On the same day the Council on American Islamic Relations denounced a number of conservative media entities as “Islamophobic,” a report noted the Federal Bureau of Investigation violated its own policy in working with the organization.
At risk of finding itself on the same list as Fox News and the Rush Limbaugh Show, the Washington Free Beacon reported Thursday that FBI officials “met and coordinated” with employees of CAIR, as documented in a report from the Justice Department’s inspector general, in apparent violation of FBI policy.
The Free Beacon identified CAIR as a group allegedly tied to Islamic terrorist groups, reporting that it was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial involving groups and individuals that provided support for Hamas.
A district court judge did find in Oct. 2010 that the government should not have included CAIR on the list, according to Politico.
The State Department classifies Hamas as a terrorist organization, and the FBI developed policies in 2008 designed to restrict bureau contact with CAIR after the landmark criminal trial. As reported by the Free Beacon:
In an effort to “ensure that the FBI is not supporting individuals who support extremist or terrorist ideologies,” the IG report said, the bureau established policies designed to prevent FBI employees from working with CAIR except in an investigative capacity.
The policy “prohibited non-investigative community outreach interactions with CAIR such as attending CAIR-sponsored events and allowing CAIR to attend FBI-sponsored events, while permitting interactions regarding civil criminal investigations,” as noted in the inspector general report.
“In three of the five incidents we reviewed, we concluded that the CAIR [redacted] was not followed, resulting in interactions with CAIR that were inconsistent with the policy,” the report added.
One example given is that the top official at the FBI’s Chicago office was the keynote speaker at a conference at the American Islamic College in Chicago and was introduced by CAIR’s Chicago civil rights director in 2010.
The Free Beacon reported that the White House “has promoted CAIR and touted a multitude of meetings that administration officials have held with CAIR representatives,” despite the FBI prohibition on non-investigative interaction.
David Reaboi, spokesman for the Center for Security Policy and a critic of CAIR, told the Free Beacon the organization has avoided serious scrutiny for too long.
“Since 2009 the FBI seems to have come in line with Obama administration policy, embracing what it considers ‘moderate Islamists’ in a quest to defeat the ‘violent extremists’ who commit terrorist acts,” he said.
Continue reading at Washington Free Beacon
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!
[email protected]
The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
