1/6/2008: Intel News Brief: CAIR wants balance at US Air Force Academy
event this week:

PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A prominent national Islamic
civil rights and advocacy group today called on the United States Air
Force
Academy to offer a balancing perspective at an event this week
featuring
speakers who have a long history of anti-Muslim rhetoric and whose
claims of
being "reformed terrorists" have been challenged by experts.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said the academy
invited Walid
Shoebat, Kamal Saleem and Zachariah Anani to address the 50th annual
United
States Air Force Academy Assembly in Colorado Springs, Colo.
(Controversial
"terrorism expert" Steven Emerson is also invited to speak at the
event.)

SEE: United States Air Force Academy Assembly
http://www.usafa.af.mil/df/dfps/Programs/Assembly/schedule.cfm

SEE ALSO: Three Former Terrorists Invited By US Air Force Academy
http://www.mmdnewswire.com/three-former-terrorists-2871.html

CAIR has offered to help academy officials find representatives of the
Colorado
Muslim community who can offer a balancing perspective to what the
Washington-based group calls the "hate-filled rhetoric" of the
invited speakers. (Assembly organizers have not yet responded to that
offer or
to the information provided about the Islamophobic views of the
speakers.)

In past events, the three self-styled "ex-terrorists" made bigoted
And inaccurate statements about Islam and Muslims. They told one
California
university audience that Americans need to "wake up to the dangerous
realities of the Islamic faith."

SEE: 3 Men Decry Islam and Blame it for Radicalism
http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2007/4/17/exterroristsDrawMixedReactions

Shoebat told a Missouri newspaper that he sees "many parallels between
the
Antichrist and Islam" and "Islam is not the religion of God -- Islam
is the devil." (Springfield News-Leader, 9/24/07) He has stated
publicly that he bombed an Israeli bank and participated in other acts
of
violence in the Middle East, yet he has not been charged with any
crime.

Panelist Zachariah Anani says he is an advocate against what he calls
"the violent doctrines of Islam." (Michigan Daily, 1/30/07)

Terrorism experts recently cast doubt on the Anani's claims. "Mr.
Anani's
not an individual who rates the slightest degree of credibility, based
on the
stories that he has told," said Tom Quiggin, Canada's only court-
qualified
expert on global terror and a former RCMP intelligence and national
security expert.

SEE: Doubt Cast On Anani's Terrorist Claims (Windsor Star)
http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=4a479502-4490-408e-bdb5-f2638619a62c&k...

"Without a balancing perspective, the hate-filled rhetoric of these
individuals will poison the minds of those who may serve our nation in
Muslim-majority areas of the world," said CAIR Legislative Director
Corey
Saylor. "The First Amendment protects even bigoted speech, but those
who
value mutual understanding should have an equal right to speak out and
be heard."

Saylor added that the academy's invitation to three such anti-Muslim
speakers
could be viewed by many as a tacit endorsement of their views.

CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 35 offices
and
chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the
understanding
of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower
American
Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual
understanding.
Source: Morning Intel News Brief via Financials
NOTE: For those that want to contact members of CAIR:
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, +1-202-488-8787,
+1-202-744-7726,ihooper@cair.com, or Ahmed Rehab,
+1-202-870-0166, arehab@cair.com, or Amina Rubin, +1-202-488-8787,
arubin@cair.com, all of the Council on American-Islamic Relations