However, two lingering unanswered question remains. First, who is the Muslim cleric behind the controversial mosque proposal near Ground Zero. And second why is our President and state department so cozy with him?
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| Feisal Abdul Rauf |
Let's begin by answering who Feisal Abdul Rauf is based on what he has said on the record. In 2004, he said the U.S. and the West must acknowledge the harm they have done to Muslims before terrorism can end. Speaking at his New York mosque, Abdul Rauf said, "The Islamic method of waging war is not to kill innocent civilians. But it was Christians in World War II who bombed civilians in Dresden and Hiroshima, neither of which were military targets." Rauf also said that there could be little progress in Western-Islamic relations until the U.S. acknowledged backing Middle East dictators, and the U.S. President gave an "American Culpa" speech to the Muslim world, because there are "an endless supply of angry young Muslim rebels prepared to die for their cause and there is no sign of the attacks ending unless there is a fundamental change in the world".
Apparently Abdul Rauf made a startling statement after 9/11. Just nineteen days after that fateful day on CBS’s 60 Minutes when then asked if the U.S. deserved the attacks, Rauf answered: "I wouldn’t say that the United States deserved what happened. But the United States’ policies were an accessory to the crime that happened." When the 60 Minutes interviewer asked Rauf how he considered the U.S. an accessory, he replied, "Because we have been accessory to a lot of innocent lives dying in the world. In fact, in the most direct sense, Osama bin Laden is made in the USA."
In a column in the Huffington Post Rauf offered advice to President Obama. He wrote: "He should say his administration respects many of the guiding principles of the 1979 revolution -- to establish a government that expresses the will of the people; a just government, based on the idea of Vilayet-i-faqih, that establishes the rule of law. His administration understands that what is going on now in Iran is an attempt by the Iranian people to live up to their own ideals. Just as American democracy developed over many years, the United States recognizes that this election is part of the process of an evolving democracy in Iran."More troubling than the rubbish Rauf wrote for the Huffington Post is the fact that Obama Administration State Department officials confirmed on Monday that this same Feisal Abdul Rauf will soon be going on a trip of the Middle East and the U.S. government will be picking up the tab. Respecting private property rights in the face of political controversy is admirable. Thinking this clearly delusional man can be useful in the "peacemaking process" casts grave doubt on the cognitive skills of those in charge of foreign policy in Washington D.C.
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