If you follow this blog regularly and watch the Stakelbeck on Terror show, you are well acquainted with the courageous, groundbreaking work of my good friend, Reza Kahlili. Reza is a former member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps who risked his life working undercover as a double agent for the CIA inside Iran.
Now living in the United States, Reza is one of the world's foremost experts on the Iranian threat and the radical, apocalyptic Shia ideology that drives Iran's leaders. His frequent breaking news scoops on the latest movements inside Iran's regime are featured regularly in publications like the Daily Caller and WND, and I've called on his vast expertise and firsthand knowledge time and time again in my work at CBN. Not surprisingly, so has the U.S. Department of Defense, which uses Reza as as a lecturer at its Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy.
What a coup for DoD. Reza tells the unvarnished truth about the ideology of Iran's leaders from the perspective of one who has served inside the regime and seen the wicked, diabolical ways of the mullahs and their henchmen in the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij firsthand. It is all detailed in Reza's gripping book, A Time to Betray, which I strongly encourage everyone to read.
Yet as followers of this blog know all too well, speaking out about the evils of Islamism and the threat it poses to America and the West will get you no love from the notorious, Hamas-linked Council on American Islamic Relations, also known as CAIR. In fact, telling hard truths about radical Islam will invariably render you the target of a CAIR-led smear campaign to discredit you and your mission, often with help from CAIR's allies on the political left (the original masters of ruthless character assassination).
So it comes as no surprise that CAIR is now targeting Reza. To add insult to injury for the Islamists, Reza recently left Islam and converted to Christianity, openly embracing Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. And CAIR is now in full smear campaign mode. Here's more, from The Daily Caller:
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 9/11 does not take place.”
Here's more, from Reza's official response to CAIR:
As an American citizen, I have the right to convert to whatever religion I wish. I converted to Christianity, finding love and the true God. How is that Islamophobia? Or does CAIR support laws such as those in Iran where converts can be imprisoned or executed for renouncing Islam and finding Christ? Should I be persecuted in the United States because I am now a Christian?
My activity, which CAIR wants censored, focuses on Iranian human rights and the vicious violations of basic decency committed by a tyrannical regime, brutality that has been documented by human rights organizations worldwide.
But more importantly, the Islamic regime, along with its proxies, seeks to destroy Israel and poses a major threat to America and the free world.
Shouldn’t CAIR be more interested in protecting the sanctity of the mosques and, therefore, value my information on how Iranian agents are abusing such worship sites? Or is just stating such facts considered a crime by CAIR and automatically constitutes Islamophobia?
Perhaps CAIR does not know that I do not teach about Islam at the Counterintelligence Training Academy. I teach on the activity of the Revolutionary Guards and its intelligence operation.
Does CAIR approve of the Islamic regime in Iran? Does it support imprisonment and torture of men and women who seek freedom? Does it approve of the tens of thousands of executions of political prisoners since the 1979 revolution? Human Rights Watch warned that state hangings in Iran this year could reach more than 1,000.
Does it approve of execution of minors, the rape of children or the stoning of women on the charge of adultery? Does CAIR approve of cutting off hands and feet for stealing? Does CAIR approve of a man having four wives with no legal rights for the women? Does it approve of lashings for women who do not completely adhere to Islamic hijab?
Does CAIR dispute Iran’s support with its terrorist proxies, Hezbollah, Islamic jihad and others or the murderous regime of Syria’s Bashar Assad? Does it dispute that international courts seek the prosecution for terrorist activities committed by members of the Islamic regime, including the current defense minister, Ahmad Vahidi, who is wanted by Interpol for the Jewish Community Center bombing in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1994.
I won't hold my breath for those answers. In the meantime, I ask everyone to keep Reza lifted up in prayer and to continue to support his brave work while he stands strong and speaks the truth against the likes of CAIR.
Also, click on the viewer below to hear Reza's fascinating life story, which he described for me in detail on a special edition of the Stakelbeck on Terror show back in November 2010 (and which will soon be made into a film).