Obama Appoints Jihad Friendly Ambassador To The OIC

Following the unfortunate tradition of George W. Bush, Barack Hussein Obama has appointed his new ambassador to pander to the anti-Semitic and pro-jihad Organization of Islamic Conference.

However, unlike President Bush, Obama picked someone for the spot with an interesting background that tells us a great deal about the president's mind set.

This is long, but I suggest you read it all to get a full sense of what's going on here and how the dots connect.

Obama announced the appointment of White House lawyer Rashad Hussain to be our OIC ambassador at something called the U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar via teleconference.

Obama called Hussain "an accomplished lawyer and a close and trusted member of my White House staff," who would strengthen his policy of outreach to the Muslim world..that unclenched fist thing again.

Obama noted that Hussain had played a key role in Obama's embarrassing abasement of a speech in Cairo. Perhaps Hussain, who holds a Master's Degree in Arabic and Islamic studies from Harvard contributed to Obama's fictional recitation on the glories of Islamic civilization and the myth of Islam's tolerance for other religions and what he termed its `centuries of co-existence and cooperation' with the West.

Obama also noted that Hussain is a Hafiz of the Qu'ran, someone who has memorized the Islamic text.

So...who is Rashad Hussain, aside from being a well connected Muslim lawyer who's a deputy assistant counsel to the president?

His family is described as Indian Muslims in the press, but as Rashad himself puts it, he's a Muslim whose background is that his family is from Kashmir. Anyone who knows anything about the region is familiar with the fact that Kashmir is a divided between India and Pakistan, that there are no more Hindus left on Pakistan's side and that the majority of Kashmir's Muslims on India's side of the border identify more as Pakistanis.

That's especially likely if they've immigrated from India.

Hussain was an exceptionally bright student who was a 2003 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans recipient.

His roots in the Salafist Muslim brotherhood, the parent group of Hamas go way back:

However, in October 2000 Mr. Hussain spoke at a conference sponsored by the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS) and the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University (CMCU). The conference was titled “Islam, Pluralism, and Demoracy and featured many leaders of the global Muslim Brotherhood including former German diplomat Murad Hoffman, and International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) leaders Louay Safi, Jamal Barzinji, Hisham Al-Talib, and AbdulHamid AbuSulayman. The AMSS was founded in 1972 as an outgrowth of the Muslim Student Association and has long been associated with the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood.

In June 2002, Mr. Hussain was listed as part of a Congressional Staffers panel at the American Muslim Council’s (AMC) 11th annual convention. The AMC was headed at that time headed by Abdurahman Alamoudi, a leader in the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood and currently imprisoned as part of a plot to assassinate the Saudi head of state, Crown Prince Abdullah. Other important leaders of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood such as Jamal Barzinji were also part of the AMC.

While at Yale Law School, Mr. Hussain was listed as part of the organizing committee for an April 2004 conference organized by a student organization known as the Critical Islamic Reflections (CIR) group. Among the CIR sponsors listed on the their web site was IIIT and the Fairfax Institute, the IIIT educational arm. IIIT is an important component of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood and three of the key IIIT/Fairfax leaders Jamal Barzinji, Hisham Al-Talib, and Yaqub Mirza; were also associated with what has been called the SAAR network (Safa Group), a network of Islamic organizations located in Northern Virginia that was raided by the Federal government in March 2002 and which, until at least mid 2007, had been the subject of an ongoing investigation. Also listed as a CIR sponsor was ALIM, most likely referring to the American Learning Institute for Muslims and whose list of instructors includes some of the most important leaders of the U.S./global Muslim Brotherhood including Tariq Ramadan, Jamal Badawi, and Taha Al-Alwani.

Just for giggles, google the IIIT. It was a jihadist fund raising organization closely connected with our old friend Sami Al-Arian, a convicted terrorist who was Palestinian Islamic jihad's own man in America and formed a whole nest of budding jihadis at the University of South Florida

Yes, google the IIIT, or the American Muslim Council together with the word 'terrorism'. Then settle back for a few hours of very educational reading. Likewise check out some of the players listed, like Islamist Tariq Ramadan, who was actually barred from entering the US as a security risk...at least until the Obama Administration took over.

And who would have thought it? Hussain also has a personal connection with Sami al-Arian himself:

In September 2004, while still a Yale law student, Mr. Hussain participated in a session at the annual conference of the Muslim Student’s Association (MSA) of the U.S. and Canada. The MSA has long been associated with the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood and at the session, Mr. Hussain appeared along side the daughter of Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Sami Al-Arian and labeled Al-Arian’s prosecution “politically motivated persecution.” According to an archived notice in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs:

A session on civil rights called “Get up, Stand up; Stand up for your Rights: The State of Contemporary Civil Liberties” was held Sept. 5 at the annual conference for the Muslim Students Association of the United States and Canada, held alongside the Islamic Society of North America’s 41st annual convention in Chicago. Laila Al-Arian, daughter of civil and political rights activist and Muslim leader Sami Al-Arian, opened the session with her father’s story. She gave a heart-wrenching, emotional account of an innocent man targeted for free-speech activities, whose rights were stripped thanks in part to the PATRIOT Act. Al-Arian, who has not yet been to trial, has been held in a federal penitentiary for over a year and a half. Al-Arian’s situation is one of many “politically motivated persecutions,” claimed Rashad Hussain, a Yale law student. Such persecution, he stated, must be fought through hope, faith, and the Muslim vote.

Now, the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs is noted for an extremely pro-Arab, anti-Israel slant. And, funny thing...the sentences that refer to Hussain somehow got edited out of the current online version and disappeared down the memory hole just about the time Hussain started becoming known as a prominent Muslim voice and working for the feds.

Okay, he's had some questionable associations, but what does Hussain really believe about what the US should do about the problem of Islamist terrorism?

In 2008, he was clerking in Detroit, Michigan, ( where else?) at the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. While he was there, he co-authored "Reformulating the Battle of Ideas: Understanding the Role of Islam in Counterterrorism Policy" for the Brookings Institution with Al-Husein N. Madhany. This bit is quite revealing...I'll translate as we go:

First, rather than characterizing counterterrorism efforts as “freedom and democracy versus terrorist ideology,” policymakers should instead frame the battle of ideas as a conflict between terrorist elements in the Muslim world and Islam.

( "Islam is a religion of peace. No need to get overly concerned about how they treat women, Jews, Homosexuals and Christians. Instead, we'll convince the Muslim 'street' that we're more Islamist friendly than the jihadis!")

Second, policymakers should reject the use of language that provides a religious legitimization of terrorism such as “Islamic terrorism” and “Islamic extremist.” They should replace such terminology with more specific and descriptive terms such as “Al-Qaeda terrorism.”

( "Let's definitely continue not to call things by their right name.")

Third, the United States should seek to build a broad and diverse coalition of partners, not limited to those who advocate Western-style democracy, and avoid creating a dichotomy between freedom and Islamic society. Such a coalition should incorporate those who may have political differences, so long as they reject terrorism.

( "See point one. Thou shalt not tick off the Saudis, no matter what quaint beliefs they have that might not jibe with a free western society. After all, look at the how loudly Muslims all over the world are always going out of their way to condemn terrorism and publicly reject people that practice it..especially since we Muslims have never had anything to do with it. " )

Fourth, the United States should enlist the assistance of scholars of Islam and the Muslim world to determine how best to frame the mission of the global counterterrorism mission. Rather than framing the conflict as “pro-freedom” or “anti-Jihadist,” these scholars should analyze the most persuasive methods for applying Islamic law to reject terrorism.

( "We definitely need more Wahabi Imams on the payroll. And of course, let them decide how best to deal with the Islamists. Haven't they done a splendid job so far?")

Fifth, the United States should incorporate the Muslim community as well as scholars of Islam and of the Muslim world in the policymaking process to help craft policies that reflect a more nuanced understanding of those targeted.

("Nuke Israel and probably India. { I know, I know, but Mom and Dad will love me for mentioning it}Then the Muslim umma will have absolutely nothing to be steamed about.")

Sixth, the United States should promote and distribute scholarship such as the North American Muslims Scholars’ Fatwa against Terrorism and the Aal al-Bayt Institute’s anti-terrorism rulings, which carefully analyze issues such as the use of force in Islam and conclude that terrorism must be rejected unequivocally.

( "See point four. Oh, and realize that many Muslims have a slightly different definition of terrorism than you do..but, no worries, eh?" )

Seventh, recognizing the benefit of strengthening the authoritative voices of mainstream Islam, the United States should welcome and encourage the further development of mainstream Muslim organizations and moderate institutions.

( "That means CAIR, the MPAC and the Islamic Society of North America. We need more Wahabi mosques and sharia friendly zones in America, funded by the taxpayers." )

Finally, the United States should continue to promote effective economic and social reforms and to work with allies in crafting fair and peaceful resolutions to conflicts in the Middle East and in other parts of the Muslim world, as these conflicts are often the preeminent grievances fueling extremist violence.

("Like I said, nuke Israel and probably India, but especially Israel. Give us the Jews and we'll let you live...trust me!")

There's absolutely no doubt in my mind which way Rashad Hussain tilts. If it comes to a conflict of interest between America and the Muslim umma as personified by the OIC, which way do you think Mr. Hussain just might be leaning?

And what does that say about the judgment of the president that appointed him?

please donate...it helps me write more gooder!