Funny How Bush Officials Don’t Remember Working With Imam Rauf

Posted by | August 24, 2010 18:14 | Filed under: Top Stories


The Imam behind the lower Manhattan Islamic cultural center was used by the Bush43 State Department in the same way the Obama State Department is using him: to promote intercultural understanding. But you’d never know that by the denial being professed by former Bushies.  Key Bush adviser Karen Hughes set up tours for Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.

At the request of Bush’s State Department, where Hughes worked on Muslim outreach in the midst of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Rauf attended the 2006 U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar and in 2007 went to Morocco. Rauf has traveled side-by-side with Hughes, who held the position of Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy. He’s currently on a trip abroad doing outreach for President Obama’s administration.

Hughes told Greg Sargent she doesn’t remember any of the work she did with Rauf.

“As Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, President Bush asked me to focus on interfaith dialogue to try to encourage greater understanding and respect between leaders of different faiths, and to encourage leaders of all faiths to speak out against all acts of terror and violence. As a result, I met with many Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders and attended numerous events and conferences across the world and it’s entirely possible he was at some of those, but I don’t have specific recollections of that.

And Karl Rove said he didn’t like the word “working” as in Rauf “working for the Bush administration.” Oh, and when Bush sent him it was a “delegation,” so that makes it much different than what Obama is doing.

“I’m not sure working is the right title,” Rove said, trying to frame Rauf’s role as part of “bureaucratic” State Department decisions that are determined “apolitically.” Rove’s evidence included the fact as a young Republican he was named to a youth delegation during Jimmy Carter’s administration.

“Frankly i was unaware until recently that he was sent,” Rove said. He said there is a difference between “being on a delegation of god knows how many people to where in 2003” and being “funded” by the State Department for Rauf’s current trip abroad.

Rove also claimed the Imam is fundraising on his current trip, which has been denied by the State Department.

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Copyright 2010 Liberaland
By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.

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