OKLAHOMA CITY -
The former
director of the CIA was in Oklahoma City Friday, talking terrorism, and the
group he singled out has a chapter right here in OKC.
The group former
CIA Director James Woolsey was talking about is CAIR- the Council on
American-Islamic Relations. Woolsey says the group is an extremist Muslim group
with ties to terrorists.
In Oklahoma City,
CAIR has been a visible voice for the Muslim community. But Woolsey told the
High Noon club today the federal government believes the group is in the
business of helping terrorists.
"There was listed
an organization: The Islamic Organization of Palestine, it changed its
name in 1994. It is now called the Council on American, Islamic Relations,
CAIR," Woolsey told the crowd.
The evidence, says
Woolsey, is the federal case: the U.S. vs. the Holy Land Foundation, which Woolsey
says is the biggest terrorist financing case of all time. In it CAIR is named
as an unindicted co-conspirator.
"It was clearly in
the business of helping send funds to a terrible, totalitarian terrorist
organization: Hamas," Woolsey told News 9 in an interview Friday
following his speech.
In November,
President Obama signed into law a resolution prohibiting the FBI from working
with unindicted co-conspirators.
This letter from
the Oklahoma City FBI office severs ties between the bureau and CAIR's Oklahoma
Chapter.
Woolsey says it's
hard to tell what Oklahoma City's members are up to, but he says the group's
overall doctrine is to undermine any non-Islamic state such as the United
States.
"Sometimes people
are friendly and they're nice people. Sometimes people are friendly and they're
masking something else they're doing. This is a case by case thing."
News 9 spoke with
a representative from CAIR's Oklahoma Chapter. He says the allegations are
not based on facts, and CAIR has never been prosecuted by the government
because they aren't doing anything illegal.
In addition he
says Woolsey's comments produce a distrust in American Muslims and he is trying
to prevent minorities from having a voice in society.
Woolsey grew up in
Tulsa. He served as CIA director under President Clinton from 1993 to
1995.
The former director of the CIA was in Oklahoma City Friday, talking terrorism, and the group he singled out has a chapter right here in OKC.
In Oklahoma City, CAIR has been a visible voice for the Muslim community.
