...So let’s move on to the CAIR story. What happened?

Steel: I met with CAIR leaders before I became chairman [of the California Republican Party]. They appeared to me to be a polished interest group, simply trying to empower Muslims in the US into the political process. I had hoped they were leaning Republican. Later it became clear to me they have little interest in the US or our traditions. Instead CAIR is financed outside the US which promotes a virulent extreme form of Islamic radicalism. I wrote a piece in NRO entitled "Who CAIRS?" which documented CAIR’s vitriolic attack against me for a speech I gave at USC promoting the US attack against Saddam Hussein.

In my speech I stated that there is a cancer "within" Islam that is anti-Western and anti-American. The very next day CAIR sent out an email blast to one of their lists attacking me. In short order, I received hundreds of angry emails. It was quite intimidating. I was amazed with the writers’ hostility to the land they immigrated to. I had no idea that many people who call themselves Muslims and live here, hate being here.

I still stand by my comments.

FP: And there was a law suit?

Steel: Yes, without any notice, one of the leaders in CAIR sued me for my remarks. He sued me in Orange County . His case was shortly dismissed for transgressing my First Amendment rights. I was awarded attorney fees. No one likes to get sued. Particularly for punitive damages, where not even your liability insurance can pay a potential judgment against you. I’ve discovered that CAIR regularly uses our legal system to try to quash dissent. CAIR has sued David Frum [National Review], Congressman Ballenger, Andrew Whitehead [leader of Anti-CAIR] and others. I believe most of the lawsuits were dismissed.

I am an eager campaigner and fully understand that politics is a full contact sport. CAIR is a group of highly paid and ruthless strategists. I would not have paid much attention to them at all. However, when they entered my world, I realized their ambitions are the advancement of an extreme form of Islamic dogmatic groupthink. CAIR is unhealthy for the body politic. It is an integral part of the cancer within Islam...