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Saturday, Mar 16, 2013 7:34 PM UTC

Islamophobia still has its place at CPAC

A panel of "Uninvited" anti-Islam activists trashed Grover Norquist and former Bush staffer Suhail Khan

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Topics: Pamela Geller, Frank Gaffney, Robert Spencer, Sharia, Anti-Islam, Islamophobia, Michael Mukasey,

Islamophobia still has its place at CPAC (Credit: AP Photo/David Karp)

Though, for the most part, the fringiest conservatives were shut out of CPAC this year, one unofficial panel hosted by Breitbart.com did not disappoint, bringing out “The Uninvited” anti-Islam activists for a panel on national security. Speaking to a packed room, Pamela Geller, Frank Gaffney, and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, talked of the Muslim Brotherhood’s infiltration of America, and, more imminently, of the CPAC conference.

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa,  who introduced the panel on Saturday and called the speakers “the world experts on global jihad,” bemoaned that the FBI has “scrubbed out” derogatory references to Islam or Muslims because their Muslim advisers told them they had to. He also couldn’t pass up the opportunity to talk illegal immigrants, who he called “undocumented Democrats.”

Former Bush Attorney General Michael Mukasey warned of Islam’s “need to impose sharia on the world,” noting that “there has been a systematic purging of references to Islamism, lest offense be given to Muslims.” And where is the government finding out what will give offense to Muslims, Mukasey asked. From groups like CAIR and ISNA, “both of which are branches of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

“The vast majority of the world’s 1.4 billion Muslims adhere to a view of their religion that agrees on the need to impose Sharia, or Islamic law, on the world,” he said.

Robert Spencer, the blogger for Jihad Watch, got a standing ovation for tying both Grover Norquist, who is married to a Muslim woman, and ex-Bush staffer and CPAC board member Suhail Khan, who is Muslim, to the Muslim Brotherhood. “What I do know is that they’re completely in bed with the same people Barack Obama is listening to to draft the entire foreign policy of the United States and domestic policy as well.”

Spencer added that Norquist “is the one who made it so that Pamela Geller and I are on this panel called ‘The Uninvited.’”

“Maybe you don’t know, but Barack Obama has completely aligned this nation with the Muslim Brotherhood,” he said. “Barack Obama is not stupid and we should give him credit for knowing what he’s doing and for doing it on purpose.”

Pamela Geller, who called the panel “poetic justice,” said that “truth is the new hate speech,” and that those who try to speak the truth are “marginalize[d], demonize[d] and render[ed] radioactive.”

She also took a shot at Khan: “Suhail Khan is worse than Anwar al Awaki” because “look what’s he’s done to this conference.”

Frank Gaffney, who was banned from the conference several years ago, said that Khan “was recruited to the Muslim Brotherhood” when in college. “He is a prince of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

After the panel, Robert Spencer told Salon that “Islamophobia is a concept manufactured by the Muslim Brotherhood in order to intimidate people into being afraid to resist Islamic supremacism.”

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com. More Jillian Rayfield.

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