The Council on American-Islamic Relations has long been a bogeyman of the right. Most recently several Republican members of Congress manufactured a controversy by accusing members of CAIR who worked as interns on Capitol Hill of being part of some terrorist conspiracy, accusations that were entirely unfounded and false. Nevertheless, CAIR has continued to be portrayed by some conservatives as part of an Islamist conspiracy against the United States.
Yesterday, five Americans in Pakistan were detained on suspicion of having ties to Islamic militants. Guess who originally tipped off the FBI about their disappearance?
The five men, some of whom knew one another from their mosque in Alexandria, Va., disappeared from their homes in late November, officials said. Concerned family members contacted local imams and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR.
Officials with the group met with the families on Dec. 1 and put them in touch with the Federal Bureau of Investigation the same day, said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the group.
Huh. Imagine that.
-- A. Serwer
