A Founder Of CAIR Resigns

Article from the Detroit News:

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Founder Omar Ahmad retires from CAIR

Officials of Islamic civil rights group deny links to Hamas
Gregg Krupa / The Detroit News

A founder of the Council on American Islamic Relations, the nation's largest civil rights group for Muslims, retired from the organization's board of directors Thursday, months after the FBI terminated most cooperation with CAIR because of alleged links to a designated terrorist organization.

Omar Ahmad helped found CAIR, which is based in Washington, D.C, in 1994. He served as executive director until 2005 and then on its board of directors until his retirement.

Ahmad did not respond to requests for comment, but officials with CAIR said he retired only after long years of service. They denied his departure had anything to do with allegations that Ahmad and another CAIR official had ties with Hamas, the Palestinian resistance movement that the United States says is a terrorist organization.

CAIR officials reiterated their denials that the organization has anything to do with Hamas.

Evidence presented in October at a trial in Texas of the largest Islamic charity in the country, the Holy Land Foundation, suggested that Ahmad and Nihad Awad, the current executive director of CAIR, attended a meeting with supporters of Hamas in 1993 -- two years before Hamas was designated a terrorist group.

"These allegations are old. They have been around for almost two decades," said Ibrahim Hooper, a CAIR spokesman. "Fifteen years is a long time to be on the board of any organization, and this is just a natural transition."

The Detroit News reported in April that the FBI was no longer working with CAIR on the training of agents and outreach to Muslims because of testimony that Ahmad and Awad attended a meeting of purported Hamas supporters in Philadelphia in 1993.

"In light of that evidence, the FBI has suspended all formal contacts between CAIR and the FBI," the FBI said in an order to field offices, which was made public this week. "This action is not intended to reflect a wholesale judgment of the organization and its entire membership. Nevertheless, until we can resolve whether there continues to be a connection between CAIR or its executives and Hamas, the FBI does not view CAIR as an appropriate liaison partner."

Awad has not responded to requests for comment.

But John Miller, an assistant director of the FBI, made clear Friday that the bureau remains concerned, until it hears further from CAIR.

"We're in contact with CAIR and with CAIR's attorneys, and we are discussing these issues," Miller said.

gkrupa@detnews.com (313) 222-2359

Do CAIR's denials mean anything? Heh.