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Contact: Jill Farrell, Judicial Watch, 202-646-5188
WASHINGTON, July 29 /Standard
Newswire/ -- Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and
prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has uncovered
documents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that detail a two-day
meeting on January 27 and 28, 2010, between DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano and
Arab, Muslim, Sikh, and South Asian "community leaders." The documents include a
list of participating individuals and organizations, some with controversial
radical ties, including:
• Imad Hamad, Midwest Regional Director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee. According to press reports, Hamad is connected to the
Marxist-Leninist terrorist group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine,
and has financially supported the Islamist terrorist group Hezbollah. In a
television interview in 2002 on Fox's Detroit affiliate, Hamad supported a
Palestine Authority TV program that urged children to become suicide bombers,
calling the program "patriotic."
• Salam Al-Marayati, Founder of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC):
According to press reports, Al-Mayarati has long been criticized for his
extremist views and statements. In 1999 former House Minority Leader Richard
Gephardt (D-MO) withdrew his nomination of Al-Mayarati to the National
Commission on Terrorism because of Al-Mayarati's extremist politics. Al-Marayati
once said, "When Patrick Henry said, 'Give me liberty or give me death,' that
statement epitomized jihad [Islamic holy war]."
One of the organizations that attended the meeting, the Islamic Society of North
America (ISNA), was named as an unindicted co-conspirator by the federal
government in a plot by the now-defunct Holy Land Foundation to fund the
terrorist group Hamas.
In addition to the attendee list and biographies, the documents also included
internal DHS email correspondence, talking points for Secretary Napolitano and a
meeting agenda. Among the highlights:
• A Thursday, February 4, 2010 email from David O'Leary, DHS Office of
Legislative Affairs to David Gersten, Acting Deputy Officer for Programs and
Compliance, DHS Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties: "Gordon Lederman of
Sen. Lieberman's Staff called me asking about the 2-day HSAC meeting last week
with American Muslim and Arab groups. He was called by a reporter who told him
MPAC (Muslim Public Affairs Council), ISNA (Islamic Society of North America)
and Muslim American Society "rejected the ideas" of soliciting their help with
countering violent extremism and were "angry and indignant."
• A Friday, January 29, 2010 email from Muslim Advocates Executive Director
Khera Farhana to Arif Alikhan, DHS Assistant Secretary for Policy Development:
"The commitments Secretary Napolitano made to these community leaders
include...Regular quarterly meetings with the Secretary...An honest and full
discussion of legitimate grievances from members of these communities about DHS
policies that are ineffective and have a deleterious, humiliating impact on
Muslim, Arab, Sikh, and South Asian American communities."
• An internal DHS "talking points" document entitled "Community Stakeholder
Meeting" that states: "Communicate that DHS understands the need for enhanced
partnership with the Muslim, Sikh, South Asian and Arab groups, including those
present at the meeting...You should note the importance of sharing information
from a policy perspective and on threats to specific Muslim, Arab, South Asian,
and Sikh communities."
"I fail to see how consorting with radicals helps the DHS protect the United
States," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "The Obama administration is
bending over backward to cater to radical Muslim organizations in the name of
political correctness. This is a dangerous political game that could put
American citizens at risk. Some of these meeting participants have no business
helping Janet Napolitano establish our homeland security policies."
Visit www.JudicialWatch.org to access
the DHS documents uncovered by Judicial Watch.