CAIR declares war on Jihad Watch’s Robert Spencer and the Young America’s Foundation

Bryan at Hot Air has the details of a threat CAIR made to the Young America’s Foundation in response to Jihad Watch’s Robert Spencer’s Thursday speaking engagement. Jihad Watch, in case you didn’t know, is a site devoted to making sure people don’t forget that there are Islamofascists who want to kill us.

YAF spokesman Jason Mattera had this to say in response to the threat:

“CAIR can go to Hell and they can take their 72 virgins with them.”

Captain Ed calls it right:

This seems to be the main strategy of CAIR — to sue people into silence. Let’s not forget that CAIR also supported the Flying Imams and their efforts to sue the people who complained about their suspicious behavior to airline and security personnel here at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Now they want to threaten legal action against their critics in order to intimidate them.

If Spencer has slandered CAIR or its members, then why hasn’t Sandler already sued Spencer? Could it be that CAIR might have more to fear from airing these issues in court and under oath than Spencer? It certainly looks that way. This letter is the typical bluster one would expect from a frightened bully with enough scratch to hire an attorney with a laser printer.

Instead of using these tactics of intimidation, CAIR could have simply asked to have time to rebut Spencer at the YAF event. That way, they could address Spencer’s supposed untruths in real time, and would have engaged young conservatives in a positive manner. A group that believes in freedom and liberty would have used their freedom of speech to enlighten the attendees, instead of attempting a prior restraint of speech that silences the normal and healthy voices of criticism in a free society.

’nuff said.

More: Jimmie at the Sundries Shack lays the smack down on CAIR and Democrats and each group’s attempts at shutting down speech with which they don’t agree.