(MintPress) – Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and several other Republican leaders are calling on the Departments of State, Homeland Security, Defense and Justice and the Office of the Director for National Intelligence to launch an investigation to find out if “influence operations conducted by individuals and organizations associated with the Muslim Brotherhood” have “had an impact on the federal government’s national security policies.”

But several organizations advocating for civil rights within the United States are speaking out, saying that Bachmann’s ideas are fanning the flames of hate and Islamophobia in America.

And another Minnesota political official, Congressman Keith Ellison, is asking Bachmann to provide evidence for her claims, or publicly clear the names of those she singles out in the conveyance.

Bachmann’s letter

In a June 13 letter addressed to Ambassador Harold W. Geisel, Deputy Inspector General of the U.S. Department of State, Rep. Bachmann (R-Minn.) and her cohorts allege that the Muslim Brotherhood has influence over policy makers in the Obama administration. The letter, posted on the website of MinnPost, a news agency in Bachmann’s home state of Minnesota, also states that the “the Muslim Brotherhood’s mission in the United States is ‘destroying the Western civilization from within’ – a practice the Muslim Brothers call ‘civilization jihad.’”

“It’s such utter nonsense,” said Ibrahim Hooper, National Communications Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Washington, D.C.-based national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, in an interview with MintPress. “No, Muslims aren’t trying to take over America,” Hooper said.

The letter specifically singles out Huma Abedin, deputy chief of staff for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It alleges that three of Abedin’s family members, her late father, her mother and brother, are connected to the Muslim Brotherhood. It states that Abedin’s position “affords her routine access to the Secretary and to policy-making,” and adds that the department has “taken actions recently that have been enormously favorable to the Muslim Brotherhood and its interests.”

Over the weekend, Clinton was in Egypt to meet with the newly elected President Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate, who warmly welcomed her to Cairo for talks – and heard her affirmation of Washington’s “strong support” for the change that had brought him to power, according to The Telegraph, a U.K.-based daily newspaper. Clinton pledged the support of America as Egypt transitions to a democracy and said, “We want to be a good partner and we want to support the democracy that has been achieved by the courage and sacrifice of the Egyptian people. Democracy is hard … It requires dialogue and compromise and real politics. We are encouraged and we want to be helpful. But we know it is not for the United States it is for the Egyptian people to decide.”

Bachmann’s letter calls the actions and policies of President Obama’s administration “deeply problematic” adding, “They may even pose a security risk for this nation, its people and interests.”

The home page Bachmann’s website currently features a section called “Michele’s Corner” in which she relays to visitors under an entry entitled Obama’s Friends Are America’s Enemies, “Americans need to look no further than the words from the Muslim Brotherhood to understand that they are not a friend of America or Israel. In April, White House officials already made the mistake of meeting with members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Repeating that mistake again will only demonstrate President Obama’s commitment to a foreign policy of appeasement instead of speaking the truth about our enemies. I call on President Obama to insist that President Morsi repudiates the Muslim Brotherhood’s calls for jihad; and if President Morsi does not, President Obama should refuse to meet with him in the United States.”

Fanning the flames of hate

Hooper sees Bachmann’s comments as fanning the flames of hate and Islamaphobia in the U.S.

He called her sentiments a “rehashing from anti-Muslim cottage industries, which are well established and well funded in the United States.”

The letter from Bachmann cites information provided by a Washington-based group called The Center for Security Policy. In a recent piece on the controversy, James Zogby, President of the Arab American Institute wrote in the Huffington Post that the group is “a notorious player in the anti-Muslim industry that has been working for several years to smear Muslim American groups. The head of the Center served as one of Bachmann’s advisers during her ill-fated run for the presidency and the only source cited in the Congressional letters was the Center’s ‘training program,’ ‘The Muslim Brotherhood in America: The Enemy Within.’”

Zogby goes on to say, “As outrageous as all this behavior may be, the letters and the charges generated very little media attention, but that doesn’t mean that they can be dismissed, for two main reasons: the five, though all a bit loony, hold positions of influence on key Congressional committees; and despite the fact that the source of the “evidence” cited in the Congressional letters is the pernicious Muslim-bashing Center for Security Policy ‘witch hunts,’ if left unchecked it can ruin lives and damage reputations.”

Zogby points out that in addition to Bachmann, other Representatives signing the letter included Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) and Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.), who each sit on the Select Committee on Intelligence, and Reps Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) and Louis Gohmert (R-Texas), who are members of the Judiciary Committee. All of these individuals, except for Bachmann, hold leadership positions, either within their respective committees or in the House Republican caucus.

Hooper says these types of ideas are “unfortunately having a negative impact on the lives of ordinary American Muslims,” citing several incidents in Bachmann’s home state which recently made headlines, including a string of cases in Rochester, Minn. in which vandals spray-painted “KKK” and swastikas on to the homes of several Muslim families.

“Unfortunately we are seeing a rise in these incidents stemming from Islamophobics, like Ms. Bachmann,” Hooper said. “It would be nice if Michele Bachmann suddenly realized she was delusional on this issue.”

Ellison asks for evidence or an apology

Another Minnesota lawmaker, Rep. Keith Ellison, has asked for proof of the allegations made in Bachmann’s letter.

In his letter of response to the clams, Ellison called upon the Republicans to provide his office “with a full accounting of the sources you used to make the serious allegations against the individuals and organizations in your letters. If there is not credible, substantial evidence for your allegations, I sincerely hope you will publicly clear their names.”

Doug Welty, Congressional and Public Affairs Officer with the Office of the Inspector General, told MintPress that his office did send a letter to the Bachmann camp in response to their claims on July 3, but he declined to provide MintPress with a copy of the letter, stating that it would have to be obtained through Bachmann’s office.

Welty also would neither confirm nor deny if the agency had launched any type of investigation stemming from Bachmann’s allegations.

He urged MintPress to seek a copy of the letter from Bachmann’s office.

Bachmann’s office did not respond to an inquiry from MintPress about the matter.