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Statement By Anti-CAIRs Andrew Whitehead
Regarding Dismissal of CAIR Libel Suit
As you know, the Council on American-Islamic Relations filed a $1.35 million libel suit against me because I made the following statements:
* Let there be no doubt that CAIR is a terrorist supporting front organization that is partially funded
by terrorists, and that CAIR wishes nothing more than the implementation of Sharia law in America.
* CAIR is an organization founded by Hamas supporters which seeks to overthrow Constitutional
government in the United States and replace it with an Islamist theocracy using our own
Constitution as protection.
* ACAIR reminds our readers that CAIR was started by Hamas members and is supported by terrorist
supporting individuals, groups and countries.
* Why oppose CAIR? CAIR has proven links to, and was founded by, Islamic terrorists. CAIR is not in the
United States to promote the civil rights of Muslims. CAIR is here to make radical Islam the dominant religion
in the United States and convert our country into an Islamic theocracy along the lines of Iran. In addition,
CAIR has managed, through the adroit manipulation of the popular media, to present itself as the moderate'
face of Islam in the United States. CAIR succeeded to the point that the majority of its members are not aware
that CAIR actively supports terrorists and terrorist supporting groups and nations. In addition, CAIR receives
direct funding from Islamic terrorists supporting countries.
* CAIR is a fundamentalist organization dedicated to the overthrow of the United States Constitution
and the installation of an Islamic theocracy in America.
I am pleased to report the CAIR lawsuit is over, and has been dismissed, as the parties have reached a mutually agreeable settlement.
I want to thank my attorneys who worked hard on my defense, and all of the others who have stood by me these past two years.
The policies and procedures of Anti-CAIR (ACAIR) have not changed in any way
as a result of the CAIR lawsuit settlement. ACAIR, and ACAIRs founder,
Andrew Whitehead, will continue to work to expose and present to interested parties
any information regarding CAIR that they feel is of importance.
CAIR Settles A Libel Suit Against Critic
BY JOSH GERSTEIN - Staff Reporter of the Sun
March 24, 2006
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/29748
An Islamic group has settled a $1.35 million libel suit against one of its critics, who operates a Web site charging that the organization, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, has links to terrorism.
The terms of the settlement between the Muslim group and Andrew Whitehead of Virginia Beach, Va., are confidential, but the Web site, www.anti-cair-net.org, still includes the statements Cair contended were libelous.
"Nothing has changed in that regard. It's as if this lawsuit had never existed," said Mr. Whitehead, 48, a former Navy sailor.
An attorney for Mr. Whitehead, Reed Rubenstein, described the outcome as a victory for his client. "This is the first time somebody has stood up and stopped these folks," the lawyer said.
A spokesman for Cair, Ibrahim Hooper, confirmed that the libel case was dismissed earlier this month on the request of both parties. "It was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount," he said.
Asked if he was suggesting that Mr. Whitehead paid the organization to drop the case, Mr. Hooper said, "We filed the suit." Asked again, the spokesman simply repeated the statement.
An attorney for Cair, Jeremiah Denton III, declined to comment.
The group's lawsuit, filed in a Virginia state court in March 2004, accused Mr. Whitehead of libeling Cair by calling it "a terrorist supporting front organization that is partially funded by terrorists." The suit also charged that Mr. Whitehead falsely claimed Cair was founded by supporters of a Palestinian Arab terrorist group, Hamas, and that the organization favored the "overthrow of the United States Constitution" and the imposition of Islamic law, known as Shariah.
In June, Cair amended its suit against Mr. Whitehead, dropping its challenge to several of the statements, including the claim that the group was started by Hamas members and has received funds from terrorists.
Mr. Hooper said that despite the withdrawal of the suit, his organization, which describes itself as "a grassroots civil rights and advocacy group," still contends that Mr. Whitehead's assertions are false. "We've always denied them. We continue to deny them," the spokesman said.
Mr. Rubenstein said Cair's interest in settling the suit intensified late last year just as a judge was considering whether the group should be forced to disclose additional details about its inner workings, including its financing and its alleged ties to Hamas and other terrorist groups.
"It would have opened up Cair's finances and their relationships and their principles, their ideological motivations in a way they did not want to be made public," said Mr. Rubenstein, who represented Mr. Whitehead without charge.
Mr. Rubenstein charged that the lawsuit was one of a series of suits filed by Cair and other Muslim organizations as part of a concerted effort to intimidate their critics. "It's part of a larger pattern groups like this have followed. If you say something some of those Muslim groups don't like, they sue you even though the cases have no merit," the attorney said. "You change people's behavior simply by bringing the lawsuit."
"It looks like all they're really trying to do is stifle free speech," Mr. Whitehead said.
Mr. Rubenstein pointed to libel suits brought against several news outlets and journalists recently by the Islamic Society of Boston. The Islamic Society, which is seeking to build a new mosque on public land, alleged that the journalists and pro-Israel activists unfairly linked the religious group to terrorism.
Cair is pressing to revive a $2 million lawsuit it filed in 2003 against a former North Carolina congressman, Thomas Cass Ballenger, who asserted in a newspaper interview that the group was "the fund-raising arm of Hezbollah." He also said his wife was distressed by the presence of a Cair office near their home and by scenes of "hooded" women, wearing Islamic head coverings, going in and out of the office.
Last year, a federal judge in Washington, Richard Leon, ruled that Mr. Ballenger's comments fell within the scope of his employment as a congressman. The ruling made the federal government the defendant in the case and led to its dismissal.
Last week, Mr. Denton appeared before a federal appeals court panel to argue that the case should be reinstated.
Mr. Rubenstein said that after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Cair posted links on its Website leading visitors to make donations to two Islamic non-profit groups, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development and the Global Relief Foundation. Both groups have had their assets frozen and seized by federal authorities over alleged ties to terrorism.
A man who was a co-founder of the Holy Land Foundation and of Cair's Texas chapter, Ghassan Elashi, was convicted in 2004 on six counts of illegal trade with Syria. The FBI has charged that he also has links to Hamas.
"These are bad guys," Mr. Rubenstein said.
March 24, 2006 Edition
