THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XI, Issue # 188, October 30, 2009
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
MOGAHED'S EXCUSES DON'T ADD UP
By Cinnamon Stillwell
OBAMA APPOINTEE DALIA MOGAHED'S PARTICIPATION, ALONG WITH OTHER ISLAMISTS, ON AN EXTREMIST TELEVISION
PROGRAM DISCUSSING PROMOTION OF SHARIA LAW AS A MEANS OF PROTECTING WOMEN'S RIGHTS, ELIMINATION OF
SECULAR & PLURALISTIC CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY, & THE REVIVAL OF A THEOCRATIC, TOTALITARIAN
CALIPHATE AS THE SOLUTION TO THE ISLAMIC WORLD'S PROBLEMS
FULL STORY:
As reported last week by Campus Watch, Dalia Mogahed, appointee to President Obama's Council on Faith-Based
and Neighborhood Partnerships, executive director and senior analyst of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, and
co-author, along with Georgetown University's John Esposito, of Who Speaks for Islam?: What a Billion Muslims Really
Think, appeared (by phone) earlier this month on the UK-based Islam Channel television program, "Muslimah Dilemma."
Ibtihal Bsis, the show's host, is a member of the Islamist group Hizb ut Tahrir; Mogahed's fellow guest, Nazreen Nawaz, is
the group's national women's media representative. Given these affiliations, it's no surprise that the discussion included
such extremist fare as the promotion of sharia law for — of all things — protecting women's rights, condemnation for
secular pluralistic democracy, and the revival of a mythical caliphate as the answer to the Muslim world's woes.
Mogahed has been roundly criticized for appearing on the show and, in a transparent attempt at damage control, she told
U.S. News & World Report last week she has experienced second thoughts about her decision. Stretching credulity,
she claimed she "had no idea that the show's host or the other guest was affiliated with Hizb ut Tahrir," that she only
"found out the affiliation on air, when the other guest was being introduced in the beginning," and that her staff "checked
the show with a PR firm in Britain, who told us there were no problems with it." Even if it's true that Mogahed herself was
ignorant of the nature of the show, it's hard to imagine that her sophisticated vetting system missed what a simple Google
search would have turned up in seconds. Moreover, if she was truly surprised to find herself among radicals, wouldn't she
be more likely to speak up against them?
One has to wonder if this was a case of incompetence or fabrication.
When asked why she didn't just hang up the phone, Mogahed, demonstrating further ignorance about the availability of
data in the age of the Internet (apparently, she's never heard of YouTube,) said:
"I assumed that very few people would watch this show but
that doing something more dramatic would bring more attention."
But it was Mogahed's tepid response to and, at times, backhanded support for the objectionable opinions expressed on the
show that brought attention.
To explain her reticence to speak out against such radicalism, Mogahed had another handy justification:
"As an analyst, I don't engage in ideological debates. I am
always on programs to explain the views and opinions of
others — in this case, Muslims around the world — not to
discuss my own views. Being on a program with people
who are representing ideological movements puts an
analyst in a very awkward position, where they are unable
to respond to objectionable comments because of the
limits of our role as analysts."
This is unconvincing. What are analysts for other than to analyze what is said in discussions of which they are part? Was
she invited on the show in order to "not discuss [her] own views"? In fact, she had plenty of opportunities to rebut the
extremist statements of those with whom she appeared, or at least to state for the record that she — particularly as Obama's
Muslim affairs advisor — disagreed. Yet she chose to remain silent. In doing so, she missed a monumental opportunity to
publicly condemn Islamist ideology. Perhaps that was the point.
As for Mogahed's own endorsements of sharia law — delivered, she claimed, as the will of billions of surveyed Muslim
women, not her own — she had only this to say:
"I don't feel that I have regrets about what I said. I did a
fair job of reporting the data. My one regret is appearing
on the show to begin with."
It's a little late for that.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
American Foreign Policy -- Political & Psychological Warfare
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
The Islamist Fifth Column -- America's Internal Enemies:
Disloyalty, Subversion, Sedition, & Treason
Cinnamon Stillwell is the West Coast Representative for Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum. She can be
reached at stillwell@meforum.org.
The foregoing article by Cinnamon Stillwell was originally published in Front Page Magazine, October 30, 2009, and
can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks to
define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam,
working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote
constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly
asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
(Article URL: http://www.meforum.org/2490/ dalia-mogahed-excuses
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
October 30, 2009
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