Peter King on Terror Operatives in America

4 Responses to Peter King on Terror Operatives in America

1. Pie Guevara says:

   Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 1:29 pm

   It is nice to know that some people in the government take home grown and foreign state sponsored Islamic terrorism seriously. The terrorist cover/support group CAIR must be in conniptions.
2. Chris says:

   Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 4:42 pm

   What isn’t so nice is that no one takes seriously the fact that Peter King himself is a known supporter of terrorism.

   IMO, there ought to be a law that no one who has contributed to or voiced support for a terrorist group should be allowed to hold public office.

   Pie, you claim that CAIR is a “terrorist cover/support group,” but there is far more evidence of King supporting terrorism than there is of CAIR doing the same. This is a gigantic double standard on your part.

   Peter King isn’t against terrorism as long as he agrees with the terrorists. He is a hypocrite, a defender of murder, and a disgrace to our nation.

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_T._King#Support_for_the_IRA

   King actively supported the Irish republican movement in the 1980s, and frequently traveled to Northern Ireland to meet with senior members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, many of whom he counted as friends.[7][17] King compared Sinn Fin leader Gerry Adams to George Washington and asserted that the “British government is a murder machine”,[18] but he did not meet Gerry Adams until 1984, four years after his open support for the IRA began.[19]

   He became involved with NORAID, an organization that the British, Irish and U.S. governments had accused of financing IRA activities and providing them with weapons.[7][20][21][22] Regarding the 30 years of violence during which the IRA killed over 1,700 people, including over 600 civilians, King said, “If civilians are killed in an attack on a military installation, it is certainly regrettable, but I will not morally blame the IRA for it”.[23] He also called the IRA “the legitimate voice of occupied Ireland.”[24]

   Speaking at a pro-IRA rally in 1982 in Nassau County, New York, King pledged support to “those brave men and women who this very moment are carrying forth the struggle against British imperialism in the streets of Belfast and Derry.”[7][25] In 1985, as Grand Marshall of New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day parade, he again offered words of support for the IRA.[26]

   A Northern Irish judge ejected King from his courtroom, describing King as “an obvious collaborator with the IRA”.[7] Although some organizations reported that King was banned from appearing on British TV for his pro-IRA views and refusing to condemn IRA activity, he was merely not interviewed.[7]

   In 1993, King lobbied for Gerry Adams to be a guest at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton.[26] In 2000, he called then-presidential candidate George W. Bush a tool of “anti-Catholic bigoted forces,” after Bush visited Bob Jones University in South Carolina, described by King as “an institution that is notorious in Ireland for awarding an honorary doctorate to Northern Ireland’s tempestuous Protestant leader, Ian Paisley.”[7]

   King stopped supporting the IRA after being offended by Irish public opposition to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq,[7] but in 2008, King spoke in favor of bail for a fugitive IRA member, Pl Brennan, who had escaped from prison in the UK 15 years earlier during the Maze Prison escape, and who had been apprehended in Texas.[27][28]

   At a September 2011 hearing in England concerning terrorism, King said that the IRA used British torture as a recruiting tool, but that it has no parallels with American treatment of suspects after 9/11. Labour MP David Winnick commented to King that “theres been some surprise in the United States but also in Britain that you have a job looking into and investigating into terrorism” and added that King “seems to be an apologist for terrorism.” [29]
3. Tina says:

   Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 10:28 pm

   I made a few comments about King on another post and won’t repeat here.

   Chris to Pie: “you claim that CAIR is a “terrorist cover/support group,” but there is far more evidence of King supporting terrorism than there is of CAIR doing the same.”

   AS far as you know. The government has evidence. History, once thirty or forty years have passed, might reveal more than you will be comfortable with once it all comes out…if we (America) are still here.

   I found the following ecvidence about CAIR in a little over an hour:

   CAIR remains an unindicted co-conspirator. The AAG featured below serves under the Obama administration.

   http://www.investigativeproject.org/1854/doj-cairs-unindicted-co-conspirator-status-legit

   Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich sent the letter last month to four members of Congress who asked for details last fall on how CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the terror-finance trial against the Holy Land Foundation and its former officials.
   He included trial transcripts and exhibits “which demonstrated a relationship among CAIR, individual CAIR founders, and the Palestine Committee. Evidence was also introduced that demonstrated a relationship between the Palestine Committee and HAMAS, which was designated as a terrorist organization in 1995.”

   Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, and trial exhibits show the Brotherhood created the Palestine Committee. CAIR officials adamantly deny any involvement with either Hamas or the Muslim Brotherhood. The Weich letter, however, shows that the Department of Justice has not wavered in its conclusion that the internal records it possesses prove a connection.

   See Welchs letter dated February 12, 2012 here:

   http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/360.pdf

   http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/11/027781.php

   Initially, CAIR protested its inclusion on the governments unindicted co-conspirator list. It moved before Federal Judge Jorge Solis, who tried the Holy Land Foundation case, to have its name, and those of the other unindicted parties, expunged from the governments list. It also asked the court to find that its Fifth Amendment rights had been violated by the governments public filing of the list.

   Judge Solis issued an order in response to CAIRs motion (and that of two other parties) on July 1, 2009. That order was not made public until it was affirmed by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals last month. Now, in response to the 5th Circuits order, Judge Solis has unsealed his opinionJudge Solis found that the government should have filed the list of unindicted co-conspirators under seal, even though testimony in the trial itself that identified CAIR and the other parties was publicly available.

   However, Judge Solis denied CAIRs motion to be expunged from the list on the ground that that the government had presented sufficient evidence at trial to justify CAIRs designation as an undicted co-conspirator.

   http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/251111/unindicted-coconspirators-andrew-c-mccarthy

   On page 2

   At a trial, a coconspirator is not entitled to be kept anonymous. The jury and the public get to learn the unabridged basis for the governments accusations. Thus, at the Holy Land Foundation trial, abundant evidence was introduced much of it in the form of internal documents seized from Muslim Brotherhood officials proving that the Brotherhood sees its mission in the United States as a grand jihad to destroy the West from within by sabotage. The Brotherhood formed a Palestine Committee whose mandate was to support Hamas. Palestine Committee members included HLF and, later, the Brotherhoods new creation, CAIR. Meantime, Brotherhood documents named ISNA and the NAIT as partners in its grand jihad. In fact, HLF was housed for a time at ISNAs Indiana offices, and checks were often routed to Hamas through a joint ISNA/NAIT bank account.

   That was what the prosecutions evidence showed. You can hide the coconspirator list, but the evidence doesnt go away. Thats why there are diminishing returns for the Islamist groups in grousing about the list. That only calls attention to the fact that the Justice Department cited them in the first place and then, critically, backed it up with evidence.

   In that light, the Fifth Circuits ruling is mostly a non-event. The court merely pointed out the governments admission that it was wrong to file the coconspirator list publicly although, interestingly, the judges did not seem as convinced as the Justice Department that this faux pas rises to the level of a constitutional due-process violation. More significantly, though, the Fifth Circuit declined to expunge names from the list or the trial proof. All it agreed to do was unseal a lower court ruling. That, however, is a double-edged sword for the Brotherhood satellites: Yes, the ruling says their Fifth Amendment rights were violated a fact they obviously see as a PR coup but it also reportedly describes the proof of their ties to the Brotherhood. (The lower-court ruling has not yet been unsealed but the Fifth Circuit decision clues us in on what it says.)

   CAIR, ISNA, and NAIT do not have a branding problem. They have a substance problem. They may be able to falsely frame people as Islamophobes. Its tough to frame facts.

   CAIR hasnt filed papers or reports to IRS (As of June 2011)were they, or are they, hiding something?

   http://www.investigativeproject.org/2990/cair-loses-irs-status

   Here’s a differing opinion, Chris:

   http://frontpagemag.com/2009/12/29/cair-fort-hood-co-conspirator-by-paul-sperry/

   With the FBI cutting off ties to the Council on American-Islamic Relations and now subpoenaing some 12,000 internal CAIR documents under temporary restraining order as part of the bureaus ongoing criminal investigation of CAIR, the terrorist front group is suddenly cooperating with the FBI or at least making a show of it.

   Suddenly CAIR, an unindicted terrorist co-conspirator, is acting like a good citizen. Suddenly its concerned about young Muslim-American men going on jihad. Suddenly its concerned about certain passages of the Quran inspiring jihadists.

   Its all too little, too late.

   Thanks to CAIR, 42 brave American soldiers were gunned down by an Islamic nut in Texas. Thats right, thanks to CAIR.

   How so? For starters, it was the intimidating and ruthless CAIR that almost single-handedly created a climate of fear of reporting any suspicious anti-American behavior on the part of Muslim soldiers like Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, accused of the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11.

   The CAIR-induced mass silence led to mass murder.
   Fear in the military of being seen as anti-Muslim also blocked intellectually honest discussion of violent Islamic ideology in the ranks.

   Thanks to CAIR, the military along with everyone else in government is terrified of associating terrorism with Islam. No one dares utter the M word, lest they be sued for discrimination or branded an anti-Muslim bigot or Islamophobe by CAIRs smear merchants.

   There were definitely clear indications that Hasans loyalties were not with America, said Lt. Col. Val Finnell, one of the Army doctors who served with Hasan. But nobody said anything because theres a political correctness climate in the military, and everybodys afraid of an equal opportunity lawsuit.

   CAIRs lawyers have filed thousands of EEOC complaints and lawsuits since 9/11. Theyve even gone after John Doe citizens who alerted airline crew to Muslim men behaving as menacingly and suspiciously as the 9/11 hijackers. CAIRs Flying While Muslim anti-profiling campaign has had a chilling effect throughout the aviation security industry.

   CAIR gulled non-Muslims into the kind of see-no-evil dhimmitude that allowed Hasan to carry out his alleged terror. Had anyone dared officially protest Hasans extremist views, they would have not only risked their military careers but potentially faced a lawsuit sponsored by CAIR.

   Hasan was treated with kid gloves because CAIR demanded it.

   Thanks to CAIR, a dozen soldiers lay dead, along with 29 wounded, some so severely theyll never be deployed in the war on terror again, which is just fine by CAIR.

   Since 9/11, the Saudi-funded front group has consistently and vehemently protested the war, even in Afghanistan, while defending the Taliban and other terrorists.

   CAIR is the No. 1 generator of the false narrative that America is at war against Islam, which is the single-most compelling force motivating homegrown terrorists such as, allegedly, Hasan, who said as much in his PowerPoint diatribe and comments to colleagues. In fact, the chosen topic of his presentation was, Is the War on Terror a war on Islam?

   Around the same time, CAIRs then-chairman answered his question: The United States is at war with Islam itself.

   Thus CAIR is the primary Muslim NGO fueling anti-American hostilities and extremism in the Muslim community.

   CAIR at the same time has mocked concerns over growing Islamic extremism in America, effectively lowering our collective guard against attack.

   This is an isolated incident, CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said of the Fort Hood terrorist attack, even though it came on the heels of some 70 arrests of Muslims involved in homegrown terrorism over the previous 12 months.

   I dont foresee a rise in religious extremism in the Muslim community, CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper sniffed in 2007.

   That same year, CAIR mounted a PR offensive against a prescient report from the intelligence branch of the NYPD. Entitled Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat, the report warned that seemingly law-abiding young Muslim men in America can be turned into terrorists through jihadi indoctrination.

   CAIR quickly condemned the report as racist. And a confidential CAIR memo reveals its New York operatives feverishly lobbied NYPD officials to amend the report by softening its conclusion that young Muslim men pose a high security risk.

   Following the Muslim Brotherhood playbook to Islamize in America, CAIR effectively has shut down all critical debate. CAIR and the Brotherhood are the enemy. And they are winning the propaganda war.

   Heres something, posted Nov 23, 2011, that didnt make front page news (scroll down):

   http://markets.financialcontent.com/stocks/news/read/20036021/Obama_Signs_Bill_Prohibiting_Cooperation_with_Unindicted_Co

   November 22, 2011

   When Barack Obama signed the continuing resolution this past weekend averting another potential government shutdown, its doubtful that he was aware that tucked into the bill, which funds several federal agencies through the fiscal year and extends the continuing resolution for the rest of the government until December 16, is a provision that may dramatically impact what Islamic groups and leaders the FBI and other law enforcement agencies can continue to work with.
   Under Division B, Title II of the bill, under the Federal Bureau of Investigation-Salaries and Expenses section, is the following provision:

   Liaison partnerships- The conferees support the FBIs policy prohibiting any formal non-investigative cooperation with unindicted co-conspirators in terrorism cases. The conferees expect the FBI to insist on full compliance with this policy by FBI field offices and to report to the Committees on Appropriations regarding any violation of the policy.

   The most obvious group that this will impact is the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which was named unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation case the largest terrorism-finance trial in American history. During the trial, FBI Dallas Agent Lara Burns testified that CAIR was a front for the terrorist group Hamas.

   http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2003/06/cairs-legal-tribulations

   For several years, one of my severest and most persistent critics has been one Randall (“Ismail”) Royer, an American convert to Islam. Here’s a typical comment of his from his weblog dated Sept. 17, 2002: after calling me a “pop bigot” he comments on my “War on Campus” article with the following elevated and elegant commentary: “[Pipes] has served up another steaming shovelful of fertilizer. What a joy it is to read this guy. His stuff requires no real effort to deconstruct, no deliberate propaganda analysis to realize how he intends to deceive the reader.”

   I mention this unsavory person because today he was indicted and arrested for his association with terrorism, specifically his having joined the Pakistani group Lashkar-e-Taiba, traveled to Pakistan, done propaganda work for it, and “fired at Indian positions in Kashmir.”

   In addition, the indictment also states that Royer “possessed in his automobile an AK-47-style rifle and 219 rounds of ammunition” in September 2001. The grand jury charges that Royer “did unlawfully and knowingly begin, provide for, prepare a means for, and take part in a military expedition and enterprise to be carried on from the United States against the territory and dominion of India, a foreign state with whom the United States was at peace.”

   It’s also worth noting that Royer was working for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), militant Islam’s most aggressive political organization in North America, when he began training with Lashkar-e-Taiba. (He served there variously as a communications specialist and a civil rights coordinator; see an IslamOnline “Live Dialogue” for him sharing a by-line with CAIR’s executive director, Nihad Awad.) This means that CAIR now has a record of at least two former employees indicted and arrested in 2003 on terrorism charges; the other was Bassem Khafagi, CAIR’s director of community relations before his arrest this January. Oh, and one must not forget that a member of CAIR’s advisory board, Siraj Wahhaj, was named as one of the “unindicted persons who may be alleged as co-conspirators” in the attempt to blow up New York City monuments nearly a decade ago. So, CAIR not only apologizes for terrorism but is now implicitly accused of having more direct links to it. (June 27, 2003)

   http://www.newsmax.com/Emerson/cair-hamas-Palestine-Committee/2010/03/15/id/352646

   Posted March 15, 2010

   Richard C. Powers, an assistant director in the FBI’s office of Congressional Affairs, said evidence “demonstrated a relationship among CAIR, individual CAIR founders (including its current president emeritus and its executive director) and the Palestine Committee.”

   Other exhibits showed that the Palestine Committee was a fundraising and propaganda arm in the United States for Hamas, which has been a designated terrorist organization since 1995. “[U]ntil we can resolve whether there continues to be a connection between CAIR or its executives and HAMAS,” Powers wrote, “the FBI does not view CAIR as an appropriate liaison partner.”

   Weich’s letter to U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick and her colleagues points to two excerpts of trial testimony from FBI Special Agent Lara Burns. Both deal with conversations leading up to CAIR’s original formation.

   In one, she reads from transcripts from a secret 1993 gathering of Hamas supporters in Philadelphia where the group talks of creating a new organization with a fairly innocuous sounding name.

   She read comments from Holy Land Foundation President Shukri Abu Baker explaining how the new entity should present a benign face compared to existing Islamist groups: “And let’s not hoist a large Islamic flag, and let’s not be barbaric-talking.”

   “We will remain a front so that if the thing happens, we will benefit from the new happenings instead of having all of our organizations classified and exposed.”

   In the other, Burns describes an exhibit which shows CAIR listed on a Palestine Committee agenda within weeks of its 1994 creation.

   In response to a question from federal prosecutor Barry Jonas, Burns said it was the first time CAIR’s name appeared in internal Palestine Committee records seized by the FBI.

   These sites also are informative:

   http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/08/cairs_reputation_and_incredibl_1.php

   http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/08/cair_youngest_member_of_hamas.php

   http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/08/cair_executive_director_placed.php

   http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/08/cair_identified_by_the_fbi_as.php

   There is a chart that shows associations here (scroll down and move to font size to 200% for better visibility):

   http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/08/cairs_legal_gambit_and_another.php

   And finally:

   http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=27057

   It started out as an investigation into U.S.-based financing of Hamas terrorist operations, which was bad enough. But as federal investigators developed a matrix of suspects, they discovered a possible 9/11 connection.

   The Holy Land Foundation terror case has already touched the top Muslim lobby in Washington — the Council on American-Islamic Relations — which U.S. prosecutors recently named as an unindicted co-conspirator.

   A former senior CAIR official is among five indicted figures in the major terror-funding case. It turns out he is related by marriage to a key suspect in the conspiracy — a radical Muslim cleric and activist who authorities have linked to al-Qaida.

   In fact, they say the cleric is closely connected to the spiritual adviser to the 9/11 hijackers.

   Federal investigators have learned that imam Mohammed El-Mezain — who goes on trial next month with one of CAIR’s founding board members — once lived in the same small Colorado apartment complex with another imam accused of preparing some of the hijackers for their “martyrdom” operation.

   El-Mezain and imam Anwar Aulaqi later moved to San Diego, where Aulaqi held closed-door meetings with the al-Qaida hijackers. The two radical clerics also organized pilgrimages to Mecca together, including one made just months before the 9/11 attacks.

   Many sources…none of them Wikipedia.
4. Chris says:

   Friday, March 23, 2012 at 3:58 pm

   Tina: “AS far as you know.”

   Tina, keep in mind that I said there is MORE evidence showing Peter King supports terrorism than there is that CAIR supports terrorism. That evidence is that Peter King has come right out and said that he supports the IRA. He has done everything but wear an “I Heart the IRA” t-shirt to the House floor. There may be evidence that CAIR supports terrorist groups, but it is still less than similar evidence against Peter King, including his own professed support for terrorists.

   It is completely insane to trust a man who supports terrorists to hold hearings on radicalization and terrorism.

   “Many sources…none of them Wikipedia.”

   Wikipedia was not the source, it was a summary that collected information many different sources–that’s what all the little numbers were. Every claim made in the summary I provided was backed up by a citation. I linked there instead of every source individually because it’s easier, and because I wouldn’t expect you to read every single source individually. (I admit I couldn’t get through all of the links you provided, though I tried to read as much as possible given the time crunch I’m under right now.) If there’s any information provided in the Wikipedia summary you think is untrue, let me know. If not, I think linking to Wikipedia is a perfectly valid shortcut for a blog comment.

   I have not been able to come to a conclusion as to the validity of many of the accusations against CAIR. But I do take issue with some of the claims made in your links.

   For instance, the author of the Front Page Magazine article tries to blame CAIR for Hassan’s massacre of 42 soldiers at Fort Hood, claiming that CAIR is “almost single-handedly responsible” for creating a “climate of fear” in the military that stopped anyone from taking action against Hasan’s strange and anti-American behavior. I find this completely non-credible. There was undoubtedly a failure to respond to the warning signs evidenced by Hasan’s behavior before he went on his rampage. Hasan was undoubtedly an Islamic extremist, and there was opportunity to verify this before his vicious attack. I will even admit that perhaps action was not taken because some soldiers were afraid to appear anti-Muslim. But to act as if CAIR somehow intimidated the United States military into ignoring these warning signs is bogus. CAIR cannot control the military’s decisions.

   The author also claims that a former chairman of CAIR once said, “The United States is at war with Islam itself. I Googled this quote along with the term CAIR, and I can’t find any evidence that this statement was ever made. Each result I got only leads me back to the same Front Page Magazine story. There are no interviews or original statements from CAIR making this claim available on the Internet; it’s possible the author made it up or was misinformed himself.

   I have further reason to doubt the validity of this alleged quote, because CAIR has issued statements which completely contradict it. After Osama bin Laden’s death, CAIR had this to say:

   “We join our fellow citizens in welcoming the announcement that Osama bin Laden has been eliminated as a threat to our nation and the world through the actions of American military personnel. As we have stated repeatedly since the 9/11 terror attacks, bin Laden never represented Muslims or Islam. In fact, in addition to the killing of thousands of Americans, he and Al Qaeda caused the deaths of countless Muslims worldwide. We also reiterate President Obama’s clear statement tonight that the United States is not at war with Islam.”

   http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cair-welcomes-elimination-of-osama-bin-laden-121069664.html

   Also making it hard to take the Front Page article seriously is the writer’s use of the word “dhimmitude” to describe non-Muslims who have believed CAIR’s rhetoric, as well as describing CAIR as “the Muslim ACORN.” The stupidity of this needs not be explained; it feels as if the writer gets paid extra to mention ACORN at least once in each article he writes.

   Also keep in mind that in 2011, a U.S. appeals court found that the rights to due process of CAIR’s members were violated by the unsealing of the list that named the organization as an unindicted co-conspirator.

   http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/10/22/2741407/court-removes-coconspirator-tag-from-muslim-groups

   The charge of being an unidicted co-conspirator is also often used for political motives.

   Again, I’m not necessarily defending CAIR. I think there is a lot of evidence that many of its leaders have been involved in shady stuff. But it’s important to have all the information.

   Anyway, none of this has anything to do with the fact that Peter King has no business pretending that he cares about terrorism.

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