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Obama: 'Islam Has Been Woven Into the Fabric of Our Country Since Its Founding'
CNS News ^ | February 19. 2015 | Susan Jones

Posted on 02/19/2015 9:04:47 AM PST by COUNTrecount

We hear a lot about the United States' Judeo-Christian heritage, but according to President Obama, "Islam has been woven into the fabric of our country since its founding."

That's what the president told a White House conference on "countering violent extremism" on Wednesday.

Obama has said similar things in the past:

"I also know that Islam has always been a part of America’s story,” Obama said in a June 2009 speech in Cairo, Egypt. "Islam has always been part of America," he said in a 2010 statement marking the start of Ramadan. And in a 2014 statement marking Eid, Obama said the holiday "also reminds us of the many achievements and contributions of Muslim Americans to building the very fabric of our nation and strengthening the core of our democracy."

In his speech on Wednesday, Obama was making the point that Western nations must show that they "welcome people of all faiths," at a time when "extremists" are saying that Western nations are "hostile to Muslims."

"Here in America, Islam has been woven into the fabric of our country since its founding. Generations -- (applause) -- Generations of Muslim immigrants came here and went to work as farmers and merchants and factory workers, helped to lay railroads and to build up America.

"The first Islamic center in New York City was founded in the 1890s. America's first mosque, this was an interesting fact, was in North Dakota." (It was established in 1929).

Both of those milestones happened well after America's founding, however. In fact, the new nation's first dealings with Islam were tense and unpleasant.

According to a Heritage Foundation paper, shortly after America's founding, the United States "was dragged into the affairs of the Islamic world by an escalating series of unprovoked attacks on Americans by Muslim pirates, the terrorists of the era," who looted American ships and captured American sailors, holding them for ransom or selling them as slaves.

The paper notes that America's struggle with Muslim pirates from the Barbary States (modern-day Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya) began soon after the 13 colonies declared their independence from Britain in 1776 and continued for roughly four decades.

In his remarks on Wednesday, President Obama said Muslim Americans now serve as police officers, firefighters, soldiers, "and in our intelligence communities and in homeland security."

He said Muslim American heroes are buried at Arlington National Cemetery, "having given their lives in defense of all of us."

"And, of course, that's the story extremists and terrorists don't want the world to know -- Muslims succeeding and thriving in America. Because when that truth is known, it exposes their propaganda as the lie that it is.

"It's also a story that every American must never forget, because it reminds us all that hatred and bigotry and prejudice have no place in our country. It is not just counterproductive. It doesn't just aid terrorists. It's wrong. It's contrary to who we are."

So-called hate crimes against Muslims escalated in this country after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 -- attacks perpetrated by Islamic radicals -- but they have never reached the level of hate crimes against Jews, according to the FBI's annual Uniform Crime Reporting statistics.

In 2013, for example, 62.4 percent of hate crime victims were attacked because of anti-Jewish bias, while 11.6 percent were victims of anti-Islamic bias.

Compare that with the year before the 2001 terror attacks: In 2000, of the 1,699 victims of anti-religious hate crime, 74.6 percent were victims of an offender's anti-Jewish bias; and only 2.1 percent were victims of an offender's anti-Islamic bias.

President Obama on Wednesday stressed that U.S. is not at war with Islam:"We are at war with people who have perverted Islam," he said.

He also said the West and Islam are not in conflict; and that Islam is not incompatible with modern life, although in the same speech he urged other countries to invest in the education of both males and females -- "because countries will not be truly successful if half their populations, if their girls and their women, are denied opportunity."

In a speech to the same summit on Thursday, Obama noted that many Americans don't personally know a single Muslim, and they form a distorted impression about Islam by what they hear on the news.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Israel; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: foundingfathers; hoax; islam; islamamerica; islamusfounding; israel; lies; obama; obamaislam; obamaunamerican; propaganda; waronterror
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To: COUNTrecount

Beware , Obama’s Muslim Spring has started in the US


121 posted on 02/19/2015 10:43:04 AM PST by molson209 (Blank)
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To: cripplecreek

Can you say “ Great Minds”?


122 posted on 02/19/2015 10:50:28 AM PST by GOYAKLA (Those who want CO2 eliminated are really trying to suffocate trees!)
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To: COUNTrecount

Like weeds needing to be pulled in otherwise healthy and growing garden


123 posted on 02/19/2015 10:51:47 AM PST by A CA Guy ( God Bless America, God Bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: COUNTrecount
Well, he's right...in a way. Islam was there at the beginning of the US:

“Ruthless, unconventional foes are not new to the United States of America. More than two hundred years ago the newly established United States made its first attempt to fight an overseas battle to protect its private citizens by building an international coalition against an unconventional enemy. Then the enemies were pirates and piracy. The focus of the United States and a proposed international coalition was the Barbary Pirates of North Africa.

Pirate ships and crews from the North African states of Tripoli, Tunis, Morocco, and Algiers (the Barbary Coast) were the scourge of the Mediterranean. Capturing merchant ships and holding their crews for ransom provided the rulers of these nations with wealth and naval power.”
~Gerard W. Gawalt
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/jefferson_papers/mtjprece.html

“Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute!”
- United States slogan against the Barbary Pirates

124 posted on 02/19/2015 10:52:49 AM PST by PATRIOT1876
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To: COUNTrecount

“welcome people of all faiths”

A more appropriate phrase for a Communist would be:
“welcome people of no faith”

He seems to have no fear of what the afterlife has in store for him.


125 posted on 02/19/2015 10:55:37 AM PST by PATRIOT1876
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To: antidisestablishment
Muslims had a huge influence on the founding of our country. Muslims ran the slave markets in Africa during the founding of this nation and were responsible for over 90% of the slave trade. In point of fact, they are still responsible for modern trafficking— the new PC term for slavery.

Bears repeating. This asshat is going to get us all into slavery...he's almost there.

FMCDH(BITS)

126 posted on 02/19/2015 11:19:39 AM PST by nothingnew (Hemmer and MacCullum are the worst on FNC)
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To: C210N

The former, as negotiated by his man Tobias Lear.


127 posted on 02/19/2015 11:34:39 AM PST by gusty
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To: plain talk
There were no muslims of any meaningful number at the country’s founding.

Wise up RedNecks, Washington wasn't a Free Mason he was a devout Muslim. Obozo.

128 posted on 02/19/2015 11:55:06 AM PST by itsahoot (55 years a republican-Now Independent. Will write in Sarah Palin, no matter who runs. $.98-$.89<$.10)
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To: MayflowerMadam
From WIKI. A lot depends on who is defined as a Founder I guess. But you made me look, so thanks.

Most of the 1787 delegates were natives of the Thirteen Colonies. Only 9 were born elsewhere: four (Butler, Fitzsimons, McHenry, and Paterson) in Ireland, two (Davie and Robert Morris) in England, two (Wilson and Witherspoon) in Scotland, and one (Hamilton) in the West Indies.

Many of them had moved from one state to another. Seventeen individuals had already lived, studied or worked in more than one state or colony: Baldwin, Bassett, Bedford, Dickinson, Few, Franklin, Ingersoll, Hamilton , Livingston, Alexander Martin, Luther Martin, Mercer, Gouverneur Morris, Robert Morris, Read, Sherman, and Williamson. Several others had studied or traveled abroad.

The Founding Fathers had strong educational backgrounds at some of the colonial colleges or abroad.[16] Some, like Franklin and Washington, were largely self-taught or learned through apprenticeship. Others had obtained instruction from private tutors or at academies. About half of the men had attended or graduated from college. Some men held medical degrees or advanced training in theology. Most of the education was in the colonies, but several were lawyers who had been trained at the Inns of Court in London.


129 posted on 02/19/2015 12:18:31 PM PST by itsahoot (55 years a republican-Now Independent. Will write in Sarah Palin, no matter who runs. $.98-$.89<$.10)
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To: VideoDoctor
Could it be because he is ONE of them?


Nope not Possible



Oh yes it is....

130 posted on 02/19/2015 12:33:05 PM PST by itsahoot (55 years a republican-Now Independent. Will write in Sarah Palin, no matter who runs. $.98-$.89<$.10)
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To: DiogenesLamp

I saw plenty of those when I was a kid sewers didn’t make my town until I was grown and gone. Cutting those without a jig saw was hard.


131 posted on 02/19/2015 12:51:42 PM PST by itsahoot (55 years a republican-Now Independent. Will write in Sarah Palin, no matter who runs. $.98-$.89<$.10)
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To: COUNTrecount

He has a point. Muslim slaved traders were instrumental in introducing African slave trade to America.


132 posted on 02/19/2015 3:55:21 PM PST by Tzfat
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To: COUNTrecount

All You need to learn about this stuff is in eleven books, as a beginner’s guide:

1. The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and The Crusades by Robert Spencer

2. The Politically Incorrect Guide to The Middle East By Martin Sieff

3. Rise of ISIS: A Threat We Can’t Ignore By Jay Sekulow and Jordan Sekulow

4. Stealth Jihad: How Radical Islam is Subverting America without Guns or Bombs By Robert Spencer

5. Marked for Death: Islam’s War Against the West and Me By Geert Wilders

6. Twilight in America: The Untold Story of Islamic Terrorist Training Camps Inside America by Martin Mawyer and Patti Pierucci

7. Sharia Versus Freedom: The Legacy of Islamic Totalitarianism By Andrew G. Bostom

8. How Obama Embraces Islam’s Sharia Agenda by Andrew C. McCarthy

9. The Rise and Fall of Al-Qaeda by Fawaz A. Gerges

10. The Twilight War: The Secret History of America’s Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran by David Crist

11. The Islamic Antichrist: The Shocking Truth about the Real Nature of the Beast by Joel Richardson


133 posted on 02/19/2015 10:06:21 PM PST by Mozilla
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To: COUNTrecount

Because he says so.
He thinks he’s a king... like a regular Kim John el wackjob.


134 posted on 02/19/2015 10:10:31 PM PST by right way right
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To: COUNTrecount
Obama should be arrested and deported, he's an illegal alien and a citizen of Indonesia living here on an overstayed Indonesian passport!!!

He's a dangerous anti American!!!

135 posted on 02/19/2015 10:18:18 PM PST by dalereed
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To: COUNTrecount

Obama’s not an American so it’s true of his country, whatever that is.


136 posted on 02/19/2015 10:20:00 PM PST by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: COUNTrecount

FUBO!! You lie!!


137 posted on 02/20/2015 8:13:07 PM PST by Jim Robinson (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God!!)
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To: COUNTrecount

Because of slavery only has barenakedislam.


138 posted on 02/20/2015 8:32:50 PM PST by BeadCounter
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To: Maceman
Well, muslims gave the Marines some pretty good target during the Barbary Pirates war.

Other than that, I can't think of any.

139 posted on 02/20/2015 9:23:33 PM PST by Repeat Offender (While the wicked stand confounded, call me with Thy saints surrounded.)
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140 posted on 02/21/2015 2:39:38 AM PST by SunkenCiv (What do we want? REGIME CHANGE! When do we want it? NOW!)
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