WASHINGTON -- Governor Mitt Romney raised the prospect of wiretapping mosques and conducting surveillance of foreign students in Massachusetts, as he issued a broad call yesterday for the federal government to devote far more money and attention to domestic intelligence gathering.

WHAT - On March 17, 2005, Hassiba Belbachir, a 27 year old Algerian citizen, died under suspicious circumstances while in US federal custody at the McHenry County Adult Correctional Facility in Illinois.

Rep. Tom Tancredo has once again proven that fanatic, close-minded people can be of any religious background (“9/11 memorial under fire,” Sept. 14). His assertion that the Flight 93 memorial “honors the terrorists” because it is shaped like a crescent is comical. According to this logic, a person who hangs the cross pays tribute to the crusaders, the Ku Klux Klan, the people who bomb abortion clinics and all other Christian terrorists.

The September 14 editorial titled “The UN and Sheriff Bolton” claims that the United Nations has been corrupt for years and that finally the United States is standing up to this world body and demanding reform. “Americans can be proud of their government's long overdue assault on UN timidity, negligence and corruption” wrote the editorial board. Unfortunately there is absolutely no blame placed on the United States for the current obsoleteness of the United Nations.

CAIR-Chicago Executive Director, Yaser Tabbara, along with a number of Muslim community leaders, met Tuesday, September 13, 2005 with representatives from the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and local FBI and DHS officials.

CAIR-Chicago Director of Communicaitons, Ahmed Rehab, joined a group of Chicago community leaders for a closed meeting with the Editorial Board of the Chicago Tribune, Tuesday, to discuss the paper's coverage of Islam and Muslims.

More than six million American television viewers have already seen CAIR's "Not in the Name of Islam" public service announcement (PSA) since its release in June.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today dismissed Rep. Tom Tancredo's (R-CO) comments on the design of a memorial to those aboard a plane that crashed in Pennsylvania on 9/11 as a cynical political ploy designed to gain national attention. (See: http://tancredo.house.gov/)

CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Yaser Tabbara and Director of Communications Ahmed Rehab met with US Congressman Danny K. Davis to discuss issues relevant to his Muslim constituency. Dr. Danny Davis, representative for the 7th US congressional district, listened attentively as Tabbara & Rehab discussed the work of CAIR-Chicago.

CAIR-Chicago’s Civil Rights Coordinator met with the principal of a Chicago Public High School to discuss conducting sensitivity training sessions for faculty and educational seminars for students. The meeting was a result of an anti-Muslim website that was being used as a resource in a World Studies class taught at the local area high school.

WHAT - Khutbah (Friday Prayer Sermon) TOPIC - "Activism – Rising up to today’s challenges facing Muslims in America"

SPEAKER - Ahmed Rehab, Director of Communications, CAIR-Chicago

On Sunday, September 11, some 1200 Muslim volunteers will feed Hurricane Katrina evacuees in four shifts at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. National and local representatives of the Muslim Hurricane Relief Task Force (MHRTF) will also hold a noon news conference at the convention center to outline the American Muslim community's ongoing relief efforts.

Yaser Tabbara met with a number of faith-based leaders and members of the Chicago Police department including Chicago Police Superintendent Philip Cline, members of the local FBI office and the US and State Attorney offices. Among the Chicago faith-based community representatives, Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid, Chairman of the CIOGC, Imam Gha-Is Aski of Imam WD Mohammed Ministry, Rev. Paul H. Rutgers, Executive Director, Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago and Minister Shiva Singh Khalsa of the Sikh Dharma where all present.

Yaser Tabbara participated in a briefing by the ICIRR on the status of their on-going projects and future strategic plan. A number of Muslim and immigrant leaders of ICIRR member organizations were present.

The newly-formed Muslim Hurricane Relief Task Force (MHRTF) today announced the launch of a website, www.mhrtf.net, designed to offer information about the American Islamic community¿s efforts to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina. MHRTF recently announced a pledge to raise $10 million in humanitarian relief.

CAIR-Chicago Director of Communications, Ahmed Rehab, speaks to Rusty Humphries on his popular right wing show along with fellow guest, Peter James of the anti-Muslim "United American Committee" group.

CAIR-Chicago participated in both the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and The Mosque Cares Conventions over labor day weekend, Sep 2-5, 2005.

On Saturday, September 3, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) presented an award to Imam W. Deen Mohammed in recognition of his outstanding leadership role in the American Muslim community.