Obama prayer leader from group U.S. linked to Hamas

[RamboLiberal]

Source: USA Today/AP

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 2006, is a professor of Islamic studies at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut.

But in 2007 and as recently as last July, federal prosecutors in Dallas filed court documents linking the Plainfield, Indiana-based Islamic society to the group Hamas, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization.





Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-01-17-inauguration-prayer_N.htm

[baldguy]

1. Federal prosecutors under the control of the GOP.

[DS1]

2. I'm SHOCKED that this would come out now

SHOCKED!

:eyes:

[DissedByBush]

13. Yeah, it wasn't news

When this person was schmoozing with Bush.

[stillcool]

3. Hah! Is she going to Gitmo?

"Neither Mattson nor her organization have been charged"

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

4. Wasn't Hamas "democratically" elected? Where's the beef?

good or bad, if they are a recognized political party, and since the US
shoved our democracy down their throats, where's the beef?

[Ian David]

20. Hammas was elected because Bush made them have elections after public opinion polls McCain funded...

... warned that Hammas would win if the elections were held.

[DRoseDARs]

5. Except that's patently false.

http://firedoglake.com/2009/01/18/youve-got-to-be-kidding-me-2/

[Karenina]

18. Here's the "money quote" from your link:

This is ridiculous. We're talking about a group that the people in Bush's own Pentagon have worked with extensively over the years, and which is not under any sort of legal jeopardy or even pressure for their outreach work:

Mark Pelavin, director of inter-religious affairs for the Union for Reform Judaism - another organization participating in the prayer service - called Mattson "a really important voice denouncing terrorism."

"Clearly, Dr. Mattson has been welcome throughout the government," he said. "I haven't found anyone anywhere who's found anything Dr. Mattson has said that's anything other than clearly denouncing terrorism in quite explicit Islamic terms."

Attorneys for Mattson's group wrote in court documents that it is not a subject or target of the Holy Land investigation. The group has worked with the Bush administration's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, according to court documents.

According to e-mails filed in the court case, one of the prosecutors seemed willing to ask the judge to remove the group from the list.

"I am sorry for the problems for your clients," Assistant U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks wrote in July 2007. "I hope to get something to you or file something with the court as soon as possible."

Why does this all sound familiar to me? Oh, because some of the same jerks who are trying to smear Dr. Mattson and the Islamic Society of North America were also doing a similar dogpile on Keith Ellison and the Council for Islamic Relations, which also has worked with the Bush Administration, in the futile hope of keeping him from winning a Congressional seat. The far-right loony tunes who are behind this and other smears hate any and all Muslims, and they are attacking groups like CAIR and ISNA precisely because these groups are respected and respectable.

[laconicsax]

6. Obama may catch heat for someone he chose to endorse religion on the government's behalf?

:nopity:

[Enrique]

7. "linked" by Bush's discredited Justice Dept.

the organization was investigated and cleared by the senate, but Alberto Gonzales and the other political hacks at DOJ felt the need to harass them further. I think people will be distancing themselves from that DOJ the way people are now distancing themselves from Hamas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Society_of_North_America#cite_note-4

[rocktivity]

8. "Linked"? "Tied?"

:boring:
rocknation

[Chulanowa]

9. She knows a guy

who knows a guy who's wife's second cousin on her father's side is friends with a London cab driver who once gave a ride to a pair of brothers from Ramallah who shook hands with a guy in Hamas' political wing.

There's a flowchart and everything. Funny thing is, you hit Kevin Bacon about three times before you reach the Hamas thing, it's eerie

[Hatalles]

16. Couldn't have put it any better myself.

It's ridiculous.

[bemildred]

10. I get so sick of these lying, dishonest smear tactics.

"Have you no shame, Sir, have you no shame?"

[DCKit]

11. Better to suffer them as poor losers than even worse winners.

They're going to be whining for all eternity, so we may as well get used to it and learn to laugh again.

[rpannier]

12. The article mentions she's met with bushie officials

Not much of an issue (IMO)

[McCamy Taylor]

14. Maybe she can brief him on the children victims of war in Gaza.

[Hatalles]

15. Pathetic. They "link" anyone and everyone to "terror" like this.

Ingrid Mattson. Are you f***ing kidding me?! I'm sick of this sort of BS.

[cosmicone]

17. Seems like AIPAC planted propaganda

to hamstring Obama vis a vis reacting against Israeli atrocities and war crimes.

[Ian David]

19. Amazing how the "Liberal" media overlooked this while she was palling around with Bush. n/t

[Ian David]

21. Here is Ingrid Mattson with George W. Bush

President {sic} Bush meets with Muslim leaders at a mosque in Washington, DC (9/17/01).

The following is a transcript of President {sic} Bush's comments at a Washington mosque Monday afternoon:

Thank you all very much for your hospitality. We've just had a wide-ranging discussion on the matter at hand. Like the good folks standing with me, the American people were appalled and outraged at last Tuesday's attacks, and so were Muslims all across the world. Both Americans, our Muslim friends and citizens, tax-paying citizens, and Muslim in nations were just appalled and could not believe what we saw on our TV screens. These acts of violence against innocents violate the fundamental tenets of the Islamic faith, and it's important for my fellow Americans to understand that.

The English translation is not as eloquent as the original Arabic, but let me quote from the Qur'an itself: "In the long run, evil in the extreme will be the end of those who do evil, for that they rejected the signs of Allah and held them up to ridicule."

The face of terrorist is not the true faith of Islam. That's not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don't represent peace, they represent evil and war. When we think of Islam, we think of a faith that brings comfort to a billion people around the world. Billions of people find comfort and solace and peace. And that's made brothers and sisters out of every race, out of every race.

America counts millions of Muslims amongst our citizens, and Muslims make an incredibly valuable contribution to our country. The Muslims are doctors, lawyers, law professors, members of the military, entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, moms and dads, and they need to be treated with respect.

In our anger and emotion, our fellow Americans must treat each other with respect. Women who cover their heads in this country must feel comfortable going outside their homes. Moms who wear covering must not be intimidated in America. That's not the America I know; that's not the America I value.

I've been told that some fear to leave; some don't want to go shopping for their families; some don't want to go about their ordinary daily routines because, by wearing cover, they're afraid they'll be intimidated. That should not and that will not stand in America. Those who feel like they can intimidate our fellow citizens to take out their anger don't represent the best of America. They represent the worst of humankind. And they should be ashamed of that kind of behavior.

And it's a great country; it's a great country because (we) share the same values of respect and dignity and human worth. And it is my honor to be meeting with leaders who feel just the same way I do. They are outraged; they're sad. They love America just as much as I do. And I want to thank you all for giving me a chance to come by, and may God bless us all. Thank you.

More:
http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/17/gen.bush.muslim.trans/

[harun]

22. Pathetic propaganda. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Instead of highlighting the fact the largest Muslim organization in America is headed by a woman, they try to say she is a terrorist.