Newly Appointed “Special Representative to Muslim Communities” Discusses Outreach Plans

By Learned Foote- Talk Radio News Service

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently appointed Farah Pandith as Special Representative to Muslim Communities, a new position within the State Department. Pandith held a news briefing to discuss her role on Wednesday.

Born in India, Pandith grew up in Massachusetts, where she attended Milton Academy, Smith College, and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

She has previously held several positions at various government departments, including the U.S. Agency for International Development, the National Security Council, and—most recently—the European bureau of the State Department.

Pandith said that her new role will require her to “leverage my experience in Europe and in other parts of the world to think about how we can have the department work on Muslim engagement in a way that is out of the box, that is innovative, that is dynamic, that works with embassies so that we’re getting to know the next generation of thinkers.”

She declined to answer questions about controversial issues affecting Muslim communities, and said that her role is not to create policy. “What we want to do is build dialogue,” she explained.

She emphasized the nuance and diversity of Islam in the United States and the world, and said that no single engagement tactic would suit every community. “It isn’t just one thing from Washington that’s going to be shoved into everybody’s faces,” she said.

Pandith said she planned to visit multiple areas of the globe over the next few years, and would not deal only with regions where conflicts exist. However, she explained that since she just started her job, she has to “consult with my colleagues at the department to figure out the first few steps.”

CAIR Announces Plan To Distribute Qurans To Gov't, Public

By Courtney Costello - Talk Radio News Service

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, an Islamic advocacy group based in Washington, DC, announced Tuesday the second phase of its “Explore the Quran" campaign, entitled “Share the Quran.” The objective of the new program is to immediately deliver 100 thousand Qurans to government leaders, as well as 1 million Qurans to the general public over the next five to 10 years.

“[The Council] took up this project, to reduce ignorance about Islam and to increase knowledge of it,” said Nihad Awad, National Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

According to CAIR's studies, only 2% of the U.S. population is knowledgeable about Islam, and the Council speculates that this 2% are made up of predominately Muslim-Americans.

CAIR says the concept behind the campaign was ignited by President Obama’s speech in Cairo, in which he quoted the Quran.

“His speech was inspiring, historic, in the fact that he wanted to open a new page and new relationship with Muslims world-wide including in America, and we believe one of the first steps is information,” said Awad.

CAIR says anyone interested in obtaining a Quran should log onto www.explorethequran.com.

Madeline Albright discusses American perceptions of the Muslim world

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico - Talk Radio News Service

Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright says that most Americans are "woefully ignorant" of the Muslim world, and that the press holds a certain responsibility to educate people about their culture.

Madelaine Albright: Americans “woefully ignorant” of Muslim world

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico - Talk Radio News Service

Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright and former Represenative Vin Weber (R-Minn) spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations conerning American relations with the Muslim world. Secretary Albright said that Pakistan is the most dangerous country in the world, but that Afghanistan and Pakistan are closely tied in their turmoil. She continued that most Americans are “woefully ignorant” of the Muslim world, and that America’s approach should not be one of ‘tolerance’, but rather one of ‘respect’. Concurrent to that line of thought is the notion that the United States should be prepared to deal with Islamist democratic elections where the results are not favorable to American policy. Albright said people all over the world are ready for democracy, but that the United States should take the position of supporting popular democratic movements, not “imposing democracy”. Weber echoed that sentiment, but insisted that the U.S. could help build the “preconditions for democracy”, such as improving women’s rights or encouraging an open media.

Regarding America’s approach to fighting terrorism, Albright said that the U.S. must not fight terror in a way which creates new terrorists, and that every civilian death makes both the United States and our causes suffer. Regarding the policies of ‘targeted killings’ and assassinations, Weber highlighted that both the Bush and Obama administrations said that they would not ignore ‘actionable intelligence’ on the locations of terrorists. Albright also stated that it is important for America to distinguish those who were civilians and those who were “murders”.

Islamist extremism finds strength in a global community

In a full Senate committee hearing on “The Roots of Violent Islamist Extremism and Efforts to Counter it,” witnesses spoke about where violent Islamist extremism begins and what steps the United States should take to maintain strong national security.

Maajid Nawaz, director of the Quilliam Foundation and former member of the Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), spoke about the ways to differentiate between Islam and Islamists. He said that Islamists believe Islam is a political ideology not a religion, that the religious code must become state law, the members identify with a global Islam community as a political community not a religious community, and that the ideology needs to be represented by a block, an expansionist state that must reach non-Islamist states and liberate them from communism or capitalism.

Nawaz spoke about how as a confused youth, struggling to find his identity he turned to the HT and was given a ideology and was connected to a global community. He said this was a common occurrence among third generation Muslims who have grown up in countries and then struggle to find themselves and could happen in the U.S. The danger with HT and other Islamist groups is that they connect local conflicts to a global level and restructures those conflicts to a fight between truth and falsehood, Islam against everything else, and could lead members to violent extremism, he said.

Peter Mandaville, associate professor of Government and Politics at George Mason University, gave several ways that violent Islamist extremism begins: there is a universal approach to religion which drops cultural values making it portable and easily decontextualized, it also targets those newly introduced to the religion or youths suffering from an identity crisis, and provides a sense of identity and framework which greatly affects “easily influenced young people trying to find their way in the world.” Mandaville said that while HT has ranks of passive members, the worldview it espouses could easily lead members to military action.

Zeyno Baran, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, cautioned U.S. government agencies to know everything about Islamist organizations before bestowing them legitimacy as “moderate” Muslims. FBI agents have been trained by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which was an organization connected with Islamist extreme organizations and is completely self-defeating, she said. Baran urged the United States to engage in countering Islamist ideology from spreading in the United States.