Hillary and the Ground Zero Mosque Imam...what's going on with the web site of Cordoba Initiative?

American Thinker ^ | 08/15/10 | Thomas Lifson

[American Dream 246]

It is time for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to step up to the plate and investigate Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf, who is currently touring the Middle East at the expense of American Taxpayers as an envoy of her Department of State. Claudia Rossett, one of America's premier journalists, today reveals several disturbing facts that more than warrant an official investigation:

...what's going on with the web site of his Cordoba Initiative? Last week, after someone in his Malaysia office referred all questions back to his office in New York, the phone number and address of his office in Malaysia quietly vanished from the Cordoba web site. Roughly around the same time, as Anne Bayefsky noticed and explained in a Pajamas Media post this week, Rauf's Cordoba Initiative web site also erased a photo showing Rauf meeting in Malaysia a while back with an Iranian official, Mohammad Javad Larijani - who, as Bayefsky explained, "was the Iranian official who defended Iran's abysmal human rights record before the UN Human Rights Council in February and June of this year."

Friday evening, after Obama gave his de facto endorsement to Rauf's Cordoba/Park 51 Ground Zero mosque and Islamic center project, I took another look at the morphing Cordoba Initiative web site, and discovered it now has a note on the main page saying "Website is currently under construction." (Grab your screenshots now - parts of this site are already sliding down the Memory Hole).

What's going on? Why the vanishings of the Malaysian address, the Rauf-Larijani Iranian connection photo, and the elusive Imam Feisal himself? Have either Obama or Bloomberg made even the smallest effort to inquire about what use will be made, or by whom, of these de facto endorsements they are handing out?

Secretary Clinton, as the person ultimately responsible for funding Rauf's visit to the Middle East (which cannot help but affect his fundraising efforts for the mosque) has a duty to the American people to get to the bottom of Rauf's refusal to condemn Hamas, his rhetoric in Arabic that contrasts with his English language rhetoric, and his association with anti-US groups.

Silence on the subject equals Mrs. Clinton's support for the Imam, who is enjoying a taxpayer funded trip (I wonder, by the way, if he is flying coach?). The Ground Zero Mosque is the most divisive issue in America today. If the Secretary of State is convinced she can dodge responsibility for funding him, she is sadly mistaken.

[Cindy]

Now that’s interesting.
Thanks Piasa.

#

ON THE INTERNET:

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/aoc/index?tab=articles

[Forward the Light Brigade]

Hillary is many things—but stupid isn’t one of them. She will break with Obama and push him out of the White House. Remember what happened to Teddy Kennedy—he opposed her—then came down with Brain Cancer! Hil will be President — Bil will be sec. of state. Only question will be who will be her VP?

[piasa]

Sponsored by the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue and in collaboration with Cordoba Initiative and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, ASMA has undertaken to broaden the MLT network to include dynamic Muslim leaders from Muslim-majority countries as well as from the West. The Doha forum, entitled "Change from Within: Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow Set the Agenda," will launch the MLT program on a global scale and empower the MLT network further with a combination of practical media trainings,.....

2001 : (NY CITY : ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS IS HEADQUARTERED ACROSS FROM UN HQ IN NEW YORK CITY---- See IRAN) Headquartered across the street from the U.N.'s main offices in New York, the Alliance might more appropriately be called a U.N.-approved Slush Fund for Advancing Iranian and Other Islamic Interests. Both high profile and hard to pin down, it [ the Alliance of Civilizations] is first and foremost an Iranian brain child, which came to the U.N. by way of an earlier venture pitched in 1998 by Iran's then-president Mohammad Khatami for a "Dialogue of Civilizations."
With the eager support of former Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the U.N. General Assembly adopted Iran's proposal, proclaiming 2001 the Year of the Dialogue of Civilizations. To run the Dialogue, Annan appointed a former U.N. official and old Iran-hand, Giandomenico Picco--whose adventures offer a hint of the kind of intrigue surrounding today's Alliance and its precursor, the Dialogue.----- "Freedom's Edge: The U.N.'s 'Alliance of Civilizations'," BY Claudia Rosett, 03.26.09, 12:01 AM EST VIA FORBES, http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/25/alliance-of-civilizations-opinions-columnists-obama-un.html

2004 : (IRAN : DIALOGUE OF CIVILIZATIONS MEETING IS HELD IN TEHRAN) the Dialogue chugged along with meetings here and there, including one in 2004 in Tehran. ----- "Freedom's Edge: The U.N.'s 'Alliance of Civilizations'," BY Claudia Rosett, 03.26.09, 12:01 AM EST VIA FORBES, http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/25/alliance-of-civilizations-opinions-columnists-obama-un.html

At the U.N., when the "Dialogue of Civilizations" changed to the "Alliance of Civilizations" in 2005:......

2005 SPRING : (GIANDOMENICO PICCO {see UN OIL FOR FOOD SCANDAL} HELPS KOFI ANNAN ADVISOR IQBAL RIZA, A PAKISTANI, SET UP "THE ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS"... EVEN THOUGH MONTHS EARLIER RIZA HAD BEEN FORCED TO RESIGN IN THE UN/IRAQ OIL FOR FOOD SCANDAL) And last spring, according to both U.N. and Spanish sources, Annan brought in Picco to help advise Riza on setting up the Alliance. -- "New U.N. Scheme: Alliance of Civilizations," By Claudia Rosett and George Russell, Tuesday, FOXNEWS.COM , November 22, 2005

Who's Picco Giandomenico?

1980s- 1988 : (IRAN-IRAQ WAR : ITALIAN GIANDOMENICO PICCO SERVES AS THE UN GO-BETWEEN FOR IRAQ AND IRAN) An Italian national, [ Giandomenico] Picco served as a U.N. go-between for Baghdad and Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war. When that ended, in 1988, Picco stayed on at the U.N. for a few more years, serving as the secretary-general's point man for catering to the hostage politics of terrorists. Specifically, Picco specialized in trying to broker U.S. favors for Iran's mullahs as quid pro quos for the release of Western hostages snatched by Iranian-backed terrorists in Beirut.----- "Freedom's Edge: The U.N.'s 'Alliance of Civilizations'," BY Claudia Rosett, 03.26.09, 12:01 AM EST VIA FORBES, http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/25/alliance-of-civilizations-opinions-columnists-obama-un.html

1992 : (THE UN'S ITALIAN GIANDOMENICO PICCO LEADS TALKS ON PLANS TO SET UP 1996-2003 UN/IRAQ OIL FOR FOOD PROGRAM----See BAYOIL'S CHALMERS) One of Picco's final acts while working during that same period at the U.N. was to lead a round of talks in 1992 on early plans to set up what became the U.N.'s Oil-for-Food program, which ran from 1996 to 2003 and was aimed at helping the people of U.N.-sanctioned Iraq. Picco then left the U.N. and set up a private consulting business in midtown Manhattan. .----- "Freedom's Edge: The U.N.'s 'Alliance of Civilizations'," BY Claudia Rosett, 03.26.09, 12:01 AM EST VIA FORBES, http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/25/alliance-of-civilizations-opinions-columnists-obama-un.html

2005 early : ( THE ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS) Riza's role in setting up the Alliance [of Civilizations] was intertwined at least briefly in early 2005 with Giandomenico Picco, whom Annan also tapped as a link between the old Dialogue and the new Alliance [of Civilizations]. Picco quietly left a few weeks later, however--about the time that a scandal flared up in the media over a corrupt U.N. procurement officer, Alexander Yakovlev. A Russian who later pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to charges arising from taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks on U.N. procurement deals, Yakovlev had connections to a private company that had been doing business with the U.N. while Picco was serving as chairman of the board. Picco has not been accused of any wrong-doing.----- "Freedom's Edge: The U.N.'s 'Alliance of Civilizations'," BY Claudia Rosett, 03.26.09, 12:01 AM EST VIA FORBES, http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/25/alliance-of-civilizations-opinions-columnists-obama-un.html

[Riza was last I heard still an advisor to current Sec General Ban Ki Moon.]

Meanwhile as the Alliance of Civilizations took over from the Dialogue of Civilizations, a meeting was held in Istanbul, Turkey:

JUNE 23-27, 2005 : (ISTANBUL, TURKEY : "WORLD TRIBUNAL ON IRAQ" aka WTI [* aka GATHERING OF LOONS DECLARING SOLIDARITY WITH IRAQ INSURGENCY]--- See NION, UPJ, CODE PINK, ANSWER, GREEN PEACE) At the culmination of a gathering of global 'antiwar' groups in Istanbul to hold court on the liberation of Iraq led by the United States and the United Kingdom, the jurors who heard testimony against the liberators issued their findings which included a declaration of support for the terrorists in Iraq who are killing American, British and coalition soldiers and Iraqis. The World Tribunal on Iraq is endorsed by leading leftwing organizations from around the world including American-based groups like Not in Our Name Project, United for Peace and Justice, Code Pink and International ANSWER. ---------- "GLOBAL ANTIWAR MOVEMENT DECLARES SUPPORT FOR TERRORISTS AGAINST US, UK," Monday, June 27, 2005 | Kristinn

These are the same people involved in the Gaza Flotilla along with the Turkish group IHH and the "ground zero" Imam.

Although former Iranian Pres­ident Mohammed Khatemi, who initiated the [ILD] Dia­logue Among Civilizations, remains prominent,[6]{[6]Claudia Rosett and George Russell, "New U.N. Scheme: Alliance of Civilizations," Fox News, November 22, 2005, at www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,176362,00.html (February 15, 2007); Benny Avni, "New Forum Kicks into High Gear at the U.N.," The New York Sun, December 19, 2006, at www.nysun.com/article/45391 (February 14, 2007); and U.N. Alliance of Civilizations, Report of the High-Level Group, p. 11. } Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zap­atero and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the proposal to create the alliance at the 59th U.N. General Assembly and were subse­quently backed by former Secretary-General Annan.
The purposes of the Alliance of Civilizations are described succinctly in the Report of the High-Level Group:

The Alliance seeks to forge collective politi­cal will and to mobilize concerted action at the institutional and civil society levels to overcome the prejudice, misperceptions and polarization that militate against such a consensus. And it hopes to contribute to a coalescing global movement which, reflecting the will of the vast majority of people, rejects extremism in any society.[7]{[7]N. Alliance of Civilizations, Alliance of Civilizations: Report of the High-Level Group, November 13, 2006, at www.unaoc.org/repository/HLG_Report.pdf (February 15, 2007)., p. 47. }

------------The U.S. Should Oppose the Proposed U.N. Alliance of Civilizations by Brett D. Schaefer Backgrounder #2009February 22, 2007 http://www.heritage.org/Research/InternationalOrganizations/bg2009.cfm

[piasa]

APRIL 22, 2004 : (PAKISTANI UN OFFICIAL IQBAL RIZA GIVES THE GO-AHEAD TO SHRED DOCUMENTS - THE ONES PERTAINING TO THE SCANDALOUS OIL FOR FOOD PROGRAM- WHICH VOELCKER HAD ORDERED THE SECRETARIATE TO PRESERVE) ... on April 22, 2004, the day after the U.N. Security Council authorized an investigation into Oil-for-Food, Riza ... approved the shredding of mountains of documents in his office pertaining to the early years of the program, from 1997 to 1999. The shredding took months. These were files that Volcker had specifically ordered the Secretariat to preserve as having “potential relevance” to the investigation.
...The years covered by the shredded documents include the stretch in which Annan’s hand-picked chief of Oil-for-Food, Benon Sevan, is alleged to have taken bribes from Saddam Hussein, as well as the period in 1998 in which the secretary-general’s son, Kojo, met with his father in South Africa, New York and Paris while working for a company that soon afterward won a lucrative oil-for-food inspections contract with the U.N. Riza claimed that the documents were merely copies of those already in the Volcker committee’s possession, but the committee found that argument “not persuasive.”
In examining what remained of U.N. files after Riza’s shredding, Volcker’s investigation failed to find evidence implicating the secretary-general in the scandal, and his committee accepted Riza’s claim that the shredding was unintentional.--- "New U.N. Scheme: Alliance of Civilizations," By Claudia Rosett and George Russell, Tuesday, FOXNEWS.COM , November 22, 2005

[piasa]

oops, I messed up the formatting on this , let me fix it :

My note: These are the same people involved in the Gaza Flotilla along with the Turkish group IHH and the "ground zero" Imam.

Although former Iranian Pres­ident Mohammed Khatemi, who initiated the [ILD] Dia­logue Among Civilizations, remains prominent,[6]{[6]Claudia Rosett and George Russell, "New U.N. Scheme: Alliance of Civilizations," Fox News, November 22, 2005, at www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,176362,00.html (February 15, 2007); Benny Avni, "New Forum Kicks into High Gear at the U.N.," The New York Sun, December 19, 2006, at www.nysun.com/article/45391 (February 14, 2007); and U.N. Alliance of Civilizations, Report of the High-Level Group, p. 11. }
Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zap­atero and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the proposal to create the alliance at the 59th U.N. General Assembly and were subse­quently backed by former Secretary-General Annan.
The purposes of the Alliance of Civilizations are described succinctly in the Report of the High-Level Group:

The Alliance seeks to forge collective politi­cal will and to mobilize concerted action at the institutional and civil society levels to overcome the prejudice, misperceptions and polarization that militate against such a consensus.
And it hopes to contribute to a coalescing global movement which, reflecting the will of the vast majority of people, rejects extremism in any society.[7]{[7]N. Alliance of Civilizations, Alliance of Civilizations: Report of the High-Level Group, November 13, 2006, at www.unaoc.org/repository/HLG_Report.pdf (February 15, 2007)., p. 47. }

------------The U.S. Should Oppose the Proposed U.N. Alliance of Civilizations by Brett D. Schaefer Backgrounder #2009February 22, 2007 http://www.heritage.org/Research/InternationalOrganizations/bg2009.cfm

[piasa]

2005 : ( THE ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS SETS UP A SECRETARIAT IN NY OF 20 "EMINENT PERSONS" INCLUDING IRAN'S KHATAMI--SEE IQBAL RIZA) With Riza as special advisor, the Alliance in 2005 set up a secretariat in New York, and enlisted a founding panel of 20 "eminent persons" to further shape its agenda. This group, heavy on eminences from Islamic states, included Iran's Khatami--proposer of the original Dialogue. The "inclusive" list also featured one member from China, one from India, a left-wing American rabbi, but--apparently a bridge too far--no one from Israel.
To support this group, Kofi Annan sent a fund-raising letter to various ambassadors to the U.N., decrying a "widening gap" among Western and Islamic societies and blaming this on "extremists in all societies." Having thus underscored moral equivalence as the basis of the Alliance, Annan explained that a trust fund had been set up to bankroll its activities and invited contributions. From all but a few, the response was, to put it kindly, lukewarm. As of mid-2006, only 10 of the U.N.'s then 191 member states (now 192) had chipped in, for a total of roughly $3.7 million--the top donors being Spain, Qatar and Turkey, as well as $5,000 apiece from Oman and Syria.----- "Freedom's Edge: The U.N.'s 'Alliance of Civilizations'," BY Claudia Rosett, 03.26.09, 12:01 AM EST VIA FORBES, http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/25/alliance-of-civilizations-opinions-columnists-obama-un.html

[piasa]

2006 SUMMER : (NY : THE ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS CONVENES A MEETING TO WHICH IRANIAN KHATAMI IS INVITED— See CAIR) Also in 2006, the Alliance proved especially handy to Iran—which was presented with a U.N. Security Council deadline of Aug. 31 to end its uranium enrichment program. About the same time, the Alliance was convening a meeting in New York, to which Khatami was invited. Khatami’s U.N.-sponsored entry into the U.S. became a springboard for Khatami to embark on a two-week speaking tour of American cities, during which he denounced America and was a guest at a fund-raising dinner in Washington for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR. From U.S. soil, thanks to an Alliance entry ticket, Khatami served broadly as a prominent spokesman for Iran’s interests—just as Iran was thumbing its nose at U.S. efforts, via the U.N. Security Council, to put a stop to Tehran’s pursuit of nuclear bomb fuel.
-—— “Freedom’s Edge: The U.N.’s ‘Alliance of Civilizations’,” BY Claudia Rosett, 03.26.09, 12:01 AM EST VIA FORBES, http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/25/alliance-of-civilizations-opinions-columnists-obama-un.html

[MY NOTE; HE MET WITH CODE PINK, OBAMA BUNDLER JODIE EVANS ON THIS TRIP, DIDNT HE?]

[piasa]

MARCH 2009 : (BY THIS TIME THE ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS TRUST FUND HAS SWELLED TO MORE THAN $9 MILLION) Money, much of it European, has rolled into the [ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS] trust fund, which as of this month [MARCH 2009] has collected more than $9 million.----- "Freedom's Edge: The U.N.'s 'Alliance of Civilizations'," BY Claudia Rosett, 03.26.09, 12:01 AM EST VIA FORBES, http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/25/alliance-of-civilizations-opinions-columnists-obama-un.html

MARCH 2009 : ( THE ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS - FORMERLY THE DIALOGUE OF CIVILIZATIONS , FAVORS A GLOBAL GAG ON FREE SPEECH IN DEFERENCE TO ISLAMIC ANTI-BLASPHEMY "LAWS"-- See CREEPING SHARIAH) And in the four years since it morphed into existence as the latest phase of the Iranian-sponsored Dialogue, the Alliance has become another megaphone for some of the U.N.'s most troubling campaigns. In deference to Islamic anti-blasphemy laws, the Alliance favors a global gag on free speech. ----- "Freedom's Edge: The U.N.'s 'Alliance of Civilizations'," BY Claudia Rosett, 03.26.09, 12:01 AM EST VIA FORBES, http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/25/alliance-of-civilizations-opinions-columnists-obama-un.html

APRIL 6 & 7, 2009 : (TURKEY : SCHEDULED DATE OF OBAMA ATTENDANCE AT ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS MEETING IN INSTANBUL ----See FRAMEWORK OF THE UN "ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS", OIC, ARAB LEAGUE, ETC...) The Alliance has to date acquired a "group of friends" consisting of 99 members. Along with various sovereign states, these "friends" include the Organization of the Islamic Conference (or OIC), the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (set up by the OIC), the Arab League, plus the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization. There is no representation from Israel.
This is the U.N.-fostered outfit providing the framework Obama, the American commander-in-chief, will dignify with his presence at its April 6 and 7 meeting in Istanbul.
There are many ways one might describe this Alliance: An Iran-spawned Islamic-themed club; another U.N. exercise in equating the desires of despotic regimes with the principles of free societies; a curious vehicle for U.N. officials with odd spots in their past; a diplomatic bordello providing dark nooks for backroom deals. But an alliance of civilizations it is not. ----- "Freedom's Edge: The U.N.'s 'Alliance of Civilizations'," BY Claudia Rosett, 03.26.09, 12:01 AM EST VIA FORBES, http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/25/alliance-of-civilizations-opinions-columnists-obama-un.html

[bronxville]

Thanks for the great info.

Hillary et al have just set-up a tax except Pakistan FOundation -
http://www.america.gov/st/sca-english/2010/June/20100614165222kjleinad0.7570154.html

Please note Wahid Hamid is on the board (he’s also on the board of the Defense Dept - business section. Obama’s old college buddy. I’ve been following him, in fact, to China and back.

[piasa]

Starwise, here’s a trail of stuff to look at on this thread.

[piasa]

The mayor and others who support the building of the center have said it will help bridge divisions between the West and the Muslim world. ------http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2571768/posts

Hey, Mr. Bloomberg, if I rubbed your nose in excrement, would you develop a taste for it and ask for more?

Nevermind; you really are that stupid if you want to join the Aspen crowd "rebranding" Islam as a wussified liberal construct that is even more poisonous than are the usual jihadist wingnuts, and sell it like bogus "x ray glasses" to kids. I'd be just as offended if I were a muslim :

This is the U.N.-fostered outfit providing the framework Obama, the American commander-in-chief, will dignify with his presence at its April 6 and 7 meeting in Istanbul. There are many ways one might describe this Alliance: An Iran-spawned Islamic-themed club; another U.N. exercise in equating the desires of despotic regimes with the principles of free societies; a curious vehicle for U.N. officials with odd spots in their past; a diplomatic bordello providing dark nooks for backroom deals. But an alliance of civilizations it is not. ----- "Freedom's Edge: The U.N.'s 'Alliance of Civilizations'," BY Claudia Rosett, 03.26.09, 12:01 AM EST VIA FORBES, http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/25/alliance-of-civilizations-opinions-columnists-obama-un.html

[piasa]

walking it back....

JUNE 3-14, 1996 : (TURKEY : UN HABITAT II CONFERENCE MEETS IN ISTANBUL --see CLINTON HUD SECRETARY HENRY CISNEROS) The UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) which met June 3-14 [1996]in Istanbul, painted an alarming picture of the 21st century community. The American ways-free speech, individualism, travel, and Christianity-are out. A new set of economic, environmental, and social guidelines are in. Citizenship, democracy, and education have been redefined. Handpicked civil leaders will implement UN "laws", bypassing state and national representatives to work directly with the UN. And politically correct "tolerance"-meaning "the rejection of dogmatism and absolutism" as well as "appreciation" for the world's religions and lifestyles-is "not only a moral duty, it is also a political and legal requirement."1 -----------The UN Plan For Human Settlements (Obama Plan)," Berit Kjos, June 1996 Berit Kjos Posted on 05/15/2010 7:56:54 PM PDT by bronxville

[Cindy]

Yes.

Thank you Piasa.