Topic category:  Other/General

by Jim Kouri, CPP

The Islamic terrorists Fifth Column in the US -- no, not the news media, the other Fifth Column -- the Council on American-Islamic Relations is once again at the forefront of mischief-making in their goal of undermining US efforts in combating terrorism.

CAIR is encouraging Muslims to file civil rights complaints and lawsuits if the "feel" they are being discriminated against by US airlines. Citing what it called the "airport profiling" of six imams removed from a recent US Airways flight, CAIR said Muslims traveling this month to the holy site in Saudi Arabia need to be aware of their rights. 

     "Given the increase in the number of complaints CAIR has received alleging airport profiling of American Muslims, we believe it is important that all those taking part in this year's hajj be aware of their legal and civil rights," said Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR spokesman. 

     But M. Zuhdi Jasser, a Phoenix physician and chairman of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD), told the Washington Times that the announcement by CAIR "continues the tired stoking of the flames of victimization." 

     "They are unfortunately exploiting, for purely political reasons, what should be a sacred and purely spiritual story of our faith's annual holy pilgrimage to Mecca," Dr. Jasser said. 

     "We need new leadership and organizations which use their passions and the bandwidth of the media to lead the ideological fight against radical and political Islam rather than this tired pre-emption of supposed discrimination,"  he added.

     CAIR is representing the six imams removed from a US Airways flight last month and has asked for a meeting with the airline to seek an out-of-court settlement. It maintains that police and witness reports detailing the imams unusual behavior before their removal last month were ethnically and/or religiously motivated. 

     The imams say they were praying and did not, as the reports say, change seats and make remarks critical of President Bush and the Iraq war. 

However, according to police reports, the imams exhibited suspicious behavior such as having two imams sit at the front of the plane, two in the center and two in the rear of the aircraft. They also possessed one-way tickets and were loudly speaking Arabic as if to bring attention to themselves. Another Muslim passenger told police that the imams make anti-American comments, as well.

     Pilots and air marshals called the incident a "PC probe" to intimidate passengers and crew from reporting suspicious behavior by Muslim passengers and are fearful the incident will set off a domino effect of lawsuits, according to journalist Sher Zieve, who's been covering radical Islam for several publications. 

A counterterrorism expert told this writer that he believes the incident was a "put up job" planned and implemented with the assistance of CAIR. The goal being to put airport and airline security personnel on the defensive.

     Debra Burlingame, whose brother was the pilot of American Airlines Flight 77 that crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, thinks this is a ploy to extort money from the airlines. 

     "I think CAIR is soliciting complaints, and if they don't get it, they will make it up," said Miss Burlingame, who is also a director for the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation.

  While CAIR continues to portray itself as a moderate organization, its history is filled with red flags that are ignored by the mainstream news media.

According to a report from the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security: The Council on American-Islamic Relations and its employees have combined, conspired, and agreed with third parties, including, but not limited to, the Islamic Association for Palestine , the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, the Global Relief Foundation, and foreign nationals hostile to the interests of the United States, to provide material support to known terrorist organizations, to advance the Hamas agenda, and to propagate radical Islam.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, and certain of its officers, directors, and employees, have acted in support of, and in furtherance of, this conspiracy, said the Senate report.

Dr. Daniel Pipes, a foremost expert on radical Islam and terrorism cites several criminal cases involving CAIR officials:

A senior staff member, Randall Royer a/k/a “Ismail” Royer, pled guilty and was sentenced to twenty years in prison for participating in a network of militant jihadists centered in Northern Virginia.  He admitted to aiding and abetting three persons who sought training in a terrorist camp in Pakistan for the purpose of waging jihad against American troops in Afghanistan.  Royer’s illegal actions occurred while he was employed by CAIR.

Their Director of Public Affairs, Bassem Kafagi was arrested by the US due to his ties with a terror-financing front group.  Khafagi pled guilty to charges of visa and bank fraud, and agreed to be deported to Egypt. Khafagi’s illegal actions occurred while he was employed by CAIR.

Ghassan Elashi, a founder of CAIR Texas chapter and founder of the Holy Land Foundation was arrested by the United States and charged with, making false statements on export declarations, dealing in the property of a designated terrorist organization, conspiracy and money laundering.  Ghassan Elashi committed his crimes while working at CAIR, and was found guilty.

CAIR Board Member Imam Siraj Wahaj, an un-indicted co-conspirator in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, has called for replacing the American government with an Islamic caliphate, and warned that America will crumble unless it accepts Islam.

Whenever CAIR is accused of wrongdoing, their spokesmen are quick to tell Americans that its leadership have been guests at President Bush's White House and that they are regularly consulted by US officials on matters involving homeland security.

Too be sure, the Bush Administration intentionally or unintentionally provides CAIR with cover, but the officials with whom CAIR staff claim they work are usually people such as Rep. John Conyers, a Democrat serving a large Muslim population in Michigan, and a long-time terrorist and Marxist sympathizer. CAIR and other Muslim groups have funneled campaign contributions to Conyers, who in January begins his tenure as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.    

Jim Kouri
Chief of Police Magazine (Contributing Editor)

Biography - Jim Kouri

Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police. He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for a number of organizations. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. He writes for many police and crime magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer, Campus Law Enforcement Journal, and others. He's appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com, Booksamillion.com, and can be ordered at local bookstores. Kouri holds a bachelor of science in criminal justice and master of arts in public administration and he's a board certified protection professional.