http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/201020.php February 15, 2010
Somebody Covering Up for Obama's OIC Envoy
Not only did President Obama's envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference defend Palestinian Islamic Jihad's US representative Sami al-Arian, claiming that his prosecution was some kind of right-wing effort to quash dissent, the evidence of his views now seems to be disappearing down the memory hole. The story where he is quoted as defending al-Arian had been redacted to remove Rashad Hussain's statements.
CNSNews:
President Obama’s newly appointed envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference [Rashad Hussain] was quoted in 2004 as saying an American who aided a Palestinian terrorist group was the victim of “politically motivated persecutions” who was being used “to squash dissent.” ....
On Saturday, Obama named the Texas-born, 31-year-old Indian-American as his envoy to the OIC, the 57-member bloc of Islamic states. The appointment is in line with the president’s goal, expressed in his speech in Cairo last June, to reach out to the Islamic world....
Around three years after the WRMEA article quoting Hussain first appeared, it was edited to remove all references to him.
A copy of the original 2004 article, retrieved via the Nexis news database, includes the following sentences:
Al-Arian’s situation is one of many “politically motivated persecutions,” claimed Rashad Hussain, a Yale law student. Such persecution, he stated, must be fought through hope, faith, and the Muslim vote (…) Along with many others, said Yale’s Hussain, Dr. Sami Al-Arian has been “used politically to squash dissent.” The Muslim community must speak out against the injustices taking place in America, he emphasized. Otherwise, everyone’s rights will be in jeopardy.
But in the version of the same story currently available on the WRMEA Web site those sentences – and only those sentences – have disappeared. An Internet archive search indicates that the edits were made sometime after October 2007.
WRMEA is the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. It's a publication I'm not all that familiar with. But it seems to be an overtly ant-Israeli, pro-Palestinian publication. The kind of publication that brings together left-wing activists with terror sympathizers and Muslim nationalists.
The author of the story was contacted and claims she didn't make the changes. Which means someone at WRMEA is responsible. And since the group does seem to have an agenda, it's easy to see why they would be motivated to try and cover up Hussain's views.
REVISED AND ORIGINAL PAGE
http://www.cybercastnewsservice.org/cns/webuploads/OICenvoy3.pdf