Two Banned Muslim Scholars Cleared For U.S. Entry

[Richard]

Two Banned Muslim Scholars Cleared For U.S. Entry
AP, 20 Jan 2010

The State Department has cleared the way for the return to the United States of two prominent Muslim scholars once accused of having ties to terrorism, a spokesman said Wednesday.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has signed orders enabling the re-entry of professors Tariq Ramadan of Oxford University in England and Adam Habib of the University of Johannesburg in South Africa once they obtain required admittance documents, department spokesman Darby Holladay said.

Clinton "has chosen to exercise her exemption authority for the benefit of Tariq Ramadan and Adam Habib," Holladay said. "We'll let that action speak for itself."

In a prepared statement, Holladay noted the change in U.S. posture since both professors, who are frequently invited to the United States to lecture, were denied admittance after making statements counter to U.S. foreign policy.

"Both the president and the secretary of state have made it clear that the U.S. government is pursuing a new relationship with Muslim communities based on mutual interest and mutual respect," Holladay said.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued in recent years to challenge the exclusion of the professors. It said the State Department's action means the scholars will now get visas within weeks of requesting them.

The orders are "long overdue and tremendously important," said Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU National Security Project.

Habib, a well-known South African scholar who has criticized the war in Iraq, was denied a visa by the U.S. government in a letter saying he "engaged in a terrorist activity," an accusation Habib has vigorously denied.

The ACLU of Massachusetts sued in 2007, challenging Habib's exclusion on behalf of the American Sociological Association, the American Association of University Professors, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights.

Ramadan, 47, had his U.S. visa revoked in 2004 as he was about to move to Indiana to take a tenured teaching job at the University of Notre Dame. He has spoken at Harvard and Stanford universities and elsewhere.

Later, his visa applications were denied on the grounds that he had donated $1,336 to a charity that gave money to Hamas, an Islamic militant group that has been designated a terrorist

organization by the U.S. Ramadan has said he has no connections to terrorism, opposes Islamic extremism and promotes peaceful solutions.

Ramadan said in a statement issued by PEN American Center, a human rights group, that he was "very pleased with the decision to end my exclusion from the United States after almost six years."

He said he was looking forward to visiting the United States soon, and PEN said it planned to organize a forum in New York where he could speak.

In an ACLU statement, Habib said he was thrilled, calling it a victory both personal and "for democracy around the world."

Habib, 44, lived in the United States from 1993-95 while earning a doctorate in political science from the City University of New York. He said he had been excluded since October 2006, when he was questioned by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials about his political views and was asked whether he belonged to or supported any terrorist organizations.

In a 2007 interview with The Associated Press, Habib called the U.S. approach to the Iraq war a disaster. He also said: I'm confident that I can't be linked to things like terrorism. That is not what my politics is about."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=122772814

[T-Rock]

Tariq Ramadan - Aside from his donations to a Hamas wasn’t his grandfather, Hasan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood?

http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/255

[Warrior-Mentor]

Originally Posted by T-Rock

Tariq Ramadan - Aside from his donations to a Hamas wasn’t his grandfather, Hasan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood?

http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/255

Nothing to see here...move along [stupid] dhimmi...

[T-Rock]

Nothing to see here...move along [stupid] dhimmi...

In that case….well, we may as well open the door to Anwar Al-'Awlaki

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onuES...ayer_embedded#

[Warrior-Mentor]

But figure the odds this family gets the same treatment:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...ng-a-christian

http://www.christianpost.com/article...her/index.html

[Team Sergeant]

Originally Posted by Richard

Two Banned Muslim Scholars Cleared For U.S. Entry
AP, 20 Jan 2010

The State Department has cleared the way for the return to the United States of two prominent Muslim scholars once accused of having ties to terrorism, a spokesman said Wednesday.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has signed orders enabling the re-entry of professors Tariq Ramadan of Oxford University in England and Adam Habib of the University of Johannesburg in South Africa once they obtain required admittance documents, department spokesman Darby Holladay said.

Clinton "has chosen to exercise her exemption authority for the benefit of Tariq Ramadan and Adam Habib," Holladay said. "We'll let that action speak for itself."

In a prepared statement, Holladay noted the change in U.S. posture since both professors, who are frequently invited to the United States to lecture, were denied admittance after making statements counter to U.S. foreign policy.

"Both the president and the secretary of state have made it clear that the U.S. government is pursuing a new relationship with Muslim communities based on mutual interest and mutual respect," Holladay said.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued in recent years to challenge the exclusion of the professors. It said the State Department's action means the scholars will now get visas within weeks of requesting them.

The orders are "long overdue and tremendously important," said Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU National Security Project.
Habib, a well-known South African scholar who has criticized the war in Iraq, was denied a visa by the U.S. government in a letter saying he "engaged in a terrorist activity," an accusation Habib has vigorously denied.

The ACLU of Massachusetts sued in 2007, challenging Habib's exclusion on behalf of the American Sociological Association, the American Association of University Professors, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights.

Ramadan, 47, had his U.S. visa revoked in 2004 as he was about to move to Indiana to take a tenured teaching job at the University of Notre Dame. He has spoken at Harvard and Stanford universities and elsewhere.

Later, his visa applications were denied on the grounds that he had donated $1,336 to a charity that gave money to Hamas, an Islamic militant group that has been designated a terrorist

organization by the U.S. Ramadan has said he has no connections to terrorism, opposes Islamic extremism and promotes peaceful solutions.

Ramadan said in a statement issued by PEN American Center, a human rights group, that he was "very pleased with the decision to end my exclusion from the United States after almost six years."

He said he was looking forward to visiting the United States soon, and PEN said it planned to organize a forum in New York where he could speak.

In an ACLU statement, Habib said he was thrilled, calling it a victory both personal and "for democracy around the world."

Habib, 44, lived in the United States from 1993-95 while earning a doctorate in political science from the City University of New York. He said he had been excluded since October 2006, when he was questioned by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials about his political views and was asked whether he belonged to or supported any terrorist organizations.

In a 2007 interview with The Associated Press, Habib called the U.S. approach to the Iraq war a disaster. He also said: I'm confident that I can't be linked to things like terrorism. That is not what my politics is about."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=122772814

I think it's wonderful to see a non-US citizen arguing the rights of "NON-US CITIZENS" for the United States of America.

No hidden agenda there I'm sure.


I'm done "protecting" stupid Americans..... when the shooting starts I'll be sitting back having a beer watching those that put the "socialists" in power fighting for their lives.

[AngelsSix]

I'm done "protecting" stupid Americans..... when the shooting starts I'll be sitting back having a beer watching those that put the "socialists" in power fighting for their lives.

That makes two of us!!

[greenberetTFS]

Well,that makes 3 of us............ I see us going down hill and I don't see any reason to think differently..... F**k the ACLU,Obama and Hillary Clinton too.......

Big Teddy

[Ret10Echo]

Originally Posted by Team Sergeant

I'm done "protecting" stupid Americans..... when the shooting starts I'll be sitting back having a beer watching those that put the "socialists" in power fighting for their lives.

--Rant ON--

And while you are doing that our elected officials will be hanging out in some hidey-hole, drinking bottled water and sitting in the sauna while the country crumbles around us.

Because "they" live in such an insulated and isolated world, none of this appears to be a problem. They'll just assign a staffer to deal with that.

Pretty amazing to watch this unfold like one of those really bad "Alien Visitor" movies. Yeah, you know how that ends.

And it isn't some man-scaped wuss in an Armani zoot suite that fixes the "problem". Hope these losers figure out that plot ending about the time they are turned into pink spray by the guy next to them in a homicide vest.

--Rant off--

R10

[T-Rock]

"Both the president and the secretary of state have made it clear that the U.S. government is pursuing a new relationship with Muslim communities based on mutual interest and mutual respect," Holladay said.

Maybe Hillary's offered him a job making policy for the Department of Homeland Security.

Respect? ....right.... my big ole hairy butt
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/a...f-all-hum.html

[Warrior-Mentor]

Opening the Door to a Stealth Jihadist
by Robert Spencer
01/27/2010

Five years after being barred from the U.S. for making charitable contributions to a group that sent those contributions to the jihad terror group Hamas, internationally renowned Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan, often mislabeled “the Muslim Martin Luther,” is allowed to enter the country again. The turnabout comes not because Ramadan has been cleared of these charges, but because Secretary of State Clinton has, in the words of State spokesman Darby Holladay, “chosen to exercise her exemption authority for the benefit of Tariq Ramadan.”

Holladay disingenuously suggested that the Bush Administration had barred Ramadan from the country because of his opposition to the Iraq War, but no “exemption authority” would have been needed to overturn a ban that had been put in place for that reason. Clinton was exempting Ramadan from prohibitions on supporters of terror groups entering the country.

Ironically, days after the Obama State Department announced the exemption for Ramadan, a Detroit-area Muslim named Mohamad Mustapha Ali Masfaka was arrested at the border while attempting to cross from Canada back into the United States.

His crime?

Lying to the FBI and immigration officials about his work with the Holy Land Foundation, formerly the largest Islamic charity in the United States, which has now been shut down for funneling charitable contributions to Hamas.

So what is the difference between Tariq Ramadan and Mohamad Mustapha Ali Masfaka?

They have both allegedly been disingenuous about their ties to a Hamas charity, and yet Ramadan is free to enter the United States and Masfaka is under arrest. So what unique and compelling benefit does Tariq Ramadan bring to the U.S. that would move Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to bend their own anti-terror rules and make this exemption for him?

The answer, of course, is that Tariq Ramadan is internationally famous as a voice of Islamic moderation -- and a vocal critic of the Bush Administration’s Middle East policies, which the Obama Administration very much wants to subject to public criticism. Mohamad Mustapha Ali Masfaka, in contrast, toils in relative obscurity and offers the Obama Administration no such political fringe benefits.

Ramadan represents the kind of Muslim who should respond most favorably to Obama’s recurring pleas for a new relationship based on mutual respect: urbane, sophisticated, Westernized, closely identified with Islamic moderation and reform.

In fact, Holladay explained the exemption for Ramadan in terms that specifically recalled Obama’s repeated appeals: “Both the president and the secretary of state have made it clear that the US government is pursuing a new relationship with Muslim communities based on mutual interest and mutual respect.”

However, there are cracks in Ramadan’s façade that should have raised eyebrows even in Obama’s State Department. Ramadan is the grandson of Hasan Al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood -- an international Islamic supremacist organization that is dedicated, in its own words (according to an internal Brotherhood document captured in a raid of the Holy Land Foundation), to “eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house.”

French journalist Caroline Fourest, who has published a book-length study of Ramadan’s sly duplicity, Brother Tariq, concludes that this much-lionized putative Muslim Martin Luther is actually anything but a reformer: in reality, Ramadan is “remaining scrupulously faithful to the strategy mapped out by his grandfather, a strategy of advance stage by stage” toward the imposition of Islamic law in the West.

Ramadan, she explains, in his public lectures and writings invests words like “law” and “democracy” with subtle and carefully crafted new definitions, permitting him to engage in “an apparently inoffensive discourse while remaining faithful to an eminently Islamist message and without having to lie overtly -- at least not in his eyes.” Ramadan, she said, “may have an influence on young Islamists and constitute a factor of incitement that could lead them to join the partisans of violence.”

In light of Ramadan’s smooth duplicity, his new welcome into the U.S. is a fitting symbol for the entire catastrophe of the Obama Administration’s policy toward the Middle East and Islamic terror. Obama reaches out to the Islamic world, assuming that his overtures will be welcomed by voices of reason and restraint. But in making this appeal, Obama drastically underestimates the jihad threat and mistakes all too many enemies for friends. And so now he also underestimates and misevaluates Tariq Ramadan, with consequences that no one can foretell at this point, but which are not likely to be positive.

Mr. Spencer is director of Jihad Watch and author of "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)", "The Truth About Muhammad," "Stealth Jihad," and most recently "The Complete Infidel's Guide to the Koran" (all from Regnery -- a HUMAN EVENTS sister company).

SOURCE:
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=35342

[T-Rock]

In light of Ramadan’s smooth duplicity, his new welcome into the U.S. is a fitting symbol for the entire catastrophe of the Obama Administration’s policy toward the Middle East and Islamic terror.

In the video below, Ayaan Hirsi Ali confounds Christiane Amanpour who prostitutes the Palestinian cause and Tariq Ramadan, an apologist for the Muslim Brotherhood - IMO, Islam is not compatible with other European religions, as well as democracy, and it is inherently political..

The Taqiyaa is strong in Ramadan…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9BF0IpgpV4

Let us not forget Ramadan’s creed:

"Allah is our objective, the Quran is our Constitution, the Prophet is our leader, Jihad is our way, and death for the sake of Allah is the highest of our aspirations”

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/...otherhood.html

[Sigaba]

Originally Posted by T-Rock

Ayaan Hirsi Ali Bitch Slaps Christiane Amawhore ...

IMO, this comment says more about your misogyny than it does about Ms. Amanpour or her work.

FWIW, the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, the 'owner' of the Jewish Virtual Library, is a member of the Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC). The ICC supported the Daniel Pearl Foundation last year (source is here). FWIW, Ms. Amanpour is one of the honorary members of the board of directors for the Daniel Pearl Foundation. Other honorary members of that board include Rabbi Harold Schulweiss, Paul Steiger, and Elie Wiesel.

[T-Rock]

IMO, this comment says more about your misogyny than it does about Ms. Amanpour or her work.

IMO, Christiane Amanpour is a leading example of biased mainstream media journalism and she acts as a propagandist towards the Palestinian position.

How do you come to the conclusion that I possess hatred towards women?

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is one of my heroes…Amanpour is NOT…

[Warrior-Mentor]

Originally Posted by Sigaba

IMO, this comment says more about your misogyny than it does about Ms. Amanpour or her work.

Although he used the term "bitch," context [and the urban dictionary] would make this a gender non-specific usage.