CAIR runs their first congressional candidate

There's a Democratic party primary election being held in Minnesota's fifth Congressional district that could have historic implications.

If he wins the primary, one of the candidates, Keith Ellison would be the likely winner in the general election in this very Democratic district.

Ellison would not only be the first Muslim elected to Congress but the first congressman openly elected with major support from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Ellison has received major financial help and other support from executives at CAIR, which has deep connections to supporters of Islamic terrorism. Ellison himself was a member of the Nation of Islam, though he now claims that he has broken with the group.

One prominant fundraiser, ally and advisor of Ellison is Nihad Awad, the founder and executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Another is CAIR's Director of Government Affairs, Corey Saylor. They have spoken at fundraising events and even raised money for Ellison out of state.

Though it says it is nothing but a civil rights advocacy group for Muslims, CAIR has a highly questionable background when it comes to Islamic terrorism and jihad. The organization has its roots in Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. Two of its officials have been convicted in US courts on terrorism charges, and while CAIR aggressively atacks and sues critics of radical Islam, it has yet to condemn by name any Islamic terrorist group except al Qaeda, and that was done only reluctantly several months after 9/11.

The parent organization of CAIR is the Islamic Association of Palestine. The two founders,Nihad Awad and Omar Ahmad, were both high-ranking IAP officials when they founded CAIR in 1994, and the two groups were virtually the same for years afterward. IAP, which has now apparently ceased operations was an openly anti-Semitic group long known to be Hamas' political front in America.

Both of CAIR's founders have openly endorsed Islamic terrorist groups. In a speech at Barry University in Florida in 1994, Awad declared, "I'm in support of the Hamas movement." Speaking at a youth seminar at the 1999 IAP annual convention in Chicago, Ahmad praised suicide bombers who `kill themselves for Islam'. "Fighting for freedom, fighting for Islam, that is not suicide. They kill themselves for Islam." This , by the way was well after the 1993 WTC bombing.

(ff notes: Anyone interested in finding out more on CAIR and its connections to Islamic terrorism need merely google `CAIR' and `terrorism' together as a search..and then settle back for quite a bit of reading.)

Ellison's ties to CAIR and Awad have not been reported much in the local press. But if Ellison wins today, the media could begin showering "the first Muslim ever elected to Congress" with tremendous coverage.

Leaders of the Democratic party such as Senator Chuck Schumer are fully aware of CAIR's ties to Islamic terrorism and have properly denounced the group. One wonders how the national Democratic leadership will react to a politician who who accepted CAIR's support and sponsorship.