Free Republic

A Muslim scholar chosen to speak at President-elect Barack Obama's inaugural prayer service Wednesday is the leader of a group that federal prosecutors say has ties to terrorists. Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America, is one of many religious leaders scheduled to speak at the prayer service at Washington's National Cathedral. Mattson has been the guest of honor at State Department dinners and has met with senior Pentagon officials during the Bush administration. She also spoke at a prayer service at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Mattson, who was elected president of the society in...

by Daniel Pipes New York Post December 3, 2002 http://www.danielpipes.org/article/980 http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/63398.htm Bush administration officials and leading U.S. senators responded very differently to the news that Princess Haifa al-Faisal, wife of the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States, had given many thousands of dollars to a person connected to two of the 9/11 suicide hijackers. Their difference highlights a problem that needs addressing through congressional legislation; ways to prevent undue Saudi influence through the spread of its money. Senators spoke out forthrightly and honestly on the issue raised by the princesss donations. * Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.): "Either [the Saudis]...