Show Me The Money, Again and Again

It's often useful, when presented with an argument that sounds facile or counterintuitive, to look at the messenger with a close focus on where [s]he gets his paycheck. This is a very good principle to follow in the case of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and its opposition to 'racial profiling' on the New York subways. As this excellent piece from Investor's Business Daily (hat tip to Little Green Footballs and Power Line) points out:

[CAIR's national spokesman Ibrahim] Hooper is also on record claiming CAIR receives no "support from any overseas group or government." But land records revealed in the book "Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington" put the lie to that claim.

It turns out that an anti-Israeli foundation run by the crown prince of Dubai owns the very deed to CAIR's headquarters located almost in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol. The foundation has held telethons to support families of Palestinian suicide bombers.

Who else might be providing support to CAIR? Don't look to the organization istelf for transparency:

CAIR's funding for a campaign to place pro-Islamic texts in public libraries throughout the country has been identified as coming in part from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, a member of the extremist Wahhabi sect of Islam. Who else is funding CAIR? What are their backgrounds? What specifically is CAIR doing in exchange for the money?

Still, this is all pretty mild so far. Aren't most Saudi royals Wahhabis? The deed owned by an anti-Israel foundation? Perhaps you're underwhelmed. How about we throw in some direct ties to Hamas?

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."

Given the above history, pardon me if I don't treat CAIR's concerns with enough, ahem, care...