CAIR-ful examination

Virginia Rep. Frank Wolf (R-10th District) has asked the IRS to investigate the Council on American-Islamic Relations after its tax-exempt status was revoked earlier this month for repeated failure to file the correct tax forms. Wolf asked the IRS on June 27 to determine whether the Muslim advocacy group has illegally received funds from foreign governments.

Wolf sent IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman a copy of a newly discovered letter from CAIR executive director Nihad Awad to Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, in which Awad appears to solicit money.

"I am concerned that Awad and CAIR may be soliciting -- and receiving -- funds from other unsavory foreign governments and organizations, including some that may be sponsors of terror," Wolf wrote.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations was established in 1994 to promote a positive image of Islam in America. CAIR has offices around the nation that work through media relations, government relations, education and advocacy to "empower the American Muslim community and encourage their participation in political and social activism."

The nation's largest Islamic civil liberties group was one of 275,000 organizations to be stripped of their tax-exempt statuses for failing to file annual information returns with the IRS. ("Exemption revoked," 6/23).

CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper told FOX News that the problem was a technical issue and the group will be "doing whatever's necessary ... to rectify the situation."

But the advocacy group may be in more trouble if it has violated U.S. law by soliciting or accepting money from a foreign government.

In the letter from CAIR to Gaddafi, Awad wrote, "I am pleased to send Your Excellency in my name the most solemn assurances of thanks and appreciation for the efforts you exert in the service of Islam, Muslims and all mankind through your initiative to teach Islam, spread the culture of Islam and solve disputes, for which you are known internationally."

In the 2009 letter, Awad wrote about the effort to create a "Muslim Peace Foundation" and the need for $15 million for the project. He also thanked Gaddafi for his "generous support." Gaddafi has a long history of human rights violations and has often given support for international terrorist attacks. He is directly responsible for the terrorist attack on Pan Am flight 103 that exploded over Scotland, killing more than 200 people.

The Virginia congressman also cited a report that indicated Awad and other CAIR representatives may have travelled to Sudan to solicit money from Sudanese President Omar Hassan Bashir, an international war criminal.

"Today in Sudan we see unfolding before us what can only be described as a recurring nightmare -- a genocidal government hell-bent on maintaining its grip on power, treating civilian populations as mere collateral damage," Wolf wrote.

Wolf enclosed graphic photos of Sudanese atrocities in the letter he sent to the IRS.

CAIR has long been accused of having ties with foreign terrorist groups, although the organization claims that such suspicions are the result of Islamaphobia in the U.S.

In 2008, CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the terror-finance trial against the Holy Land Foundation that convicted five officials of funneling over $12 million to Hamas, an Islamic terrorist organization. The FBI severed ties with CAIR in January 2009 because of evidence linking the group to Hamas. CAIR has consistently denied involvement with terrorist groups.

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