Roger – I am sorry but you are wrong.
I am retired FBI, and our first responsibility is to swear an oath to preserve and protect the Constitution. There is nothing “liberal” or “conservative” about that – it is an “American” responsibility. You believe CAIR is the challenge for Robert Spencer because they are making the most public noise. That is not correct, nor is the challenge to Mr. Spencer’s views “liberals,” as you also allege.
Unfortunately for him, when Mr. Spencer chose to become a leader of the anti-mosque Stop Islamization of America political group, he no longer was “just” a scholar on Islam or Jihad. When he joined the SIOA political group and started leading public protests against houses of worship, he no longer was a “scholar,” but became a political activist against houses of worship. You may think this is just a problem for CAIR, or for “liberals.” I have news for you, this is going to be a problem for ANY government or public funded agency that invites him to lecture.
Before he joined the SIOA, there were those who tried to warn him about this. He decided to blow them off. That’s his choice in our free nation. But for those of you who expect the FBI to start inviting consultants to speak, who are political activists that reject our Constitutional rights of freedom of religion, you are kidding yourselves.
If you want to know Robert Spencer’s greatest enemy today, it is not CAIR or the “liberals.” It is Robert Spencer. His problems are the result of his choices, his decisions.
It is no different than the FBI inviting a “scholar” on race relations, who decided to become a political activist to deny rights to some racial group. You may be a “controversial scholar,” but once you move into political activism to openly deny Constitutional rights to another identity group, you have closed the door on discussions with the federal government.
This is, by the way, the same Constitutional argument that the anti-jihad community has sought to make (with inconsistent results) for years against the Muslim Brotherhood. (But even the Muslim Brotherhood had the brains not to openly seek to defy houses of worship in the USA.) Now that same argument about not accepting those who seek to undermine the Constitution is going to made against SIOA and Spencer. For the record, people did warn them that this was going to happen. They just didn’t care.
The larger challenge is still in flux to SIOA’s leaders. The nationwide anti-mosque protests are going to result in other coalitions to defy SIOA and their leaders, including past anti-jihad leaders. You think CAIR and “liberals” are the problem?? Think again. They will be small potatoes to the stewing and growing coalition that is outraged and disgusted by the protests and attacks on houses of worship across America.
Americans really do believe in their Constitution and in American’s rights.
