CAIR: Air Force Academy Speaker Once Claimed 'Islam is the Devil'

Muslim group urges balance to anti-Islam academy assembly speakers

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A prominent national Islamic
civil rights and advocacy group today called on the United States Air Force
Academy to offer a balancing perspective at an event this week featuring
speakers who have a long history of anti-Muslim rhetoric and whose claims of
being "reformed terrorists" have been challenged by experts.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said the academy invited
Walid Shoebat, Kamal Saleem and Zachariah Anani to address the 50th annual
United States Air Force Academy Assembly in Colorado Springs, Colo.
(Controversial "terrorism expert" Steven Emerson is also invited to speak at
the event.)

SEE: United States Air Force Academy Assembly
http://www.usafa.af.mil/df/dfps/Programs/Assembly/schedule.cfm

SEE ALSO: Three Former Terrorists Invited By US Air Force Academy
http://www.mmdnewswire.com/three-former-terrorists-2871.html

CAIR has offered to help academy officials find representatives of the
Colorado Muslim community who can offer a balancing perspective to what the
Washington-based group calls the "hate-filled rhetoric" of the invited
speakers. (Assembly organizers have not yet responded to that offer or to the
information provided about the Islamophobic views of the speakers.)

In past events, the three self-styled "ex-terrorists" made bigoted And
inaccurate statements about Islam and Muslims. They told one California
university audience that Americans need to "wake up to the dangerous realities
of the Islamic faith."

SEE: 3 Men Decry Islam and Blame it for Radicalism
http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2007/4/17/exterroristsDrawMixedReactions

Shoebat told a Missouri newspaper that he sees "many parallels between the
Antichrist and Islam" and "Islam is not the religion of God -- Islam is the
devil." (Springfield News-Leader, 9/24/07) He has stated publicly that he
bombed an Israeli bank and participated in other acts of violence in the
Middle East, yet he has not been charged with any crime.

Panelist Zachariah Anani says he is an advocate against what he calls "the
violent doctrines of Islam." (Michigan Daily, 1/30/07)

Terrorism experts recently cast doubt on the Anani's claims. "Mr. Anani's not
an individual who rates the slightest degree of credibility, based on the
stories that he has told," said Tom Quiggin, Canada's only court-qualified
expert on global terror and a former RCMP intelligence and national security
expert.

SEE: Doubt Cast On Anani's Terrorist Claims (Windsor Star)
http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=4a479502-4490-408e-bdb5-f2638619a62c&k=77503

"Without a balancing perspective, the hate-filled rhetoric of these
individuals will poison the minds of those who may serve our nation in
Muslim-majority areas of the world," said CAIR Legislative Director Corey
Saylor. "The First Amendment protects even bigoted speech, but those who value
mutual understanding should have an equal right to speak out and be heard."

Saylor added that the academy's invitation to three such anti-Muslim speakers
could be viewed by many as a tacit endorsement of their views.

CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 35 offices and
chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding
of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American
Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

SOURCE Council on American-Islamic Relations

Ibrahim Hooper, +1-202-488-8787, +1-202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com, or Ahmed
Rehab, +1-202-870-0166, arehab@cair.com, or Amina Rubin, +1-202-488-8787,
arubin@cair.com, all of the Council on American-Islamic Relations