CAIR Joins Interfaith Challenge to Mo. Mayor's Anti-Muslim Speaker

Self-proclaimed 'ex-terrorist' called 'fraud' by professor who researched his bizarre and unsubstantiated claims

ST. LOUIS, Nov. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The St. Louis, Mo., chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-St. Louis) today joined other interfaith groups in calling on a mayor in that state to drop an anti-Muslim speaker invited to take part in a prayer breakfast later this month. 

CAIR-St. Louis says self-proclaimed "former terrorist" Kamal Saleem, whose real name is reportedly Khodor Shami, is scheduled as the keynote speaker at the November 17 "Mayor's Prayer Breakfast" in Independence, Mo.

SEE: Self-Proclaimed Former Terrorist Has Been Controversial Choice
http://tinyurl.com/6hwu9dk

A number of individuals and groups, including Interfaith Progressives of Independence and the Crescent Peace Society, have asked the mayor to reconsider the decision to invite Saleem. The Interfaith Progressives of Independence said, "Saleem's message is one of division and fear. He paints Islam as a religion bent on world domination and violence."

SEE: An Inappropriate Speaker for Mayor's Prayer Breakfast in Independence
http://tinyurl.com/6fskkfn

A chaplain in the Missouri National Guard says he will not attend the breakfast because of the choice of Saleem as a speaker.

"At a time when our nation needs to come together in a spirit of mutual understanding and cooperation, it is inappropriate and offensive for a public official to extend an invitation to an individual who promotes a message of societal division and religious hatred," said CAIR-St. Louis Executive Director Faizan Syed.

Saleem has made a number of outlandish and unproven claims about his past as an "ex-terrorist." He recently told an audience in Michigan: "I came to the United States of America not to love you all. I came to be -- exactly -- to destroy this country as a terrorist. We crossed the Canadian border. We brought weapon caches right through cities, through Windsor."

He also claims to have been a member of both the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Muslim Brotherhood when he came to the U.S. in 1979.

Saleem claims that a near-fatal car accident led to his conversion to Christianity but has never identified what city or state the crash occurred.

His bizarre claim that "in my family was the Grand Wazir of Islam" promoted Calvin College history professor Douglas Howard to investigate Saleem's background. [NOTE: The title of "Grand Wazir of Islam" has never existed.]

"I concluded this person is a fraud," said Howard after his investigation into Saleem's claims.

Howard says Saleem "preys on people's lack of information and their worries and their fears and their wanting to find a way to justify their own attitudes toward Islam and Middle East policy." 

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation reported in 2008 that Saleem worked for Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network for 16 years and in 2006 launched Koome Ministries with the mission to "expose the true agenda of [Muslims] who would deceive our nation and the free nations of the world."

SEE: Self-Declared 'Former Terrorist' Speaks at Agema Rally
http://tinyurl.com/5r7lmxp

Fake 'Ex-Terrorist' Wants Sharia Banned in Missouri (Loonwatch)
http://tinyurl.com/683fvln

Saleem is -- along with Walid Shoebat and Zachariah Anani -- one of the self-described "three ex-terrorists."

CNN recently aired a two-part series exposing Shoebat as an anti-Islam fraud.

Video: CNN Exposes Walid Shoebat's Terror Training Scam (CAIR)
Part 1 –- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJN00dBhZVk
Part 2 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74Tzz51VYXg  

SEE ALSO: USAF Pays Fake 'Terrorism Experts' Speakers to Bash Islam?
http://tinyurl.com/6eeqte4

The third "ex-terrorist," Zachariah Anani, says he is an advocate against what he calls "the violent doctrines of Islam." (Michigan Daily, 1/30/07)

Terrorism experts also cast doubt on Anani's claims. "Mr. Anani's not an individual who rates the slightest degree of credibility, based on the stories that he has told," said Tom Quiggin, Canada's only court-qualified expert on global terror and a former RCMP intelligence and national security expert.

SEE: Doubt Cast On Anani's Terrorist Claims (Windsor Star)
http://tinyurl.com/3g6pfge

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

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CONTACT: CAIR-St. Louis Executive Director Faizan Syed, 636-207-8882, 314-330-2946, E-Mail: [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, or 202-488-8787, E-Mail: [email protected]; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, 202-341-4171, E-Mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Council on American-Islamic Relations