The Center for Islamic Pluralism has placed a potentially breakthrough political advertisement in the Weekly Standard dated April 6. Titled "American Muslims Commend FBI for Rejection of CAIR" and signed by many of the country's moderate Muslim luminaries, it contains a meaty dual message: CAIR et al. are bad news, so – please – U.S. government stay away from them.
The critique on CAIR and its allies contains three bullet points:
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We observe that they denounce "terrorism" in general terms but not the specific actions of Islamist groups like Hamas or Hezbollah. They denounce violence but not the ideologies behind it.
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We observe their commitment to radical aims, their attempts to chill free speech by calling critics of radical Islam "Islamophobes," and their false, ugly accusations against moderate American Muslims who disagree with their agenda.
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We reject any claim that CAIR and its supporters are legitimate civil liberties advocates or appropriate partners between the U.S. government and American Muslims.
Likewise, the push for a new policy has three elements:
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We congratulate the FBI for adopting a firmer attitude toward CAIR, as a defense of Americans of all faiths from the menace of radical Islam, including Muslims of all backgrounds—Sunni, Shia, Sufi, secular, etc.
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We call on the U.S. Department of Justice to affirm and continue this decision.
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We call on the entire United States government to follow suit in rejecting relations with the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Comment: While moderate Muslims have been muttering about CAIR for fifteen years, there's never been so prominent an assault on CAIR and the Wahhabi lobby. Let's hope this constitutes a turning point. (March 30, 2009)
