CAIR’s Extremist Makeover by Joe Kaufman

Via CAIR’s Extremist Makeover:

Tomorrow night, September 8th, CAIR will be sponsoring an event featuring the former President of Iran, Mohammad Khatami. Khatami, during the recent fighting in Lebanon, described Hezbollah as “a shining sun that illuminates and warms the hearts of all Muslims and supporters of freedom in the world.” Indeed, no matter what CAIR says, the core is still well intact.

The fact that four of CAIR’s former officials have been convicted in and/or deported from the United States, all found to have had ties with Hamas or al-Qaeda, is indicative of the “core values” that CAIR’s flash presentation speaks of, and it is the reasoning behind the speaking invite of someone such as Mohammad Khatami.

Seyed Mohammed Khatami served as Iran’s fifth President, from August of 1997 through August of 2005. Once thought of as a reformer, Khatami has embraced extremism on a number of occasions, most notably with respect to his views on the terrorist organization Hezbollah. Less than a month before leaving office, in July of 2005, he stated on Al-Arabiya TV (Dubai), “It is not in Lebanon's best interest to stop the resistance. We always support this idea. We believe that Hezbollah has an authentic Lebanese identity. We love Hezbollah… Hezbullah will remain and will keep its weapons.” And as reported in the New York Times, during the recent fighting that took place in Lebanon, Khatami likened Hezbollah to “a shining sun that illuminates and warms the hearts of all Muslims and supporters of freedom in the world.” Also according to the article, Khatami sent a hate-filled letter to Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, which stated, “Zionists’ shocking atrocities in Palestine and Lebanon are a sign of their violent nature.”

Khatami’s visit to the U.S. has drawn the ire of many, including that of the Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney. Concerning Khatami’s invitation to speak at Harvard University on the eve of 9/11 (following the CAIR speech), Romney stated, “State taxpayers should not be providing special treatment to an individual who supports violent jihad and the destruction of Israel.”