Does "Free Darfur" harbor genocide supporters? By Anne Morse May 15, 2006 Should human rights activists fighting genocide in Darfur join forces with groups with ties to terrorists--fanatics whose dearest wish is to commit genocide? At least two organizations that labor on behalf of the persecuted people of Darfur-The Wilberforce Forum and the Institute on Religion and Democracy--declined to join the 160-member Save Darfur Coalition because of its decision to include The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an organization with ties to terrorist groups including Hamas, which dreams of wiping Israel off the map. In addition, two Coalition members, American Anti-Slavery Group and Christian Solidarity International, also questioned CAIR's inclusion in the Coalition. "While we think it is strategic to form coalitions with diverse organizations whose goals we do not necessarily agree with-and have done so in the past on issues such an international sex trafficking-there is something instinctive about drawing the line with organizations that are tied to terrorists," said Mariam Bell, national director of public policy for the Wilberforce Forum, a division of Prison Fellowship. "Frankly, I think CAIR's role in this is to scrub up their image. Where's the money? Where's the heavy lifting? I don't see them risking their reputation and money to help the people of Darfur," Bell added. The presence of CAIR and other problematic Islamic groups is also the reason the Institute on Religion and Democracy nixed joining the Coalition, according to Faith McDonnell, director of religious liberty programs for IRD. "They (CAIR) have worrisome ties to terror groups, and in the past they have denied the existence of slavery in Southern Sudan. That's why we didn't join the Coalition, although we have cooperated with them in their effort to help the people of Darfur," McDonnell said. CAIR's ties to terrorism have been well-documented by Andrew Whitehead, founder of <http://www.anti-cair-net.org/> Anti-CAIR, and other terrorism experts. It has links with the Holy Land Foundation (whose assets funded Hamas before they were blocked by the U.S. government in the wake of Sept. 11) and the Islamic Association for Palestine, which terrorism expert Steven Emerson calls "the primary voice in the United States" for Hamas. Moreover, the list of convicted CAIR criminals is suspiciously long for a group that claims to be nothing more than a civil liberties outfit. As Whitehead notes, senior CAIR employee Randall Todd Royer was sentenced to twenty years after pleading guilty to involvement in a network of militant jihadists centered in Northern Virginia. While employed as CAIR's Director of Community Relations, Bassem Khafagi, was arrested over his ties with a terror-financing front group; he pled guilty to charges of visa and bank fraud, and agreed to be deported to Egypt. Rahib Hadid, a CAIR fundraiser, co-founded the Global Relief Foundation, which the U.S. Treasury Department designated a terror-supporting group for its financing of Al Qaida and other terrorist organizations. Hadid was deported to Lebanon in 2003. CAIR board member Imam Siraj Wahaj is an un-indicted co-conspirator in the first World Trade Center bombing. <http://www.savedarfur.org/about/signatories> Nor is CAIR the only questionable group affiliated with Save Darfur. According to Sean Crowley, Save Darfur's Senior Vice President of Media Relations, the Coalition suspended the membership of the Islamic American Relief Agency-USA pending the outcome of an investigation after U.S. Treasury and FBI agents raided its Missouri office in 2004 and designated it as a terrorism supporter. When asked why Save Darfur did not also suspend the membership of CAIR, given its many links with terrorist groups, Crowley told me via email that "the Save Darfur Coalition relies on the federal government to determine whether a group supports terrorism or not." Noting the Coalition's suspension of Islamic American Relief Agency-USA, Crowley wrote, "We would take the same step if the government designated any [other] coalition member as a terrorist supporter"--an explanation Whitehead calls "Beyond disingenuous. It is cowardly. Where is Save Darfur's sense of morality?" Meanwhile, CAIR is outraged at its treatment at the hands of Save Darfur. Despite the fact that half a dozen Muslims spoke at the Sunday <http://www.cair.com/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=2127&theType=NR> 'Rally to Stop Genocide' in Washington and provided some of the entertainment, CAIR posted a press release on its website demanding to know why "no representatives of major American Muslim groups are listed as speakers at the Save Darfur Coalition 'Rally to Stop Genocide'" on April 30. When CAIR asked Save Darfur to allow a CAIR member speak at the rally, "the Save Darfur Coalition never replied to CAIR's letter," despite the fact CAIR is an original signatory on the coalition's Unity Statement, CAIR said, adding ominously that "this disturbing mission calls into question the coalition's true agenda." Why were CAIR members not invited to speak? "We believe that responsible civil rights groups did not want to share the stage with CAIR," Whitehead says. "If so, we can't blame them. Nothing good comes from associating with the odious CAIR." Two Jewish groups that are members of the Coalition's Executive Committee, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and the Union for Reform Judaism, did not return calls asking for comment. The presence of CAIR is not the only reasons some human rights groups shied away from joining Save Darfur, which was organized in July of 2004. A spokesman for one Washington-based group, who preferred to remain anonymous, said there was "A feeling among some of us that Save Darfur was as much political as humanitarian. It appeared that Save Darfur was hoping they could discredit President Bush in a way that would have an effect on the presidential campaign in John Kerry's favor." Save Darfur's Sean Crowley calls this charge "silly," and points out that rally speakers "included Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, Virginia GOP Congressman Frank Wolf, and Dr. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission." True-but it's also true that Coalition membership is heavily weighted toward liberal and Democratic-leaning groups, and a number of speakers at Sunday's rally appeared to have difficulty restraining their Bush hatred. Instead of aiming criticism at the European Union and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who have done little or nothing to help Darfurians--some speakers directed their bile at Bush, who has done, and is doing, more than any other world leader to help Sudan's suffering people. Save Darfur has done tremendous work promoting the cause of Darfur's persecuted people to Americans. My 17-year-old son and I were among the 10,000 people who attended the rally in Washington, bought t-shirts, and applauded the celebrity speakers. Clearly, Save Darfur, which includes as members Holocaust survivors, has its heart in the right place. But its leadership has some explaining to do-specifically, why they invited supporters of genocide to help them prevent it. Anne Morse, a senior writer at the Wilberforce Forum, has had her worked published in The Weekly Standard, National Review Online, and Touchstone among other publications. Copyright C 2006 Townhall.com _____ Find this story at: http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/AnneMorse/2006/05/15/197254.html Accessed 26 May 2006, http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/AnneMorse/2006/05/15/197254.html [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> You can search right from your browser? It's easy and it's free. See how. http://us.click.yahoo.com/_7bhrC/NGxNAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
