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Thursday, Nov 26, 2009
The Council on American-Islamic Relations calls Jake Tapper's report "shoddy"; Tapper responds.
Oct 1, 2001 | Read the story.
In his inaccurate and deceptive hit piece on American Muslims, writer Jake Tapper used every trick in the book of shoddy journalism to falsely paint mainstream Islamic groups as supporters of terrorism.
The tone of the article reminded me of the inquisitional tactics used during the Army-McCarthy hearings in the 1950s, when many innocent individuals were accused of being part of Communist "front groups." All Tapper did was substitute "Islamic terrorist" for "Communist."
I would ask Tapper the same question posed to Sen. McCarthy by attorney Joseph Welch: "Have you no decency, sir?"
A decent and objective journalist would report the facts, not seek to manufacture them. Let us examine how what Tapper wrote correlates with reality.
Tapper says CAIR and other Muslim groups are protesting "'hate crimes' against Muslims and Arab-Americans." Why the use of quotes to set off the term "hate crimes," given the fact that at least three people thought to be Muslims or Arabs have already been killed in Arizona, Texas and California? Are the more than 600 anti-Muslim incidents reported to CAIR not worthy of the status of true "hate crimes?"
He also claims groups "CAIR and AMC [American Muslim Council] in particular would not be chosen as representatives by many Muslims." Where did he get this tidbit? Who are these "many Muslims?" CAIR is one of the most widely supported Muslim organizations in America.
In our own polls of American Muslim public opinion, we have been rated 8 or higher (on a scale from 1 to 10) by the vast majority of thousands of respondents. Hundreds of Muslims respond to CAIR "Action Alerts" in defense of civil rights or to challenge Islamophobic defamation.
Next comes this cheap shot: "In fact, there are those in American Muslim communities as well as law enforcement who consider CAIR and the AMC to be part of the problem." Now if "law enforcement" (notice the lack of specificity) has a problem with CAIR, it has never been brought to our attention. CAIR representatives meet regularly with officials from the Department of Justice, State Department and FBI. Some of these meetings have taken place since the horrific events of Sept. 11. (Does Tapper know more than President Bush, who met with CAIR representatives twice in the past two weeks?)
Tapper now takes us into an Orwellian world in which words no longer have meaning. He states: "Ibrahim Hooper, communications director of CAIR, refuses to outright condemn Osama bin Laden."
Oddly though, one paragraph later he quotes me as saying, "If Osama bin Laden was behind [the attacks], we condemn him by name." He then adds, "And what about prior acts of terror linked to bin Laden? Or that bin Laden has urged Muslims to kill Americans?" Well, if he had actually asked me those questions, I would have told him that I condemned them as well.
Tapper is nothing if not relentless in sticking to his agenda. He writes: "[CAIR representatives have] been quoted defending or exhorting organizations that the U.S. State Department classifies as 'foreign terrorist.'" He then quotes Steven Pomerantz, former FBI assistant director and chief of the FBI's counterterrorism section, saying CAIR's activities "effectively give aid to international terrorist groups."
Now we come to the unacknowledged source of "information" in this article. That source is Steven Emerson, a self-proclaimed "expert on terrorism" who has a long history of attacks on the American Muslim community and its leadership. The Pomerantz quote, and many others like it, comes directly from Emerson's Islamophobic playbook.
Now back to Tapper's wholesale use of Emerson's materials. (In fact, it is strange that Emerson was not given co-authorship on the article.)
Tapper wrote: "Particularly problematic is the attitude of CAIR and AMC toward Islamic terrorist groups. CAIR was critical of the conviction of Sheik Omar Abdul-Rahman ... CAIR went so far as to include the court conviction of Abdul-Rahman on a list of 'hate crimes against Muslims.'" This is a false claim of Emerson's that he has repeated many times over the past few years.
CAIR never supported Sheikh Omar or called his conviction a "hate crime." In fact, other than a one-paragraph mention in the 1996 CAIR report on Muslim civil rights, CAIR never dealt with this case in any shape or form. (The events leading to the trial occurred before CAIR even existed.) To quote from the 1996 CAIR civil rights report: "Lawyers defending Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman complain that his trial was far from free and fair." That is it. No mention of "hate crimes." No expressions of support for Sheikh Omar. (To view CAIR's 2001 civil rights report, go to www.cair-net.org/civilrights.
