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.
Brief analogy which sums up much on this topic. I found it difficult to label it as art. More of a political cartoon gone horribly wrong, on black velvet.
And do "WE" think the media will let us know about this brave minority? If I was not hanging out here today - I would have never heard about this family.
"First you terrorize your opponents into silence so that your movement appears to have no opposition. This gives you tremendous power, not only because moderates quietly feel they are alone in their disagreement with you, but also because the ignorant media – especially the foreign media – casts you as the choice of the people. Having succeeded in silencing moderates, the next step is terrorizing them into cooperating with you. Soon passive cooperation is not enough. You want more than their body – you want their soul, so you terrorize the moderates into being "passionate" in your cause.""In the end, your movement appears to have only loyal and active supporters. Now you are in total control, for who would dare speak out against you? As Hitler said, 10 years before he finally rose to power, "The National Socialist Movement will in the future ruthlessly prevent – if necessary by force – all meetings or lectures that are likely to distract the minds of our fellow countrymen." In other words, all opposition is evil and we will protect you from it."
People who carry on in the manner that we have all seen in these FR threads, "nuke them all", "they all lie", "the Qu'ran tells them to lie", on and on and on ad nauseum, are doing yeoman's work for the extremists by heaping scorn on the voices brave enough to speak out against them.
It's a damned shame.
Ain't that the truth. Even on FR, we obviously don't talk about them much.
For anyone interested, A&E is going to show 7 Days in September at 8:00. Right now, they're showing a movie about Islamist terrorists. I'm pleasantly surprised.
You wrote:
"There's just something that chills me to the bone when I see "Christian Americans" throwing around words like "subhumans" and "final solution".
I just can't help but think that in some dark corner of Hell Hilter is smiling."
I doubt *anyone* is smiling in hell.
A much better solution (for which she was roundly flamed)
was given by Ann Coulter:
CONVERT THEM TO CHRISTIANITY
[Sarcasm torpedo ARMED. FIRE!]
I would have more respect for ACLU if they were over in
Qom, Medina, etc. spreading the "good news" that
"there is no Allah". It would be accepted immediately!
And the Muslim street would start wearing Birkenstocks,
and accepting New York Times as authoritative, just like them.
Who shows more respect to women?
The Kennedys or the Muslims? </g>
Among the ways Muslims become suspect: Caring less about how to prevent people who look like them from carrying out more acts of terrorism in their new country (thus bringing scorn on their religious foundation) and being preoccupied with maintaining the lax law enforcement that made the terrorist attacks possible.
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.
As we saw this week in Russia, the only thing that 'stops' Islamofascist terrorism is complete surrender. That's not an option in the USA (at least it isn't as long as Bush is in), and if they insist on it, some of them are going to die.
The terrorists need John Kerry and his traitorous minions for the same reason - to defeat the United States.
You wrote:
"People, THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR VIOLATING THE CONSTITUTION. None!!! Once we find an excuse to keep Jose Padilla in jail without trial, no one is safe from the same treatment. Bush deserves defeat and prison just for that one act."
There is also no excuse for flying jumbo jets full of
civilians into New York City skyscrapers. Bush is
trying to prevent that, or worse.
Nor is there an excuse for blowing off the head of a
woman standing with her child in her arms. Beslan?
No, Clinton's FBI in Ruby Ridge.
I didn't see or hear any dissent from the *LEFT*,
and not too much from the libertarians, after that.
If Ashcroft were half the dictator he is made out to be,
Michael Moore would already be in a concentration camp.
But you are right to be cautious about giving Democrats
that kind of power (see prior paragraph).
Scott Lobaido used to be a Freeper, too!
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - 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.
"Holy warriors" from the Middle East long have supported fellow Muslims fighting in Chechnya, and Russian officials said nine or 10 Arabs were among militants killed.
"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 thg 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.
"The picture is humiliating, painful and harsh for all of us," al-Rashed wrote.
.
.
At least some Muslims are willing to admit there is a problem with Islam. To paraphrase Golda Meier, We will have peace in the Middle East when Muslim Mothers love their own children more than they hate Jews and other infidels.
I rest my case.
Yes it is. We ought to be encouraging them. For the record the Qu'Ran DOES tell them to lie to infidels, because infidels worship the prince of lies. Also to bribe us, and failing to gain our allegiance, to kill us.
The point is that a lot of Muslims just ignore the violent parts.
USED to be?
Havent seen or spoken to him in a while, he was at the LIEberman Rally in 2000, haven't seen him in a long time! :)
Are comparing God to Hitler then? Because in the new testament, God told the Jews to destroy their enemies, down to every last man, woman and child, and they didn't do it.. and they were punished for it.. So I'd suggest you get off your high horse and go play kissie face with the Palestinians.
Sure thing there buckwheat. Did God also use the words "subhuman" and "final solution"? And I really doubt that was God posting those comments here yesterday.
that should be OLD testament...
In WWII we never made really big distinctions between peaceloving Nazis and the bad Nazis -- even today Nazi groups in the USA are watched very closely as they should be --- but I'm sure even then we knew there were differences in the Nazis, some were more violent than others. Some on the surface probably seemed like pretty okay people -- nice to their kids and quiet neighbors. As long as they shared the belief system with the bad ones, they were not completely good or trustworthy.
My God man!
THINK!
Try to engage your brain and figure out the difference between the two!
There was a difference between Nazis and Germans!
GERMANS DIED IN THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS KILLED BY NAZIS!
Islamofacists are killing Muslims, so how in te hell can they be one and the same?!
Hey Osama, Why the long face? ;^)
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