protectors in Afghanistan," according to the Washington Post. Royer had already been arrested and charged on June 27, 2003 for "...conspiring to join a Muslim extremist terror group that has been blamed for thousands of deaths in the disputed Kashmir territory of India and Pakistan," according to ABC.
Last Friday's charges added to a long list of evidence that CAIR has ties to terrorist groups. Siraj Wahhaj, one of CAIR's advisory board members, is an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing case. Nihad Awad, CAIR’s Executive Director, has declared himself a supporter of Hamas and the PLO, which are both on the official U.S. list of terrorist organizations. And Bassem Khafagi, CAIR's director of community relations, "was arrested by the FBI in January in connection with a terror-financing front group he helped found that is allegedly tied to both Iraq and al Qaeda." Note that Khafagi has pled guilty to "charges of visa and bank fraud in federal court in Detroit."
For some strange reason, CAIR had been considered a "mainstream" Muslim group, a notion most likely encouraged by the legions of the politically correct. That all seems to be changing. All these indictments -- and now convictions -- have caused a rethinking of the group's "mainstream" label. CAIR has also tempered its previous bold-faced arrogance. In September of 2003, CAIR's Chairman Omar Ahmed and Executive Director Nihad Awad were invited to testify before hearings held by the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security. Guess what? Neither of them showing up. According to FrontPageMagazine.com, during the hearings,
The Senate is not the only branch of government catching on to CAIR's terrorist connections. In October, President Bush didn't invite CAIR to his annual iftaar dinner, which marks the end of fasting in Ramadan. Bush also recently signed the Syria Accountability Act into law, and appointed Daniel Pipes to USIP -- both issues which CAIR vociferously opposed.
Does CAIR sound "mainstream" to you? I'm not sure why so many people became enraptured with this group. There are truly moderate and mainstream Muslims and Islamic groups out there like Shaykh Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi -- who has been implicitly threatened by CAIR -- and the Islamic Supreme Council of America (ISCA) whom, incidentally, CAIR has tried to smear and silence.
I really don't understand why so many people choose political correctness over sanity and pragmatic reason. Supporting CAIR is insanity.
Cross-posted at Israpundit and netWMD (http://netwmd.com/articles/article392.html) Posted by Donnel Jones at January 19, 2004 08:49 PM | TrackBack