Posted on 10/14/2001 5:11:03 PM PDT by Doctor Raoul
Rep. McKinney to headline Muslim fundraiser
By Alexander Bolton
On Sunday, Oct. 7, Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) will headline a fundraiser for a Muslim political group that terrorism experts say has ties to militant Islamic organizations operating in the United States.
The group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), is dedicated to advancing Muslim causes on Capitol Hill and in the media and has opened a political action committee within the last year.
Since the beginning of last October, the number of Muslim PACs has doubled from three to six as the number of Muslims in this country has grown. Many are immigrants and first-generation Americans.
McKinney failed to respond to telephoned requests for comment.
The political clout of the Muslim community is especially important now when anti-Islamic sentiment in the country threatens to grow as a result of last month’s attacks on New York and the Pentagon that law enforcement officials suspect was the work of militant Islamic fundamentalists.
Government officials are already pressing for anti-terrorism legislation that would likely impinge upon the freedoms of law-abiding Muslims and the United States.
But the ability of pro-Muslim PACs and lobbyists to defend Muslim rights on Capitol Hill may be undermined by the past relationship of CAIR to the militant Islamic group Hamas.
The military wing of Hamas is responsible for numerous acts of terrorism in Israel.
At one time, CAIR’s executive director, Nihad Awad, worked for the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP). Oliver Revell, the former associate deputy director of investigations at the FBI, who headed terrorism investigations for the bureau from 1985 to 1991, says IAP is a front group for Hamas operating in the United States.
“It is an organization that has directly supported Hamas military goals,” he said. “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.”
Revell said that IAP and CAIR have had “intertwined membership in the past” and that CAIR has used materials produced by the IAP.
For example, Rafeeq Jaber, the current president of IAP, was one of the founding directors of CAIR, though he says he is no longer affiliated with the organization.
CAIR’s spokesman, Ibrahim Hooper, said Awad, the group’s executive director, worked at IAP “years ago,” but denied any current affiliation between CAIR and IAP or the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR). Hooper said IAP is a legal organization. Jabar said he terminated his position with CAIR in 1996.
CAIR also has ties to another group that has been identified in the press as a domestic political wing of Hamas.
CAIR’s director of research, Mohamed Nimer, worked for the UASR in the early 1990s. And UASR’s director of media and public affairs, Anisa Abd el Fattah, also serves on the board of CAIR.
Anti-terrorism expert Steven Emerson, who exposed a number of links between CAIR and pro-militant Islamic groups in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism in 1998, then described UASR as “the strategic arm of Hamas in the United States.”
The founding member of UASR, Dr. Mousa Abu Marzook, became the head of Hamas’ political bureau in Jordan after leaving the organization, according to Fattah.
A New York Times article dated February 1993 quoted a convicted Hamas operative describing UASR, located in Virginia, as “the political command of Hamas in the United States.”
Emerson said even though the groups may not be officially linked, their common origin deserves scrutiny.
“Their mutual origins show they were born of the same parent,” he said. “They were ideologically tethered at birth and continue to be ideologically tethered. … [To say they are not connected] is like saying families sprung from a Mafia family and sprouted off into independence are no longer connected to the Mafia.”
Nimer, CAIR’s research director, said he ended his affiliation with UASR in 1993 and has not contacted the group in years. He said it was unfair to impugn him for his past connections.
“[To say] A knows B and B knows C and C has met with D, that is a shoddy type of research,” said Nimer. “I’m a highly regarded researcher. I have had tremendous impetus on how to situate the American Muslim community in mainstream America.”
Fattah said her organization does not have any official relationship with CAIR other than her position on their board of directors, a position she says she holds in name only.
“We have no relationship other than we are all Muslims,” she said. “We have worked together because we have been subjected to a common type of attack.” Fattah said the “pro-Israel lobby” has played up links between her group and Hamas “to discredit Muslim associations” and called the methods “shady.”
“Both [sides in the Holy Land] are guilty of very horrible things,” she said. “The situation is out of control. It’s going to require that there are two perspectives present. We represent the other side.”
Before the Senate Terrorism Subcommittee, Emerson testified that IAP had distributed terrorist recruitment videos that showed Hamas fighters preparing machine guns and Molotov cocktails and boasting about killing Jewish collaborators.
Jabar said his organization only distributes news videos and likens IAP to “NBC News” and “Sixty Minutes.”
“How would they be training videos?” asked Jabar. “Do you think the FBI would be standing still? Don’t you think we would be closed by now? We’ve never been questioned by the FBI or any authority.”
But Revell, who used to head investigative and intelligence operations for the FBI, said the agency is powerless to do anything.
“The bureau has no authority to shut down IAP for engaging in First Amendment-protected activities,” he said. “Free speech is not subject to scrutiny even if it is hateful.”
CAIR’s Ibrahim says his organization’s critics have their own agenda.“[Emerson] has been the attack dog of the pro-Israel lobby,” he said. “When they want to attack somebody, they send him in. Who pays Steven Emerson?” Emerson and Revell have denied ever taking money from an Israeli or Jewish group.
Though pro-Muslim groups have doubled the number of PACs under their control, their contributions to Congress are dwarfed by Jewish and pro-Israel PACs.
Of six operating Muslim-affiliated PACs identified by Political Finance, a monthly newsletter published by Edward Zuckerman, only three donated money to politicians in the last election cycle. They raised just under $200,000.
By contrast, 35 Jewish and Israeli PACs raised over $3.8 million.
Surprise, surprise, surprise.
I have onw word for Ms. McKinney: Traitor.
As President Bush said, you are either with us, or you are against us.
Catherine McKinney, D-GA is against us. She is a domestic enemy of the United States, pure and simple.
She was too busy with visions of dollar signs dancing in her head.
Democraps will sink to ANY sewer level.
Phew!
http://www.narconews.com/mckinneyletter.html
I aint gonna host it - yeeechh
That being said, it is sad to see a member of Congress who is so amazingly stupid. For the title Queen of Idiots, she really does rival Sheila Jackson-do-you-know-WHO-I-AM-Lee, the representative from Mars.
WASHINGTON - April 16 - Upon hearing of reports that NATO bombs hit refugees in Kosovo, Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-GA-4th), Member of the International Relations and Armed Services Committees, questions the effectiveness of our bombing campaign now that innocent civilians have been hit. Milosevic's plan for ethnic cleansing has almost been completed, and the pro-democracy movement against Milosevic has nearly been scuttled.
"This is not a shining moment for NATO," says Congresswoman McKinney. "This was a deadly mistake. The U.S. -led NATO bombing campaign has moving targets from Kosovo down the Belgrade, in an ill-defined war with roving missions and policy outcomes. How can I vote to send my constituents to fight in such an ill-conceived war?"
NATO said that an investigation shows that a bomb that hit a civilian vehicle in a convoy in Kosovo was dropped form an alliance aircraft. NATO also states that Serb police or military may have been in or around the area.
A temporary peace plan offered by the Germans would offer a suspension of airstrikes against Yugoslavia if Belgrade would begin withdrawing its troops from Kosovo. It also reverses the U.S.-led insistence that NATO lead any postwar peacekeeping force in Kosovo. Congresswoman McKinney says this is a step in the right direction.
"Any talk of peace or a cease fire is encouraging. We need to cut our losses and exchange bombs for peace mediators. Bill Clinton has taken one step too many on the slippery slope towards war. Is this the way NATO wants to celebrate it's Fiftieth Anniversary, bombing civilians in an undeclared war for constantly changing goals?" asks Congresswoman McKinney.
Campaigning for even MORE terrorist cash? Sounds like a Hillary clone!
Washington, DC August 31, 2001
I thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to meet with me at your office in the hectic days before the Congressional recess. I felt it was a positive and productive meeting, opening an important line of communication between us. I am looking forward to visiting your new district office in Georgia when I am in your state in September.
In the spirit of the candid dialogue that we have initiated and consistent with your invitation, I wanted to address the inaccuracies contained in some of the recent statements that you have included the Congressional Record concerning India.
As I mentioned in our meeting, the argument that "the talks between Pakistan and India ended with no agreement due to India's intransigence" is not factually correct. The initiative for the summit meeting was taken by the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, who invited President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan to come to India to discuss a wide range of issues facing the two nations, including the issue of Jammu & Kashmir. It was not India’s intransigence which created the impasse but Pakistan’s insistence on a single-point agenda and its refusal to incorporate references to cross-border terrorism and the Simla and Lahore Agreements. We have reiterated our commitment to continue the bilateral dialogue. Our Prime Minister has agreed to meet President Musharraf at New York in September and to visit Pakistan for another round of discussions.
During our meeting I had also begged to differ with your statement that "India itself is responsible for terrorism against its own people," and the erroneous claims you have made accusing the Government of India of heinous acts– ranging from the massacre of villagers in Kashmir to the blowing up of an Indian air passenger jet. This is patently untrue and without any basis. I would urge you not to accept unverified reports from dubious organizations and draw your conclusions from independent and objective sources. The US State Department's ‘Patterns of Global Terrorism 2000’ report issued in April 2001 clearly recognizes that India is a victim of cross-border terrorism.
The situation in the State of Punjab had returned to normal several years ago, and a coalition government led by a major Sikh political party governs the State at present. With its strong record of democracy and tolerance for its many diverse religious and ethnic communities, India has suffered from the ravages of terrorism to a degree virtually unparalleled elsewhere. Much of this terrorism has been directed and sponsored by forces outside India, intent on trying to destabilise the multi-cultural democracy that the people of India have worked so hard to sustain.
I hope it will be possible for you to visit India to see for yourself the situation on the ground. This would also give you an opportunity to witness the many strides made by India in agriculture, industry and frontier areas of modern science, including information technology and bio-technology.
I look forward to the pleasure of meeting you again.
Yours sincerely, (Lalit Mansingh)
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