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A NEW DIRECTION FOR U.S. RELATIONS WITH THE MUSLIM WORLD

Convened by Search for common ground and The Consensus Building Institute

Washington, DC • Cambridge, MA

In January 2007, a group of American leaders concerned about the rise in tension and violence between the U.S. and Muslim countries and communities, and interested in finding ways to improve relations, came together to launch the U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project.

The group’s first meeting took place at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund’s Pocantico Conference Center in Tarrytown, New York.

FUNDING -

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation,

Rockefeller Brothers Fund,

Carnegie Corporation of New York,

American Petroleum Institute,

Bernard and Audre Rapoport Foundation,

W.K. Kellogg Foundation,

One Nation,

Mr. George Russell, and other individual and institutional donors have provided major financial and in kind support for the project.

MEMBERS -

Madeleine Albright Principal, The Albright Group LLC; former
U.S. Secretary of State

Richard Armitage President, Armitage International; former
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State

Ziad Asali President and Founder, American Task Force
on Palestine

Steve Bartlett President and Chief Executive Officer, Financial Services Roundtable; former U.S.
Representative; former Mayor of Dallas, Texas

Paul Brest President, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Leadership Group - Organizational affiliations are listed for identification only. Leadership Group members endorse this Report in their personal capacities.

Red Cavaney President and Chief Executive Officer, American Petroleum Institute

Daniel Christman Lt. General (ret.), U.S. Army; Senior Vice President for International Affairs, U.S.

Chamber of Commerce

Stephen Covey Co-Founder and Vice Chairman, FranklinCovey; writer, speaker, and academic Thomas Dine Principal, The Dine Group; former Executive Director, American Israel Public Affairs

COMMITTEE -

Marc Gopin James H. Laue Professor of World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution; Director, Center for World Religions,

Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution, Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution,

George Mason University Stephen Heintz President,

Rockefeller Brothers Fund Shamil Idriss Chairman of the Board,

Soliya Daisy Khan Executive Director, American Society for Muslim Advancement

Derek Kirkland Advisory Director, Investment Banking Division, Morgan Stanley Richard Land President,

The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Southern Baptist Convention;

Member, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom

Robert Jay Lifton Lecturer on Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; author of Superpower Syndrome

LEADERSHIP GROUP MEMBERS

Denis Madden Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore; former Associate Secretary General, Catholic Near East Welfare Association

John Marks President and Founder, Search for Common Ground Susan Collin Marks Senior Vice President,

Search for Common Ground; author of Watching the Wind: Conflict Resolution during South Africa’s Transition to Democracy

Ingrid Mattson President, The Islamic Society of North America; Professor of Islamic Studies,
Director of Islamic Chaplaincy, and Director,

Duncan Black Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations,

Hartford Seminary Sayyeda Mirza-Jafri Strategic Philanthropy Consultant

Dalia Mogahed Executive Director, Gallup Center for Muslim

Studies; co-author with John Esposito of Who Speaks for Islam?

What a Billion Muslims Really Think Vali Nasr Professor of International Politics,

The Fletcher School, Tufts University; Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies,

Council on Foreign Relations Feisal Abdul Rauf Imam, Masjid al-Farah in New York City; Founder and Chairman, Cordoba Initiative; author of What’s Right with Islam Is What’s
Right with America

Rob Rehg President, Washington, DC office, Edelman

Dennis Ross Consultant, Washington Institute for Near East Policy; former U.S. Special Middle East
Envoy and Negotiator

S. Abdallah Schleifer Distinguished Professor of Journalism, American University in Cairo; former
Washington Bureau Chief, Al Arabiya news channel;

former NBC News Cairo bureau chief Jessica Stern Lecturer in Public Policy,

Harvard Kennedy School of Government Mustapha Tlili Director,

Center for Dialogues: Islamic World-U.S.-The West, New York University William Ury Co-Founder, Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School; co-author of Getting to Yes

Vin Weber Managing Partner, Clark and Weinstock; Chairman, National Endowment for
Democracy; former U.S. Representative

Daniel Yankelovich Founder and Chairman, Public Agenda; author Ahmed Younis Senior Analyst,

Gallup Center for Muslim Studies; former National Director, Muslim Public Affairs Committee
Dov Zakheim Vice President,

Booz Allen Hamilton; former U.S. Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)

A couple of nuggets -

“Only a tiny minority of Muslims is involved in violence against the U.S. and its allies.”

AND ...

“Partnership does not have to mean a highly visible role for the U.S”

THE PDF LINK -
http://www.sfcg.org/programmes/us/pdf/Changing%20Course.pdf

Executive Summary in a nutshell -

Thesis - The Muslim World don’t like us nor do the majority of people in – Latin America, Western Europe, the former Soviet Union, and other parts of Asia.

Solution - Transition countries in the ME, build them up, reform the USA so we’re equal, give them lots of jobs to ensure this global-equality, exchange our culture for theirs aka absorb the whole Islamic shebang aka SUBMIT.

Note the funding and those in attendance especially -

Soliya Daisy Khan Executive Director, American Society for Muslim Advancement - instituted a new Islamic school in Brooklyn with our tax-dollars - got heat so resigned but I believe it remains open.

AND...

Council on Foreign Relations Feisal Abdul Rauf Imam, Masjid al-Farah in New York City; Founder and Chairman, Cordoba Initiative; author of What’s Right with Islam Is What’s
Right with America.

They both got mass-media PR support from Mayor Bloomberg, Schumer et al.

AND Bloomberg blamed the “fringe” for the negatives per their modus operanda. He also pointed the finger at the Tea Party for the Times Square attempted bomber (more on that later - time permitting)