Softball pitcher of the week award goes to Chi Trib’s Noreen Ahmed-Ullah for her 3/25/07 email interview with the Chicago CAIR director — Council on American-Islamic Relations. Her questions win her this accolade:

Why CAIR? What are CAIR’s projects? “Tell me a bit about you,” etc., all leading up to the really tough one, “What is the source of the latest criticism/accusations being against CAIR on the national level?” which have never been reported by Chi Trib (!) and which the CAIR man, Ahmen Rehab, answered with alacrity. 

Those are “urban legends,” he says, traceable to “a single and homogenous [sic, both as to misspelling and misuse: single things are always homogeneous] source of interlinked individuals and groups [some single source] with such deceptively benign names as the Investigative Project, the Middle East Forum, Jihad Watch and Americans Against Hate.”

They “typically flourish in the unmoderated [oh my], chaotic world of the blogosphere; they attempt to sell themselves to political and media circles as experts on Islam and terrorism and as patriots who are looking out for American interests.”

Not so, says Rehab, desperately seeking rehabbing with the help of Chi Trib.  Rather, they are “career Islamophobes who are deathly afraid of Muslim-American enfranchisement [they seek depriving Muslims of the right to vote?] and its possible effects on the Israeli lobby’s interests. [Italics added, and there’s the obligatory Israeli reference].

Chi Trib’s Ahmed-Ullah even gives a web address for further CAIR info.