This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3886
March 1, 2009
Hamas Linked Group, CAIR, Decries FBI Mosque Surveillance Program
By WILLIAM MAYER and BEILA RABINOWITZ
March 1, 2009 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - On February 20, Ahmadullah Sais Niazi, 34, was apprehended by the FBI at his Southern California home, charged with with two counts of perjury and a single count each of naturalization fraud, misuse of a passport and making a false statement to a federal agency.
The FBI became aware of Niazi due to a probe of Southern California mosques which recently came to light.
That program is being assailed now by none other than the Council on American Islamic Relations [CAIR], the Hamas linked unindicted co-conspirator in U.S. vs. Holy Land Foundation, the nation's largest successful terror funding prosecution. Of note, the founder of the Texas chapter of CAIR, Ghassan Elashi was convicted as part of that prosecution.
In its 2/23 newsletter the Saudi funded Hamas mouthpiece stated, "CAIR-LA to Seek Probe Into FBI's Arrest of Ahmad Niazi Afghan native claims retaliation for refusal to become informant."
Niazi's background is troubling. An Afghani native, he is believed to have met with Amin al-Haq a close aid of bin-Laden's on numerous occasions while visiting the country. This is a thoroughly plausible scenario in that al-Haq is married to Niazi's sister, Hafiza, making him Niazi's brother-in-law. Al-Haq is believed to serve as al-Qaeda's security chief in Afghanistan.
Another CAIR newsletter makes the startling claim that, "The American Muslim community has never wavered from its commitment to keeping America safe, nor has it hesitated from cooperating with various law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, in ensuring the security of all U.S. citizens."
Despite such puffery, one must assume that it is the Muslim community's questionable, "commitment to keeping America safe," rather than support of it, which necessitated the mosque surveillance in the first place.
CAIR also cried foul about the practice of, "Infiltrating mainstream mosques the way FBI informants infiltrate white supremacist groups illustrates the FBI's perception of American Muslims as a community that must be constantly monitored, instead of being treated as an equal partner in fighting crime and terrorism..."
One must ask the question, since the organization which is seeking to "partner" with law enforcement [CAIR in this example] in "fighting crime and terrorism," has already been conclusively tied to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, what is such a relationship worth?
CAIR's entire history is one of defending terrorists; note it held numerous fundraisers for admitted Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative Sami Al-Arian, and has had several of its members convicted on terror related charges, so supporting Niazi in this matter is straight from the CAIR playbook, which fortunately is looking more than a bit battered these days - the FBI is refusing all contact with the group because of the repercussions of the Holy Land prosecution.
Perhaps what is of most concern in this matter is the negative knee-jerk reaction many if not most Muslims have to the subject of mosque surveillance.
It is a known fact that American mosques have served as meeting and planning places for terrorists. They serve the same function in the Middle East [as we detailed here, "Evidence from Operation Cast Lead Shows Hamas Uses Mosques to Store Weapons and as Sites to Launch Rockets and Mortar Shells," http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=idfmosqueid=2.18.09%2Ehtm].
Until the Muslim community demonstrates due diligence in policing its own houses of worship it can expect to continue to suffer these kind of "indignities." To treat mosques as simple houses of worship at this late date would be the height of folly, something the Obama administration might want to consider as it apparently is moving rapidly to disband these demonstratively successful and therefore vital national security efforts.
http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=cairmosqueid=3.1.09%2Ehtm
This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/3886