This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3313

CAIR Speech at Centcom Cancelled

January 12, 2008

CENTCOM Rejects CAIR

January 13, 2008 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - On Friday the U.S. Department of Defense, Central Command [CENTCOM] confirmed that an upcoming event featuring a speech by CAIR-Tampa Executive Director Ahmed Bedier, had been cancelled or, as CENTCOM put it, "postponed."

No future date is planned.

The event had been scheduled to take place on Tuesday, January 15th. A CENTCOM representative declined to state the reason for the "postponement."

The decision to cancel Bedier's appearance occurred after a phone conversation on Thursday between Joe Kaufman, Chairman of Americans Against Hate [AAH], and a CENTCOM official, who said that he would bring the matter up for discussion.

AAH had discovered that Bedier was speaking at the government agency from a posting on the website of radio talk show host Michael Savage. According to that lead, Bedier was going to address the nation's central military command about such controversial topics as jihad, martyrdom and dhimmitude [serving as a non-Muslim under Muslim rule], followed by a "question and answer session."

At the behest of the official, Mr. Kaufman sent him an e-mail stating his specific concerns. The e-mail read in part:

"[I]t would be wrong for CENTCOM to host Ahmed Bedier from CAIR this coming Tuesday, given CAIR's extensive ties to terrorist organizations... Please reconsider allowing Mr. Bedier to speak to your personnel on Tuesday the 15th or anytime in the future. CENTCOM should be fighting terrorists, not embracing their friends."

Kaufman's email also noted that CENTCOM had previously hosted a similar event attended by Ramadan Shallah, a colleague of Sami Al-Arian, who went on to become the head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad [PIJ]. Given Bedier's own ties to Al-Arian, Kaufman queried, "Why do you want a repeat performance?"

When contacted by PipeLineNews.org, Mr. Kaufman commended CENTCOM "for no longer having this event with CAIR" stating that he "hopes the government agency exercises better judgment as to who it invites to speak for upcoming CENTCOM events." http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=caircentcom1.13.08.htm

MIM: The press release issued by AAH.

http://www.americansagainsthate.org/press_releases/PR-BedierCENTCOM.php January 12, 2008
For Immediate Release
Contact: Joe Kaufman ([email protected])

CAIR SPEECH AT CENTCOM CANCELLED

ACTION TAKEN FOLLOWING CALL AND E-MAIL FROM AMERICANS AGAINST HATE

(Coral Springs, FL) Yesterday, the Department of Defense: Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed that its upcoming event featuring a speech by CAIR-Tampa Executive Director Ahmed Bedier was cancelled or, as CENTCOM put it, "postponed" with no future date planned. The event had originally been scheduled for Tuesday, January 15th. A CENTCOM representative stated that there was no reason given for the "postponement."

The cancellation occurred after a phone conversation on Thursday took place between Americans Against Hate (AAH) Chairman Joe Kaufman and a CENTCOM official, who said that he would bring the matter up for discussion.

AAH had discovered that Bedier was speaking at the government agency from a posting on the website of radio talk show host Michael Savage. According to Savage's information, Bedier was going to speak about such controversial topics as jihad, martyrdom and dhimmitude (serving as a non-Muslim under Muslim rule), followed by a "question and answer session."

At the behest of the official, Kaufman sent him an e-mail stating his specific concerns. The e-mail read in part, "[I]t would be wrong for CENTCOM to host Ahmed Bedier from CAIR this coming Tuesday, given CAIR's extensive ties to terrorist organizations... Please reconsider allowing Mr. Bedier to speak to your personnel on Tuesday the 15th or anytime in the future. CENTCOM should be fighting terrorists, not embracing their friends."

As well, in the e-mail, Kaufman made mention of the fact that CENTCOM had previously hosted Ramadan Shallah, a colleague of Sami Al-Arian and who later became the head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Given Bedier's own ties to Al-Arian, Kaufman asked, "Why do you want a repeat performance?"

Americans Against Hate praises CENTCOM for no longer having this event with CAIR and hopes the government agency exercises better judgment as to who it invites to speak for upcoming CENTCOM events.

Joe Kaufman is available for interview. E-mail: [email protected].

This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3313