Posted on 06/17/2014 10:41:30 AM PDT by don-o
Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank set off a flurry of outraged tweets on Monday night after posting a highly critical recap of a panel event at the Heritage Foundation that, he says, "deteriorated into the ugly taunting of a woman in the room who wore an Islamic head covering."
Video of that panel has since surfaced and -- in my view -- Milbank grossly misrepresented the nature of that exchange.
The woman in question, Saba Ahmed, an American University law student, does not seem to have been "taunted." Both panelists who responded to her accepted the premise of her question entirely. One of them -- Brigitte Gabriel, the founder and CEO of ACT! for America -- strongly rebutted Ahmed's concerns, but never dismissed her right to ask the question.
In an email, Milbank explained that he "was there in the room yesterday, and the reaction in the crowd the long, standing ovation, the cheers for Gabriel, the fingers pointed at Ahmed, the war whoops -- was intense, and a bit scary. The video captures some but not all of that."
Milbank is right on that point -- the video may not capture everything that took place. However, I do believe that the video disproves or casts doubt on several of Milbank's assertions.
The Heritage Foundation also feels that the event was "mischaracterized" by Milbank. It also notes that while the event took place at Heritage, it was hosted by the Benghazi Accountability Coalition.
"We hope to have full video of yesterdays four-hour event hosted by the Benghazi Accountability Coalition available soon," Wesley Denton, a Heritage spokesperson, wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
CP absolutely burned Dana to the ground. It was brutal.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/saba1
Chief Executive Officer at Saba Ahmed LLC
Past
U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Leahy at United States Senate
Intellectual Property - Litigation at Holland & Knight LLP
Program Manager, Patent Analyst, Systems Engineer at Intel Corporation
Judicial Clerk to Honorable Justice Virginia Linder at Oregon Supreme Court
Education
American University
Lewis & Clark Law School
University of Portland
Portland State University
Thanks - it could very well be the same person, just that she really caught the political activism and decided to transfer to WCL (AU’s law school)
WCL has a long history of having it’s students engage in legal social activism. Which could be read as filing frivolous lawsuits over petty matters. The two I recall were a winning suit to ban bars from running “ladies nights” promotions (sexist and discriminatory) and another against a homeless shelter that (I think I have this right) led the operator (Mitch Snyder) to commit suicide.
From the linkedin page she attended American University 2013 2014
https://www.facebook.com/search.php?q=Saba+Ahmed+oregon
https://www.facebook.com/superpower.queensaba
Looks like her.
That pic is from the linkedin page posted above. I think we’ve got the right person.
PORTLAND, OREGON — October 06, 2012 — Saba Ahmed, co-chair of Interfaith Council of Greater Portland, talks about the importance to end wars during the Occupy Portland anniversary event at Shemanski Park in the South Park Blocks.
http://photos.oregonlive.com/oregonian/2012/10/occupy_portland_1st_anniversar_3.html
I tweeted this thread to Chris Plante.
I hope he finds it useful!
Saba Ahmed is being exposed
“Saba Ahmed has garnered attention for being friends with Mohammed Osman Mohamud, the Portland Christmas Tree Bomber so much so that she was removed from his court hearing when the judge charged her with contempt.”
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/06/17/was-heritage-questioner-a-former-candidate-for-congress/
He wasn't there "under cover". He was there as a representative of the press. Unless requested to withhold some information "off the record" -- which he was not -- he is fully entitled to "broadcast or expose what may have been said at the Heritage Foundation event".
He's not entitled to lie about the proceedings, of course. Though, as a member of the press, he's legally free to do so. But let's not introduce a false premise into the argument. The media has a constitutional right -- if not an obligation -- to report events they deem newsworthy.
On Chris Plante’s show yesterday this Saba Ahmed really spilled the beans when she asserted that “more Muslims should show up at conservative forums like this one”.
Why, so they can shout & disrupt? She’s known for that, except this time she was `sweet little doe-eyed Muslimah who wouldn’t hurt a fly even if it was Jewish’.
The Islam-Left axis was exposed here once again.
Mohammed Osman Mohamud, the Portland Christmas Tree Bomber, sentenced
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3210147/posts
Federal appeals court upholds Mohamed Mohamud conviction
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3501704/posts
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