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For a video primer on CAIR, its history and its rhetoric, click here.

It offers a benign mission statement - "to enhance understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding." But a closer look at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) raises a host of troubling questions about its history and purpose.

Born of an effort to scuttle hopes for a negotiated Middle East peace, CAIR was listed among organizations tied to the Muslim Brotherhood's American network. Its founders emerged from a separate Islamic organization that two courts have found played a supporting role for the terrorist group Hamas.

The Washington, D.C.-based organization purports to be a "leading advocate for justice and mutual understanding" and claims to speak for the majority of American Muslims. However, after a careful review of the history, activities, statements, and causes of and by CAIR, it seems that its primary goals are to silence and de-legitimize its critics and redefine what it means to be a moderate Muslim. And when it comes to U.S. efforts to crack down on terrorists and their financiers, CAIR takes an almost visceral stand in opposition. This has the effect of undermining the legitimate security-related concerns and campaigns of the United States and its allies. These conclusions and the summary immediately below are based upon the evidence and examples that follow in this report; beginning with CAIR's very founding.

The full dossier "CAIR Exposed," can be found here:
https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/122-cair-exposed.pdf

Follow the links below to read the dossier in installments.

Part 1: CAIR's origins

Summary: https://www.investigativeproject.org/621/cair-exposed-part-1-cair-origins

Full installment: https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/109-cair-exposed-part-1-cair-origins.pdf

Part 2: CAIR's funding

Summary: https://www.investigativeproject.org/622/cair-exposed-part-2-funding-ties-with-hlf-and-foreign-donors-show-cairs-agenda

Full installment: https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/110-cair-exposed-part-2-cair-funding.pdf

Part 3: "The Suspect Ties of CAIR Officials, Fundraisers and Trainers"

Summary: https://www.investigativeproject.org/624/cair-exposed-part-3-some-cair-officials-convicted-of-crimes-more-tied-to-extremist-groups

Full installment: https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/111-cair-exposed-part-3-the-suspect-ties-of-cair.pdf

Part 4: "CAIR and Hamas"

Summary: https://www.investigativeproject.org/627/cair-exposed-part-4-cair-remains-apologist-for-terrorist-hamas-seeks-to-silence

Full installment: https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/113-cair-exposed-part-4-cair-and-hamas.pdf

Part 5: "CAIR and Terrorism: Blanket Opposition to U.S. Investigations, Equivocal Condemnations for Plots Against America"

Summary: https://www.investigativeproject.org/629/cair-exposed-part-5-quick-to-defend-alleged-terrorists-cair-even-questioned-al-qaeda-911-role

Full installment: https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/116-cair-exposed-part-5-cair-and-terrorism.pdf

Part 6: CAIR's claims that the "War on Terrorism" is a "War on Islam"

Summary: https://www.investigativeproject.org/632/cair-exposed-part-6-cair-portrays-war-on-terrorism-as-malicious-war-on-islam

Full Installment: https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/117-cair-exposed-part-6-cair-claims-that-the-war-on-terror-is-a-war-on-islam.pdf

Part 7: CAIR's denial of the challenges posed by Radical Islamists

Summary: https://www.investigativeproject.org/635/cair-exposed-part-7-cair-seeks-to-define-away-threat-posed-by-radical-islam

Full Installment: https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/118-cair-exposed-part-7-cair-denies-the-challenges.pdf

Part 8: CAIR's involvement in radical conferences and denigration of moderates

Summary: https://www.investigativeproject.org/636/cair-exposed-part-8-cair-has-backed-islamist-meetings-denigrated-muslim-moderates

Full Installment: https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/119-cair-exposed-part-8-radical-conferences-and-intimidation-of-moderates.pdf

Part 9: CAIR's Extremism and Anti-Semitism

Summary: https://www.investigativeproject.org/637/cair-exposed-part-9-leaders-statements-illustrate-cairs-extremism-anti-semitism

Full Installment: https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/120-cair-exposed-part-9-cair-extremism-and-anti-semitism.pdf

Part 10: CAIR's "Hate Crimes"

Summary: https://www.investigativeproject.org/639/cair-exposed-part-10-cair-pushes-phony-charges-of-anti-muslim-hysteria-hate-crimes

Full Installment: https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/121-cair-exposed-part-10-cair-hate-crimes.pdf