In 2007, the federal government said that, “From its founding by Muslim Brotherhood leaders, CAIR conspired with other affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood to support terrorists” and “the conspirators agreed to use deception to conceal from the American public their connections to terrorists.” In 2009, the FBI ended its outreach programs with CAIR because of the evidence of its involvement with Hamas.
The well-documented and well-publicized evidence of CAIR and ISNA’s involvement with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood has not stopped Illinois Governor Quinn and other officials from courting them. After all, opponents of the Brotherhood fronts are subject to being called “Islamophobes. As Quinn said in his announcement of his Muslim American Advisory Council, Illinois has “more than 400,000 Muslims and 300 mosques” and that’s a lot of voters.
“I congratulate CAIR-Chicago on another successful year of serving the needs of the Muslim population in Illinois, and for working toward ensuring justice and civil rights for all the communities you serve,” Quinn said in an email in March. Circuit County Clerk Dorothy Brown and Attorney General Lisa Madigan also complimented the group.
The website of CAIR-Chicago lists endorsements from the Secretary of State, five Democratic members of Congress, four mayors including that of Chicago, and various other officials in the state. It even includes praise from the superintendent of the Chicago Police Department and the Springfield FBI office’s Special Agent in Charge. Another Democratic Congressman, Mike Quigley of the 5th district, apologized to Muslims “on behalf of this country for discrimination you have faced” in September, playing into the theme of anti-Muslim hysteria and victimization the Islamists constantly use.
This isn’t the first time that Illinois officials have embraced terror-tied Muslim Brotherhood members. In December 2009, Imam Kifah Mustapha was appointed as the state police’s first Muslim chaplain. He, like CAIR and ISNA, was labeled as an “unindicted co-conspirator” by the federal government in the Holy Land trial. Documents introduced into court show that he was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s secret “Palestine Committee” to support Hamas in the U.S.
As a registered agent of the Holy Land Foundation, he raised the Hamas front hundreds of thousands of dollars. The HLF sponsored his band, al-Sakhra, which performed songs supporting Hamas, jihad and violence against Israel. He also sat on the board of directors of the Hamas front named the Islamic Association of Palestine. CAIR also enjoys his support as a major fundraiser.
The Illinois State Police fired him in June 2010 as their chaplain after it Mustapha’s extremism was reported on. CAIR-Chicago immediately responded with a lawsuit accusing the State Police of McCarthyism and “fear-mongering and anti-Muslim rhetoric that has senselessly engulfed our nation.”
He has been the imam at the Mosque Foundation of Bridgeview since 2002, which was taken over by the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1970s after it wrested control from moderate Muslims. It quickly began promoting extremism, including Hamas, suicide bombings and speaking out against assimilation.
Shockingly, despite all of the incriminating facts about Mustapha, he was given a six-week tour of FBI facilities including its main training center and the National Counterterrorism Center in September 2010 as part of its outreach campaign. A local news report said that “he pushed agents to fully explain everything from the bureau’s use of deadly force policy to radical and ethnic profiling.” The FBI responded to the outrage by saying his involvement posed no risk.
Far too many of the Prairie State’s officials have been swindled by the Muslim Brotherhood and the voters of Illinois need to hold them accountable. Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and all of the officials whose public endorsements are proudly published on CAIR-Chicago’s website should be embarrassed and hopefully, replaced. 