Hiding in Plain Sight (Al Arian at the White House)

Newsweek ^ | March 3rd, 2003 | Michael Isikoff

[Sabertooth]

For George W. Bush, it was just another campaign stop. But for Sami Al-Arian, a University of South Florida engineering professor, it was a golden opportunity. When Bush appeared at Tampa’s Strawberry Festival in March 2000, Al-Arian sidled up to the candidate and had his picture taken.

< -snip- >

Al-Arian’s politics took on a decidedly darker cast last week when federal agents arrested him at his home in south Florida and charged him with being a top leader of one of the world’s most violent terrorist organizations: Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

< -snip- >

Al-Arian certainly didn’t act like a sponsor of suicide bombings. Far from keeping to the shadows, he repeatedly lobbied Congress on civil-liberties issues, made thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to influential members of Congress and renounced violence during appearances on TV talk shows. In June 2001 Al-Arian was invited to a White House briefing for 150 Muslim American activists, at which political director Karl Rove talked about the Bush administration’s "outreach" efforts. A law-enforcement official told NEWSWEEK the Secret Service had flagged Al-Arian as a potential terrorist prior to the event. But White House aides, apparently reluctant to create an incident, let him through anyway. Such access had its advantages. "He always told me the charges were garbage," said Khaled Saffuri, chairman of the Islamic Institute. "When you hear he’s going to the White House, you figure what he’s saying must be true." In fact, federal prosecutors charged last week, Al-Arian carried out his secret terrorist agenda "under the guise of promoting and protecting Arab rights"—making his public profile a critical part of his MO. "It was the perfect cover," said Steven Emerson, a terrorism analyst who has followed Al-Arian for years.

[Sabertooth]

Also, keep in mind that things change over time. Welcoming Muslims to the White House back then isn't quite the same as welcoming them now. It's still being done, but the purposes are somewhat different and different rules are being followed.

Think so?

AMC Attends White House Briefing on Controversial INS Policy

WASHINGTON, DC, Jan. 17, 2003:
Yesterday AMC Executive Director Eric Erfan Vickers and Board Secretary Dr. Nedzib Sacirbey attended, along with other Muslim and Arab American leaders, a White House briefing on the controversial INS policy that has caused to many tremendous personal hardships, and which has created mounting consternation in the Muslim and Arab American community.

The briefing was arranged by Ali H. Tulbah, the Associate Director of Cabinet Affairs, and AMC commends him for initiating this substantive dialogue with key officials in the White House Administration.
American Muslim Council LINK

The American Muslim Council is not moderate, by any stretch of the imagination.

[Happy2BMe]

Check what is going on over here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/849949/posts?page=42

It seems those opposing Islam are ignorant infidels.

[Happy2BMe]

Please check point #8 on post #5.

[TLBSHOW]

Thanks for the link and isn't it strange I mean Islam is so Un-American. They have all but silenced our Religious leaders here already. I find they have gotton to Franklin now too. But he is not going peacefully it seems.

...

In most countries where Islamic law dominates there is practically no freedom of religion (not to mention freedom of speech or the press). In most Islamic countries, including so-called moderate Islamic states such as Saudi Arabia, it is a crime to build a Christian church, Jewish synagogue, Hindu temple or any other non-Muslim house of worship. In contrast, there are about 3,000 mosques in the U.S., with new ones being built every week.

Muslims are free to worship Allah in the U.S., but Christians are not free to worship Jesus in most Muslim countries. There has not been a single church in Afghanistan since the exiled king, Mohammed Zahir Shah, destroyed the first and only one in the history of the country in 1973.

Franklin Graham

.....
Robertson and Falwell not a peep out of them now.
Hmmmmm..

Islam is trying to take over this country and that is a fact!

[Victoria Delsoul]

Thanks Saber for the good posts and links.

According to the Washing Post we know that:

"Al-Arian was one of 160 members of the American Muslim Council who were briefed on Bush's faith-based agenda and other issues by Rove and others in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is adjacent to the White House, on June 22, 2001. The visitors were in Washington for the group's annual convention, and the group organized a delegation that accepted an invitation to visit the White House.

"The Secret Service requires any potential visitor to the White House complex to submit a Social Security number and birth date to enable a security check.

"Several pro-Israel and conservative activists had warned administration officials not to meet with the American Muslim Council contingent because the group had courted controversy for years, knowledgeable sources said.

"Abduraham Alamoudi, a member of the organization also at the meeting with Rove, said at a White House demonstration in October 2000, "We are all supporters of Hamas," the popular name of the Islamic Resistance Movement, a main sponsor of suicide bombings in Israel.

"Rove, according to Al-Arian and other attendees, used the meeting to talk of White House efforts to embrace the Muslim community. Al-Arian said he sat in the front row.

"A White House official was unable to say who else spoke to the group. Records showed that Al-Arian was admitted to the White House at least once during the Clinton administration, the official said."

Even though as the article says that GW is committed to outreach to all religions and ethnic minorities, and will continue to do so, the White House knew about Al-Arian being investigated. In fact Al-Arian "told The Washington Post in an interview last year that being cleared into the White House gave him confidence that he was no longer suspected of being a terrorist supporter or sympathizer."

According to this same article "The meeting was controversial within the White House even before it took place. The group that included Al-Arian was scheduled to be briefed by Vice President Cheney, but Cheney canceled. That morning, the Jerusalem Post had run a front-page article headlined, "Cheney to host pro-terrorist Muslim group."

Let's see if GW disassociates himself from these people as swiftly as he did with Lott, not that I agreed with his position on Lott.

[cyncooper]

Did you know Al-Arian has been arrested?

Some courting.

[cyncooper]

Bush (and his advisors) need to get a grip - very quickly on who they distance and who they welcome into their bosoms

It is you who needs to get a grip.

Al-Arian is under arrest as I type this.

Would you concede that is not taking him to his bosom?

[Victoria Delsoul]

Oops, here is the link to the WP article.

[Sabertooth]

Let's see if GW disassociates himself from these people as swiftly as he did with Lott, not that I agreed with his position on Lott.

We can only hope the President does the right thing here, and rolls some heads. For starters, Grover Norquist, Khaled Saffuri, Suhail Khan, and Ali Tulbah should be given the Secret Service bum's rush, permanently, from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

I actually think the sitution here is far more alarming than it was with Trent Lott, though I supported his ouster, and the President's handling of the matter.

[cyncooper]

Name one person who has defended Norquist.

Has anybody in a tizzy here noticed the date of the visit? Does anyone credit the Bush administration with Al-Arian's arrest?

President Bush has taken care of it, and it is not because TLBSHOW warned him he'd better.

[cyncooper]

For George W. Bush, it was just another campaign stop. But for Sami Al-Arian, a University of South Florida engineering professor, it was a golden opportunity. When Bush appeared at Tampa’s Strawberry Festival in March 2000, Al-Arian sidled up to the candidate and had his picture taken.

Notice this is from Newsweek. Now notice this from yesterday's Boston Globe:

"Asked about the photo, White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said yesterday that Bush met Arian and his family at a strawberry festival in Florida. ''Then-Governor Bush just walked around greeting people,'' Buchan said. Arian did not contribute money or volunteer work to the Bush campaign, she said.

"Her account differed from Newsweek's in its July 16, 2001, issue:"

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/849376/posts

It sounds to me like her account is EXACTLY as Newsweek even now is reporting. So then candidate Bush recognized David Bonior's aide, as the Boston Globe reports he greeted the son and tries to imply a closer relationship then there obviously ever was. Pathetic.

[cyncooper]

We do know that Al-Arian’s was invited by the WH last year

WE DO????

Please document this allegation.

(My calendar says it is 2003 and Al-Arian was at the WH in June 2001)

[cyncooper]

It doesn't look very significant to me, is there something else at work here do you think?

The stupid photo is a big nothing. The visit to the WH should not have happened, in my opinion. I do think the fact that the son was an aide to David Bonior and that the Mrs. had testified twice before Congress in 2000 gave the family a veneer of legitimacy that perhaps influenced an aide to allow the visit.

The attempt to smear Bush is being handily aided and abetted by some here as you will see.

The fact of Al-Arian's (and others') arrests seems to mean little to them.

[cyncooper]

They didn't seem to care a whit who Clinton had in the WH for for what reasons. Their newly discovered moral compass rings very hollow.

Especially when one even casually evaluates, in context, the visits of certain types to the two different administrations' White House.

[cyncooper]

which is why this needs and needed weeks ago to be dealt with. Instead there is silence.......

Wrong.

There were eight indictments the other day and 4 people arrested in the U.S., one of which was Al-Arian.

THAT indicates what is being dealt with.

[Miss Marple]

Until I see quoted sources, I am maintaining an open mind over who is at fault in this. Although I know that Rove was interested in Muslim outreach, I also know that the Secret Service had beeen hurt during the Clinton years, and already have other faux pas on the record.

May I ask, what is the point of posting all these similar stories? Are you intimating that President Bush supports terorists? Or Karl Rove? I am curiious as to why you keep posting the same type articles repeatedly. If you are trying to get Grover Norquist, I suggest you make a more explicit tie to him, because right now your posts look more like an attack on the President.

[cyncooper]

Is it true that he (the son) was an intern in David Bonior's office?

Yes.

Also Al-Arian's wife, Nahla, and mother to the son testified not once, but twice, before Congress. Once in February 2000 and once in May of 2000.

[cyncooper]

Yes he was and I beleive the Bush White House was going to refuse him access to a meeting there, then it was found out that he was one of Bonior's staffers and was allowed through.

The son was allowed in, then removed and not allowed to stay for the meeting. This was just a few weeks after the father's visit.

Indeed a stink was raised and the WH issued an apology and Bush wrote the son a note, to tamp down the spurious charges of racism.

As far as has been documented, THAT was the last contact the Bush Administration had with Al-Arian politically.

We all know the elder was just arrested.

[cyncooper]

It was predicted by some on this board that this story would be all over the Sunday morning talk-shows.

Of course not. Lefty papers and a few here are the only ones who see something "there" when it is a big nothing, except an indication that the Bush DOJ will not kick the can down the road.

[cyncooper]

Unlike them, for me, this isn't about personality conflicts. That's why I wasn't suspended from posting Friday night.

Gee, a lot of us who were posting weren't suspended.

That was a tacky comment.

Nobody is sweeping anything under the rug, just pointing out that your mighty effort to make a mountain out of a molehill is foolish.