If CAIR's Membership Has Declined 90%, Who, Precisely, Is Footing Their Bills?

Psyops. And maybe not just psy, either.

Recent tax filings reveal an Islamist group that claims to speak for millions of Muslims in America actually boasts just 1,700 members. So whose interests does it really represent?

There's been surprisingly little transparency about the financing of the top Muslim lobby in Washington — the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Until recently, few in the media have bothered to investigate.

Since spinning off from Hamas front group Islamic Association for Palestine in 1994, CAIR has maintained it's a "grass-roots organization" — a "Muslim NAACP" — supported by members who pay dues. It repeatedly has denied receiving foreign funding.

These claims are no longer operative, however, and mainstream media and politicians who cozy up to the group should take note.

Citing IRS records, the Washington Times reports that CAIR has suffered a whopping 90% decline in membership since 9/11. Its official number of members shrank to 1,700 last year from 29,000 in 2000. As a result, CAIR's annual income from dues sank to $59,000 from $733,000.

Yet over the same period, CAIR's revenues have bounded ahead, reaching $3 million last year. Meanwhile, it has managed to open 25 new chapters in major cities across the country.

So where's it getting its money?

Tax records show the group is relying on some two dozen deep-pocketed donors for support. Who are they? We don't know. By law, CAIR doesn't have to publicly disclose them, and they're blacked out on IRS disclosure forms.

But land records unearthed by Paul Sperry, author of "Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington," show that exactly one year after 9/11 — as its dues were drying up — CAIR signed over the deed to its Washington headquarters to a United Arab Emirates-based foundation headed by the ruler of Dubai.

Sheikh Mohammed Al-Maktoum's foundation put up almost $1 million for the property, and recently pledged $50 million more to help CAIR build larger headquarters, replenish its legal war chest and fund a nationwide pro-Islam propaganda campaign.

The New York Times earlier this year confirmed that "wealthy Persian Gulf governments" — including the UAE and Saudi Arabia — were backing CAIR. "CAIR has raised some suspicion by accepting large donations from individuals or foundations closely identified with Arab governments," the story said.

We also know from federal court records that CAIR received startup cash from the Holy Land Foundation, which the government has shut down as another Hamas front. Several of its founders — including a senior CAIR official — go on trial next month in Texas for allegedly funneling millions to Hamas for suicide-bomb operations.

U.S. prosecutors have named CAIR as "unindicted co-conspirators" in the terror case.

posted by Ace at 03:40 PM

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