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.
I maintain that any Muslim who cares for the future of their children must vote for Bush.
I would maintain that any Muslim who cares for the future of their children would stop being a Muslim.
The whole problem with the middle east is that Muslims hate Jews and infidels more than they love their own children. Always have. Always will.
Truth hurts.
AP is the source, sounds like they left out the qualifier, "some". Small detail, like the crowd "booed".
They'd better be careful or their co-religionists might cut their heads off. It's been known to happen.
The fifth column
Islamirat mouths Demonrat talking points. Turds of a feather, vote together.
Artist Scott LoBaido stands in front of his painting called 'Have Faith,' a portrayal of President Bush web on horseback, triumphantly clutching the severed head of Osama bin Laden by the turban, at the Tribute Gallery Monday, Aug. 30, 2004, in New York. 'I wanted to let the Republicans know there are some creative people in this city who are on their side,' the 39-year-old artist said last week as his exhibit opened just before the Republican National Convention.
Al-Arabiya GM: Muslims are main perpetrators of terrorismThe Associated Press Egypt - Muslims worldwide are the main perpetrators of terrorism, a humiliating and painful truth that must be acknowledged, a prominent Arab writer and television executive wrote Saturday, as Middle East media and officials expressed horror at the bloody rebel siege of a Russian school.
“Our terrorist sons are an end-product of our corrupted culture,” Abdulrahman al-Rashed, general manager of Al-Arabiya television wrote in his daily column published in the pan-Arab Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper. It ran under the headline, “The Painful Truth: All the World Terrorists are Muslims!” Al-Rashed ran through a list of recent attacks by Islamic extremist groups — in Russia, Iraq, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen — many of which are influenced by the ideology of Osama Bin Laden, the Saudi-born leader of the al-Qaida terror network.
“Most perpetrators of suicide operations in buses, schools and residential buildings around the world for the past 10 years have been Muslims,” he wrote. Muslims will be unable to cleanse their image unless “we admit the scandalous facts,” rather than offer condemnations or justifications.
"Disgusting," said one onlooker. "Take that down," said another.Yep, it's more "news you can use" from the official wire service of the Democratic National Committee. |
Sure, the world just LOVED us in the 70's when they took American hostages in Iran and hijacked American planes. They LOVED us in the 80's when they were blowing up Marines in Saudi. They LOVED us in the 90's when they were blowing up our embassies in Africa, more Marines in Saudi, assassinating ambassadors in Labanon, blowing up the USS Cole, trying to blow up the WTC the first time and laid the plot to hijack US airliners and use them to divebomb US buildings in 2001. Yeah, they LOVED us right up until September 10, 2001.
I'd buy that, but I got a GREAT deal on the Brooklyn Bridge and am therefore a bit short this week.
Bless you and thank you, members of American Muslims for Bush. Thanks to our military, you have the right to support whomever you want to lead us and the right to say WHY.
What is with these morons? I don't need to see Bush hauling OBL's head while riding a horse in dogs playing poker technique. A terribly violent culture they fester in........
I'm numb and speechless that anyone who would come to America would be "numb and speechless" that here you actually don't get your ass beat for being female and not riding in the back of the car or not wearing a veil.
Were I female and Muslim and ever thought I deserved to not
be treated worse than a goat, I'd vote for Bush.
Forget this US feminist "stay out of my womb" stuff. How about just not being shot in the head for doing horrible things like ,say, wanting to vote?
That's incredible.
I think that's the first time I've ever heard an Muslim start to place blame where it belongs.
I sincerely hope there are more Muslims out there who feel the same way!
LOL, damn republican-supporting artists. (/sarcasm)
Darn, there are just too many great statements in that to pick one.
BUMP! And hope Mr. Rashed lives a LONG life in good health.
Enough said
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How fortunate we are that the Associated Press reporter arrived at this booth just in time to catch the action...