A few days ago, I wrote about the unsettling news that the TSA — an agency that exists solely because 19 Islamic terrorists hijacked 4 planes and killed nearly 3,000 people — is now taking sensitivity training classes from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an organization founded by seed money from a terrorist organization. The TSA sensitivity training (which all 45,000 federal screeners underwent on your dime) occurred so that an estimated 20,000 US Muslim pilgrims would be treated with kid gloves over a five day period as they traveled to and from Mecca, Saudi Arabia for this year’s hajj. If what you just read sounds surreal, that is because it is.

Andrew McCarthy sums it up in “Singing CAIR’s Tune, On Your Dime,” in today’s National Review Online. Appalled to see the headline “CAIR Welcomes TSA Hajj Sensitivity Training” on the TSA’s website (which is identical to a CAIR press release on the subject), the senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies writes:

Nowhere does the TSA explain that when CAIR was founded in 1994, part of the seed money came from the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLFRD). The assets of HLFRD were frozen in 2001 based on the U.S. Treasury Department’s conclusion that it provided “millions of dollars annually that is used by HAMAS.” Prior to HLFRD’s being shut down, CAIR also helped it raise money, according to Senate testimony by terrorism experts Steven Emerson and Matthew Epstein. Awad, CAIR’s executive director, indignantly denied Emerson’s claim of a CAIR/HLFRD connection, calling the seed-money claim an “outright lie” in Senate testimony on September 10, 2003, and insisting, “Our organization did not receive any seed money from HLFRD.

CAIR raises its own funds and we challenge Mr. Emerson to provide even a shred of evidence to support his ridiculous claim.” Emerson then came up with some pretty good shreds — like the documentation showing a $5,000 wire transfer from HLFRD to CAIR (see Emerson July 13, 2005, testimony, p. 9 & n.53), and the IRS Form 1023 on which HLFRD disclosed the contribution (see Epstein Sept. 10, 2003, testimony, p. 11 & n.20). Thus shredded, Awad was forced to concede, in later Senate testimony, that “the amount in question was a donation like any other.” Right.

Read the entire article. Tell the TSA how you feel about this by sending them an email. Or call them at 1-866-289-9673. But before you do, read “CAIR Play?” in this weeks edition of Newsweek.

Sen. Barbara Boxer recalled an award she recently gave to an Islamic activist because of his ties to a major American Muslim organization—that critics say has ties to terrorist activities.

The organization in question? None other than CAIR:

Boxer’s office confirmed to NEWSWEEK that she has withdrawn a “certificate of accomplishment” to Sacramento activist Basim Elkarra after learning that he serves as an official with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). After directing her staff to look into CAIR, Boxer “expressed concern” about some past statements and actions by the group, as well as assertions by some law enforcement officials that it “gives aid to international terrorist groups,” according to Natalie Ravitz, the senator’s press spokeswoman.

CAIR’s response was to call Senator Boxer an Islamophobe. To send Senator Boxer an email of support, click here.

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