Drudge: “Attorney general will speak to controversial Muslim civil rights group”

Drudge headline: Holder “will speak to controversial Muslim civil rights group.” Linking to a November 9 Politico article, the Drudge Report ran the misleading headline, “Attorney general will speak to controversial Muslim civil rights group.” From the Drudge Report on November 10:

Holder is speaking at Advocates and Leaders for Police and Community Trust event

The event is an awards banquet for a Michigan civil rights group focused on addressing profiling. The event at which Holder is reportedly speaking is being held by the Advocates and Leaders for Police and Community Trust (ALPACT), a civil rights group that works to address profiling in its community. According to its website, “ALPACT is a voluntary coalition of community and law enforcement leaders from across the state of Michigan who purposefully engage in serious ongoing dialogue in an effort intended to inform and address the issues of racial profiling and other bias based profiling (religious, cultural, gender) in metropolitan Detroit and in counties throughout the state of Michigan.” The ceremony is intended to honor “an outstanding youth, law enforcement and community member.”

The ceremony is co-chaired by an FBI agent and is being attended by more than 50 “Official and Participating Organizations,” including civil rights groups, federal and local law enforcement agencies. According to ALPACT, several civil rights groups -- such as the NAACP, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Michigan Department of Civil Rights -- as well as federal and local law enforcement agencies are attending the event. In addition to the FBI and ATF, ALPACT lists the U.S. Secret Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement as being among the “Official and Participating Organizations.” According to the Politico, the meeting is co-chaired by FBI special agent-in-charge in Detroit, Andy Arena. The Politico reported that FBI spokeswoman Jennifer Burnside “also stressed the fact that the dinner is not a closed briefing. 'It's a public event and Joe off the street could attend,' she said.”

Politico: "[D]inner will involve a tribute" to FBI agent killed in the line of duty. According to the Politico article to which Drudge linked: “Another factor contributing to federal law enforcement's prominent role in the event is that the dinner will involve a tribute to Paul Sorce, an FBI agent killed in a traffic accident in March while conducting surveillance. 'Honoring a fallen agent is very important to us,' Burnside said.”

Conservatives complained about FBI working with CAIR during the Bush administration

Politico: “FBI claims it cut 'formal contacts' with CAIR after federal prosecutors” named CAIR unindicted co-conspirator in 2007 Holy Land Foundation trial. The Politico reported: “The FBI claims it cut 'formal contacts' with CAIR after federal prosecutors in the 2007 criminal trial of officers of a Texas-based Islamic charity, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, introduced documents the government said showed links between CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood, which gave rise to Hamas.”

April 2008: Steve Emerson outraged that “57 various FBI field offices still insist on partnering with CAIR.” In April 9, 2008, testimony before the Committee on House Select Intelligence, Steve Emerson stated (accessed via Nexis): “Despite the fact that the DOJ has labeled CAIR as a member of the Palestine Committee of the Muslim Brotherhood and, in addition to ISNA, as unindicted co-conspirators in the HLF trial, and has stated that CAIR has 'conspired with other affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood to support terrorists,' 57 various FBI field offices still insist on partnering with CAIR, allowing the Islamist group to instruct FBI agents and analysts on 'sensitivity training.' FBI Headquarters has also refused to issue directives preventing its field offices and agents from attending CAIR events, hosting town hall meetings with CAIR and seeking alternative voices to administer 'sensitivity training.' ”

May 2008: Gaffney complains that "[t]he FBI allows CAIR to provide 'sensitivity training' for its agents." In a May 6, 2008, Washington Times column, titled, “Amerabia,” Frank Gaffney Jr. claimed that CAIR and other Muslim “Brotherhood fronts have also penetrated and exercised enormous influence over U.S. government agencies responsible for understanding and countering the Islamist threat.” As an example, Gaffney cited that "[t]he FBI allows CAIR to provide 'sensitivity training' for its agents."

August 2008: American Thinker post warns of “CAIR's sensitivity training [that] has extended to law enforcement groups across the country,” including the FBI. In an August 2, 2008, American Thinker post, Mark S. Hanna wrote of CAIR's “significant influence” and “ulterior objectives.” Hanna wrote: “Given the origin and purpose of CAIR as an MB offshoot, alarm bells should ring when such a group offers training to our security officials. And it's not just in the heartland where CAIR's effort to 'improve understanding and communication and secure genuine trust between both groups (law enforcement executives and Muslim community leaders)' is being conducted. Over the years CAIR's sensitivity training has extended to law enforcement groups across the country as well as to military and Federal agencies including the FBI, Marines, Coast Guard, Navy and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officers. In Connecticut alone, CAIR boasts that it has trained or collaborated with the Coast Guard, Department of Justice and the Navy - all in the last year.”