Douglas Farah

Jun 13, 02:29

A Small Step Forward

Well, it seems that after the Department of Justice’s decision to name CAIR and ISNA as unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land case, the senior leadership at the DOJ has suddenly discovered “scheduling conflicts” that will not allow its leaders to meet the Islamist leader in a planned community outreach program.

The June 27 event, to have been presided over by AG Alberto Gonzalez, is now not being held. A panelist was to have been the vice president of ISNA. Several prominent CAIR members, as well as many of its allies, were to be present.

It seems to me this is the first time the DOJ has had the intestinal fortitude to take a step back away from groups that have pushed their way into the public arena as representatives of the Muslim community while simultaneously having several of its members investigated and indicted by the federal government in terrorism related cases and other cases.

At the same time, it seems that CAIR, which holds itself out as the representative of the Muslim community in the United States, has seen its membership plummet 90 percent since 9-11.

This underscores the weakness of the group’s claim to speak for anyone other than a tiny minority of Muslims. With 29,000 members (if that number was accurate) before 9-11, the group has dropped to fewer than 1,700 members. Enough to give anyone pause.

There apparently was a series of heated meetings in DOJ following the public naming of CAIR, ISNA and others as Muslim Brotherhood groups in the Holy Land case, and as unindicted co-conspirators. Some wanted the meeting to go forward anyway, arguing that the outreach was necessary. But they did not carry the day.

The decision to call off the meeting, at least for now, was taken somewhat reluctantly by senior DOJ officials, my sources say, but it was taken none the less.

As I wrote earlier, the naming is not a criminal charge.

What it means is that because the defendants and those listed people/entities communicated about matters within a conspiracy designed to provide material support to Hamas, all of those particular communications are admissible in court as exception to the hearsay rule.

This is important in the case, and something that will likely have broad implications for how the government deals with Islamist groups. Especially if their own members decide to opt out of the groups whose legitimacy is increasingly under fire.

posted by Douglas Farah