The Investigative Project on Terrorism continues their voluminous, devastating exposé of the radical Islamic front group calling itself the Council on American Islamic Relations; this is part 6 in the series: CAIR Portrays ‘War on Terrorism’ as Malicious ‘War on Islam’.

“The new perception is that the United States has entered a war with Islam itself,” CAIR Chairman Parvez Ahmed declared at Washington’s National Press Club in July 2007.

But, in fact, CAIR officials and spokesmen have been peddling that same “new perception” ever since the 9/11 attacks in 2001. They have portrayed virtually every intervening prosecution of an alleged terrorist who is Muslim and every investigation of an alleged terrorist front group as an insidious attack on their religion.

Today’s sixth installment in IPT’s detailed analysis of the self-proclaimed civil rights group focuses on its protestations that the war on terrorism amounts to a war on Islam.

* CAIR and other Muslim groups issued a joint statement after the U.S. government froze the assets of the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) in December 2001, warning that the action “could create the impression that there has been a shift from a war on terrorism to an attack on Islam.” A CAIR press release issued the same month warned of “a drumbeat of anti-Muslim rhetoric from those who are taking advantage of the 9-11 tragedy to carry out their agenda of silencing our community and its leadership.”

* When authorities arrested CAIR-Texas founding board member Ghassan Elashi and others charged with illegally sending computer equipment to Libya and Syria and engaging in financial transactions with a Specially Designated Terrorist, a CAIR-Dallas press release expressed concern that “these charges result from what appears to be a ‘war on Islam and Muslims’ rather than a ‘war on terror.’” The group worried, “We, as American Muslims are facing an uphill battle in defending our own government’s foreign policy, as well as the, so-called, war on terrorism, while being targeted by our own law enforcement agencies.”

�* Responding in June 2002 to a Department of Justice initiative to weed out suspected terrorists, CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad asked, “What is next? Forcing American Muslims to wear a star and crescent as a means of identification for law enforcement authorities?”

* In a February 2003 press release, Awad complained of alleged religious and ethnic profiling by the FBI; that same month he remarked in an IslamOnline.net live dialogue, “Now we see extremists, including the Christian Right and the pro-Israel lobby, carrying out a coordinated campaign against Islam and Muslims. The result of this is clearly apparent from the racist policies and practices being carried out by some branches of the U.S. government influenced by these groups.”

* At a January 2006 rally in Tampa in support of accused Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) leader Sami Al-Arian, the Orlando Sentinel reported, “Awad said Al-Arian was the victim of a politically charged environment three years ago that resulted in the persecution of Muslims. ‘Is this about what we did or what we are?’ said Awad…. ‘Most of these cases are done for political reasons … . I think the government is abusing the system.’”

Al-Arian was to plead guilty three months later to his PIJ involvement, and to admit he was “aware that the PIJ achieved its objectives by, among other means, acts of violence.”

As with the other installments, the full report is contained in an accompanying PDF file.