Dennis Richardson's dinner guest once included Agnes Chong of CAIR, the United State's best known pro-HAMAS lobbyist- That and other errors of judgement in dealing with the Islamist-Jihadist threat ought to disqualify him from leading the Bondi Hanukkah Massacre intelligence and security review

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

AMCRAN Board Members Meet with Australian Ambassador to the US
From Left to Right: Agnes Chong (AMCRAN), Dr Waleed Kadous(AMCRAN), Asmi Wood (CIC/ANU), Ambassador Dennis Richardson (AustralianGovt), Mohamed Elsanousi (ISNA), Imam W D Mohammed (American Society of Muslims),Congressman Andre Carson (USA Govt), Sayyid Syeed (ISNA), Dr MohamadAbdalla (Griffith University), Asma Mirza (MSA National). Friday, June20, 2008, at the Australian Ambassador's Residence, Washington DC.

Anthony Albanese has appointed Dennis Richardson
to lead the review of intelligence and law enforcement agencies in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.  The review will examine the powers and processes of the agencies and report back in April, with the findings to be published..
Dennis Richardson is not the person for that job given his past errors of judgement which include and which concern the Islamist Dr Waleed Kadous, and his wife Agnes Chong, whose history includes publication of the booklet  Anti-Terrorism Laws: ASIO, the Police and You, which undermines anti-terrorism laws. Richardson was head of ASIO between 1996 and 2005.

In April 2008  Australian Muslim Civil Rights Advocacy Network  ( www.amcran.org) announced:

 

Two of AMCRAN's founders and convenors have relocated to the United States. Agnes Chong has been offered a position at CAIR as their full-time Civil Rights/Outreach Coordinator in the San Francisco Bay Area chapter.
CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, is the largest Muslim civil liberties group in the US, and has very much been the inspiration for AMCRAN's work. Waleed Kadous is taking a break from AMCRAN to focus on his career.  Agnes and Waleed remain active for strategic advice on AMCRAN's Board.

CAIR is, in effect, the most prominent pro-HAMAS lobbyist in the United States.

On 15 June 2009 a majority of CAIR's leadership were named in a lawsuit brought under the US 's anti-racketeering laws for fraud.(http://www.glendalenewspress.com/articles/2009/06/16/politics/gnp-lawsuit16.txt)

 

Prior to Agnes Chong joining CAIR, CIAR had been named a unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism matter. Holy Land have been found guilty of that charge (See http://www.nysun.com/national/islamic-groups-named-in-hamas-funding-case/55778/ & http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/112508dnmetholylandverdicts.1e5022504.html & http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/po837.htm)

 

On 12 June 2009 Republican Congressman  Frank Wolf (R-Va), "took the unusual and courageous step of directly tackling CAIR" on the floor of the House. In his speech, also available on Youtube, Wolf laid out CAIR's history in some detail and asked the FBI and the main Justice Department to clarify the status of their relationships with CAIR.(http://counterterrorismblog.org/2009/06/rep_wolf_takes_on_cair_and_a_u.php)

After reviewing the group's history, Wolf identified one of their most effective tactics and why it is so dangerous:

Given CAIR’s genesis, its associations with known terrorist entities and individuals, and its tactics—namely attempting to discredit anyone who dares to speak out against its organization—their cries of victimization and accusations of religious bigotry appear disingenuous.

Wolf further noted that:

In a federal court filing from December 2007, federal prosecutors described CAIR as "having conspired with other affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood to support terrorists." The government also stated that "proof that the conspirators used deception to conceal from the American public their connections to terrorists was introduced" in the Holy Land Foundation trial.

In a footnote government prosecutors point out: “(F)rom its founding by Muslim Brotherhood leaders, CAIR conspired with other affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood to support terrorists…”

The errors of judgement in dealing with the Islamist-Jihadist threat described above ought to disqualify Richardson  from leading the Bondi Hanukkah Massacre intelligence and security review. It is likely that he will be distracted by  his own historical failures, that led to the massacre.