In yet another blow to the contrived “moderate” image of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the leader of its Michigan chapter expressed his unhappiness with Independence Day and marked the holiday with anti-American statements. This follows CAIR officials’ questioning of whether to honor fallen U.S. soldiers on Memorial Day. The remarks were swiftly condemned by Muslims appreciative of the U.S. military.
The comments about Independence Day were made by Dawud Walid, executive director of CAIR-Michigan. He has a history of anti-Americanism, vilifying the U.S. government and support for the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Fourth of July tweets are below:
Last month, another CAIR official named Hassan Shibly, chief executive director of CAIR-Florida, described nationalism as a plot against Islam. Shibly, like Walid, has a history of extremism. His June 9 comment on Facebook is below:
For Islamists, patriotism or nationalism collides with their ideology because they see the global community of Muslims (called the ummah) as a single body, like a unified ethnicity, political party or nation. Much like Americans do not want fellow citizens to be loyal to a foreign country, Islamists do not want the first loyalty of Muslims to be to the U.S.
Thus, Shibly’s message puts Muslim-Americans in the position of having to choose patriotism or their faith. It is an anti-American theme that inevitably makes his audience view the U.S. government as hostile to their beliefs.
The U.S. Justice Department describes CAIR as a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity and labeled it an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terrorism-financing trial in American history. In another case in 2007, federal prosecutors stated that CAIR’s founders “agreed to use deception to conceal from the American public their connections to terrorists.”
CAIR presents itself as the moderate face of the Muslim-American community, but a 2011 Gallup poll found that only about 12% of Muslim-Americans consider CAIR to be the organization that most represents their interests.
A truly moderate Muslim-American organization would fire Walid and other officials who disparage American holidays and U.S. soldiers and have extremist outbursts. Instead, they continue to serve in CAIR for years without any change in conduct.
CAIR’s silence in the wake of its officials’ comments speaks volumes.
