Republican Ninth District Rep. Sue Myrick of North Carolina last week joined U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Michigan, in urging Attorney General Alberto Gonzales not to participate in a Labor Day weekend convention conducted by a U.S.-based Islamic group.

The two House members — Myrick as co-chair of the Congressional Anti-Terrorism Caucus and Hoekstra as the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee — wrote to Gonzales “to express their concern about the Department of Justice co-sponsoring a convention for a group with ties to radical Jihadist organizations.”

The two congressmen, in a letter dated August 28, said the Islamic Society of North America, which hosted the convention, is “an organization with extremist origins, leadership and a radical agenda.”

“In light of the threat that our nation, and the world in general, is currently facing from radical Jihadists, and because of the president’s commitment to fighting the War on Terror on all fronts, we believe it is a grave mistake to provide legitimacy to (ISNA),” Hoekstra and Myrick wrote. “Establishing a partnership with ISNA is exactly the wrong approach at this critical juncture in history, setting a precedent that radical Jihadists should be the conduit between the U.S. government and the American Muslim population, and we urge you to reconsider your decision to establish an official relationship with ISNA.”

The Washington Times reported on Friday that the Justice Department said several government agencies, including military recruiters, annually attend the convention “as part of its outreach and education efforts.”

The Times also obtained an e-mail from Susana Lorenzo-Giguere, acting deputy chief of the Justice Department’s Voting Rights Division, to government lawyers, which explained the plan to co-sponsor an exhibit booth at the convention.

“This is an important outreach opportunity,” Lorenzo-Giguere wrote, “and a chance to reach a community that is at once very much discriminated against, and very wary of the national government and its willingness to protect them.”

In their letter, Hoekstra and Myrick noted ISNA’s relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood, labeled a conspirator in a key U.S. case against an alleged terrorist-supporting organization.

“Ironically, outrage over ISNA’s radical ties forced the Justice Department to cancel an earlier event at the Department scheduled for June 27 that was to feature a senior ISNA official,” the congressmen wrote. “Your agency reportedly cancelled the event because of action Justice Department officials took in May 2007 officially labeling ISNA as a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States and an un-indicted co-conspirator in the ongoing case of U.S. v. Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.

“As you know, the Muslim Brotherhood is a secretive worldwide movement that aims to reestablish the Caliphate (the historic Islamic Empire) across the Middle East, North Africa, Southern Europe and South Asia. Almost every single Sunni terrorist organization, including Al Qaeda and Hamas, is derived from the Muslim Brotherhood.”

The New York Times reported Tuesday that approximately 30,000 attended the conference near Chicago over the weekend. A major theme was discrimination against American Muslims, and the letter from Hoekstra and Myrick was cited as a prime example.