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Bad CAIR day: Ex-staffer pleads guilty to terror charges, Senate asks questions on 9/11 anniversary
The Center for Security Policy ^ | September 13, 2003

Posted on 09/13/2003 5:07:02 AM PDT by veronica

The second anniversary of the 9/11 attacks was a bad day for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which has been struggling to overcome its reputation as a front group for Islamist terrorists.

Senators at a September 10 terrorism and homeland security hearing ripped into CAIR for its ties to the Hamas suicide bombers.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, on the same day CAIR’s former community affairs director pled guilty to committing bank and visa fraud while running an Islamic charity that the US calls a front for associates of Osama bin Laden.

CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad canceled his appearance as a witness at the hearing, held by Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security Chairman Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.). Awad hid behind a written statement on which the Senators could not cross-examine him.

Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) assailed CAIR for “having intimate connections with Hamas, a group that receives substantial funding from Saudi Arabia and subscribes to Wahhabist teachings,” and criticized the group for not showing up. Said Schumer, "I wish they had taken us up on our invitation so they could explain themselves."

Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) called CAIR “unusual in its extreme rhetoric and its associations with groups that are suspect.” He said he hoped that in future terrorism hearings, “mainstream groups of Muslim Americans that are fully supportive of our war on terrorism” would be invited to testify.

The hearing was the second in a planned series that Senator Kyl has designed to explore how Wahhabi money and direction is building a terrorist infrastructure in the United States. He called for the government and all Americans to “improve our ability to ‘connect the dots’ between terrorists and their supporters and sympathizers.”


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 2ndanniversary; americanmuslims; cair; front; hamas; islamism; islamists; kyl; militantislam; moneytrail; senatehearings; sympathizers; wahhabilobby

1 posted on 09/13/2003 5:07:02 AM PDT by veronica
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To: veronica
...struggling to overcome its reputation as a front group for Islamist terrorists.

Reputation?

2 posted on 09/13/2003 5:10:19 AM PDT by mewzilla
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To: veronica
Democrats wailing on the American Wahhabi Lobby? Well, glory be. Never thought I'd see it. Good for them. (But how many of them were using CAIR's misquotes and mischaraterizations to smear Daniel Pipes just a month ago?)
3 posted on 09/13/2003 5:16:32 AM PDT by Stultis
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To: veronica
As if that wasn’t bad enough, on the same day CAIR’s former community affairs director pled guilty to committing bank and visa fraud while running an Islamic charity that the US calls a front for associates of Osama bin Laden.

... and, remember: the Dems/libs all sniveled and squawked over Daniel Pipes soberly warning us of precisely this... :)

4 posted on 09/13/2003 5:18:40 AM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle ("The Clintons have damaged our country. They have done it together, in unison." -- Peggy Noonan)
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To: veronica
Senator Kyl's Press Release (PDF link to his opening statement available at source):
http://www.senate.gov/~kyl/record.cfm?id=211016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 10, 2003

CONTACT:
Matthew Latimer or
Andrew Wilder, (202) 224-4521

Kyl Committee Hears Details on Saudi Funding for Terrorist-linked Groups in the United States
Experts Discuss Saudi Assistance to Wahhabi-backed Groups in U.S. and Abroad

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Nearly two years to the day since the September 11 attacks, U.S. Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security, today heard testimony from experts on the level of Saudi financial support for terrorist-connected activities in the United States.

“To defeat terrorism, we must not only go after the terrorists themselves, but also track, expose, and cut off terrorists’ access to financial and logistical support,” said Kyl. “Today’s hearing is part of a continuing effort to connect the dots between the horrific attacks of two years ago and those who supported the attackers.”

Witnesses testifying today include Simon Henderson, a former journalist and founder of SaudiSrategies, based in the United Kingdom. Henderson, a recognized expert on the Saudi government, will expose the history of Wahhabist activity in the Saudi Kingdom, culminating in its current role in financing terror. He will outline a number of Saudi entities, some run by the government, that are involved in financing terror around the world.

Matt Epstein, a terrorism expert and lawyer specializing in terror finance and Assistant Director with the Investigative Project in Washington, D.C. Mr. Epstein will outline a network of radical American Muslim organizations that have shown sympathy, coordination, and support for terrorist activities. One example he will point to is the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Representatives of CAIR were invited to testify, but declined to appear.

Additionally, Matthew Levitt, a Senior Fellow in Terrorism Studies at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former FBI terror analyst, provided written testimony outlining how Wahhabist organizations in the United States have attempted to disrupt Congressional passage of anti-terrorism legislation.

5 posted on 09/13/2003 5:28:01 AM PDT by Stultis
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To: veronica
Awad hid behind a written statement on which the Senators could not cross-examine him.

Doesn't Congress still have subpoena power? USE IT!
6 posted on 09/13/2003 5:29:02 AM PDT by TomGuy
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To: veronica
Wait, what gives with the quotes? Schumer and Durbin aren't on this subcommittee:
http://judiciary.senate.gov/subcommittees/technology.cfm

Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security
Jurisdiction: (1) Oversight of anti-terrorism enforcement and policy; (2) Oversight of Department of Homeland Security functions as they relate to anti-terrorism enforcement and policy; (3) Oversight of State Department consular operations as they relate to anti-terrorism enforcement and policy; (4) Oversight of laws related to government information policy, electronic privacy and security of computer information, Freedom of Information Act; (5) Oversight of encryption policies and export licensing; (6) Oversight of espionage laws and their enforcement.

Membership: (6:5)


Republican Members

Jon Kyl, AZ (Chairman)
Orrin G. Hatch, UT
Arlen Specter, PA
Mike DeWine, OH
Jeff Sessions, AL
Saxby Chambliss, GA

Democrat Members

Dianne Feinstein, CA (Ranking Democrat)
Edward M. Kennedy, MA
Joseph R. Biden, Jr., DE
Herbert Kohl, WI
John Edwards, NC


SENIOR STAFF
Stephen Higgins, Majority Chief Counsel
David Hantman , Democratic Chief Counsel



U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security
224 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510



Majority Office Phone (202) 224-6791
Majority Office Fax (202) 228-0542

Democratic Office Phone (202) 224-4933
Democratic Office Fax (202) 224-9516

7 posted on 09/13/2003 5:42:50 AM PDT by Stultis
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To: veronica
Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) assailed CAIR for “having intimate connections with Hamas, a group that receives substantial funding from Saudi Arabia and subscribes to Wahhabist teachings,” and criticized the group for not showing up. Said Schumer, "I wish they had taken us up on our invitation so they could explain themselves."

If Schumer is saying this then the gig is up. CAIR is toast.

8 posted on 09/13/2003 5:43:00 AM PDT by randog (Everything works great 'til the current flows.)
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To: veronica
take these same congress critters hang them upside down and shake them a bit
and see how much oil money falls out....
CAIR isnt the only Wahhabi "Money Store"....these organisations have been proliferating on US soil for years....
Congress may get rid of one or two for show...like Saudi Arabia gets rid of terrorists...
for show...
9 posted on 09/13/2003 5:56:35 AM PDT by joesnuffy (Moderate Islam Is For Dilettantes)
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To: randog
O.K., apparently Schumer and Durbin made statements before the committee. The following page has the statements, as well as those from the previous hearings. (I'd love to have the full transcript to see what Kennedy had to say. He quoted CAIR to smear Pipes during his hearing.)

http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/index.jsp?section=static&page=judhrgs03

From Chuckie. I hadn't heard about this!

Prominent members of the Saudi royal family – including Prince Naif, Saudi Arabia’s Interior Minister and anti-terror czar – have set up charities that funnel money to Wahhabi madrassah schools throughout the Middle East and Pakistan, making these areas hotbeds of anti-American sentiment and extremism.

Naif is a particularly bad seed. He’s made comments insisting that Zionists were responsible for 9-11 and claimed that Saudis citizens could not have been involved in the attack, even after the Saudi government admitted that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi.

He also oversees the Saudi Committee for the Support of the Al Quds Intifadah, which, like Saddam Hussein, has provided families of terrorists with millions of dollars through specially designated bank accounts. It seems impossible to expect cooperation in the War on Terror from someone who sponsors extremist and hateful religious belief and encourages terrorist actions. After the bombing of the Khobar Towers in 1998 that killed 19 Americans, it was Naif who single-handedly prevented the trial of 13 Saudis indicted for the crime.

Even as I speak, he appears to be up to his old tricks as reports indicate that Saudi officials have for months denied American agents access to a Saudi with knowledge of extensive plans to release poison gas into the New York City subway system.

It boggles my mind that on the eve of the second anniversary of September 11th, we cannot access someone who may have knowledge of a new 9-11 in the making, all because of the intimate relationship Saudi bigwigs have with extremist Wahhabi clerics.

That’s why I wrote to the Saudi Arabian ambassador Prince Bandar in July calling for Naif’s dismissal. Sadly, I was rudely dismissed. Earlier this week, I wrote to Secretary Powell asking him to make Naif’s removal part of US policy toward Saudi Arabia. I eagerly await the Secretary’s response. There are indications that Prince Sultan, the Saudi Defense Minister, may also be involved in activities similar to Naif since he has also set up charities that send money abroad for apparently humanitarian purposes.


10 posted on 09/13/2003 5:58:51 AM PDT by Stultis
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To: veronica
CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad canceled his appearance as a witness at the hearing...

Had a flight to catch?

11 posted on 09/13/2003 6:06:35 AM PDT by randog (Everything works great 'til the current flows.)
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To: Heuristic Hiker
It's about time that CAIR was exposed.
12 posted on 09/13/2003 5:51:19 PM PDT by Utah Girl
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To: veronica
The Wahhabi Fifth Column
By Susan Katz Keating
FrontPageMagazine.com | December 30, 2002
13 posted on 09/14/2003 6:16:17 AM PDT by risk
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To: veronica
Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) assailed CAIR for “having intimate connections with Hamas, a group that receives substantial funding from Saudi Arabia and subscribes to Wahhabist teachings,”

Why does Bush force us towards Schumer's side on this? Why does this Administration, which has an otherwise impeccable record, have such a demented policy towards our Saudi enemy and its vassal entity, the "Palestinian" Authority?

Bush, Powell and Rice are all alone on the Saudis and the "Roadmap". The entire GOP leadership, rank and file and Christian Concervative base opposes it, as does much of the Democrat side. Why is Bush compelled to push for a terrorist bulkhead inside Israel?

14 posted on 09/14/2003 6:28:45 AM PDT by montag813
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