Santorum: PA Democrat's CAIR appearance 'reprehensible'

Santorum: PA Democrat's CAIR appearance 'reprehensible'

A Pennsylvania congressman is under fire over his planned speaking appearance before a Muslim organization with ties to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

Freshman Congressman Joe Sestak (D-Pennsylvania) has agreed to be the keynote speaker at an April 7 banquet and fundraiser hosted by the Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group with headquarters in Washington, DC, has been reluctant to condemn Palestinian homicide bombing against Israelis, and some of its former representatives have been convicted of terrorism-related charges.

Rick Santorum, a former Republican senator from Pennsylvania, says CAIR is under a lot of suspicion for a good reason. "A lot of the folks who are involved in this organization are apologists for radical Islam," Santorum explains," [and] some CAIR employees have been prosecuted on terrorist-related charges." He adds that there are connections between CAIR and the Islamic Association of Palestine -- "which is related to Hamas, which is a terrorist group," the former lawmaker points out.

Santorum says some newly elected Capitol Hill officials who ran on an anti-war platform are pursuing relationships that further hamper the war effort. He takes particular issue with Sestak's planned participation with a group he says is not supporting the war against radical Islam, but instead, in some cases, is "participating in it."

"I find it reprehensible that a congressman representing a great blue-collar area -- Delaware County, [Pennsylvania], where a lot of patriots [are] -- would be out there cavorting with this type of group ..." he remarks. "n my opinion, [such actions are] deliberately undermining our ability to successfully prosecute this war against folks who want to harm us."

House Republicans recently criticized Speaker Nancy Pelosi and fellow Democrats for allowing CAIR to use a conference room in the U.S. Capitol for a seminar.