CAIR Asks Administration to Levy Terrorism Charges Against Man Who Plotted to Destroy Islamberg

The Council on American-Islamic Relations wants terrorism charges levied against a former Tennessee congressional candidate after his arrest for allegedly planning a violent attack on a Muslim community.

Robert Doggart, 63, agreed to plead guilty to one count of interstate communication of threats after his April 10 arrest. According to federal court documents, the FBI intercepted calls detailing a plan that included burning down a school, a mosque and a cafeteria in a Muslim enclave in the Catskills.

That enclave, Islamberg, is a 70-acre compound of The Muslims of America, Inc.

“In a call intercepted on March 17 pursuant to the wiretap, Doggart told a female, ‘When we meet in this state, the people we seek will know who we are. We will be cruel to them. And we will burn down their buildings (and) if anyone attempts to, uh, harm us in any way, our stand gunner will take them down from 350 yards away. The standoff gunner would be me,'” the complaint stated.

“We’re gonna be carrying an M4 with 500 rounds of ammunition, light armor piercing. A pistol with three extra magazines, and a machete. And if it gets down to the machete, we will cut them to shreds.” According to feds, Doggart added, “I actually think we can get in and out of there without getting caught. There’s only four policemen in town. The fire department is a volunteer department, so it’ll take them 35 minutes to get there while that building will be burned down already. And we’ll be long gone by then.”

Doggart ran as an independent last fall for the seat of Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.). He got about 9,000 votes.

CAIR said it is calling upon the Obama administration to levy terrorism charges against Doggart.

“If a Muslim had planned to carry out such a religiously-motivated deadly attack, he would certainly have been labeled a terrorist and charged accordingly,” CAIR communications director Ibrahim Hooper said in a statement. “We ask the Obama administration to rescind the plea agreement, which – as it stands – could see this individual free in the community.”