Who is CAIR?

Mr. Wolf, a Republican, represents the 10th District of Virginia in the U. S. House of Representatives. Congressman Frank Wolf of Virginia delivered the above speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives today, Friday, June 12, 2009.

MADAM SPEAKER, As ranking member on the Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations subcommittee, which last week considered the FY 2010 appropriations bill, I have a keen interest in and oversight responsibility for a host of counterterrorism-related initiatives. The bill, which is expected to come before the full House next week, includes $7.7 billion to support the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), whose top priorities include protecting and defending the United States against terrorism and foreign intelligence threats.

The FBI was intimately involved in a 15-year investigation which culminated last fall in the Holy Land Foundation and five of its former organizers being found guilty of illegally funneling more than $12 million to the terrorist group Hamas.

A Department of Justice press release issued May 27, 2009, reported that "U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis sentenced the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) and five of its leaders following their convictions by a federal jury in November 2008 on charges of providing material support to Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization."The sentences ranged from 15 years to 65 years in prison.

According to the Department of Justice, "From its inception, HLF existed to support Hamas....The government's case included testimony that in the early 1990's, Hamas' parent organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, planned to establish a network of organizations in the U.S. to spread a militant Islamist message and raise money for Hamas...The defendants sent HLF-raised funds to Hamas-controlled zakat committees and charitable societies in the West Bank and Gaza."

Among the unindicted co-conspirators in the case is an organization which over the last several years has been granted access to the highest levels of the U.S. government -- an organization which is routinely elevated in the press as the voice of mainstream Muslim Americans.This organization is the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR.

Tawik Hamid, according to his bio, is an "Islamic thinker and reformer, and one-time Islamic extremist from Egypt. He was a member of a terrorist Islamic organization Jemaah Islamiya, with Dr. Aiman Al-Zawaherri who became later on the second in command of Al-Queda."
In a May 25, 2007 Wall Street Journal op-ed Hamid wrote, "In America, perhaps the most conspicuous organization to persistently accuse opponents of Islamophobia is the Council of [sic] American Islamic Relations."

The observations of Mr. Tawik, himself a Muslim, are particularly relevant in light of recent news reports.

The whole speech is available at: http://www.rightsidenews.com/200906135139/homeland-security/who-is-cair-...