Fisking Keith Ellison

Speaking to a cheering audience Sunday night, Keith Ellison "told a cheering crowd of Muslims they should remain steadfast in their faith and push for justice", according to this Detroit Free Press article. What's noteworthy about this is that Ellison made these comments at annual convention of the Muslim American Society and the Islamic Circle of North America, two groups linked with the extremist/terrorist group Muslim Brotherhood. Here's what Discover the Network has to say about ICNA:

Yehudit Barsky, a terrorism expert at the American Jewish Committee, has said that ICNA "is composed of members of Jamaat e-Islami, a Pakistani Islamic radical organization similar to the Muslim Brotherhood that helped to establish the Taliban." (Pakistani newspapers have reported that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a leading architect of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, was offered refuge in the home of Jamaat e-Islami's leader, Ahmed Quddoos.)

Similarly, MAS has an equally troubling background:

In May 2005, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross reported in The Weekly Standard that MAS is a U.S. front group for the Muslim Brotherhood and, as such, wishes to see the United States governed by sharia, or Islamic law. "The message that all countries should be ruled by Islamic law," writes Gartenstein-Ross, "is echoed throughout MAS's membership curriculum. For example, MAS requires all its adjunct members to read Fathi Yakun's book To Be a Muslim. In that volume, Yakun spells out his expansive agenda: 'Until the nations of the world have functionally Islamic governments, every individual who is careless or lazy in working for Islam is sinful.'"

It isn't surprising that Keith Ellison didn't wait until his swearing in to become a featured speaker at radical Islamic groups' conventions. He has a history of being an outspoken advocate of radicals, saying this about Kathleen Soliah:

In 2000 he spoke at a fundraiser for longtime fugitive Kathleen Soliah, aka Sara Jane Olson. The text of his speech was posted on a website, www.soliah.com, by Minneapolis resident Greg Lang.
Ellison praised Soliah for "fighting for freedom." At the time, she faced charges of planting pipe bombs under two Los Angeles police cars as a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, a paramilitary organization whose slogan was "Death to the fascist insect that preys on the life of the people." Soliah pleaded guilty in 2001. In 2002 she also pleaded guilty to the murder of Myrna Opsahl, a bank customer shot by another SLA member during a holdup. She’s now serving a long prison sentence.
But Ellison’s call to the crowd was broader than a plea to aid Soliah. "We need to come together and free…all the Saras," he proclaimed.

Based solely on this, it isn't difficult to conclude that Keith Ellison never met a left wing radical he couldn't support. It's relatively easy to make the case that Ellison isn't as interested in justice as he is in supporting radicals who break the law. Here's another bit of proof:

But Ellison’s call to the crowd was broader than a plea to aid Soliah. "We need to come together and free…all the Saras," he proclaimed.

Like who? Like Assata Shakur, Ellison told his audience. Shakur is a former member of the Black Liberation Army, a "revolutionary activist organization," who killed a New Jersey state trooper "execution-style at point-blank range," according to the FBI’s Wanted Fugitives website.

Shakur escaped from prison in 1979, and eventually fled to Cuba. She "should be considered armed and extremely dangerous," says the FBI, which is offering a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to her apprehension.

Ellison, however, lauded Shakur. "I am praying that Castro does not get to the point where he has to really barter with these guys over here because they’re going to get Assata Shakur, they’re going to get a whole lot of other people," he told the crowd. "I hope the Cuba[n] people can stick to it, because the freedom of some good decent people depends on it."

Considering this information, it's worth asking what Keith Ellison's qualifications are to talk about justice. Considering this information, one wonders what issues Ellison will advocate in Congress. The voters in Minnesota's Fifth District should have serious worries about Ellison, though I doubt they do. MN-5 is one of the most liberal districts in the United States, possibly among the 'top 5' districts in terms of liberal extremism.

This is 'proof' that Keith Ellison isn't satisfied with just being "CAIR's congressman."

Technorati: Keith Ellison, Kathleen Soliah, Muslim Brotherhood, ICNA, Muslim American Society

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog