Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > CAIR sends letters urging politicians to distance themselves from Hogans 'before the elections' - US Rep slams Muslim group
CAIR sends letters urging politicians to distance themselves from Hogans 'before the elections' - US Rep slams Muslim group
CAIR director Ahmed Bedier told Rep - 'Priests who have sex with boys are more of a terrorism threat then the 9/11 hijackers'
November 10, 2006
MIM: The link below is pdf of Ms.Brown-Waite's response to CAIR. According to the blogger 'You Heard it Here":
http://19jancan66.blogspot.com/2006/11/florida-congresswoman-stands-up-to.html
CAIR sent a fax to Ms. Brown-Waite asking her to join her fellow republican "dhimmis" and condemn the Hogans. Using congressional letterhead, she wrote a 3 page response that will most certainly touch off more whining by the terrorist front group. It is worth reading. Included in her letter, Ms. Brown-Waite reminds Ahmed Bedier of a meeting she was invited to at a prominent muslim doctors home. She was asked to "have some tea and see how his children were doing." When she arrived Ms. Brown-Waite was greeted by 8 or more men sitting in a semicircle waiting to have a discussion with her. From what I could gather from the letter, CAIR was looking for a member of congress who would be sympathetic to the CAIR-muslim view. When Ms. Brown-Waite told them, in no uncertain terms, she was not their guy, Ahmed Bedier told her they had done some research. Pointing out her Catholic background, Bedier told her something that was so outrageous she remembered it almost verbatim, "Catholic priests pose more of a terrorism threat by having sex with young altar boys than those who flew the planes into the Would Trade Center." It was at this point Ms. Brown -Waite told the group that the Catholic priest did not kill 3000 innocent Americans and the authorities knew where they were, not hiding in some cave. From the tone of her response Ms. Brown-Waite sure put Ahmed Bedier and CAIR in their place. But you won't find that being reported by the MSM. I'm sure since that 2004 meeting, Ms. Brown-Waite has been in the CAIR crosshairs.
Brown- Waite defends Hogans speech rights
By TONY MARRERO [email protected]
Published: Nov 9, 2006
http://www.hernandotoday.com/MGBG9J2ZBUE.html
BROOKSVILLE — U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite has jumped into the fray created by Tom and Mary Ann Hogan's recent comments about the Islamic faith.
The Brooksville Republican, fresh off her re-election victory to District 5, fired off a two-page letter Thursday to Ahmed Bedier, executive director of the Tampa Chapter of the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), defending the Hogans' right to free speech and suggesting that Bedier should resign.
"Mrs. Hogan expressed in her statements the views of many of my constituents, and while they do not encourage harmony in the community, they should demonstrate to you how many United States citizens perceive your faith," Brown-Waite wrote. "Your area of concern should not be focused on the statements of the Hogans, but rather upon the actions of many in your community who created these beliefs."
Brown-Waite sent the 1,100-word letter in response to a letter Bedier sent Nov. 3 calling for Brown-Waite to condemn the Hogans for what he called "anti-Muslim statements" his organization found "deeply disturbing" and "bigoted."
"With the election only a few days away, we are concerned about your close relationship to Mr. and Mrs. Hogan and encourage you to disassociate yourself from their hateful comments," Bedier wrote, citing news stories in which Tom Hogan was described as "an ardent Brown-Waite backer" who flew to Washington, D.C. for Brown-Waite's swearing-in ceremonies after she was first elected in 2002.
"As the only Congress-woman representing Hernando County, we call on you to send a clear message that hatred and bigotry by GOP leaders will not be tolerated," Bedier wrote, reminding Brown-Waite that Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida GOP chairwoman Carol Jean Jordan condemned the Hogans' comments.
"Florida is waiting to hear where you stand on this issue," he wrote.
In her letter to newspaper editors last month, Mary Ann Hogan called Islam "a hateful, frightening religion." Her husband, a co-founder of the county Republican Executive Committee, came out in support of the comments. Bush had appointed him to a vacant County Commission seat in August.
"The stated goal of the Islamic faith is to kill us, the ‘infidels,'" Mary Ann Hogan wrote.
She penned the note to criticize the county for using personnel and equipment to assist a recent Ramadan festival at a local mosque.
Brown-Waite, in her letter to Bedier, praised the Hogans for standing firm in the face of criticism and calls to apologize.
"Mr. and Mrs. Hogan have shown tremendous fortitude by resisting the pressures of your group to retract their statements," she wrote. "I am sorry that Jeb Bush and Carol Jean Jordan from the Republican Party were so quick to also forget that we have freedom of speech and that the Hogans were made to feel that they are the ones who were in the wrong."
Brown-Waite then went into a little history, citing her work after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to "reach out to the Muslim community because many of my citizens were of the belief that all Muslims were to be blamed."
She "met many fine Muslims" but "also met some local Muslims who expressed vehement anti-Semitic views and some who even attempted to justify the extremist wing ideology."
She recalled in 2004 when she was invited to the home of a prominent Muslim doctor, whom she did not name, "allegedly for tea," and found eight or more men sitting in a semi-circle waiting to confront her.
At that meeting, Brown-Waite claims that Bedier and CAIR were seeking a member of Congress sympathetic to their views. She was not that person, she said, because "neither I, nor my constituents, felt that the American Muslims or CAIR had adequately disavowed past terrorist acts."
Brown-Waite recalled in the letter that Bedier had told her, "Catholic priests pose more of a terrorism threat by having sex with young altar boys than those who flew planes into the World Trade Center."
"I know many fine Muslims who would be well served by your resignation from the local CAIR office," she wrote in closing. "Your militancy and manipulation of facts does not serve them well."
Reached Thursday afternoon, Bedier said he was "getting over the shock" from Brown-Waite's letter.
CAIR was not trying to stifle the Hogans' free speech, he said.
"We didn't say shut them up or don't talk to them, we just wanted to make sure (elected officials) didn't share the same views," he said.
He said CAIR has actively campaigned against violence, citing television ads the nonprofit group purchased to run in the Tampa Bay market — including Hernando County — condemning acts of terrorism.
The Congresswoman's recollection of the visit is a fabrication, Bedier said. The visit, he contends, included men and women and was planned well in advance. As for the comments about priests, Bedier said his only mention of Catholic priests was to make the analogy that the Catholic faith should not be judged for the actions of a few priests just as Islam shouldn't be judged by the acts of terrorists.
He said he has even spoken at Brown-Waite's church, St. Anthony Catholic, about fostering harmony between Christians and Muslims, and that CAIR recently donated money to rebuild Catholic churches in the Middle East that had been firebombed.
Bedier questioned the timing of Brown-Waite's response, pointing out that busy people such as both gubernatorial candidates Jim Davis and Charlie Crist had time to draft a letter condemning the Hogans' words within a day or two after the news broke.
Nowhere in her letter, he said, did Brown-Waite do the same.
"She was so courageous to send it after she was elected," he said. "If she had such strong convictions, she could have sent this letter on Friday of last week, like everybody else. It just shows how low people are willing to go to score cheap political points."
Brown-Waite, in turn, called Bedier "cowardly" for sending his letter last Friday, "when he knew I was out campaigning all weekend and Monday and Tuesday," she said.
She bristled when asked Thursday if she supported the content of the Hogans' letter and raised her voice as she recalled the event in the doctor's home.
"What about the content of his speech to me, attacking my religion?" she said. "He's not going to get away with it.
"Reasonable Muslims in this district know I support them," she said.
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