Bush’s scary CAIR friends

By Debbie Schlussel

Too bad Patrick Henry isn’t around to advise President Bush.

“We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth,” Henry remarked. “For my part, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst; and to provide for it.”

Though Henry never faced modern-day Islamic terrorists, he was around for other miscreants, known as pirates. And unlike Bush and Colin Powell, neither he nor our other founding fathers consorted with the pirates’ representatives and pro-pirate “civil rights” groups in America. In those days, our leaders didn’t make “Coalitions Against Piracy” with the countries who hosted and harbored pirates. And they didn’t make statements saying that this was not about piracy and pirates, a peaceful group who just wanted to plunder, rape and pillage.

But, unfortunately, as I’ve described in my recent columns, President Bush has invited representatives of the most radical, pro-terrorist Islamic groups in America to pray with him at the National Cathedral, to pray with him at the Washington, D.C., mosque, to sit near Mrs. Bush at the big speech to Congress and to hold hands with him at the White House.

One of those groups, CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations, is among the most dangerous to American security. CAIR is an outgrowth of Hamas front group the Islamic Association of Palestine. Oliver “Buck” Revell was the FBI’s associate director in charge of Investigative and Counter-Intelligence Operations from 1985 to 1991, in charge of all FBI terrorism investigations. “[The Islamic Association of Palestine] is an organization that has directly supported Hamas military goals,” he told Capitol Hill newspaper, “The Hill.” “It is a front organization for Hamas that engages in propaganda for Islamic militants. It has produced videotapes that are very hate-filled, full of vehement propaganda. It is an organization that has supported direct confrontation.” It is also an organization that exists without impingement in Texas.

CAIR’s founder and executive director, Nihad Awad, was IAP’s public relations director (“Muslim-Americans in Mainstream America,” The Link, February-March 2000). Islamic Association of Palestine’s publications, including Muslim World Monitor – of which Awad was contributing editor – and Al-Zaitonah, frequently praise terrorist actions.

Awad was the gentleman with the neatly trimmed beard, sitting a couple seats from Mrs. Bush at the president’s big speech to Congress and standing next to Bush at several events, including the D.C. mosque and National Cathedral services. IAP and CAIR, according to Revell, had “intertwined membership” and CAIR used IAP propaganda materials.

Incidentally, Awad – for mysterious reasons – appears to have changed his name. On CAIR’s 1994 IRS form 990, he is listed as “CAIR Executive Director Nehad A. Hammad.” And then there is the similarity in staff.

Besides Awad, CAIR Director of Communications Ibrahim Hooper also worked for IAP. Rafeeq Jaber, IAP’s current president, was a founding director of CAIR.

CAIR’s funding comes from groups like the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. When it was founded in 1994, CAIR received its original $5,000 from HLF. Mohammed Nimer, director of CAIR’s Research Center, was on the Board of United Association for Studies and Research (UASR), the strategic arm of Hamas in the U.S., according to the New York Times. It was founded by Mousa Abu Marzook, the political chief of Hamas and a well-known terrorist operative.

Awad, in the Muslim World Monitor, called the trial and conviction of the first World Trade Center (WTC) bombers, “a travesty of justice.” He has openly expressed his support for terrorist groups, like Hamas. “I am in support of the Hamas movement,” he said at a 1994 Barry University panel discussion, “The Road to Peace: The Challenge of the Middle East.” He’s also openly praised Ayatollah Khomeini. Remember him – the guy who directed the taking of U.S. hostages in Iran?

Hooper, echoing the Taliban government, has always refused to condemn Osama bin Laden. In a 1998 aol.com interview, after the bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa, Hooper said the bombings were a result of “misunderstanding of both sides.” Today, he still will not condemn bin Laden, only the attacks on the WTC. Hooper also defended Arab Muslim Sudan’s murder of over two million black Christian citizens and the slavery, rape and torture of millions more, dismissing it as “inter-tribal hostage-taking.”

Imam Siraj Wahaj, a CAIR board member, is one of the most respected American Muslim leaders and is vice president of the Islamic Society of North America. But, according to Islamic expert Dr. Daniel Pipes, he “calls for replacing the U.S. government with a caliphate.” Wahhaj was a character witness for Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman, the Muslim cleric convicted of taking part in the first WTC bombing and planning to blow up U.S. buildings and bridges. Wahaj was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in that case. According to Salon.com, in a 1991 speech before the Islamic Association of North Texas, Wahaj called Operation Desert Storm, “one of the most diabolical plots ever in the annals of history” and predicted that America will fall unless it “accepts the Islamic agenda.”

CAIR’s demand for the removal of an anti-bin Laden billboard (that merely declared him “the sworn enemy”) in Los Angeles, and its protest of the FBI, INS and Customs raid are minor compared to its strong Oval Office connections. It’s hard to believe that President Bush pronounced “Islam is Peace” while surrounding himself with the least peaceful representatives of it in America.

Long John Silver and other pirates were a lot less successful because they didn’t have groups like CAIR furthering their cause. Silver only had a wooden leg and an eyepatch to show for his efforts.

Today’s terrorists have full entr?e into the White House.

Correction: The original version of this column erroneously stated that the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development “is on the State Department terrorist list.” That statement is not true. WorldNetDaily regrets the error.

Debbie Schlussel

Debbie Schlussel is a political commentator and attorney. She is a frequent guest on ABC's "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher" and Fox News Channel. Click here to participate in an online discussion group of Debbie's commentary, and here to join the unofficial Debbie Schlussel Fan Club. Read more of Debbie Schlussel's articles here.