http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/554287/201011181855/Islams- PC-Pal-In-LA.htm
Islam's PC Pal In L.A. Posted 06:55 PM ET Homeland Security: Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca seems more interested in currying favor with radical Muslim groups than fighting terror. He's even invited one to lecture police about "radicalization." Next week, Baca's department will host a conference for the L.A. Police Department and the FBI on "radicalization and homegrown violent extremism." Among featured speakers are two suspect figures with the Muslim Public Affairs Council. L.A.-based MPAC claims to be "moderate." But according to a new report put out by a coalition of U.S. security officials, it's "an aggressive propaganda arm" of the radical Muslim Brotherhood, parent of Hamas and al-Qaida. MPAC's own publication, the Minaret, has proudly called its founder "a close disciple of" Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna. While that's bad enough, one of the MPAC officials slated to speak, Edina Lekovic, edited the magazine Al-Talib when it editorialized that "our brother" Osama bin Laden was a "freedom fighter" who should be defended by Muslims. This was in 1999 - a year after bin Laden bombed our embassies and declared war on us. The other official is MPAC President Salam al-Marayati, who the same year was booted from the National Commission on Terrorism by then-House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt for praising Hezbollah. He wasn't fit to serve on an anti-terror panel in 1999. What makes Baca think he's fit now? "The segment in question is a learning module for first responders to ask intelligent questions and hopefully get intelligent answers," Sheriff's Department Chief Mike Grossman explained in a statement to us. "Understanding the deeper roots of the problem requires dialogue." Intelligent answers? Count on more disinformation. MPAC has fought every counterterror program the LAPD and FBI have tried to get going in the Muslim community since interrogations of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed revealed L.A. as a prime al-Qaida target. The group has advised Muslims not to cooperate with investigators, not to inform on each other, not to self-police. It has defended terrorist suspects even after their convictions. So it's sheer madness that its leaders would be invited to headline a cop workshop on combating terror. But then, Baca is mad with PC. In 2006, he started the Muslim Community Affairs Unit to do more outreach with Muslim groups. The unit is staffed with at least seven Muslims, including two deputies who invited the MPAC leaders to lecture officers. Baca's even been taking young Muslim men up in department helicopters and giving them tours of patrol stations as part of "outreach." He's also got MPAC and the Council on American-Islamic Relations giving mandatory two-hour Islamic "sensitivity training" to new cadets. Such outreach may sound like a sensible strategy - win their hearts and minds, earn their trust, and they'll help you find the bad guys. Only, the outreach more often than not proves a one-way street. About the only information investigators get involves complaints of "hate crimes," not tips about sleeper cells. Baca should be more careful vetting the Muslim leaders he invites to talk to his deputies. CAIR's L.A. chapter civil-rights coordinator is a fan of fugitive al-Qaida cleric Anwar Awlaki. Yet the same CAIR chapter is listed on the sheriff's Web site as a partner in something called the Muslim American Homeland Security Congress, another outreach vehicle created by Baca. During congressional testimony earlier this year, Baca defended CAIR against FBI charges that it's a terrorist front group. "When you attack CAIR," he said, "you attack virtually every Muslim in America." When a lawmaker noted that the Justice Department had designated CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terror-financing case in U.S. history, Baca shot back: "CAIR is not a terrorist-supporting organization." Baca ran as a Republican, but he doesn't act like one. He gives to Democrats, including $1,000 to John Kerry in 2007, and in this election he endorsed Barbara Boxer for senator and Jerry Brown for governor. He's also as soft on illegal immigrants as he is on Muslim radicals. "MPAC has no place at a conference focused on countering Islamic radicalization," says terror expert Steven Emerson. "In featuring MPAC officials as speakers, the organizers confer respectability on an organization that has helped foster radicalization, not counter it." We couldn't agree more. 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