November 22, 2011
Law affirms FBI cutting ties to unindicted co-conspirator organizations
With Thanksgiving just two days away, something new to be thankful for!
Dear Harold,
Kudos to Patrick Poole and Pajamas Media for the article below (highlights added).
While the Obama administration is training Islamists in Egypt and cozying up to leaders of organizations like
ISNA (Islamic Society of North America), Congress has passed legislation that includes language prohibiting
the FBI from formal outreach to such groups.
We helped get legislation passed in Arizona and Tennessee that prevents courts from applying sharia law.
Congress passes the legislation discussed below. Polls show ¾ of Americans oppose sharia law in our court
system. It seems that more and more Americans are understanding the threat—except the Obama
administration. Help us prepare our strategy for state legislative action in 2012 by adding your name to the
pledge of support to protect your state from sharia law. Over 36,000 people have done so
thus far!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
PJM Exclusive: New Law Cuts Ties Between FBI and Terror-Tied Groups
Obama signs bill codifying and expanding existing, but frequently ignored, ban on engaging groups and individuals
named unindicted co-conspirators in terror trials. 
by
Patrick Poole
When Barack Obama signed the continuing resolution this past weekend averting another potential government shutdown,
it’s doubtful that he was aware that tucked into the bill, which funds several federal agencies through the fiscal year and
extends the continuing resolution for the rest of the government until December 16, is a provision that may dramatically
impact what Islamic groups and leaders the FBI and other law enforcement agencies can continue to work with.
Under Division B, Title II of the bill, under the Federal Bureau of Investigation-Salaries and Expenses section, is the
following provision: Liaison partnerships- The conferees support the FBI’s policy prohibiting any formal non-investigative
cooperation with unindicted co-conspirators in terrorism cases. The conferees expect the FBI to insist
on full compliance with this policy by FBI field offices and to report to the Committees on Appropriations
egarding any violation of the policy.
The most obvious group that this will impact is the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which wasnamed
unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation case — the largest terrorism-finance trial in American history.
During the trial, FBI Dallas Agent Lara Burns testified that CAIR was a front for the terrorist group Hamas.
Following the trial, which resulted in guilty verdicts on all counts and lengthy prison terms for all five Holy Land executives,
the FBI was forced to cut ties with CAIR – a decision that CAIR claimed would hurt local communities and that prompted
other Muslim groups, like the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), to threaten to stop cooperation with the FBI unless
CAIR was reinstated. In a February 2010 letter to members of Congress, Assistant Attorney General Robert Weich
forwarded evidence submitted by federal prosecutors in the trial and court testimony concerning CAIR’s ties to the
Hamas-controlled Palestine Committee and that committee’s role in supporting Hamas.
Stung by their loss of access to federal law enforcement agencies, some of the Islamic organizations named as unindicted
co-conspirators in the case unsuccessfully sued to have their names removed from the list. In a 2009unsealed decision by
federal Judge Jorge Solis, the court found that the government should have submitted the unindicted co-conspirators list
under seal, and ordered the list resealed (a hollow victory since the list is readily available), but declined to remove the
groups and individuals named.
In fact, in his decision Judge Solis recounted the evidence submitted by the government that justified CAIR’s being named unindicted co-conspirator in the case:
The Government identifies four portions of the record from the first trail that purportedly established that CAIR was a
“joint venturer and co-conspirator”: (1) a Government exhibit showing the objective of the Palestine Committee is to
support Hamas; (2) a Government exhibit showing CAIR founder Omar Ahmad is part of the Palestine Committee and
Mousa Abu Marzook is its head; (3) a Government exhibit listing CAIR as part of the Palestine Committee; and (4) the
testimony of Special Agent Lara Burns and accompanying exhibits placing the CAIR founder at the 1993 Philadelphia conference and describing the CAIR founder’s mediation of a dispute between HLF and Ashqar over Hamas fundraising .
(Resp. at 12-13.) The Government does not mention any occasion where it used the 801(d)(2)(E) hearsay exception to
introduce a statement of CAIR. The four pieces of evidence the government relies on, as discussed below, do create at
least a prima facie case as to CAIR’s involvement in a conspiracy to support Hamas. (p. 6-7) (emphasis added)
But it wasn’t just CAIR among the unindicted co-conspirators that Solis focused on, but also the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which bills itself as the largest Muslim umbrella group in the country, and the North American Islamic
Trust (NAIT), which owns the property to more than one-quarter of all mosques in North America. Solis wrote that the government had “produced ample evidence to establish the associations of CAIR, ISNA and NAIT with HLF, the Islamic Association for Palestine (‘IAP’), and with Hamas.” He also wrote: “The Muslim Brotherhood supervised the creation of
the ‘Palestine Committee,’ which was put in charge of other organizations, such as HLF, IAP, UASR, and ISNA.” And
also: “During the [1993 Philadelphia] conference, Palestine Committee members discussed using ISNA as official cover
for their activities.”
What impact this new legislation will have remains to be seen, but it is clearly intended to roll back the Obama
administration’s penchant for relying on groups identified by government prosecutors as fronts for designated
terrorist organizations as partners for “outreach.”
(CONTINUE READING FULL ARTICLE HERE)
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Tuesday, 22 November 2011
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