Sheriff Baca argues with Republican congressman about Islamic group

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca argued with a Republican congressman from Indiana during a hearing Wednesday when the lawmaker questioned his relationship with an Islamic nonprofit group.

Baca was in Washington testifying before the House Committee on Homeland Security when he was questioned by Rep. Mark Souder about attending fundraisers for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, officials said.

The group, according to Souder, espouses radical speech -- an assertion that angered Baca.

"The sheriff gets his ire up when politicians begin to use their bully pulpit for personal attacks," Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

The exchange between Baca and Souder was recorded by a reporter for KPCC-FM (89.3). To hear the recording, click here.

"There's a substantial difference between protected speech and government officials going to fundraisers for organizations that do speech that is radical. And Sheriff Baca, you've been 10 times to the fundraisers for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which even the FBI has separated themselves from," Souder said, according to the recording.

Baca shot back, citing his service in the Marines and support of Israel, according to the report. "The security of Israel has always been at the forefront of my thinking," he said. "And for you to associate me somehow through some circuitous attack on CAIR, is not only inappropriate, it is un-American."

Whitmore said department records show that Baca attended two CAIR fundraisers in recent years.

"Just because they are Muslim Americans does not mean they want to destroy Israel or the U.S.," Whitmore said.

-- Robert J. Lopez

Comments

[Ted]

It's unbelievable that an American lawman has to plead fealty to a foreign country to get respect of Congress. The influence Israel has over the United States is disturbing and alarming. The Founding Fathers must be spinning in their graves hearing this kind of bunk.

[Randy]

As far as I am concerned... I DON'T TRUST ANY ISLAMIC GROUP...Why?

Until the leaders of these so-called-groups admit and speak out about terrorists and their evil deeds... I trust them not?

So bleeding hearts, take note. The killings still go on, and yet no word of disgust, anger, or an admission of the evil ways in which their religion is used to kill innocents, I'll never trust any of them!

So keep on gibbering about who is right or wrong about laws that even our own politicians don't abide by.... this whole thing is troubling.

[Jim]

While it's true that not all Muslims want to destroy America and Israel, it' also true that a substantial number do like CAIR. Mr. Baca's willful or woeful ignorance notwithstanding, it's also true that the source of much of this antipathy towards non-Muslims can be traced back directly to the Quran...

"I saw that the leader of those who practice circumcision had appeared (become the conqueror). Who are they who practice circumcision?' The people replied, 'Except the Jews nobody practices circumcision, so you should not be afraid of them (Jews).

'Just Issue orders to kill every Jew present in the country.'"

Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 1, Number 6.

[teufelhund]

To Brian and PJ Evans,

Maybe Souder didn't go to critical thinking class, and maybe they aren't pushing peole towards treason, but here is what CAIR officials do say:

Omar Ahmed, CAIR Co-Founder:

"Those who stay in America should be open to society without melting, keeping Mosques open so anyone can come and learn about Islam. If you choose to live here, you have a responsibility to deliver the message of Islam ... Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faiths, but to become dominant. The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the
only accepted religion on Earth."

"Fighting for freedom, fighting for Islam, that is not suicide," ..."They kill themselves for Islam."

" Politics is a completion of War "

Nihad Awad, Co-Founder:

"I am in support of the Hamas movement."

"Address people according to their minds. When I speak with the American, speak with someone who doesn't know anything."

"If you love Israel, you're OK ... If that is the litmus test, no American Muslim and no freedom-loving person is going to pass that test."

Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR Spokesman:

"I wouldn't want to create the impression that I wouldn't like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime in the future...But I'm not going to do anything violent to promote that. I'm going to do it through education."

Maybe all that is ok with you guys, but Souder seems to have a problem with that. You should too...

And Brian, you're right, there is a difference between the two. There is a difference between free-speech and an elected offical who supposedly should stand for free-speech attending events put on by an organization whose radical speech promotes the overthrowing of the U.S. government and replacing it with sharia. If that were to happen, then there won't be free-speech anymore, buddy.

[Tommy Trojan]

Where in the Constitution does it say to be a patriotic American citizen, you have to "love" Israel? I agree with Ted, it is unbelievable how the most powerful nation in the world bows down to Israel. The Founding Fathers are indeed rolling in their graves.

[tefelhund]

Tommy,

All the comments about overthrowing the constitution or the government, and all you're worried about is a comment about "love Israel"? Wow...

[Tommy Trojan]

tefelhund, so you are okay with calling the likes of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and most neo-con right wingers, terrorists? Because they folks espouse anti-government rhetoric, yet everybody turns a blind eye to them. But if an Arab looking guy does this...well then, he has to be a terrorist. Only if Glen Beck was a little brown and spoke with an accent....

[Tommy Trojan]

Folks like tefelhund make me fearfully of the direction our once great democracy is headed. If it was up to tefelhund, we would be living in a fascist type regime just about now mulling around in fear and hate of the Boogie Monster!

[Linda]

Congressman Mark Souder is a bigot.

He is the last one to speak about radicalism.

He is one of the most bigoted members of Congress.

In 2007, an Indiana newspaper quoted Rep. Souder as saying of Islam, “fundamentally, it’s wrong,” and “I find their religion offensive.”

“The fundamentals of their religion is they want to kill Jews and wipe them off the face of the earth and any other allies. I simply am not going to praise a religion that believes that. I believe Jews are God’s chosen people,” Souder said. “It’s fundamental in their faith, from the very beginning, that Jews are dogs and should be wiped from the face of the earth,” Souder added.

http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071216/EDIT0501/712160426/-1/EDIT

In a 2004 PBS Religion and Ethics Newsweekly interview, Rep. Souder described himself as “more really neocon, even though I am an evangelical.”

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week734/interview1.html

[Verballistic]

Response to "stewart":

To put a Saudi-financed lobbying group like CAIR on the same level as the GIRL SCOUTS or AARP is a textbook case of twisting the issues. Last time I checked, neither the Girl Scouts or AARP were being named as an un-indicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation TERROR-FUNDING trial and having cooperative relations with the FBI officially terminated!!

It's hard to imagine anyone trying to make such a ridiculous comparison unless they didnt read the article OR listen to the recording linked there!!

[Verballistic]

Response to "Tommy Trojan":

You are missing the whole issue here amigo...try googling "CAIR+FBI terminated cooperation" and you will see what so many people are upset about. The highest-ranking law enforcement agency in the entire nation has terminated ALL cooperative relations with CAIR because the Saudi-financed group was named an un-indicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror-funding case, in which the HLF was found GUILTY of illegally funneling over $12 MILLION to Hamas, which has long been designated a TERRORIST GROUP by the U.S. government.

Need anyone say more?!?

[teufelhund]

Nice Tommy. Don't try to disprove the quotes I provided, just launch into a personal attack while making assumptions that you cannot prove. While I don't listen to Beck, Limbaugh or Coulter, you probably meant that their rhetoric is critical of the government, not anti-government. If you meant anti-government, do you mean they call for the abolishment of the constitution and replacing it with islamic law as multiple islamic groups and individuals have done? Please clarify. Maybe you could actually do some research on your own, and try to find out if those individuals did say those things, and try to prove me wrong. Or you can just launch another personal attack while ignoring the information I provided, if it makes you feel better...

[Jim]

People like Linda and TommyTrojan who call people bigots for criticizing Islam attempt to end the debate not further it. It is lazy and misleading. It a cheap way to ignore the fundamental problems within Islam and address them.

Perhaps Linda and TommyTrojan could tell us all which Islamic nation has a better human rights record than the US? Let's use an agreed upon standard like the UN-DHR. Or which Islamic nation does not defer to Human rights and women's rights infringing Sharia law? Which Islamic majority nation can one convert to another religion or no religion at all without inviting state-sanctioned arrest and/or execution?

Sadly, all the people like CAIR, Linda, and Tommy Trojan who scream and cry bigotry towards those who critize Islam suffer from a Texas sized blind spot when it comes to the bigotry, hatred, and violence advocated towards non-Muslims and women(among many groups) contained within the Quran. One can only conclude that crying bigotry is the cheap attempt to stifle debate and free speech rather than address the issue. It's deflection, not debate.

If people like Linda and TommyTrojan want real examples of bigotry, I suggest they look no further than the countless number of Islamic Imams and Clerics who preach real hatred towards non-muslims, women, and homosexuals like Yusef Al-Qaradawi, Omar Bakhri, and Anjem Choudary who believe that people who convert from Islam to another religion should be executed, that homosexuals should executed, and that all women should undergo Female Genital Mutilation to make them more 'moral'.

Don't let sappy liberalism get in the way of the truth folks.

[Verballistic]

Response to "Linda":

Rep. Souder's beliefs or agenda are not the issue here, what is the crucial issue is the ill-advised decision of Sheriff Baca to continue his involvement with CAIR, a Saudi-funded group which the FBI has terminated all cooperative relations with, because they were named as an un-indicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror-funding trial, in which the HLF was found GUILTY of illegally funneling over $12 MILLION to a group that has long been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S government---Hamas.

CAIR has also lost touch with mainstream American Muslims, as evidenced by it's well-documented loss of membership from almost 30,000 to just over 1,800 in only 6 years. This has not effected CAIR in the least, because the bulk of their funding comes from radical Wahhabist sources in Saudi Arabia, to which they are clearly beholden.

Why would Sheriff Baca attempt to defend the indefensible in light of the FBI's landmark decision to CEASE relations with a shady group he defines as harmless?