As it happens, Ms. Abedin’s entire nuclear family has helped Abdullah Omar Naseef advance his agenda over the last few decades. Naseef set them up in what amounts to the family business: the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, initially under the leadership of her late father, Dr. Sayed Abedin, and after his death in [1994], under that of her mother, Dr. Saleha Abedin. Her brother, Hassan, and her sister, Heba, have also been involved with the enterprise, listed for years as associate editors of its main product, the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. And so, as it happens, was Huma from 1996-2008. During seven of those years, she was on the masthead with Naseef identified as a member of the journal’s editorial advisory board. In a case like Huma Abedin’s, do these sorts of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood – both familial and in her own right – matter? Well, evidently not if you are, like Jonathan, determined to rebut any suggestion of a conspiracy. If, on the other hand, one applies, say, the guidelines of the Department of State designed to prevent foreign associations from translating into circumstances that will compromise a person in a position of trust and/or the mission of his or her agency, such ties should be a showstopper. Consequently, the questions posed to the State Department inspector general by Reps. Michele Bachmann, Louie Gohmert, Trent Franks, Lynn Westmoreland and Tom Rooney about Ms. Abedin’s Muslim Brotherhood ties are both well-founded and entirely legitimate. Ditto similar questions raised about several other individuals with similar associations in positions of influence with four other agencies. • The stakes: The legislators’ questions take on particular urgency in light of the myriad changes the Obama administration has made that are bringing U.S. foreign, defense and homeland security policies increasingly into alignment with the aspirations and demands of the Muslim Brotherhood. Among the most momentous of these are assistance and encouragement given to Islamists seeking the overthrow of governments relatively friendly to the United States. Jonathan suggests that America could not have had much influence on such outcomes and that, as long as the changes have been made democratically, we must welcome them. In fact, for example, President Obama and his administration have helped legitimate, train and fund the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, encouraged the overthrow of the Mubarak regime and insisted that the military peacefully and promptly transfer power to the Brotherhood’s newly elected political forces. Could this have happened without our help? Possibly. Did it? No. The fact that such changes have been ratified by elections does not alter the reality that they are likely to prove inimical not just for those in Egypt aspiring to freedom and for America’s dwindling number of relative friends in the region and most especially our ally, Israel. The ascendancy of the Brotherhood and its Islamist allies is emboldening those who seek to bring down the United States, as well. fullcomment.nationalpost/2012/08/21/frank-j-gaffney-the-threat-of-sharia-is-real/
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 06:20:13 +0000
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