Rep. Andre Carson: Can't Defeat Terror 'Without Help From Muslims'

Indiana Rep Andre Carson, the first Muslim appointed to the House Intelligence Committee, said Friday that intelligence agencies must work with Muslims to combat terrorist groups.

"I think it's clear that we will never win the war on national terrorism, or even global terrorism for that matter, without getting help from Muslims, getting help from Sikhs, getting help from nontheists," Carson, a Democrat, said on CNN's "New Day."

Carson was appointed to the intelligence panel by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Before his election to Congress in 2008, Carson worked in law enforcement.

Carson's appointment to the House Intelligence Committee has drawn fire from critics who fall into two major categories.

Media attention focused on the first: People critical of the appointment because of Carson's Muslim faith. Rep. Joseph Crowley, a New York Democrat, denounced those critics.

Far less attention has been given to critics who have challenged Carson's connections with Islamist groups.

Islamist Watch — a project of Daniel Pipes' Middle East Forum — has created a database called Islamist Money in Politics.

Its role, Pipes wrote in National Review, is to measure campaign contributions made by Muslims affiliated with organizations "who seek to replace the Constitution with the Koran and apply Islamic law in its entirety and severity."

In other words, it would report on money contributed by those seeking "to change the nature of the United States."

The six groups are the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Islamic Circle of North America, the Islamic Society of North America, the Muslim Alliance in North America, the Muslim American Society, and the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

The information "holds politicians accountable for accepting funds from a soiled source" and "tells voters who takes money from individuals linked to enemies of the United States and its allies," Pipes added.

Since 1999, key figures associated with these organizations have donated close to $700,000 to federal candidates. In Indiana, Carson has received close to $34,000 from Islamist sources for his congressional campaigns since 2008, the National Review reported.

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