Seven Days, Three Stories, One Obama Appointee/Terrorist Sympathizer

It all started out innocently enough last Saturday, that is, of course, if you think the United States actually needs a special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Obama names U.S. envoy to Islamic Conference

President Obama announced Saturday the appointment of Rashad Hussain, a White House lawyer, to be his special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Obama made the announcement in a video conference to the U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar. In his message, Obama called Hussain “an accomplished lawyer and a close and trusted member of my White House staff,” who would strengthen his policy of outreach to the world’s Muslims.

Then reporters, apparently unlike the White House vetters, started digging into Rashad Hussain’s background.

Obama’s Islamic Envoy Quoted Defending Man Charged With Aiding Terrorists

President Obama’s new envoy to the Organization of Islamic Conference, Rashad Hussain, is at the center of a controversy over remarks attributed to him defending a man who later pleaded guilty to conspiring to aid a terrorist group.

The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs quoted Hussain in 2004 as calling Sami al-Arian the victim of “politically motivated persecutions” after al-Arian, a university professor, was charged in 2003 with heading U.S. operations of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The United States has designated the Palestinian Islamic Jihad as a foreign terrorist group as far back as 1997. At the time of al-Arian’s arrest, then Attorney General John Ashcroft called it “one of the most violent terrorist organizations in the world.”

Al-Arian pleaded guilty in 2006 to conspiracy to aid Palestinian Islamic Jihad and was sentenced to more than four years in prison.

Sounds bad for Hussain right? Never fear, when confronted with this disturbing sympathy for an admitted terrorist conspirator, the White House immediately rolled out story number one.

The White House says the controversial remarks defending al-Arian two years earlier were made by his daughter — not by Hussain. Both were part of a panel discussion at a Muslim Students Association conference, but the reporter covering the event told Fox News she stands by the quotes she attributed to Hussain, who was a Yale Law student and an editor of the Yale Law Journal.

The Web version of the 2004 article in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs was later edited to delete all of Hussain’s comments. Editor Delinda Hanley told Fox News she believes the change was made in February 2009, though she does not recall who requested the edit.

Hanley remembered telling the group’s webmaster: “Let’s just take out the quotes since they have been attributed to the wrong speaker.”

Someone’s obviously lying. So, when the reporter refused to back down, out comes story number two.

He Said, She Said

Late Tuesday a White House official spoke with Hussain and confirmed to Fox News that Hussain did attend the 2004 event. The official says Hussain went with plans to discuss civil rights in the wake of 9/11, but remembers the conversation turning to Sami al-Arian’s case. According to the White House official, Hussain has “no recollection” as to whether or not he made the comments attributed to him.

We’ve now gone from flat out denial to a non-denial denial, he just can’t remember. But wait, there’s more, we’re not done yet, there are actual audio tapes and transcripts that exist! Cue up story number three.

President’s Envoy to Islamic Conference Admits Having Made Controversial ’04 Remarks

Presented with a transcript of his remarks at a 2004 conference, Rashad Hussain, President Obama’s nominee to be special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, issued a statement Friday evening acknowledging having criticized the U.S. government’s case against Sami Al-Arian, who pleaded guilty in 2006 to conspiracy to aid Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Originally, the White House claimed that Hussain denied having made the comments, attributing them instead to Al-Arian’s daughter, Laila.

But Politico’s Josh Gerstein obtained an audiotape of the remarks, in which Hussain said that Al-Arian’s case was one of many “politically motivated persecutions.”

On Friday evening, Hussain admitted having made them and the White House backed off its insistence that Hussain hadn’t made the comments, though both noted that he did so in the context of disagreeing with the way the government pursued the case against Al-Arian, making clear not to address the specific criminal charges.

“As a law student six years ago, I spoke on the topic of civil liberties on a panel during which I responded to comments made about the al-Arian case by Laila al-Arian who was visibly saddened by charges against her father,” Hussain said in a statement. “I made clear at the time that I was not commenting on the allegations themselves. The judicial process has now concluded, and I have full faith in its outcome.”

Hussain, currently in the White House counsel’s office, said, “I made statements on that panel that I now recognize were ill-conceived or not well-formulated.”

Busted! Now, will Hussain be thrown under the bus where he belongs?

See also:
Islam envoy retreats on terror talk
Obama Envoy Admits ‘Ill Conceived’ Remarks Defending Terror Suspect
Obama OIC envoy designate admits to improper remarks in defending terror suspect
Obama OIC envoy designate admits to improper remarks in defending terror suspect
Cal Thomas: Who is Rashad Hussain?
Should We Believe Rashad Hussain?
The case of Rashad Hussain
The case of Rashad Hussain, part 2
Rashad Hussain’s Troubling Ties
Is White House Attorney Involved in Media Cover-up?
Questions for America’s New OIC Envoy Rashad Hussain
Event Attended by Obama’s Muslim Envoy Was Held by Group With Troubling Views, Ties
Pro-jihadist Rashad Hussain: Obama appointee’s connection to Soros

Is it just me or does it seem like pretty much everyone Obama appoints is some kind of anti-American radical or political miscreant?

/it’s really hard to believe that the Obama White House vetting process is this inept and ineffective, they have to know these peoples’ backgrounds and yet they appoint them anyway, because they’re fellow travelers

But Did They Read The Terrorist His Miranda Rights?

Navy SEALs Face Assault Charges for Capturing Most-Wanted Terrorist

Navy SEALs have secretly captured one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq — the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah in 2004. And three of the SEALs who captured him are now facing criminal charges, sources told FoxNews.com.

The three, all members of the Navy’s elite commando unit, have refused non-judicial punishment — called an admiral’s mast — and have requested a trial by court-martial.

Ahmed Hashim Abed, whom the military code-named “Objective Amber,” told investigators he was punched by his captors — and he had the bloody lip to prove it.

Now, instead of being lauded for bringing to justice a high-value target, three of the SEAL commandos, all enlisted, face assault charges and have retained lawyers.

Matthew McCabe, a Special Operations Petty Officer Second Class (SO-2), is facing three charges: dereliction of performance of duty for willfully failing to safeguard a detainee, making a false official statement, and assault.

Petty Officer Jonathan Keefe, SO-2, is facing charges of dereliction of performance of duty and making a false official statement.

Petty Officer Julio Huertas, SO-1, faces those same charges and an additional charge of impediment of an investigation.

See also:
SEALs charged in alleged assault of detainee
Notorious terrorist captured – SEAL captors arrested!
They should have just shot him
Theater of the Absurd

Terrorist show trials in New York and now this, bad craziness, sheer madness, FUBAR.

/as Pogo so aptly put it, we have met the enemy . . . and he is us

Lots More Trouble For ACORN

The hits just keep on coming.

ACORN May Face Trial for First Time as Nevada Prosecutors Allege ‘Widespread’ Criminal Policies

When ACORN took to Las Vegas and started playing “Blackjack” and “21,” the activist group was making a far bigger gamble than it ever guessed, according to Nevada prosecutors.

There’s nothing wrong with playing the tables in Vegas, but authorities say ACORN was using the names of those casino games as a cover to illegally pay workers to sign up voters as part of an illegal quota system.

A preliminary hearing Tuesday in the downtown Clark County courthouse has put ACORN on trial for the first time as a criminal defendant.

Until now, prosecutions for voter registration fraud have focused on ACORN workers, and authorities have secured guilty pleas from several who admitted to falsifying voter registration forms.

But when investigators from Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller’s office raided the ACORN Las Vegas office, Ross says they found a paper trail that implicated the ACORN organization itself.

“We came across policy manuals that outline their policy of creating a quota system, which is against the law,” Miller told FOX News in an interview. “This, in fact, was something that was widespread and something the organization itself knew about, and it’s important to hold the organization criminally accountable as opposed to the individual field directors.”

ACORN denies it had a quota for the number of voter registration forms that its workers were required to turn in every day. Instead, the organization says there were “performance standards” — an expectation that workers would find 20 new voters a day.

But prosecutors say ACORN paid a $5 bonus per day to workers who would sign up 21 or more voters per shift, hence the name “21” or “Blackjack,” an alleged quota system that Ross says is the first step toward corrupting the democratic system.

“These charges strike at the heart of having integrity of the electoral process. That’s something that is important in Nevada and the entire country,” he told FOX News.

“By filing these charges we are sending a clear message we are not going to tolerate these kinds of activities. We have seen voter registration abuse before and we are holding these people accountable.

Affidavits: Ballot abuse rampant

Dozens of forged and fraudulent absentee ballots from people registered to vote on the Working Families Party line were filed in the Sept. 15 primary elections in Troy, the Times Union has learned.

Many of the questionable ballots were filed under the names of students and people who live in government-subsidized housing and other downtown areas. Still others were submitted on behalf of voters who were alleged to have signed the ballots earlier this month, but those people have not lived in New York state for at least a year, records show.

Documents at the county Board of Elections show the fraudulent ballots were handled by or prepared on behalf of various elected officials and leaders and operatives for the Democratic and Working Families parties. A Troy housing authority employee, Anthony Defiglio, who sources said oversees vacant properties for the Troy Housing Authority, also handled many of the fraudulent ballots, according to public records and interviews with voters who said they were duped.

With No Fanfare, Senate Hits ACORN, Again

With no fanfare and no roll call vote, not even a speech — the Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved an amendment by Sen. Mike Johanns, R-NE, that bars any funds from the Defense spending bill from going to ACORN.

Johanns promised to introduce a similar amendment on every spending bill Congress considers this year, until the chamber takes up his broader bill that would impose permanent ban on ACORN receiving any federal funds.

It took the Senate a little over one minute to consider the measure.

Bank of America pulls ACORN funding

Troubled community organizing group ACORN suffered another setback on Monday, when Bank of America announced it is pulling its funding of ACORN Housing.

In a statement, Bank of America said that is it “suspending current commitments to ACORN Housing and will not enter into any further agreements with ACORN or any of its affiliates” until it is satisfied that all issues related to the organization have been resolved.

See also:
Ex-ACORN worker details blackjack voter registration bonuses
Ex-ACORN organizer describes voter signup bonuses
Ex-ACORN official outlines alleged illegal voter registration plan
Massive Voter Fraud in NY Linked to ACORN
WORKING FAMILIES PARTY = ACORN; What Will AG Cuomo Do?
REDSTATE EXCLUSIVE: A Review of ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis’s Rolodex Suggests Strong White House Ties
Inside The ACORN Rolodex: ACORN Has Its Own Political Party Other Than the Democrats
Senate votes to ban ACORN — again
Johanns keeps aim on ACORN
Effort to defund ACORN faces hurdles
Bank suspends dealings with ACORN housing entity
BofA severs ACORN ties
Acorn Housing Board Member Steps Down
ACORN, A Toxic Organization?
Cracking down on ACORN
East Bay ACORN chapters feel impacts of national brouhaha
Preliminary ACORN probe by end of October

/keep up the pressure, ACORN needs to be totally unraveled and its rampant corruption brought to an end