Some lawmakers have urged the State Department to rethink plans to sponsor the imam behind a controversial mosque on a trip to the Middle East.
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is at the center of efforts to build a mosque near the site of the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York. He is going to the Middle East on a trip funded by the State Department.
Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Peter King (R-NY), the ranking members of the Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security committees, called the State Department’s funding of Rauf’s trip “unacceptable,” and said American taxpayers should not have to subsidize his tour.
“The State Department’s selection of Feisal Abdul Rauf to represent the American people through this program further calls into question the administration’s policy and funding priorities,” the statement said, noting the Imam has suggested in interviews that America was to blame for the September 11 attacks.
It’s Rauf’s third trip to discuss Muslim life in America and religious tolerance, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.
The upsetting part of this, of course, is that the White House has repeatedly refused to acknowledge having an opinion on the Mosque Feisal Abdul Rauf is building.
I’ll reiterate my earlier position: I don’t care where the President stands (pro or con) but to say he has no opinion, to me, is laughable. There’s no way in hell that this man has no opinion on the issue. To shunt it away as a local issue is laughable considering he’s stuck his nose into two “local” issues of very high profile already; the Arizona immigration law (SB1070) and the controversy over his loudmouthed buddy and a cop in Cambridge.
Judging by the fact that the White House thought enough of this man to send him to the Middle East to do a sucky-face tour, I think we know their opinion, in spite of the fact that they’re outwardly trying to deny having one.