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CAIR pushes DoD to drop ex-CIA operative lecturer, claims anti-Islam

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The Council on American Islamic Relations is urging the Pentagon to drop a former CIA operative inside Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a lecturer at the Department of Defense’s Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy.

The group claims that the views of the former operative, who has been teaching, writing and lecturing about the dangers Iran poses to the West under the pseudonym Reza Kahlili, is anti-Islam and promoting his own agenda as a former Muslim.

“This is yet another unfortunate example of our nation’s military and counterterrorism personnel being trained by individuals who weaken America’s security by promoting their own religious and political agendas,” wrote CAIR national Executive Director Nihad Awad in a letter sent to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Monday.

According to Kahlili, who reports for The Daily Caller on a freelance basis, his lectures at the JCITA are about the intelligence operation of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, not Islam. He noted, however, that CAIR’s distaste for him probably stems from the intersections between the two.

“CAIR is likely upset with my articles and news pieces on the fact that the guards intelligence also runs operations out of Islamic centers and Mosques,” Kahlili explained to TheDC in an email. “If they truly care about the Islamic community in America and the sanctity of the Mosque, they should welcome such information and help authorities to weed out such operators from ordinary Muslims so that another 09/11 does not take place.”

Kahlili explained that with his focus on Iranian human rights and the threat the regime and its allies pose to Western nations he has been surprised by CAIR’s reaction.

“CAIR’s attack surprises me,” Kahlili explained. “In becoming a spy for the CIA while a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, I not only risked my life but those of my loved ones to protect the security of America and the Free World and raise awareness of the brutality Iranians suffer under a regime that has no mercy, even for women and children.”

Kahlili added that CAIR has judged him for converting to Christianity. He pointed to the group’s press release reference to his conversion as proof.

CAIR is the largest Muslim advocacy group in America and was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding trial.

They have been successful with previous requests for more sensitivity from the Pentagon, including recently bringing an end to the use of Muslim women in hijabs and Quran verses as targets for Navy SEAL training at Joint Base Fort Story in Virginia Beach, Va. and terminating another instructor at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Va. for advocating “total war” against Islam.

Update: The Pentagon provided TheDC with a statement of support for Kahlili, Wednesday.

“We can confirm that Mr. Reza Kahlili, who has specialized counterintelligence expertise, occasionally lectures at the Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy (JCITA),” Pentagon spokesman James Gregory wrote in an email to TheDC. “He’s one of many guest lecturers called upon by JCITA for specific subject matter knowledge. His experiences provide valuable insight to trainees, and he keeps his personal religious beliefs out of the classroom. He does not lecture on or about Islam or any religious treatise, and his personal beliefs are his own.”

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