A Pair Of Stories From Charles Johnson Who Reminds Us That 'If You Have To Ask, It Isn't Shock And Awe.'

Little Green Footballs is a mainstay elite in the center-right blogosphere. Charles is known for keeping his nose to the grindstone, and focusing more on international news. Today, however, he cites two different, yet seemingly connected stories. The first is about CAIR:

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has begun filing complaints with the FBI about comments on this blog and others (not front page posts). I know this because I’ve spoken with two different agents recently about LGF comments that were reported to the FBI by CAIR.

Just thought you might like to know too. The premier Islamist front group is starting to go after the blogosphere, using the tools provided by our own society.

That is just the first part of a story showing that CAIR is lying to America and the world when they say they receive no foreign funds:

An Arab nation with ties to 9-11 has pledged a major endowment to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, even as the Washington-based nonprofit group insists it receives no foreign support.

The United Arab Emirates recently announced on its official government website that it has set up an endowment serving as a source of income for CAIR. The amount of the funding is undisclosed, but sources say it will be enough to help CAIR finance the construction of a new $24 million office building and a planned $50 million public-relations campaign aimed at repairing Islam’s — and the UAE’s — image in America. ...

CAIR — Washington’s biggest Muslim lobbying group — is quoted in the UAE statement, but has not released its own statement. It is not commenting publicly about the size of the endowment or other details.

But the UAE, which formally recognized the Taliban and acted as a launching point for the 9-11 hijackers, has already taken a nearly $1 million stake in CAIR’s existing headquarters near the U.S. Capitol. As first reported in the book, Infiltration, Dubai holds the deed to the building. The transaction took place in 2002, according to local property records.

In our personal opinion, it is just about time that the government step in, and close down their operations. CAIR is hardly a friend to the United States, and they could really care less about "American/Islamic relations." They "care" about using their PR power like the ACLU to scream, shriek, and cry about how we are going after their ideological brethren in this war. For CAIR to lie, and state they do not support terrorism is a laugh. A number of their former leaders have been arrested, indicted, and charged with supplying funds and assistance to terrorists abroad, as Front Page Mag has detailed repeatedly since 11 September. And their recent PR campaign speaking about an "untapped commodity" in helping women is a fallacy, at best. They share the same beliefs towards women that those in the Taliban and Iran do. To them, women are barely equal to cattle, and deserve the abuse the receive. Their only concern with Muslim women is that they keep those damned burkhas on.

The second story highlights an editorial in Investor's Business Daily which takes the New York Time to task:

Now the same Times reporters, Eric Lichtblau and James Risen, are back with the SWIFT story. They took a lot of flak for the NSA stories. We’re just spitballing here, but maybe that explains why four major papers would have the same “scoop.” In numbers, there is safety.

For the record, the White House practically begged them not to publish this, arguing it would imperil the highly successful counterterrorism program. (Remember: There have been no major terror attacks on the U.S. since 9-11). The New York Times rejected the plea, citing “public interest.” The others followed.

We’re left to wonder: Is this criminal behavior? The newspapers will claim they have the right under the First Amendment to publish government secrets if they see fit. But that’s rubbish. Since World War II, Congress and a series of legal decisions have made it clear the media aren’t exempt from the Espionage Act — which forbids giving secrets to the enemy.

While the legality of printing secrets may be debatable, it’s clear there’s a crisis among media elites that have allowed hatred of the president and his party to taint their reporting. In the process, they’ve destroyed whatever claims to objectivity and fairness they might have once had. Far worse, they’ve given aid and comfort to the enemy in a time of war — and that is simply inexcusable.

We agree that the New York Times has done a good job acting as the treasonous entity that everyone knew they could be. Yes, I did say "treasonous," and that description is quite appropo. No one news outlet has done more to damage our war efforts than the Times. We can't even beat on the WaPo as badly as we can the New York Times. Yes, the WaPo was behind the CIA rendition sotry and the one that stated there were"secret" CIA prisons abroad, but the Times has deliberately revealed two incredibly important classified programs in the war on terror. And both Eric Lichtblau and James Risen have done it again by revealing the SWIFT program which keeps a close eye on international financial transactions. We're using this particular program to track the money trail left by al Qaeda, and their enablers. Not only does the Times accuse the administration of breaking the law, again, with a program that violates no one's rights, but they are using leaked information again, which only emboldens these people to continue this sort of behavior.

In our professional estimate, it's time for the Justice Department to start calling grand juries and handing down indictments on the reporters, and if possible, Bill Keller. Mr. Keller is the editor in chief at the Times, and gave these two dolts the green light to run both stories. The media seems to think it is exempt from being held accountable when it comes to revealing classified material. As IBD points out, they're not. And they're not the only ones stating this. In addition to our site, a number of legal minds across the Internet are saying the same thing. The First Amendment may guarantee the press' right to speak out against the goverment, and to criticize it, but they do not have a broad blanket protection when it comes to breaking the law. The revelation of classified material is a crime. 18 USC 798 is quite clear that publishing such material is a violation of the law.

Which leads me to how these two stories are connected. Both the Times and CAIR claim they aren't doing anything to hurt the war effort, and yet they seem to be doing exactly the opposite. In an attempt to spin the Times, Mr. Keller proclaimed that the story was run because some people may want to know about the program. Fine. Let THEM locate it, but the "some" people that Mr. Keller is referring to does not equate to the populace of the United States, and our enemies abroad. And I'm not buying the "It's not our fault they read us" excuse that many in the MSM keep stating. If you know that our enemy is likely reading your news stories, then DON'T print anything that our enemies can gain a benefit from. Morons; it makes that much sense, and they seem to lack the ability to understand that. (Actually, much like CAIR, the Times does understand that, which is why I think they keep running this garbage.)

CAIR, like the times, is trying to handcuff the administration when it comes to us rounding up cells that we find here. They parade their families out on TV who weep that their sons are "good men" whe NEVER would have joined the jihad. Bravo-Sierra. When you have a cell in Miami talking to an undercover Justice Department official, swearing oaths of allegiance to al Qaeda, and asking for cash and equipment to commit acts of terrorism, the "good boy" defense goes right out the window; the same one the pig just flew out of. They're doing it in Canada right now with the Ontario 12, and they're trying to with the Miami cell we just caught. And they're already spinning it, with their apologists in the MSM, as anything but a terrorist cell. They claim this because, as they state, this cell wasn't even out of the planning stages. Does it matter? Would we had allowed the 11 September hijackers a free pass if we had found them when they were "just planning?"

It's time to hold the Times accountable for it's actions, and it's time that CAIR is told to roll up it's prayer rug, and get out of the US. We're not persecuting Muslims here. If anything, we're treating them with kid gloves, and that goes double for those detained at Gitmo. Some may equate our actions in this war towards Muslims to what we did to the Japanese during World War II. I fail to see the comparison as I see no internment camps. When it comes to reality, it seems that neither CAIR or the Times is living there. They might want to give it a try someday, but until that day arrives it is time the government does what is necessary to stop both from interfering in this war again.

Publius II