CAIR tries to squirm out of co-conspiritor designation

NY Times:

Two prominent Muslim American organizations took steps yesterday to reverse what they called a Justice Department effort to smear the entire Muslim community by naming some of its largest organizations as unindicted co-conspirators in a Texas terrorism trial.

The National Association of Muslim Lawyers, which is not named, sent a letter to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales objecting to the list, which it said breached the department’s own guidelines against releasing the names of unindicted co-conspirators and did not serve any clear law enforcement purpose.

The letter, also signed by the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, said the “overreaching list” of more than 300 organizations and individuals would further cripple charitable donations to Muslim organizations and could ratchet up the discrimination faced by American Muslims since the Sept. 11 attacks.

In addition, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, which is on the list, announced that it would file a brief today asking Judge A. Joe Fish of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas to remove its name and all others from the list.

The brief, a copy of which was released yesterday, says the list furthers a pattern of the “demonization of all things Muslim” that has unrolled in the United States since 2001.

“Most people don’t understand what an unindicted co-conspirator is,” said Parvez Ahmed, CAIR’s board chairman, adding that the release of the list prompted death threats and hate mail against the council. “They think that being related to a terrorism case means we are terrorists.”

...

Actually it puts you in the same category as Congressman Jack Murtha. It means you associated with some people who conspired to break the law, but that there was not enough evidence to charge you with that violation. CAIR has several connections with the Hamas death cult and defends the death cult and other Muslim terrorist organizations while claiming to be against most terrorism. Its spokesmen give the impression that they are not willing to condemn Hamas and its genocidal objectives.

By injecting themselves back into this matter they are giving their opponents more opportunities to highlight the things about the organization that are objectionable.

Power Line has more on the latest CAIR caper.

...

Of course, several officers of CAIR have been convicted of terrorsit activities. Former Holy Land Foundation CEO Ghassan Elashi is already serving an 80-month sentece on terrorism-related charges; he was also the founder of CAIR's chapter in Texas. CAIR chairman Parvez Ahmed is himself a prominent supporter of convicted terrorist Sami al-Arian.

...

There is probably no Muslim organization that has done more in an attempt to put a good face on Islam in the US and failed so spectacularly as CAIR. They are not quite in the same category of the tantrum throwing Friday afternoon mobs, but they are close when it comes to lowering respect for Islam. The counter productivity of their efforts is impressive.