CAIR: We do more than just shake down airlines.

They also shill for the Syrians and advocate retreat in the Middle East.

I stumbled across tonight's C-Span broadcast of CAIR's panel discussion of Arab and Muslim reactions to the Iraq Survey Group Report. I missed the first half but my masochist side manifested itself and I forced myself to watch it through to the end, approximately forty minutes. It wasn't very impressive. The "panel" consisted of the CAIR Board Chairman, a University of Maryland Professor, Senator Larry Shaw of the North Carolina General Assembly, and the Syrian Ambassador. It was all fairly predictable. Shaw came across as an amatuerish lefty, criticizing the United States for thinking it "knows everything" and recommending we look to all of Iraq's neighbors for help. I think Shaw must be looking for some free publicity. According to Wikipedia, he was the highest-ranking Muslim elected official in the U.S. until Ellison was elected to Congress last month. The U of M professor wasn't too painful to listen to, but his points during the Q&A session were academic to the point of irrelevance. In any case, those two were just windowdressing for the Syrian Ambassador. He was nice enough to point out that Syria had been offering to help the US during the early days of the war. Unfortunately, they just had to give up because of the ideology of the Bush administration. Thankfully, they are still willing to help bring stability to Iraq if the United States engages them in a "sophisticated discussion." If we're just going to dictate to them, then there's no point in even talking. I wonder if holding them accountable for political assasinations in Lebanon counts as talking down to them?

In short, they hit all the mantras: the war is inciting terrorism, the U.S. mislead the world in its reasons for going to war, the U.S. can't win, etc. The CAIR folks even found time to squeeze in their standard rebuke on describing our enemies in terms of Islam.

All the while, the CAIR reps and the Syrian Ambassador sang the praises of the ISG report, explaining how it had opened debate and brought forth a discussion that, in our new political environment, could lead to change in Iraq policy. Unfortunately, nothing's perfect. During the Q&A, the CAIR Board Chairman made it clear that their one point of disagreement with the ISG was its recommendation to increase the number of personnel dedicated to training Iraqi forces. They don't think training the Iraqi military is going to help. Instead, CAIR wants to see an immediate withdrawal of American forces. At least they are honest.