Why Has CPAC Banned All Panels About Islam?
For anyone going to the upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), I’m sure by now you’re aware that there will be no panels conducted regarding the threat of Islam this year. All of our leading experts on Islam—Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller, Frank Gaffney and others–have been banned from speaking and/or holding panels.
Unfortunately, many Conservatives still aren’t aware that two of the most influential organizers of CPAC—seemingly innocuous tax guru Grover Norquist and former aide in the Bush administration Suhail Khan—are fighting together to eliminate any dissenting voices about the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood in America. Why is this?
Last year, I personally learned firsthand that no one—not even a simple blogger like me—is allowed to even question the threat of Islam in America at CPAC. In a very small panel moderated by Suhail Khan, I asked him about his previous year’s statement at CPAC, in which he told the press, “There is no Muslim Brotherhood in America.” I reminded Khan that the Muslim Brotherhood via CAIR has said, “Yes, we are here in America”, along with four federal U.S. judges who also declared the same. So when I asked Khan if he wanted to retract his very dangerous statement–which I believe is the same as telling someone there aren’t any snakes in a room full of snakes—without answering my question, I was asked to leave the conference room and I was ridiculed by Khan and his followers.
For the record, educating Americans about Islam and Sharia has nothing to do with being “anti-Muslim” or any type of bigotry, as both Khan and Norquist have accused their opposers as being. This is about public awareness and understanding who our enemy really is–and burying our heads in the sand about the very real influence of Islam in America will not protect us from those ‘thousand paper cuts from within’.
This week my PolitiChick co-anchor Morgan Brittany and I will be reporting from CPAC and we will not allow this blacklisting of our foremost American experts on Islam to go unnoticed. For all bloggers and videographers who are attending, I hope you’ll join us in asking our Conservative leaders the following questions over and over:
- Why, in your opinion, aren’t there any panels on the threat of Islam this year? In light of the takeover of the Middle East by the Muslim Brotherhood, not to mention 9/11/01 and 9/11/12 isn’t it one of the most important topics we can discuss at a Conservative convention?
- Why are our leading American experts on Islam—including Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller and Frank Gaffney–banned from speaking this year?
- Rep. Michele Bachmann, Rep. Louis Gohmert (TX), Trent Franks (AZ), Lynn Westmoreland (GA) and Thomas Rooney (FLA) conducted an investigation into the Muslim Brotherhood penetration of the Washington policy-making chain. Without looking into the facts presented, the investigation was silenced by both the Left and the Right. Why?
- If we’re not allowed to discuss the threat of Islam and creeping Sharia at a Conservative convention, what chance do we have to fight it?
Below is the PolitiChicks episode regarding my confrontation with Khan at CPAC last year, followed by a transcript of the exchange (with apologies for the audio):
A-M: Last year you said there is no Muslim Brotherhood in the United States but the Muslim Brotherhood themselves have said that 29 Muslim-American organizations are–they describe them as being ‘our organizations and the organizations of our friends. These include the Islamic Society of North America; the Council on American Islamic Relations; the North American Islamic Trust and four federal judges have confirmed that these organizations are friends of the Muslim Brotherhood. So do you stand by your statement that there is no Muslim Brotherhood in America?
Suhail: Ma’am what this panel is about is conservative inclusion…
A-M: Should they [the Muslim Brotherhood] be included in conservative politics?
Woman on front row: That’s not what this is about!
Suhail: That’s not what this panel’s about so if you want to take up those questions with other people you can. We’re here to talk about conservative message Americans so if your group, and other Alinsky-like factions—I can see where you come from.
Woman on front row: Please leave!
