Stay safe !
Posted on 09/04/2004 1:39:22 PM PDT by pilgrim
Pro-Bush Booth Stirs Anger at Convention
ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) -- They stop abruptly when they see the 5-foot-tall photo of President Bush, with "muslimsforbush.com" above his head.
Then come the outbursts.
"Disgusting," said one onlooker. "Take that down," said another.
At the largest annual convention of American Muslims, a pro-Bush booth has stirred anger among attendees who believe the president's actions since Sept. 11, 2001, have hurt more innocent Muslims than terrorists.
"I think President Bush has misled not only the United States, but the world," said Noor Maciael, an educator who called the booth "disgusting" and planned to vote for Democrat John Kerry. "He has put us in a situation where the whole world is hating this country."
The display was funded by Muhammad Ali Hasan and his mother, Seeme, who recently created the group "Muslims for Bush." Seeme Hasan said in a phone interview that she and her husband Malik, a Colorado physician who earned his wealth in the health care industry, have donated more than $1 million to Bush and Republican causes since the 2000 campaign.
"The reason we are doing this is that Muslims don't have a lobbyist," Seeme Hasan said. "We want to be there. We are going to give contributions at the highest level."
Bush has other supporters in the Muslim community. Some are Iraqi-Americans overjoyed that Saddam Hussein has been ousted. Others are entrepreneurs who view the GOP as more friendly to business interests. And many devout Muslims prefer the Republicans' conservative stand on social issues such as gay marriage.
But many Muslims at the nonpartisan Islamic Society of North America convention were not grateful for the Hasans' activism.
An older man gawked at the photo of the president with his arms wrapped around Muhammad and Seeme Hasan, and said, "I'm numb. I'm speechless." He then joined a group that had cornered a conference official, demanding that the display be taken down. A volunteer staffing the booth said some people were taking campaign material and throwing it out.
Asma Gull Hasan, the elder Hasan's daughter, who was also at the booth, said she had expected negative remarks. However, she said she was encouraged that some passers-by had quietly told her they would vote for the president.
Bush has a complex relationship with American Muslims.
He declared Islam a peaceful religion when some other U.S. leaders were condemning the faith, and honored Muslim holidays in the White House.
After Sept. 11, the president made a gesture of enormous significance for the community when he visited a Washington-area mosque and warned the public that anger over the suicide hijackings should not be directed toward U.S. Muslims.
However, his subsequent policies have caused deep resentment.
Muslim leaders say the domestic war on terror and the USA Patriot Act, which extended controversial law enforcement powers, have cast so wide a net that all Muslims and their institutions have become suspect. Many also saw the war in Iraq as the extension of a misguided U.S. policy in the Mideast that foments terrorism instead of stopping it.
Leading American Muslim organizations endorsed Bush in 2000 over Democrat Al Gore, expecting the Texas governor would be more sympathetic to their concerns. But Muslims have said since that they regretted their decision.
Surveys of U.S. Muslims indicate a majority will vote for Kerry, even though they fear he will not go far enough in repealing parts of the Patriot Act. Volunteers at a Kerry booth at the convention, in a far corner of the vendors' hall away from the Bush display, were busily distributing campaign stickers.
Both candidates have been reaching out to Muslim voters. Muslims are concentrated in some battleground states, such as Ohio, Michigan and Florida, and they hope their presence in those areas will help them gain political visibility.
Muhammad Hasan said that since the convention began Friday evening, critics who have approached him have been more open to hearing his views. He said he was not discouraged by the response so far.
"I have a lot of faith in the fact that the Muslim vote is up for grabs," he said.
Stay safe !
Let em all suffer till they learn to police themselves IMO.
I don't desire the death of any more than necessary to destroy the caliphate establishment attempt. But I don't have any upper bound, either. FReegards
Lincoln suspended Habeus Corpus and then arrested editors of newspapers that editorially opined against the war. Thousands of people spent years in jail to make the mass killing easier. Roosevelt arranged for the internment of 110 thousand Americans of Japanese decent during WW2. Both of those actions are heinous.
As to charging Jose Padilla, what do you mean my filing "public" charges? What other way is there to do it? Are you satisfied with statements made in news conferences where the accused has no opportunity at all to challenge the truth of the charges? I certainly am not satisfied with that brand of justice. That was the method used in the late unlamented Soviet Union.
BTW, as the information has leaked out over the last 2 years, there was no evidence worth the name, just rumor. Nevertheless he still sits in jail.
I am beginning to think that there is more to this. It just might be that they do not care about Padilla, they care only for the precedent. They are using this case to establish a right for random imprisonment without trial. This would be an end run around the whole due process structure that protects us and we must fight this to our last breath, whether it is intentional or just stupidity.
Ah yes, from the same religion that doesn't decry killing of school kids in it's name? Guess we know which side you're really on, eh? Malkin's right folks!
Saw this morning a 'cleric' in England supported kidnapping of children!!
So John Kerry is the mohammedan's choice for President? Let him have 'em!
You are absolutely right. I wish no harm upon any nonviolent mohammedan, however few they may be, and would just as soon let them go about living their lives and praying to their moon idol as much as they like so long as they don't bother me in the process. That said, I have precious little patience for the fanatical PC crowd that demands we all respect, celebrate, and incessently euphemize what is at its heart a heretical gutter regilion that celebrates violence, oppression, and conquest as its central tenets.
That was the actual application.
Exclude the media and keep the info away from the public domain and I'll agree to a trial. Until then - no trial because our continued existence is at stake.
Once you understand the Constitution let us know as of now you don't know what the hell you are talking about.
Deport 'em all to some sand-blasted desert...
There are existing procedures for secret trials. The fact that they do not use it says volumes about the ethics of this administration.
Our very existence as a free nation depends on maintaining the rule of law through thick and thin. There can be no exceptions or we are just slaves at the mercy of our masters. Wake up! Bush is a tryant.
When the rule of law is recognized and respected by all sides, I'll agree with you. Until then, I'll not grant you your premise.
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