The following is the personal opinion of Andrew Whitehead, founder of Anti-CAIR.
On 5 December, JihadWatch posted an article referring to an online posting made by IslamOnline.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/019040.php
As I do not speak/read Arabic, I am relying on the translation provided by JihadWatch.
According to JihadWatch's translation, IslamOnline has implied that Anti-CAIR is engaged in activities on behalf of Michael Savage in his lawsuit against the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
While Anti-CAIR supports Savage's free speech rights, we are not spearheading any coalition nor organizing opposition to CAIR's newest group, "Hate Hurts America" (HHA).
My support for Savage, and others attacked by CAIR, is based on my belief in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights; that all Americans are created equal; that all Americans have the right to be equal before the law, and that the Constitution, not Islamic law, should be the touchstone of civil society. In my opinion, CAIR does not believe that all people are created equal, does not abide by or believe in the Judeo-Christian values that are the bedrock of our society, nor support the fundamental principles that inform our legal system (a system, however, that CAIR will happily abuse to advance its agenda).
IslamOnline seems offended because Anti-CAIR takes CAIR/HHA to task for failing to defend Daniel Pipes, Steve Emerson, Robert Spencer and Joe Kaufman, calling these distinguished Americans "most hostile to Islam." While these gentlemen do not need me to defend them, I can say I have never heard or read of any of them using hateful language against peaceful Muslims.
Peaceful members of any religion know that they can find sanctuary in the United States. We Americans know, from our founding, what it means to be persecuted for our religious beliefs; we know what it means to be run out of a country. We have reached out to Jews, Catholics, Lutherans, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and even "home grown" religions like the Mormons. All have found America a welcoming place. We are equally welcoming of Islam; but do not make the mistake of assuming our acceptance implies surrender. Islam is welcome - so long as its adherents respect and accept the basic values and practices of our government and our people.
We Americans are, for the most part, a very tolerant people. Radical Islam has mistaken that tolerance for weakness. Radical Islam has completely failed to understand the resolve of most Americans when it comes to the global battle to exterminate radical Islam. Radical Islamists view the statements of some elected "leaders" in support of radical Islam as "proof" that America is on the verge of surrendering Iraq and Afghanistan to radical Islam. They hear the words of some of our leaders and believe that all our leaders are of the opinion that we have lost the battle against Islamist terror.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Radical Islamists tend to originate in countries that have no freedom of speech, nor religion; where the leaders all speak in the same voice; where any type of public dissent is ruthlessly suppressed, all in the "name of Allah". When they hear five or six American congressional leaders saying that the United States has lost the war, they assume that these "leaders" are speaking for America, not understanding that under our Republican Democracy, even America-haters have the opportunity to be elected to high office.
What the editorialists of IslamOnline have failed to understand is that by tolerating groups like CAIR in North America, we are not signaling that we agree with them. After all, we have the Ku Klux Klan and American NAZI Party in the USA as well, but we don't base our public policy on what these these groups might prefer.
If IslamOnline and other peaceful Muslim groups want to show America the peaceful side of Islam, the first step they should take is to disown CAIR.
Andrew Whitehead
Director
Anti-CAIR
ajwhitehead@anti-cair-net.org
www.anti-cair-net.org
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