Hussam Ayloush and Salam al Marayati Opine on Terrorism

Cair's Hussam Ayloush                                                                                      
(Background: Muslim Brotherhood/
Mohammed Morsi solidarity poster)







                                                                                                                                                                                                         MPAC's Salam al Marayati                                                                                          


In Southern California, two of the most prominent Muslim leaders are Hussam Ayloush, the executive director of the Southern California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and Salam al Marayati, the executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). They both appear frequently in numerous events in Southern California speaking on issues relating to Islam and international issues as well.  Recently, they have both put themselves on the record on the topic of terrorism.

On January 10, Ayloush  wrote his views  about terrorism on his personal blog. As you can see, he objects to drone attacks.  He also takes issue with our "foreign invasions". Obviously, he is thinking about Afghanistan and Iraq. Yet, in Ayloush's recent speaking appearances at the University of California at Irvine   on November 19, 2013 and in Riverside  the following evening advocating for US intervention in Syria, he seems to contradict himself. It must also be added that Ayloush, under the CAIR banner, has also been a vocal and active opponent of Israel for several years.

In addition, Ayloush tries to lump the Jewish Defense League (JDL) together with Al Qaeda, which is absurd. While the JDL was not opposed to meeting anti-Jewish violence with violence, they never dreamed of carrying out acts like 9-11 or the myriad of other slaughters perpetrated by Al Qaeda.

Finally, Ayloush makes a cynical reference to "brown-skinned people" as victims, part of  CAIR's efforts to sway racial minorities to the Islamist agenda under the banner of civil rights. One example is the on-going program   Southern California CAIR runs with Japanese-American civil rights groups including tours of the former Manzanar (California) relocation camp where Japanese-Americans were interned during World War II. The fact is that even since 9-11, nobody has suggested interning Muslim Americans. The US recognizes that the relocation was a mistake and an injustice.

Aside from his blog, Ayloush has a history of controversial comments  about terrorism. As quoted in the above link, he has criticized the trial and execution of Saddam Hussein (both carried out by Iraqis), called America's war on terrorism a "war on Muslims", condemned the FBI's use of informants, and described the US as an accomplice in the "crimes" of Israel. And of course, there is the typical reaction when people like Ayloush are asked the magic question of whether they will condemn Hamas. On November 16 last year, Ayloush spoke  to an interviewer at CAIR's annual convention in Anaheim. When asked if CAIR would ever condemn Hamas, Ayloush became angry and accused his questioner of being bigoted as he stormed off. One wonders exactly what Hussam Ayloush really considers a terrorist and what would constitute legitimate American actions against terrorism.

On January 7, MPAC head, Marayati wrote  to the LA Times opinion page in response to a naive January 6 op-ed  by Congresswoman Jane Harman (D-CA) on domestic radicalization and how to combat it. In her piece, Harman wants to psychoanalyze terrorists. Note how she uses descriptions like "angry, "lonely", "in debt", and "isolated".  Indeed, Harman is one who shies away from the very term "radical Islam" as she showed in June 14, 2007 hearings when Marayati was testifying before the House Homeland Security Committee, and she stressed to him that she was not using that term. *** I can't seem to pull up the PDF for copying and linking.

In his letter to the Times, Marayati described himself as one who has been involved in counter terrorism for over 20 years. It must be conceded that Marayati has sold himself to the US Government as a moderate whom we should send overseas and act as a representative of the US Muslim community. Yet, Marayati and MPAC oppose virtually every counter terror measure we take from military actions overseas to FBI undercover operations, which have thwarted many terror attempts, but which Marayati has often termed as "entrapment". Summaries of Marayati's positions on these issues can be read here  and here.  In the above letter to the Times, Marayati, (much like Harman)  tries to make the case that Muslims who become terrorists are some kind of psychotic outcasts. Similarly, in the latter link above, he uses the term "petty criminals" and "gullible" to refer to the targets of FBI undercover cases or people suffering from "depression" or "despair". In that same article, Marayati is quoted as defending people like University of South Florida professor Sami al Arian, who was an operative in the US for US-terrorist-designated Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and defending attacks by Hizbollah against Israel. He even tried to explain away the Hizbollah attack against US Marines in Lebanon in 1983 as a "military attack"-not terrorist. In the wake of 9-11, Marayati implied that it was the Israelis who carried it out because they had the most to gain.

Both Ayloush and Marayati are considered influential figures in Southern California, and many non-Muslims find them appealing voices of reason. What is needed is for their audiences to do their homework on these two and be able to ask them probing questions when they appear in public. In fact, they are both apologists for the extremist forces that are operating worldwide in the name of Islam.