An unbylined Nov. 5 WorldNetDaily article slips in this statement amid yet another attack on the Council on American-Islamic Relations, this time on CAIR official Dawud Walid’s criticism a prayer gathering that he called anti-Muslim:
As WND reported, Walid was a headliner at a conference in Detroit recently along with the co-author of a report that slanders critics of radical Islam, including Spencer, Daniel Pipes and Steven Emerson.
This is in reference to a report by the Center for American Progress that detailed how the above named writers, as well as David Horowitz and WND columnist Pamela Geller, promote anti-Muslim attitudes on the right.
WND, though, never explains exactly how these people were “slandered.” (Plus, WND misuses the word “slander,” defined in law as verbal, not written like the CAP report.) Instead, it links back to an Oct. 14 article (also unbylined) similarly stating that the report “slanders critics of radical Islam.” But it this article too, WND never states how the right-wingers were “slandered.”
If WND is going to make such a serious allegation such as slander, it should be able to back up its claim. So far it hasn’t.
Further, the WND article tries to downplay claims that the prayer event, scheduled for next weekend in Detroit, has an anti-Muslim bent to it, repeating denials from event organizers and suggesting that the only evidence to the contrary is “a video posted on YouTube of a conversation with two church leaders he said were associated with the prayer event.”
In fact, as Rachel Tabachnick writes, there are numerous conversations posted online in which even organizers discuss the anti-Muslim nature of it. One pastor claims that “We are literally dropping in a Delta Force” with the intent of raising “awareness of the Islamic threat.” Another pastor says, “We need the harvest of the Muslim people. We can’t just sit by and let them continue the on the way they are, worshipping their false god.” One of the lead organizers of the event, Lou Engle, has repeatedly claimed that the event will be used to convert Muslims.