CAIR Rep Skirts Criticism of Hamas Comments

The Jewish Community Relations Council recently criticized Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)-Michigan Executive Director Dawud Walid for advocating bringing Hamas into Middle East peace talks.

A statement released by the Jewish council criticized Walid's remarks at a September 3^rd Jerusalem Day Rally held outside of Dearborn City Hall. According to the group, Walid "rejected this week's Washington peace talks, which were led by President Obama and attended by Arab and Israeli leaders…Walid called for Hamas to be invited to the talks."

When questioned by The Detroit News Walid's response was simply:

"I didn't even mention the word Hamas."

He didn't use the name "Hamas," but Walid most definitely referred to the group during his speech, implying that there couldn't be legitimate peace talks without them:

"Now how in the world can there be a realistic discussion about peace talks when the entity which represents the elected government of the Palestinian people during a fair election that was monitored by international inspectors, including former president Jimmy Carter is not at the peace table?"

Hamas won the last Palestinian elections in 2006, so Walid's reference to "the elected government of the Palestinian people" has limited interpretations. Still, he continued:

"Whether you agree with their politics or not, and there are certain things that the government in Gaza has done that I do not agree with, but we know that Mahmoud Abbas is not voted in as the legitimate president of the Palestinian people, and we know that these talking points that even the Obama administration is repeating which is Bush administration talking points, that somehow there was a coup d'états and the government in Gaza actually took over Gaza from Fatah. We know this is complete nonsense. We know this is nonsense, so therefore how can there be real peace talks?"

Longstanding American policy prohibits contact with Hamas until the terrorist group recognizes Israel's right to exist and agrees to negotiate peacefully.

Walid omitted this when he added: "You don't sit down with someone who is not even the representative of the people to sit down to make peace with the people."

It's not surprising that Walid wanted to avoid the issue, considering the heat that his organization, CAIR, has taken for its ties to Hamas.

CAIR was designated as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation Hamas financing trial, which ended in all guilty verdicts in 2008. CAIR Co-Founder Omar Ahmad was separately listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the case. When CAIR asked the court to strike its name from the list, the government responded:

"CAIR has been identified by the government at trial as a participant in an ongoing and ultimately unlawful conspiracy to support a designated terrorist organization, a conspiracy from which CAIR never withdrew."

In 2009, the FBI ended all formal relationships with CAIR. In an April 28, 2009 letter, Assistant Director of the Office of Congressional Affairs Richard C. Powers explained the reason for the FBI's decision to suspend its working relationship with CAIR. In the letter to U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, Powers cited HLF evidence and explained that "until we can resolve whether there continues to be a connection between CAIR or its executives and Hamas, the FBI does not view CAIR as an appropriate liaison partner."

New Hamas Video Portrays Israel's Destruction

Hamas has released a new video depicting the "liberation" of Israel by jihadists. Ynetnews reports that the film, created by a pair of Hamas operatives in the West Bank and Gaza, vividly depicts the burning down of the High Court of Justice and the Bank of Israel building in Jerusalem. Cars with Palestinian flags are shown driving across Ayalon Highway, a major road in the Tel Aviv area, celebrating Israel's demise.

"Inshallah, the Jihad will take back the homeland," a Palestinian refugee says at the start of the video. A subsequent image depicts Palestinian students telling their teacher they want to join the resistance. A small boy is depicted growing into adulthood and describing the liberation operation. Victorious Palestinians are shown walking along the Tel Aviv promenade and city streets.

Later, the opening credits to Channel 2's evening newscast appear, but Israeli anchorwoman Yonit Levy is gone. In her place is a Palestinian anchorman declaring the "liberation of Tel Aviv and Palestine."

Eieman Hijazi, one of the creators of the film, said he and his partner, Muhammad al-Amriti, used their own funds to finance it. Hijazi told Ynetnews the pair could produce such videos every three months and urged television stations to finance more jihadist films.

GZM "Truther" Sought Spitzer 9/11 Grand Jury

We reported Monday that Faiz Khan, a close associate of Ground Zero mosque developer Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, was a leader in the 9/11 "truther" movement. That movement denies the 9/11 terror attacks were planned and conducted by al-Qaeda but rather were part of a conspiracy committed as an "inside job" by rogue elements of the U.S. government. Any Muslim terrorists involved were mere patsies and scapegoats.

In addition to essays and speeches posturing his 9/11 "truth," Khan led a petition drive in November 2004 called "Justice for 9/11" seeking to have then-New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer convene an independent grand jury investigation into the 9/11 attacks based upon a "citizen's complaint and petition." Faiz Khan was the lead electronic signature on the complaint/petition. The complaint/petition links to various truther documents in support of the petition, citing their belief the U.S. government was behind the attacks and citing various persons who support their position, including celebrities and "notables" such as Ed Asner and former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.

There is no indication that the complaint resulted in any action.

Khan claims to have left the "truther" movement but continues to harbor its sentiments even while he led prayers at the site of the proposed Ground Zero mosque as late as this past December. The 2004 petition is another indicator of the depth of those sentiments.

Another U.S. Jihadist Reported Killed in Somalia

The corpse of an American jihadist was found in Mogadishu after a street battle Thursday between al-Shabaab and soldiers supporting the Somali government, intelligence and government officials say. ABC News reported that the body of a man carrying American identification was found after an attack on the Mogadishu airport Thursday that killed two members of an African Union peacekeeping force.

A U.S. official told United Press International they believed the man was an American who traveled to Somalia earlier this year. If he is an American, he would be the latest to die fighting for al-Shabaab. American counterterrorism officials say that since 2006 between 8 and 12 Americans have died while waging jihad in Somalia.

In late 2007, seven Somali Americans slipped out of the Minneapolis area and traveled to Somalia to join al-Shabaab. Eight more did the same in August and November 2008. In the past three years, at least 20 teenagers and young men are believed to have left the Twin Cities for the battlefield in Somalia.

They include Shirwa Ahmed, who on October 29, 2008 killed approximately 20 people in a suicide bombing in the Somali territory of Puntland. He was identified through fingerprints on a severed limb found at the scene. Another was Burhan Hassan, a teenager who disappeared from Minneapolis on November 4, 2008 and was shot and killed in June 2009. His family believes Burhan - who was homesick and wanted to return to the United States – was murdered by al-Shabaab.

Other prominent Americans involved in al-Shabaab include Omar Hammami (AKA Abu Mansur al-Amriki), a U.S. citizen who has become a senior commander for the group, which is affiliated with al Qaida.

Last month, 14 people were indicted on charges of providing money, services and personnel to al-Shabaab. Two of those indicted -Amina Farah Ali and Hawo Mohamed Hassan of Rochester, Minnesota - are accused of raising funds for al-Shabaab while falsely claiming it was money for humanitarian purposes.

Underwear Bomber Fires Attorneys

Failed Christmas Day bomber appeared in federal court for the first time since his arrest on Monday. At a brief hearing during which the charges were formally read, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab fired his attorneys and asked the judge how he could plead guilty.

Following his failed attempt to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253, Abdulmutallab was subdued by other passengers and turned over to law enforcement officials in Detroit. He was charged with six counts, including the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. At the time of his indictment, U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade said:

"the attempted murder of 289 innocent people merits the most serious charges available, and that's what we have charged in this indictment."

Since his arrest, Abdulmutallab has reportedly cooperated with law enforcement officials. Through interrogations with him, the FBI has learned that the attack was plotted by radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, that Abdulmutallab was provided training and explosives in Yemen from al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula; and that there are "others like me" who would be sent to carry out similar attacks.

At his hearing, Abdulmutallab ignored the advice of U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds and dismissed his counsel:

"I prefer to represent myself. Any representation I have, there will always be a conflict of interest…any representation I get would present me in a way that is not in my best interest."

After being appointed standby counsel, Judge Edmunds asked whether there was anything else he wished to say. At that point, Abdulmutallab hinted that he may wish to plead guilty to some of the charges, saying:

"If I want to plead guilty to some counts…basically, how would that go?"

Judge Edmunds did not set a trial date, but a conference has been scheduled for October 14. If he is ultimately convicted of the charges, Abdulmutallab faces life in prison.

Viva Palestina Activist Another 9/11 Conspiracy Theorist

We reported today on the 9/11 conspiracy theories espoused by a close associate of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the man at the center of the Ground Zero mosque effort.

Faiz Khan, a former officer of Rauf's American Society for Muslim Advancement, acknowledges the existence of a militant strand of Islam, but believes 9/11 was "an inside job" in which Muslim terrorists simply may have been patsies.

His suspicions are shared by British Islamist Yvonne Ridley. In an interview with the Tehran Times, Ridley said: "I hate conspiracy theories, but I do believe that the (George W.) Bush administration knew far more about 9/11 in advance of it happening, which is why a full and frank and independent inquiry is needed."

Bin Laden provides the U.S. with "a useful bogeyman" to get what the government wants, Ridley said. Advocates of 9/11 conspiracy theories dismiss videotapes of bin Laden discussing the attacks as fakes:

"If the tapes have been fabricated, it will undoubtedly be a CIA and/or FBI black operation -- some of the latest tapes have been positively way off beam and whacky, which always reveals the hand of U.S. intelligence. They simply cannot convince their target audience because they always go over the top. If we are to believe the last but one tape from Bin Laden, he's now concerned about green issues and the environment! U.S. intelligence think we're all as gullible as the poor American people they con on almost a daily basis."

Ridley has raised money for Viva Palestina (VP), a group founded by ex-British MP George Galloway that has supported Hamas, and she has traveled in VP convoys to Gaza. Ridley also has appeared at fundraisers in the U.S. for the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim American Society in 2002-03.

Report: America Ill-Equipped to Face Evolving Islamic Terrorism Threat

As the United States prepares to mark the ninth anniversary of the September 11^th attacks, a new report says that terrorist threats against the United States have fundamentally changed while American counter-terrorism strategies have stagnated.

The report, "Assessing the Terrorist Threat," was produced by the Bipartisan Policy Center's National Security Preparedness Group, a predecessor to the 9/11 Commission. Detailing the evolving threat from Islamic terrorism, the report explains that al Qaida has shifted from a hierarchical organization with a clear command and control structure, to a more diffuse enemy whose ideology has inspired others globally.

A key shift, according to the report, is that the biggest threat no longer comes from abroad but from within our own borders in the form of homegrown terrorism. As Bruce Hoffman, one of the report's authors, explains:

"We are seeing more Americans turning on their country, going abroad and making common cause with terrorist groups…. The array of perpetrators and the nature of their plots against America are remarkable and there is no single government agency responsible for deterring radicalization and terrorist recruitment. The terrorists may have found our Achilles heel – we have no way of dealing with this growing problem."

Concluding that al Qaida no longer has the ability to launch extraordinary attacks on the scale of September 11, the report argues that the terrorist organization must rely upon smaller attacks which are "almost impossible for the national security and intelligence communities to detect and intercept." The report highlights the failed Christmas Day bombing by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab; the shooting rampage at Fort Hood by Major Nidal Hassan; the thwarted attack on the New York City Subway by Najibullah Zazi; and the Times Square Bombing attempted by Faisal Shahzad.

While each of these cases demonstrates the evolving threat posed by Islamic terrorists, the authors caution against reading too much into the fact that most of the attacks have failed:

"While it is easier to dismiss the threat posed by wannabes who are often snared without difficulty by the authorities, or to discount as aberrations the homicides inflicted by lone gunmen, these incidents show the activities of trained US terrorist operatives who are part of an identifiable organizational command and control structure and are acting on orders from terrorist leaders abroad."

More than simply providing Americans as foot soldiers, the report argues that Americans have taken up leadership positions within al Qaida and its affiliate organizations:

"A key shift in the threat to the homeland since around the time President Barack Obama took office is the increasing 'Americanization' of the leadership of al-Qaeda and aligned groups, and the larger numbers of Americans attaching themselves to these groups."

American leadership—for example Omar Hammami of al Shabaab and Anwar al-Awlaki of al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula—have allowed otherwise regional terrorist groups to expand their area of operations. The report also details the increasing threat posed by al Qaida in Iraq, al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, Lashkar-e Tayyiba, and the Pakistani Taliban.

Recognizing the shifting threat, the report urges the United States to combat the complacency which has begun to set in:

"The American 'melting pot' has not provided a firewall against the radicalization and recruitment of American citizens and residents, though it has arguably lulled us into a sense of complacency that homegrown terrorism couldn't happen in the United States."

Of note, the report explains that the United States must designate an agency that will be responsible for identifying and countering Islamic radicalization in the United States.

Appellate Court Dismisses Private Torture Suit

A closely divided en banc Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed a lawsuit which sought damages from a private company for its alleged role in the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program.

In a 6-5 decision issued Wednesday, the court reversed a lower court ruling that would have allowed a suit against Jeppesen Dataplan to move forward. Five foreign plaintiffs filed suit against Jeppesen in May 2007 claiming that they were rendered by the CIA to the custody of countries such as Egypt and Morocco where they were tortured. According to the plaintiffs, Jeppesen was integral to the operations:

"Jeppesen played an integral role in the forced [abductions and detentions] and provided direct and substantial services to the United States for its so-called 'extraordinary rendition' program…enabling the clandestine and forcible transportation of terrorism suspects to secret overseas detention facilities."

After the complaint was filed, the United States moved to have the case dismissed on the grounds that it would lead to the disclosure of state secrets. In particular, while recognizing that the program itself was no longer a secret, the government argued that there was no way to litigate the case without disclosing:

• Information that would tend to confirm or deny whether Jeppesen or any other private entity assisted the CIA with clandestine intelligence activities;
• Information about whether any foreign government cooperated with the CIA in clandestine intelligence activities;
• Information about the scope or operation of the CIA terrorist detention and interrogation program; or
• Any other information concerning CIA clandestine intelligence operations that would tend to reveal intelligence activities, sources, or methods.

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ISNA Convenes "Emergency" Interfaith Meeting on Anti-Muslim Bias

An "emergency meeting" of Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders met in Washington Tuesday to denounce what they see as anti-Muslim bigotry. The event was put together by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) in conjunction with organizations who included the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism; the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding founded by Rabbi Marc Schneier; the Jewish Council for Public Affairs; and the National Council of Churches. David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, were also among those participating.

The religious leaders said they came together "to denounce categorically the derision, misinformation and outright bigotry being directed against America's Muslim community."

"We believe the best way to uphold America's democratic values is to ensure that Muslims can exercise the same religious freedom enjoyed by everyone in America," the group statement added.

"Freedom of religion is a hallmark of this country," ISNA President Ingrid Mattson told reporters at the National Press Club. It is time to decide "whether we are going to live up to our values."

The coalition's statement denounced what it called "a disturbing rise in discrimination against Muslims." It declared that the current level of "hostility, fear mongering and hate speech is unacceptable and un-American."

There are, to be sure, a few contemptible schemes like this, which have been condemned time and again by people across the political spectrum. But Mattson and company offered no real evidence that any epidemic of anti-Muslim persecution has engulfed the United States or that their religious liberty is in danger.

The absence of evidence didn't prevent ISNA from reaping some public-relations gains. The group issued a press release boasting that after the "emergency interfaith summit," some attendees met with Attorney General Eric Holder to discuss "measures the Attorney General and the Department of Justice can put in place to combat the surging anti-Muslim rhetoric, messages of hate, and acts of violence that have occurred against American Muslims."

At Tuesday's press conference, which was covered by news outlets including the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, Fox News, PBS and Al Jazeerah, the assembled journalists showed negligible interest in whether ISNA or its allies could provide actual evidence of anti-Muslim hatred beyond the actions of a miniscule lunatic fringe.

Notably absent were any questions about ISNA itself, including its historic connections with the Muslim Brotherhood or its status as an unindicted co-conspirator in the trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, whose leaders were convicted of providing $12 million to the terrorist organization Hamas. Veteran reporter Mary Jacoby last month provided this useful primer on questions the media consistently fails to ask about Islamist groups like ISNA.

For her part, Mattson is evasive when questioned about Hamas. At the press conference, the Investigative Project on Terrorism asked her about the refusal of Ground Zero mosque Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf to condemn Hamas. Mattson replied that she was unfamiliar with Rauf's views. "Well then, what are your views on Hamas?" IPT asked. Mattson begged off, saying she had another interview to do.

Canadian Muslim Takes on Islamist Establishment

Radical Islamist ideology, as American Islamic Forum for Democracy founder Zuhdi Jasser often says, can be defeated only Muslims fighting a "war of ideas" among themselves. A new generation of voices, from reformists to a former radical challenging conventional wisdom, is pushing this fight.

Canadian Awad Loubani is the latest to join the fray. Loubani, chairperson of Ottawa's Equity and Diversity Advisory Committee wrote a column in the Ottawa Citizen "How Muslim can help defeat terrorism," that describes the dominance Islamist voices hold over Muslim communities. Loubani encourages law enforcement officials to counter that monopoly by reaching beyond mosque leadership and self-anointed advocacy groups:

"Just like Christian and Jewish faithful, the Muslims too want to hear messages of faith, love, morality, hope, charity, happiness and salvation. But instead, the mosques are hijacked by these ideologues and their entities that use the sacred space for social and political engineering to manipulate vulnerable Muslims to preach their divisive ideology and polarize them into 'them and us.'"

Even those who don't attend mosques are within reach of Islamist groups who set up shop on college campuses and in the community, spreading a message of victimization and alienation. This leaves many Muslims "with no choices," Loubani writes.

Homegrown radicalism is a problem in Canada. Three people were arrested last month for plotting attacks within Canada. And conspirators in the Toronto 18 case await sentencing for plotting a series of attacks on government offices and the stock exchange.

To turn the tide, Loubani argues, some harsh realities need to be faced:

"The seeds of the homegrown radicalism are the numerous Islamic ideologues, activists and their self-serving organizations who have force-grafted themselves to the mosque to veil their political agendas. They are often well-funded, well-educated and well-organized. Thus they are better placed to deal with the politicians and the three levels of government in public. They have seized the real power behind the pulpit."

He advises reporters to "be suspicious of those who rationalize terrorism due to foreign policies, wars, conflicts or poverty and other causes." And people need to better track who is financing different community and charitable efforts, "lest they are usurped by radical Islamist fronts."

Read the full column here.

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