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AMP Comment - June 12, 2007
Washington Times’ smearing campaign against CAIR
A fresh sinister move to defame American Muslim organizations
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
In a fresh move to discredit and defame leading American Muslim organizations, the Washington Times today published a long tirade against the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the most visible public American Muslim group that has a distinguished record of social and political activism since its establishment in 1994.
The Washington Times story is titled “CAIR membership falls 90% since 9/11” but the punch of the story is that CAIR cannot claim to be the voice of American Muslims since its membership has been reduced sharply.
It is not difficult to understand why membership of American Muslim institutions and organizations such as CAIR has declined after 9/11. In the words of Dr. Hatem Bazian, Professor at the Near East and Ethnic Studies Department, University of California, Berkeley, “Similar to the COINTELPRO against the African Americans during the 1960s, the Arab, Muslim and South East Asian communities are currently facing a new FBI counter intelligence program.”
The seven-million strong community remains under siege with constant pressure on its institutions through legal process. Harassment through the legal system was used as one of the COINTELPRO methods in 1960s. Since 9/11, the community has been affected by the high profile arrests, raids or search warrants against the Muslim and Arab individuals, groups and organizations. With the high profile arrests of Muslims in “terrorist” cases and closure of prominent Muslim charities, American Muslims are discouraged or frightened (which is the main objective of such arrests) to support their institutions such as Islamic centers, mosques, charities and civil right organizations and groups. Now people prefer to give cash donations to mosques instead of writing a check to avoid any paper trail that may lead to an unexpected FBI knock at their door.
The case of Dr. Nasar Chaudhry of New York symbolizes the Muslim dilemma. In April 2005, the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division raided the home and office of Pakistani-American Dr Nasar Chaudhry, for making donations to a Muslim charity in 1996. Dr Chaudhry of Hornell, New York state, was contacted in 1996 by a former medical school peer for making donation to his Florida-based charity to aid needy Pakistani children. He decided to give Zakat to the charity. Dr Chaudhry said if the charity misused the funds, how would he be responsible for that?
In this hostile atmosphere it is not surprising that the CAIR lost most of its regular membership but it does not mean that its support has diminished in the community. I remember attending a CAIR fund raiser in the fall of 2000 in the Chandni Restaurant of Newark, CA when the organization was only six year old with few chapters. It was a $5 dinner. The ornate Chandni hall was full to capacity. If I remember correctly, the dinner raised about $300,000 in donations. Now after 13 years the organization has grown into a major American Muslim orgoup with more than 30 chapters in America and Canada.
The increase in CAIR's grassroots support in the American Muslim community is clearly demonstrated by the opening of 25 chapters and offices since 2001, all of which are funded exclusively through local donations. Each year, CAIR fundraising banquets in Washington, D.C., and nationwide are sold-out events of up to 2000 people.
In a statement to the Washington Times (that was not published by the right-wing paper) CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad pointed out that comparing CAIR's 2000 dues figure to that of 2006 is a misleading and mischievous 'apples and oranges' exercise because those figures were calculated based on different criteria. They do not include the thousands of people of all faiths who became CAIR members through several free or low-cost membership drives. For example, between 2002 and 2006, more than 25,000 people became active members for $10 or less during those drives. "Our membership is increasing steadily, as is our donor base, annual budget, and attendance at CAIR events around the country promoting interfaith understanding and respect for civil liberties,” Awad argued.
The Washington Times report is based on the CAIR tax returns which it filed with the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS provided the tax returns at the request of Washington Times which refreshes the memories of the December 2003, Senate Finance Committee enquiry against 24 Muslim charities and groups. The Senate Committee asked the Internal Revenue Service to turn over confidential tax and financial records, including donor lists, of 24 Muslim charities and foundations as part of a widening congressional investigation into alleged ties between tax-exempt organizations and terrorist groups.
However, after almost two years, in November 2005, the U.S. Senate committee concluded its work with no plans to issue a report, forward any findings to law enforcement agents, hold hearings or propose new legislation. "We did not find anything alarming enough that required additional follow-up beyond what law enforcement is already doing," Senator Charles Grassley, the Iowa Republican who heads the committee, said in a statement.
The Washington Times report reproduces many of the accusations against CAIR which had been recycled and disseminated again and again by agenda-driven individuals and groups who seek to marginalize and disenfranchise the American Muslim community and its leaders.
The Washington Times quoted Mr. Zuhdi Jasser, director of a little known group, American Islamic Forum for Democracy, as claiming that the sharp decline in membership calls into question whether the organization speaks for American Muslims, as the group has claimed.
Commenting on Washington Times biased report, CAIR’s Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said: "Support for CAIR has grown as ordinary Muslims witnessed the exponential growth in attacks on their faith by Islamophobes seeking to marginalize and disenfranchise the American Islamic community." "It is CAIR's principled and effective defense of the American Muslim community and our criticism of failed foreign and domestic policies that have made us the target of these scurrilous attacks. We will not be intimidated or silenced by hate-mongers."
"CAIR is first and foremost a service organization that responds to the needs of millions of American Muslims," Hooper said adding that since its founding in 1994, has helped some 20,000 individuals and families who reported incidents of anti-Muslim bias or discrimination. In the past year alone, some 10,000 people attended CAIR fundraising events. More than 300 community leaders currently serve on CAIR boards and as staff nationwide. CAIR donors include people of all faiths and walks of life.
Hooper asked members of the American Muslim community and other people of conscience to "tell the Washington Times what they think of its irresponsible, agenda-driven reporting" by becoming a CAIR member.
He said many Muslims have expressed concerns about repeated instances of anti-Islam bias in the Washington Times' reporting and commentary. The paper has in the past refused to publish CAIR's responses to its Islamophobic content. Interestingly, it did not publish CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad’s statement on its latest report.
Hooper cited a recent front-page article in the New York Times that quoted government officials as saying CAIR's critics engage in McCarthyite tactics. The article stated: "More than one [government official] described the standards used by critics to link CAIR to terrorism as akin to McCarthyism, essentially guilt by association.' Of all the groups, there is probably more suspicion about CAIR, but when you ask people for cold hard facts, you get blank stares,' said Michael Rolince, a retired F.B.I. official who directed counterterrorism in the Washington field office from 2002 to 2005."
The Washington Time assault on CAIR comes amid an offensive against CAIR and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) launched by the self-proclaimed terrorism expert Steven Emerson whose apparent goal is to banish Muslim Americans from American civil life.
No doubt there is a deliberate attempt by certain groups and individuals to defame and discredit prominent Muslim groups such as CAIR, Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) in a bid to suppress genuine voice of American Muslims.
It appears that CAIR’s visibility in advocating American Muslim civil rights has alarmed many interested parties. In a bid to suppress CAIR’s voice an Anti-CAIR (www.anti-cair-net.org) website has been launched to spew venom against CAIR. Some other interested people have established namesake groups - like California Association for Institutional Research (CAIR) and Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform (CAIR) - to confuse the masses.
At the same time, certain marginal groups are proped up by interested individuals and organizations to replace the mainstream American Muslim organizations. In recent years, attempts have been made to establish alternate American Muslim groups in the name of moderate voices. In November 2004, Progressive Muslim Union of North America (PMUNA) was launched with great funfair to become a voice of “moderate” American Muslims. However, it became dysfunctional when its chairperson Pamela Taylor and executive director Zuriani "Ani" Zonneveld resigned from the board in December 2006.
No doubt, the smear campaigns against the established American Muslim organizations such as CAIR, ICNA, ISNA and MPAC are aimed at marginalizing Muslims in America by silencing the most prominent and respected American Muslim voices. These vicious campaigns against the mainstream Muslim groups are disseminated by agenda-driven individuals such as Steve Emerson and Daniel Pipes and groups in a bid to marginalize and disenfranchise the American Muslim community which remains under siege since 9/11.
Tail Note: The writer of the Washington Times story, Audrey Hudson, has apparently had a vendetta against CAIR which barred her recently from attending a CAIR news conference because of her history of sloppy and agenda-driven reporting.
Abdus Sattar Ghazali is the Executive Editor of the online magazine, American Muslim Perspective: www.amperspective.com
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