CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, claims to represent Muslim America. Thanks to the (ridiculously biased and far-right, but who's counting?) Washington Times, however, we now have a reasonably accurate membership count of dues-paying CAIR members: 1,700.
I'm going to make the reasonable assumption that all of us here support Muslim Americans against the hatred and bigotry that *is* out there in America today, and has already claimed innocent lives.
That said, does that mean we should be supporting CAIR?
CAIR has had substantive ties to terrorist groups such as Hamas, their funding sources are shady and/or ill-documented, and they often seem to do more harm in advancing Muslim American interests than good due to their ties to extremism.
Now, according to their tax returns, they don't even represent more than a tiny, tiny fraction of the Muslim American community.
To give a sense of comparison - the forum goons at SomethingAwful.com outnumber CAIR, for cryin' out loud.
Is it time to jettison CAIR as the 'go to' group on Muslim American issues and look for a more reasonable partner organization?
You guys are great. Really, you are. You take good care of my city while I'm away (My just desserts for spending 8 months each year in DC is a summer in SoCal). But please, for the curious out there, pics with fewer MySpace angles, please? Some of you are almost too scene to function. :)
Please remember that Campus Progress' terms of use do not allow promoting or endorsing any particular political party or candidate for office. Posts or comments that do this will be deleted.
Posts
!
