The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) presents itself as just another civil-rights group.  According to its website, "CAIR's mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding" -- certainly an image of moderation.  "We are similar to a Muslim NAACP," says spokesman Ibrahim Hooper.

That reputation has permitted CAIR to prosper since its founding in 1994 by Omar Ahmad, Nihad Awad and Ibrahim Hooper, garnering sizeable donations, invitations to the White House, respectful media citations and a serious hearing by corporations.

In reality, CAIR is something quite different.  For starters, it's on the wrong side in the war on terrorism; is the mouthpiece for Islamic activism in America; is funded in significant part by sources with connections to Arab Middle Eastern governments and  has been identified by the FBI as part of the Muslim Brotherhood's Palestine Committee.

Omar M. Ahmad, Chairman Emeritus of the Board is described as a well-known activist and community leader in the San Francisco Bay Area.  He said the following at the Islamic Conference in Freemont, California, in July of 1998, "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith but to become dominant.  The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth." (.pdf cache)

CAIR national spokesman Ibrahim Hooper told the media that  "he [Ahmad] never made the statement, and we have sought a retraction [from the San Ramon Valley Herald]."  Pressed several times to specify whether CAIR already has contacted the newspaper, he repeated the statement then finally said someone from CAIR's California affiliate made the contact.

When confronted with the fact that the newspaper's editors say CAIR has not contacted them and the reporter stands by the story, Hooper ended the call with, "If you are going to use distortions, I can't stop you; it's a free country. Have a nice day."

CAIR's leadership has an Islamic totalitarian mindset just like their funders in Saudi Arabia and their friends in the Hamas terrorist group.  Joseph Farah said, "These extremists like to try to intimidate people, but they can't stand up like men and take it.  Now they are running to the Justice Department for help.  Fortunately for us, we don't have Shariah law in this country; we live free under the U.S. Constitution."

Nihad Awad, the Executive Director, co-founder and close friend of U. S. Congressman, Keith Ellison, was captured live on videotape at Barry University in Florida in 1994, saying, “I’m in support of the Hamas movement.”  He is also quoted as saying, "The United States should and will be ruled by Sharia Law." (email: nawad@cair.com)

During the administration of Bill Clinton in 1997, Awad was appointed to the Civil Rights Advisory Panel to the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security -- talk about irony.

That same year, according to the Weekly Standard, when Mike Wallace of CBS's "60 Minutes" asked Awad if he supports the "military undertakings of Hamas," Awad stood up for the terrorist group and told Wallace, "The United Nations Charter grants people who are under occupation [the right] to defend themselves against illegal occupation."

Awad, was the public relations director of the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP), which was a front group for Hamas, with a long history of extremism.  He openly praised Iran's notorious Ayatollah Khomeini.  He blasted the trial and conviction of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers, against whom the evidence of guilt was overwhelming, as "a travesty of justice."  At a 1994 Barry University forum, he candidly stated, "I am in support of the Hamas movement."

As one can infer from the items above, Awad and CAIR appear to act as voices of the "Wahhabi lobby" and as a front for supporters of Islamist terrorism.  This is a photo of Awad speaking on April 20, 2002 in Washington, D.C. on a stage bearing the flag of Hezbollah.

In an August 2006 interview on C-SPAN's Washington Journal, Awad suggested that suicide bombings are understandable attempts to address political injustices and do not have any inherent connection to radical Islam.

Ihsan Bagby, a prominent black American convert to Islam and CAIR Board Member says of Muslims:  "Ultimately we can never be full citizens of this country. . . because there is no way we can be fully committed to the institutions and ideologies of this country."
 

Five current or former CAIR officers or members have been arrested, convicted, or deported on terrorism-related charges:
 

Randall Royer, CAIR's communications specialist and civil rights coordinator, was indicted on charges of conspiring to help Al-Qaeda and the Taliban to battle American troops in Afghanistan.  He later pled guilty to lesser firearms-related charges and was sentenced to twenty years in prison.
 

Ghassan Elashi, the founder of CAIR's Texas chapter, was convicted in July 2004 along with his four brothers of having illegally shipped computers from their Dallas-area business, InfoCom Corporation, to Libya and Syria, two designated state sponsors of terrorism. In April of 2005, Elashi and two brothers were also convicted of knowingly doing business with Mousa Abu Marzook, a senior Hamas leader and Specially Designated Terrorist. He continues to face charges that he provided more than $12.4 million to Hamas while he was running the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), America's largest Islamic charity.
 

Bassem Khafagi, CAIR's community relations director, pleaded guilty in September 2003 to lying on his visa application and for passing bad checks for substantial amounts in early 2001, for which he was deported. Khafagi was also a founding member and president of the Islamic Assembly of North America (IANA), an organization under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for terrorism-related activities.
 

Rabih Haddad, a CAIR fundraiser, was arrested on terrorism-related charges and deported from the United States due to his subsequent work as executive director of the Global Relief Foundation, a charity he co-founded; in October 2002, GRF was designated by the U.S. Treasury Department for financing Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. According to a CAIR complaint, Homam Albaroudi, a member of CAIR's Michigan chapter and also a founding member and executive director of the IANA also founded the Free Rabih Haddad Committee.
 

Siraj Wahhaj, a CAIR advisory board member, was named in 1995 by U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White as a possible unindicted co-conspirator in connection with the plot to blow up New York City landmarks led by the blind sheikh, Omar Abdul Rahman.
 

A dozen other men have been convicted of crimes in what was known as the "Virginia Paintball" case. Among them is Randall Royer, a former CAIR employee sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to weapons and explosives charges. The case centered around a group of men urged by their spiritual leader Ali Timimi to fight against American troops in Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.