Soccer Dad

Any Punch To Boxer's Withdrawl From CAIR?

According to Andrew McCarthy, As the Bush administration squanders a trust, Democrats prepare a new “Sister Souljah Moment.” McCarthy goes to town on a webpage on the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) website: CAIR Welcomes TSA Hajj Sensitivity Training:

As if snuggling up to CAIR, coercing our law-enforcement and intelligence professionals to endure CAIR’s Islamic “sensitivity training,” and inviting CAIR to weigh in on our nation’s foreign policy were not enough, we now have a Bush-administration agency publishing an unedited CAIR press release on publicly subsidized, official government Internet space.

In this instance, right under TSA’s emblem and a memorial banner depicting the late President Gerald R. Ford, Americans were treated to a news announcement beneath the big blue headline, “CAIR Welcomes TSA Hajj Sensitivity Training.” If you have the stomach for it, compare this TSA posting to the official CAIR press release from which it cribbed. They are identical.

The issue is more than CAIR getting some free advertising.
McCarthy is steamed because on the TSA website:

o Nowhere, for example, does the TSA, a key component of the Bush Homeland Security Cabinet Department, mention a word about CAIR’s embryonic ties to Hamas — a designated foreign terrorist organization under U.S. law since 1995.

o Nowhere does the TSA explain that when CAIR was founded in 1994, part of the seed money came from the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLFRD). The assets of HLFRD were frozen in 2001 based on the U.S. Treasury Department’s conclusion that it provided “millions of dollars annually that is used by HAMAS.”

o Nowhere does the TSA say a thing about the several persons connected to CAIR who have been convicted of federal felonies, including terrorism offenses.

o Nowhere does the TSA mention that CAIR vigorously opposed the Patriot Act, just like it agitates against all sensible national-security measures.

o And nowhere does the TSA tell Americans about CAIR’s transparent efforts to thwart the FBI’s routine investigative and intelligence-gathering activities.

On the other hand, McCarthy believes the Democrats--after routing the Republicans in the past election--"are mobilizing in a different direction with the 2008 campaign already in swing":

Newsweek reports that, in California, Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer has just rescinded the “certificate of accomplishment” her office awarded (she says, without her knowledge) to Basim Elkarra. Why? Because of Elkarra’s close association with CAIR, for whose Sacramento office he is executive director. According to Newsweek, Boxer’s press spokeswoman said the senator “‘expressed concern’ about some past statements and actions by the group, as well as assertions by some law enforcement officials that it ‘gives aid to international terrorist groups[.]’”

Boxer indicated that she had been “influenced by previous critical statements about CAIR made by her Democratic colleagues Sens. Richard Durbin of Illinois and Charles Schumer of New York.” She’s right. As Pipes notes, “Senator Charles Schumer ... describes [CAIR] as an organization ‘which we know has ties to terrorism.’... Senator Dick Durbin ... observes that CAIR is ‘unusual in its extreme rhetoric and its associations with groups that are suspect.’”

Good for Boxer--it is great that she publicly took a stand against a group as powerful and outspoken as CAIR. But if she was influenced by comments made over 3 years ago, why is she only speaking out now?

Keep in mind that Schumer and Durbin made their comments back in September 2003
Why haven't they--or anyone else on either side of the aisle--followed up?

The Newsweek article quotes David Horowitz, whose website, Frontpage, apparently is the one that clued Boxer’s onto CAIR: “I’m pleased that Boxer listened to us. The fact that Democrats are finally waking up is good.”

It would be great if this turnaround among the Democrats extends to more than just Boxer--like maybe Congressman John Conyers, whose House Resolution 288 condemns religious intolerance in general but singles out and stresses protecting Moslems--despite the greater threat of rising Antisemitism as opposed to the lesser threat of anti-Islam bigotry. Conyers' bill goes so far as to threaten to limit the ability to security professionals in enforcing airline safety--a bill fully supported by House Speaker Pelosi.

Let's hope that both Republicans and Democrats follow Boxer's lead, and this does not end up being just one more story about CAIR that becomes neglected and forgotten.

Technorati Tag: Senator Barbara Boxer and CAIR and Democrats and Republicans.