More on Dr. Yahya Basha's affiliations...
In its statement, the AMPCC wrote: "We denounce the anti-Muslim McCarthyism now being used by the New Jersey Jewish News and the Anti-Defamation League in their apparent attempt to politically marginalize the Muslim community in New Jersey by equating legitimate opposition to Israeli brutality with anti-Semitism. In this and similar Islamophobic smear campaigns, ethnic and religious stereotypes, distorted information, partial citations, and complete fabrications are used as tactics of intimidation. Mr. Schundler deserves to be congratulated for his courageous stance in the face of such defamation.
"We believe this attempt at political exclusion is being prompted in part by the pro-Israel lobby's alarm at the increased presence of American Muslims in this country's political process. The ADL must end its campaign of vilification and apologize to the Muslim community in New Jersey."
The attack on Schundler and on the AMA is similar to one that came during last year's New York Senate race between Rick Lazio and Hillary Clinton. A Washington Post writer called those attacks "political pornography." Lazio lost the election to Clinton.
There are an estimated seven million Muslims in American and some 1.2 billion worldwide. Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in this country.
* The AMPCC is made up of:
America Muslim Alliance (AMA),
Dr. Agha Saeed,
510-872-8013
American Muslim Council (AMC),
Dr. Yahya Basha,
248-613-5963
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR),
Ibrahim Hooper,
202-488-8787
Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC),
Salam Al-Maryati,
213-383-3443
LINKCAIR, MPAC, and the AMC are all ANSWER groups that have expressed sympathies for Terrorism. The American Muslim Alliance is the group whose $50,000 contribution to Hillary Clinton's Senatorial Campaign raised eyebrows because of their pro-terrorist leanings.
Dr. Basha has opposed anti-terror legislation, and in 2001 called the release of Mazen Al-Najjar, Sami Al Arian's brother-in-law and co-conspirator, a coup for the Arab community in the US (link).
Here's another AMC tidbit, involving Dr. Basha:
AMC applauds Representative Bonior on his tireless dedication and effort in the case of Dr. Al-Najjar and others who have been victims of this heinous policy. Dr. Yahya Basha, AMC President, accompanied Mr. Bonior on a visit to Dr. Al-Najjar on February 22,1999 making him the first policy maker to meet with the secret evidence victim. He teamed up with Representative Tom Campbell (R-CA) to introduce and diligently fight to pass H.R. 2121, the Secret Evidence Repeal Act of 1999 and subsequently launched a campaign against the use of secret evidence.
The fruition of the campaign for Dr. Al-Najjar's release came as a result of the dedication of Dr. Sami Al-Arian, of the Tampa Bay Coalition for Peace and Justice and Mazen's brother-in-law; The National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom (NCPPF); and his legal team led Prof. David Cole of Georgetown University, Nancy Chang of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Joe Hohenstein of the Nationalities Service Center, and Martin Schwartz of Tampa who have worked so diligently for his release.
"Thank God Almighty! Mazen is free at last!" said Aly Abuzaakouk, AMC Executive Director. "We thank the members of our community for their relentless grassroots efforts against secret evidence. It is now time to work on freeing the remainder of the victims being held under its premise and toward ensuring that the Secret Evidence Repeal Act is passed immediately in the 107th Congress. President Elect Bush has spoken out against the practice and we must work to ensure that he keeps his promise to sign the bill."
LINKInteresting that it was Bonior and Campbell who were most active in repealing the secret evidence provisions of the 1996 anti-terrorism act. Abdullah Al Arian is an intern in Bonior's office, and also the son of an alleged fund-raiser for terrorism, Sami Al Arian. Suhail Khan was on Tom Campbell's congressional staff, and is the son of Muslim cleric Mahboob Khan, at whose California mosque Ayman Al Zawahiri raised funds for Al Qaeda in 1995.
And Suhail Khan later became a founding board member of Grover Norquist's Islamic Institute, and went on to become the White House aide in charge of Muslim Outreach under President Bush, at the recommendaiton of Grover Norquist.
In February of 2003, the doors to our political institutions still remain open to radical Islamists who've expressed sympathy and support for terrorism.
