View Full Version : Jesse Jackson, Featured Speaker at CAIR Banquet
Jesse Jackson will be the featured speaker at CAIR's 15th annual banquet on October 24, in Arlington, Virginia. They will also be presenting the "2009 Rosa Parks Civil Liberties Award", in keeping with their propaganda campaign to link any critical questioning of Islam with racism.
Source (http://www.cair.com/)
Controversial Imam to Join Jesse Jackson at Muslim Group's Banquet
Tuesday , October 20, 2009
By Joshua Rhett Miller
A radical New York imam who was once investigated as a possible co-conspirator in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center will share the stage Saturday night as a featured guest and speaker when the Council on American-Islamic Relations celebrates its 15th anniversary in Washington.
Siraj Wahhaj, imam of the Masjid Al-Taqwa mosque in Brooklyn, N.Y., became the first Muslim to lead the opening prayer in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1991. Four years later, he was a character witness for Omar Abdel-Rahman, the so-called "blind sheik" convicted of conspiring to bomb the World Trade Center in 1993. Although Wahhaj was never charged, then-U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White identified him in 1995 in a list of "unindicted persons who may be alleged as co-conspirators."
Also speaking at the event will be the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Stephen Schwartz, executive director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism, a Washington-based think tank, calls Wahhaj one of the most prominent and strident African-American Islamic preachers in America.
"He's a hatemonger, there's no question about it," Schwartz said. "He's the No. 1 advocate of radical Islamic ideology among African-Americans. His stuff is very appealing to young Muslims who are on a radical path."
Schwartz identified Wahhaj — born in New York as Jeffrey Kearse — as a "leading radical Islamist" in "Black America, Prisons and Radical Islam," a 2008 report by his organization. According to the report, which cited Federal Bureau of Prisons figures, some 175 titles of Wahhaj's literature were found in prison libraries that year.
Schwartz said Wahhaj's writings seek to radicalize Muslims behind bars, particularly African-Americans. Saturday's speech, he said, will likely appeal to Muslims who feel they've been targeted recently by conservatives.
"He'll get up and say American Muslims are under attack, that their civil rights are being denied," Schwartz said. "He'll say that anybody who questions the community of these Muslim groups, that they're agents of the Zionists. He'll say that the criticism of CAIR, and of him, is all racism, the evil work of the Zionists and the media, and he'll say that American should get out of Afghanistan and any involvement in the Muslim world."
CAIR's banquet, "Leading the Change: 15 Years of Service," will be held Saturday night at the Marriott Crystal Gateway in Arlington, Va., just across the Potomac River from the Pentagon, where 125 people died during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization, said foreign affairs and "lessons learned" from the civil rights movement are potential issues to be covered at the event, which will be closed to the press — although members of the press are welcome to buy a $65 ticket and attend as guests.
"You can buy a ticket," Hooper said. "Fox is free to come and harass us if you want."
Asked what Wahhaj and Jackson plan to say in their speeches, Ibraham characterized the inquiries as attempts to make "an ordinary dinner" a reason "to tarnish us or harass us."
"At some point," Hooper said, "it becomes a level of harassment when we're trying to exercise our civil rights as Americans."
Multiple calls seeking comment from Jackson and Wahhaj, who was said to be traveling this week in advance of the banquet, were not returned.
Wahhaj, a former member of the Nation of Islam who reportedly once called the FBI and CIA the "real terrorists," denied any involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
"Law enforcement has never come to me and asked me any questions about any of these allegations," Wahhaj told Foxnews.com last year. "I have never participated in any planning against this nation."
Steven Emerson, executive director of The Investigative Project on Terrorism, said Wahhaj told a group of Muslims in New Jersey in 1992 that they could take over the country and institute a caliphate if they united.
"Brothers and sisters, if we unite, nobody can stop us," Wahhaj said, according to material provided by Emerson. "You wouldn't have to vote for Bush or Clinton ... If we were united and strong, we'd elect our own emir and give allegiance to him. ...
"Take my word, [if] 6 to 8 million Muslims unite in America, the country will come to us. Strong Muslims, strong and free, firm believers in Allah, I'm telling you, the rest of the world will come to the Muslims."
Emerson said Wahhaj, whom he described as a "full-fledged" radical, will tone down his rhetoric on such a stage.
"He'll obviously be careful," Emerson said. "They know he's being watched. He'll talk about how CAIR is under attack, Muslims are under attack, his typical spiel."
Louay Safi, director of communications and leadership development at the Islamic Society of North America, defended Wahhaj, a former member of the group's board of directors, as a "sought-after speaker" among Muslim circles.
"He's a very popular motivational speaker," Safi told Foxnews.com. "The sad thing is that the public is only allowed to see him through the veil of an unindicted co-conspirator. He has been charged in the press."
Safi urged Wahhaj's critics to consider context while reviewing his controversial statements in the past.
"Remember, he is a motivational speaker," he continued. "If you take statements by anyone, from the president to congressmen to anyone else, you can take one sentence out of context."
Safi also credited Wahhaj's work in revitalizing the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, where in 2003, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz declared Aug. 15 "Imam Siraj Wahhaj Day" in honor of a lifetime of "outstanding and meaningful" achievement.
"He's done a lot of good work in his community, clearing the area of drug addicts and trying to foster a great sense of community," Safi said. "He's done a lot of good work in the New York area."
Link (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,568709,00.html?test=latestnews)
Playing the racism card is amazingly effective. I cannot help but wonder when we'll recognize the manipulative tactic for what it is.
dirtyshirt
10-20-2009, 18:54
It's a damn shame Jesse Jackson still breaths good air.
Jesse Jackson will be the featured speaker at CAIR's 15th annual banquet on October 24, in Arlington, Virginia.
Speech Syllabus,
1) How I lost my QB position at Illinois due to racism ( the winning QB was African American as well.)
2) How to intimidate people with the race card, ( while referring to NYC as 'Hymietown" amidst running for president.)
3) How to even broach the topic of integrity ( when you have cheated on your family and fathered children on the side)
4) How to add extra needless syllables to words in order to feign dignity.
5) Coconut etymology ( It takes a nut to know a nut)
Apparently, one of President Obama's advisors, Dalia Mogahed, was originally scheduled to speak at the CAIR banquet. Jesse Jackson has replaced her as one of the keynote speakers, at least on the website invitation. Her assistant states she is still scheduled to speak.
Marriott urged to cancel CAIR banquet
Imam who seeks demise of 'filthy' U.S. featured speaker at fundraiser
Posted: October 20, 2009
By Art Moore
WorldNetDaily
A nonprofit activist group that "alerts Americans about the threat of radical Islam" has launched a campaign to urge a Washington-area hotel to cancel its hosting of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' annual banquet this week, which features a controversial Muslim imam who foresees a violent overthrow of the "filthy" U.S. government assisted by jihad warriors armed with Uzis.
The New York City-based Clarion Fund points out co-keynote speaker Siraj Wahhaj, an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing investigation, was featured on a panel in 2005 titled, "Replacing the Constitution with the Koran: 'Conquest or Conversion' through Islamic Propagation."
Clarion Fund spokesman Alex Traiman said his group is urging citizens to send a letter to the host hotel, the Marriott Crystal Gateway in Arlington, Va., through a special website.
"The theme of this year's conference is 'Leading the Change,' but we must ask ourselves what 'change' they are leading," said Raphael Shore, founder of the Clarion Fund, producers of the films "Obsession" and "The Third Jihad".
The campaign follows the release of the book "Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America," which cites internal documents obtained in an undercover operation that establish CAIR functions as a front group for the terrorist group Hamas and its parent, the Egyptian-based Muslim Brotherhood. CAIR itself, along with a number of its leaders, was designated an unindicted co-conspirator in the recent prosecution of the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation, the largest terror-financing case in U.S. history
Traiman told WND his group – which has 30,000 people on its e-mail list, along with the names of 50,000 people who purchased its film "Obsession" – already has prompted a substantial number of people to write the Arlington hotel.
'We're just a venue'
A spokesman for the Marriott Crystal Gateway, Thom Puccio, told WND, however, the CAIR event would go on Saturday night as planned.
"We're simply providing hospitality services as a matter of hotel operations," Puccio said in response to the Clarion campaign. "In no way do we support or endorse any group or individual by virtue of accepting their business. We are simply carrying out our function as a venue provider."
Puccio, the director of sales and marketing, was asked if there is a line the hotel would draw, however, regarding the types of groups it would host. Would it allow the Ku Klux Klan to hold an event, for example?
"I would not comment on that," he said.
"We're just a venue, we're just an option," Puccio continued. "If there are 50 hotels or 100 hotels in the D.C. area, we're just one of those hotels. It's not a matter of supporting anything regarding any of these groups, whether they be associations or corporations. We're simply providing the space for them to hold their events."
But while you wouldn't endorse any group, Puccio was asked further, are there not certain groups you wouldn't want associated with your hotel, such as the KKK?
"I would not comment on that," he said.
The venue for this year's CAIR conference, the Clarion Fund notes, is adjacent to the Pentagon, which was struck in the 9/11 attacks.
As late as last Thursday, CAIR's promotion of the event listed Wahhaj as a keynote speaker along with White House special adviser Dalia Mogahed.
But by Friday, days after the release of "Muslim Mafia," published by WND Books, Mogahed's name was replaced with civil rights activist Jesse Jackson's.
Mogahed, who is traveling, could not be reached. But her assistant, Jason Bough, told WND that as far as he knew, Mogahed was still scheduled to speak Saturday.
Bough said he had no idea why her name had been replaced with Jackson's.
CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper did not reply to WND's request for clarification and comment.
Mogahed sparked controversy of her own recently when she defended Shariah, or Islamic law, on a British television show hosted by a member of an extremist Muslim group, insisting the majority of women around the world associate Shariah with "gender justice."
Mogahed, senior analyst and executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, was appointed to President Obama's Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
Former Republican Rep. Paul Findley of Illinois, a supporter of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, also will speak, according to CAIR. In the wake of 9/11, Findley blamed the attacks on America's support for Israel. He released a book shortly before 9/11, "Silent No More," that sought to improve the image of Islam in the U.S. He charged President Bush "overreacted" to the 9/11 attacks, and he claimed Americans had been "misled by the American media, which is controlled by the Jewish lobby."
America's 'worst nightmare'
As WND reported, Wahhaj, a regular CAIR fundraiser and a former member of its advisory board, is just one of many Muslim leaders affiliated with the group who have been named or prosecuted in U.S. terrorism-related investigations.
"Muslim Mafia" cites internal documents that show Wahhaj remains heavily involved in CAIR business. At last year's CAIR banquet, Wahhaj led the fundraising, bringing in $210,000 by the end of the night. In 2006, CAIR's national office enlisted him to work with the group's leadership to raise $1 million.
In a videotaped May 8, 1992, sermon obtained by the authors of "Muslim Mafia," titled "Stand up for Justice," Wahhaj makes it clear that, contrary to CAIR's media guide, he believes jihad means "holy war," not merely a "struggle to better oneself."
"If we go to war, brothers and sisters – and one day we will, believe me – that's why you're commanded [to fight in] jihad," the Brooklyn-based Wahhaj says. "When Allah demands us to fight, we're not stopping and nobody's stopping us."
Wahhaj preaches Islam teaches violent insurrection in "infidel lands" such as America, points out the "Muslim Mafia" co-authors, counter-terrorism investigator P. David Gaubatz and "Infiltration" author Paul Sperry.
"Believe me, brothers and sisters, Muslims in America are the most strategic Muslims on Earth," Wahhaj says in the 1992 sermon, arguing the government can't drop bombs on warring Muslims in the U.S. without causing collateral damage.
The American government's "worst nightmare is one day that the Muslims wake these people up in South Central Los Angeles and other inner-city areas," he says in the video.
Wahhaj exhorts the faithful to go into the "hood and the prisons and convert disenfranchised minorities, and then arm them and train them to carry out an Uzi jihad in the inner cities."
"We don't need to arm the people with 9mm and Uzis," he says. "You need to arm them with righteousness first. And then once you arm them with righteousness first, then you can arm them [with Uzis and other weapons]."
CAIR tells the public in its media guide, however, "There is a common misperception among Westerners that the Quran teaches violence."
Wahhaj makes it clear, nevertheless, he sees Islam as a uniquely militant religion.
"We don't have a "turn-the-other-cheek philosophy" like the Christians, he says. "Allah has given us permission to fight them" so that "the "word of Allah can be uppermost."
Wahhaj also was recorded telling New Jersey Muslims in 1992 that if only Muslims were more clever politically, they could take over the U.S. and replace its constitutional government with a caliphate, according to Islam and Middle East expert Daniel Pipes.
"If we were united and strong, we'd elect our own emir and give allegiance to him," Wahhaj was quoted as saying. "[T]ake my word, if 6 to 8 million Muslims unite in America, the country will come to us."
Counter-terrorism expert Steven Emerson obtained a video of a Wahhaj speech in Toronto Sept. 28, 1991, titled "The Afghanistan Jihad" in which the imam declared:
Those who struggle for Allah, it doesn't matter what kind of weapons, I'm telling you it doesn't matter! You don't need nuclear weapons or even guns! If you have faith in Allah and a knife! If Allah wants you to win, you will win! Because Allah is the only one who fights. And when his hand is over your hand. whoever is at war against my friends, I declare war on them.
Citing Emerson, "Muslim Media" notes Wahhaj once likened the U.S. to a dumpster and prayed it would "crumble" and be replaced by Islam.
"You know what this country is? It's a garbage can," Wahhaj said. "It's filthy."
Link (http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=113572)
According to this report, Dalia Mogahed was a no-show at the banquet.
Link (http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=114156)