Today brings part 5 of the Investigative Project on Terrorism’s giant exposé of the radical Islamic front group calling itself the Council on American Islamic Relations; this installment looks at CAIR’s universal readiness to defend Islamic terrorists—even defending Al Qaeda immediately after the 9/11 atrocities: Quick To Defend Alleged Terrorists, CAIR Even Questioned Al Qaeda 9/11 Role.

CAIR’s soft spot for terrorists extends well beyond the Hamas connections documented in yesterday’s installment in this comprehensive series on the group. Today we focus on its portrayal of virtually any law enforcement action against radical elements as an assault on all American Muslims.

* Days after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, CAIR-New York Executive Director Ghazi Khankan used an online chat with the Washington Post to launch a weeks-long campaign casting them as part of a conspiracy to discredit Muslims. Citing spurious evidence, he claimed that “many of the names of the terrorists are people impersonating innocent Muslims and Arabs.”

CAIR pushed Khankan’s misidentification theory in an October 2001 statement, speculating that three of the 19 suspected ‘hijackers’ were still alive in the Middle East and asking, “Who is impersonating these three Muslim Arabs? Why are Muslim Arabs been (sic) implicated in this terrorism? And, who could ‘benefit’ from this horrific tragedy?”

* CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper similarly hesitated to blame Al Qaeda. “We condemn the attacks on the buildings,’” he told Salon.com, adding, “If Osama bin Laden was behind it, we condemn him by name.” Asked why he qualified the response, Salon.com reported, “Hooper said he resented the question.”

* As late as June 2005, CAIR-Canada Advisory Board Member Jamal Badawi questioned responsibility for 9/11. Calling the attacks “un-Islamic” and declaring, “I strongly condemn” them, he told the Saudi Gazette it had not yet been confirmed who was actually behind the actions. And at an August 2005 “Know Your Rights” workshop sponsored by CAIR-San Diego, invited speaker Randall Hamud responded to an audience member’s comment that there was “still no evidence that Muslims carried out 9/11” by saying, “Maybe a hundred years from now we’ll find that out.”

An accompanying PDF file has much more detail and documentation.

Where are the mainstream media on this story? Answer: they’re still uncritically publishing CAIR’s propaganda: Southfield Muslim charity executive indicted as spy.

Al-Hanooti was active in many area Muslim and Arab organizations and briefly worked for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in 2000, executive director Dawud Walid said.

“CAIR will be closely monitoring to make sure he has his rights afforded to him and that he receives due process,” Walid said. “He is innocent until proven guilty.”

“Briefly worked for CAIR?” Muthanna Al-Hanooti was the head of the Michigan branch of CAIR.