Calgary Herald wont publish my rebuttal to CAIR

On Thursday, I published a post on Lux et Veritas, concerning the Calgary Herald publishing a pro-veil essay by Canadian CAIR (Council of American-Islamic Relations); read it here: CAIR Article in the Calgary Herald.

Canadian CAIR is an affiliate of CAIR, (who were) named as one of the "un-indicted co-conspirator in the HLF terror funding trial";

the Holy Land Foundation For Relief And Development (HLF) was a pro Hamas organisation.

I submitted a letter of rebuttal to the Calgary Herald Friday morning, but since it isn't published in today's Herald, I have to think that it's rejected by the editor.

I am including my full letter, but first I want to comment as to why the Calgary Herald would publish a piece from Canadian CAIR (do they know about CAIR?), and why they wouldn't publish my letter.

First why not publish my letter? Well the answer may be as simple as they don't think it is worthy, or it is too late, they have published a couple of letters already (I was a bit late submitting - the original article was published Wednesday & I didn't submit till Friday morning).

OR, perhaps the content is too dangerous for the Herald.

I wondered why the Herald would publish an essay by CAIR in the first place?  Here's a couple of possibilities:

1. They do know about CAIR, this is likely because their sister newspaper (big sister) the National Post was subjected to legal action by the Canadian CAIR.
2. They do not know about CAIR; they published the CAIR essay thinking it represents a moderate Muslims voice. 

If the reason is (1), then they published it to attract comment to bring this issue out into the open; however if that is true why not publish my letter?

If the reason is (2), they show a lack of good research; remember that CAIR is the named "un-indicted co-conspirator in the HLF terror funding trial".

Could there be a third possibility? This one I find very hard to imagine: could the Calgary Herald have some pro-CAIR sympathies within its staff? I  know, I find it hard to believe this is true either, but it is a logical possibility.

Here is my letter to the Calgary Herald submitted by email Friday October 16, 1:15 (not strictly speaking Friday morning)

09-10-16 Letter to Calgary Herald
Rebuttal to Mr. Riad Saloojee’s Article: “For Muslim women, veil is power and beauty”

Mr Riad Saloojee, dismissed concerns about the face veil (niqab) in his article published by the Calgary Herald on Wednesday, October 14, 2009, as “fear-mongering”. However concerns are well warranted; the niqab is associated with the most extreme forms of Islam and has no place in Canadian democratic society.

Mr Saloojee is a member of Canadian CAIR, whose parent organisation CAIR was named by the US government prosecutors as the “unindicted co-conspirator in the HLF terror funding trial.” The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development was a pro-Hamas organisation.

The niqab is widely worn in Saudi Arabia, where religious police beat women in the streets who are not appropriately dressed. Herald readers are probably familiar with such beating in Afghanistan by Taliban police. On occasions the woman beaten were actually wearing a burka, however a little ankle was visible so the police would set on them with whips. Sometimes these were older women.

In 2002, Saudi Arabia's s powerful religious police beat girls trying to flee a burning school in Mecca, because they were not properly attired. The police forced them back into the school where they perished.

According to the al-Eqtisadiah daily, firemen confronted police after they tried to keep the girls inside because they were not wearing the headscarves and abayas (black robes) required by the kingdom's strict interpretation of Islam

The niqab is associated with authoritarian societies such as Saudi Arabia, the Taliban, and Al-Qaeda; Canada should not allow the niqab here.

There may be women who choose to wear the niqab, but it irrelevant because it is imposed by Islamic ideology, and enforced by men, and is accompanied by other Islamic abuse of women such as wife-beating, and marriage to pre-pubescent girls.

Canadians should not mistake this matter as a freedom or rights issue; veils, niqabs, or face masks, should be banned in public in Canada to protect moderate woman.

NOTE: I also submitted a reference to the Herald on the burning school story in Mecca, which can be seen here Saudi police 'stopped' fire rescue.

Gurth Whitaker
Calgary, AB