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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CAIR Asks Pentagon to Drop Another Anti-Islam Trainer

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 7/23/2012) -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on the Department of Defense (DoD) to drop ananti-Islam lecturer at theJoint Counterintelligence Training Academy (JCITA) in Elkridge, Md., who wrote on an Islamophobic hate site that he "renounced Islam and began the quest to find the real God." (Reza Kahlili: "Why I Renounce Islam and Choose Christ," WND, 8/24/11)

That lecturer, "Reza Kahlili," a pseudonym for a man who says he is a former CIA operative in Iran, also claims that Iranian agents are "coordinating operations out of [American] mosques and Islamic centers," that Iran already has nuclear weapons, and that Iranian agents have infiltrated the United States through the "Muslim Brotherhood's Muslim Students Association." (Daily Caller, 7/22/12; Washington Times, 10/27/11, Los Angeles Times, 7/6/12, American Thinker, 2/23/12)

A program coordinator for Iran instruction at JCITA confirmed to the Los Angeles Timesthat Kahlili is a paid lecturer for the DoD-chartered academy. His lectures are audio-only, allegedly to protect his identity. The newspaper called Kahlili "one of the most influential and outspoken voices in the U.S. advocating the overthrow of the Iranian government."

"This is yet another unfortunate example of our nation's military and counterterrorism personnel being trained by individuals who weaken America's security by promoting their own religious and political agendas," wrote CAIR national Executive Director Nihad Awad in a letter sent to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.

CAIR chapters in Florida recently held news conferences in Tampa and Pembroke Pines to ask the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) to stop using a notorious anti-Muslim bigot as a counterterrorism trainer.

SEE: Fla. Police Accused of Anti-Muslim Training

Last month, CAIR welcomed a decision by the U.S. military to stop using a target depicting a Muslim woman wearing a religious head scarf (hijab) and verses from the Quran to train Navy SEALs at the new close quarters combat range at Joint Base Fort Story in Virginia Beach, Va.

CAIR also recently called on the Department of Defense to dismiss an instructor at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Va., who taught fellow officers that only a "total war" on Islam would protect America, that they should use "Hiroshima" tactics, target civilian populations, and abandon the Geneva Conventions. The instructor of that course was later relieved of his teaching duties.

The Washington-based Muslim civil rights organization has also called on the Obama administration, the Department of Homeland Security and Congress to provide oversight for apparently widespread anti-Muslim bias in the training of law enforcement, security and military personnel nationwide.

SEE: CAIR Asks Sec. Napolitano to Probe Use of Islamophobic Trainers 
Video: CAIR Decries Anti-Muslim Police Trainers 
Obama Orders Clean Up of Islamophobic Terror Training

An 80-page report by Political Research Associates (PRA), titled "Manufacturing the Muslim Menace: Private Firms, Public Servants, & the Threat to Rights and Security," details a systemic failure to regulate content in counterterrorism training.

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 National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com