The Rev. Jesse Jackson, one of the nation’s leading civil rights activists, and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) have endorsed an open letter by a coalition of Muslim, Sikh, Asian-American, and other civil liberties groups sent to FBI Director Robert Mueller seeking an explanation of why a leader of an anti-Islam hate group was recently invited to train state and federal law enforcement officers.
Robert Spencer, co-founder of the hate group Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA), claimed in a blog post that he “gave two two-hour seminars on the belief-system of Islamic jihadists to the Tidewater Joint Terrorism Task Force.” Those attending the training reportedly included FBI agents.
In its letter to Mueller, the coalition outlined Spencer’s bigoted views on Islam and Muslims, including referring to Islam’s Prophet Muhammad as a “con man.”
SEE: Coalition Letter to Director Mueller
http://www.cair.com/Portals/0/pdf/coalition_letter_to_FBI.pdf
The letter cited the independent national media watch group Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), which identified Spencer as one of “Islamophobia’s Dirty Dozen” who systematically “spread fear, bigotry, and misinformation.”
In its report, FAIR said, “By selectively ignoring inconvenient Islamic texts and commentaries, Spencer concludes that Islam is innately extremist and violent.”