Is this the right man Obama chose to represent America?

Maybe he was referred by the “Weathermen” I do think he could have got someone different for that. It looks like the man is so cocky and a shoe in for the next term he’s already going mustang on us. Some have said may have been the reason his last debate was “phoned in”

http://www.stormfront.org/forum/t918004/

I found it http://www.jihadwatch.org/2012/10/obama-picks-islamic-supremacist-defender-of-hamas-and-hizballah-to-represent-us-at-human-rights-conf.html

Holy shit. Did I just stumble into a true nazi/kkk/white nationalist thread?

@Aster, I don’t even want to know why you would be browsing that forum.

http://www.texasconservativenews.com/2012/10/07/surprise-obama-picks-islamic-s

Hang on, you’re getting your information from a site called “Jihadwatch.org”?? You don’t find that the least bit suspect?

Try balancing your bias, instead of just getting your information from conservative rags. Try some liberal rags, too, and then think for yourself. A novel idea, I know.

From the Huffington Post: Salam Al Marayati is executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, an American institution which informs and shapes public opinion and policy by serving as a trusted resource to decision makers in government, media and policy institutions. Salam written extensively on Islam, human rights, democracy, Middle East politics, and the Muslim American communities. Salam also works as an advisor to several political, civic and academic institutions seeking to understand the role of Islam and Muslims in America and throughout the world. You can learn more about Salam’s work at www.mpac.org

From the LA Times: Salam Al-Marayati began working at the Muslim Public Affairs Council more than 20 years ago, and his is a job that only seems to get more demanding
Al-Marayati was 3 when his family moved to the United States from Iraq; as the president of the L.A.-based national group, he’s become a cultural translator and a kind of human shield between misperceptions of the Muslim faith and several million believers living here. Invoking the Koran (he’s holding one in the picture) and the Constitution, he plays offense and defense, making himself available for reporters, politicians and law enforcement, and blogging on matters like the Ft. Hood massacre.

Sounds like a pretty interesting guy to me; I bet he’d be a good dinner conversationalist.

Of course I do so if any here can find something from Huffbag I’m all up in it.

But depite the intentions of the sites lets discuss what they have there instead of dismissing them outright on account it isn’t from a liberal blog….humor me.

@syz , are you saying the Islamic man was never appointed by Obama?

@Aster WTF? Are you saying that there’s something inherently wrong with appointing someone of the Islamic faith to a position?

http://pjmedia.com/blog/obama’s-islamic-supremacist-human-rights-rep/?fb_action_ids=3644879452590&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582
IS this the right man to appoint to represent America? Is this question too difficult to answer or accept? Still waiting.

I think it’s dancing too close to the fire with this. I can’t believe Clinton backed this decision.

@Aster It’s just hard to answer the question when the only sources you’re citing for information about the man are hate websites. I don’t particularly trust what they have to say.

@Mariah Bingo!

Im not even going to read what those sites have to say…. Jihad watch and White Pride World Wide…. seriously?

@Aster – You posted this question and made an accusation. You haven’t supported your accusation other than to post links to opinion pieces. Hell, your first link was stormfront, a white nationalist neo-nazi website started by David Duke.

Make your case. You have no idea how many times I have been called a Islamic supremacist defender of Hamas and Hizballah. You need to demonstrate this to be the case.

@Aster, you seem to be willing to believe anything you read on the Internet. On another thread you were asking if faith healing was real because of some fraud Youtube videos you saw. Now you’re asking about something you read on a white supremacist website.

Maybe it’s time for some self-reflection on your part.

If all material on line and in other publications was of one view that is all we would see. There are extreme views from most of them so it sometimes becomes necessary to read many to make an assessment. If one is a hard leftist, of course they will be dismissive of the material from an opposing point of view, same with the neocons.

Come on, @woodcutter. This question is in “General.” If @Aster won’t do it, go ahead and fill out all the missing details that justify her assertion that this guy is a terrorist supporter/terrorist/rapist/whatever. She read something on a white pride site, came here and posted three sentences about it in “General”, and has decided to delegate brain activity to the rest of us.

@woodcutter Entirely correct, but when no sources are cited, or all sources are from extremist sites, it’s a little tricky to avoid being at least skeptical, if not outright dismissive.

So the assertion of the appointment is false then? The websites all made it up.

@jerv I look at it this way. It is a subject worth looking into and why not work together as a“work in progress” and find out whats up? I’m not seeing any direct accusations per se just sensitive souls feeling like there is

@Aster What? No one has said anything about the validity of the report of the appointment. The comments directed to you are in response to the apparent attack on this individual and the questionable source for those attacks.

@Aster Nobody is disputing the appointment of the man; it is his character and work that are being questioned. Are you saying that any Muslim appointed to a government position is suspect? Where is your belief in our American values of inclusion and religious tolerance?

Read @syz‘s post about his excellent credentials.

Where are the Israeli members here?, Curious as to how they view this.

@woodcutter I’m not an Israeli but I am a Jew and I am fine with this.

@janbb Ok; I thought everyone was disputing his appointment based on the websites that gave the information. I am a firm believer in religious tolerance as long as the religions themselves do not promote violence or advocate murder of Americans.

@syz It is possible the websites attacked the man in question but I am not aware that I’ve attacked him or his credentials.

@Aster, serious question. Why were you on the website Stormfront?

It just so happens as of this posting that when this subject was searched on line those sites came up first. Why is that? It looked like a more liberal site should have seen this one coming and got way out in front of it. I haven’t seen this story on CNN yet and I’ve been home for the last 3 days.

@Aster And do you believe Islam “promotes violence or advocates murder of Americans”? Because it’s only the extremists who do that.

@Mariah, no I don’t believe Islamics promote violence. Just some appear to promote it. But that was not my question as you well know.

@Qingu I was not “on” the website. It popped up when I googled the man’s name. I have never heard of nor read that website. Since you’re just curious. But that has nothing to do with my question. Please stick to the question; it’s in General.
Please do not ask my opinions on the subject of Islam. I was asking if he is the right man for the job.

@Aster It does seem to be relevant. Would anyone be asking this question if his name were J. P. Morgan?

Well, here’s an interview with the gentleman in question.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/22/opinion/la-oe-morrison-20100522-use

He sounds like a moderate, secular Muslim who strongly opposes terrorism. He’s also concerned with civil rights for american Muslims. I have no problem with “marketing’ people like this guy to the Islamic world.

I think his religion is terrible, but I would say the same thing about Christians or Jews.

@Aster The problem here is that the only reason you give for questioning his ability to represent America in the first place is this highly biased allegation that Salam al-Marayati is an “Islamic supremacist defender of Hamas and Hizballah.” When I Google his name, I find a wide array of different sites, articles, etc. about Salam al-Marayati, only a select few of which make this baseless accusation. Yet for some reason, you chose to only link us to and give “information” from from these white supremacist and anti-terrorism sites, and you present this accusation as fact in your question details. Next time, try looking at sites of all biases (or preferably a lack thereof) before forming your opinion. Try, for example, reading some articles written by al-Marayati himself, or this PBS interview that he participated in to get an idea of his stances. None of us can know the intentions of your question with any certainty, but it certainly reeks of extremism and ignorance.

@Fly I don’t mind being called ignorant. But I can tell you that I simply googled his name and had no idea whatsoever that all the websites were hate websites. I have never read a hate website. I have no interest in them. But those were evidently all I was presented since I stopped googling. I have no objection to Obama continually appointing Muslims to the American government but I think some do object to it. After all, as he said, America is not a Christian nation . Therefore, there should be no reasons to stop appointing Muslims to our government. I think it helps to demonstrate that we are truly apologetic for running the anti Muslim video on youtube that was the cause of the Ambassador to America being raped and murdered by extremists. I dont think we’ll be having that kind of “bump in the road” happening again and we’ve learned a hard lesson.

@Aster, I think it helps to demonstrate that we are truly apologetic for running the anti Muslim video on youtube that was the cause of the Ambassador to America being raped and murdered by extremists.”

You made a number of false statements here.

• Nobody is “apologetic” for the video.
• The US government does not run Youtube.
• Nobody said the video was the “cause” of the Benghazi attack, just that it had something to do with it.
• Ambassador Stevens was not raped.
• There is no evidence whatsover that Al-Marayati’s appointment has anything to do with the Libya attacks.

I find it extremely troubling that you managed to say so many false things, without the slightest bit of reflection.

@Aster I call bullshit. Your own words are suspect:

I have no objection to Obama continually appointing Muslims to the American government

You’ve been called out,and now you’re back tracking. This is a waste of time. I’m done.

a) “I have never read a hate website.” You did, because you read Stormfront. On purpose? I’ll believe you when you said you didn’t know it and so no, not on purpose. But you have, and it would be best for you to acknowledge the mistake.

and b) “I think it helps to demonstrate that we are truly apologetic for running the anti Muslim video on youtube that was the cause of the Ambassador to America being raped and murdered by extremists.”

I think it’s lazy to assume this appointment is to ‘apologize’. Considering the man’s credentials, I think it’s because, maybe, he was the best man for the job.

And as @Qingu said, the ambassador was not raped. Considering the inclusion of that inflammatory falsehood along with links from registered hate sites make me think you should really rethink the sources of your information.

@Aster: “But I can tell you that I simply googled his name and had no idea whatsoever that all the websites were hate websites.”

But how did you hear about al_Marayati? How did this get on your radar? You had already called him an “Islamic supremacist defender of Hamas and Hizballah”. Do you often follow these types of things? Have you been following OSCE and had been waiting to see who the Obama administration was going to send here this year?

I think you’re playing a bit too innocent here. You do have an opinion here, and you have stated it multiple times throughout this thread. But you have yet to do any research to backup your claims against this man.

And now in your latest comment, you are making all kinds of statements about “Obama continually appointing Muslims to the American government”. You are clearly getting fed some horseshit here, and as @Qingu has pointed out, you seem very susceptible to it.

‘From the Washington Times: “A google translation of the report says: [SNIP] A news report made by the Libyan Free Press is also reporting that Ambassador @Qingu Stevens was sodomized before he was killed: “Libya – USA Ambassador in Bengazi sodomized and killed by his own al-Qaeda puppets.”

Read more: Ambassador Stevens’s brutal death at the hands of Radical Islam | Washington Times Communities

The Washington Times is not a news organization.

@Aster, may I ask how old you are?

Yes @Aster , he’s the right man for the job. He is not an Islamic supremacist. He has connections with stable groups in the Middle East that are trying to keep the right wing jihadist groups at bay. And he is trying to promote Human Rights through out the region.

The washington times itself reports that that is unconfirmed, @Aster. first sentence here:

“The Lebanon report on the murdered U.S. ambassador, Christopher Stevens, in Libya remains unconfirmed by the AFP.”

Considering that the AFP are the ones that supposedly ran that report to begin with, I’m calling bullshit.

Also, seriously? ” USA Ambassador in Bengazi sodomized and killed by his own al-Qaeda puppets”

What puppets, now?

The Washington Times is a right-wing mouthpiece run by, literally, a cult. It is only slightly more respectable as a source than Stormfront. @Aster needs to learn how to judge internet sources.

@Qingu I don’t wish to imply that you’re a difficult person but please list websites you trust. Or do none exist? And it is quite rude to ask a woman her age. Why am I not surprised you’d do just that?

I think this ties into the perception that all Muslims are of the “Death to America!” type. Well, I have seen recent articles citing a Christian (and, naturally, a Republican) who feels that disobedient children should be put to death. Source while others consider the premeditated murder of doctors who preform abortions to be perfectly fine and wish to see it legalized.

Should we judge Christians based on those extremist views as well?

@BhacSsylan Believe me or don’t ; I do not care. I have never heard of Stormfront until a few hours ago, never have read hate websites, have never been able to name even one hate website if my life depended on it. If you yourself googled a name and a website popped up and you read a few sentences then pasted them would you appreciate people telling you that you read those sorts of websites? Or would it be more accurate to say you read a few sentences on a website you knew nothing about, had never seen before and it took you 30 seconds?

@jerv but have you seen hundreds of people on tv screens, in different parts of the globe, yelling that disobedient children should be put to death? I haven’t. You can’t compare Muslim extremists to one Republican sadist moron.

@Aster Given the high percentage of Muslims who truly believe in peace, the fact that those sort of republicans have enough support to get into high office, and some simple math, there is cause for concern. I have seen far more than one Republican sadist moron. It’s not an isolated case by any stretch.

@Aster, I trust legitimate news sources: the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the LA Times. These institutions aren’t perfect, but they have reputations to uphold, they’re professional journalists. I would also recommend fact-checking websites, like Snopes and Politifact.

I’m going to be frank: I work in educational publishing, and most children know better than to get information by “googling and trusting the first website I click on.”

______

As for Christian vs. Muslim extremists, I think it’s fair to say that there are a higher proportion of Muslim extremists today. That wasn’t the case 600 years ago. And I think it’s easy to undercount Crhistian extremists in Africa, who are prone to burning witches and killing homosexuals.

In any case, with respect to Libya, most Libyans were outraged by the attacks, and thousands of them responded by marching on the militias thought responsible, besieging them, and forcing them to flee/disarm.

@Aster I already said I believe you, but that doesn’t change the fact that you read and linked to a hate site, and are still pushing back against those that pointed it out.

And gotta agree with @jerv. This may be one sadist moron, but it is one sadist moron elected to office. I’m rather more scared of him, personally.

How an the wrong man to LEAD America possibly choose the best individual to REPRESENT America??

Except by accident.

@Crashsequence2012 Wrong by whose standards? I suppose that those who support trickle-up economics, Christian extremism, and/or ignore the fact that the GOP isn’t the same party they’ve been loyal to for over fifty years may consider Obama a wrong choice, but I see him as just a politician, no more wrong than many others, and far less wrong than yet others.

I guess it all boils down to what sort of America you want; one that is part of the world, our a belligerent nation that mistreats many of it’s own citizens.

I’m not sure Salam al-Marayati has chosen the right country to represent at a human rights conference.

@tom_g “But how did you hear about al_Marayati? How did this get on your radar?” That’s easy; a Facebook friend emailed me about him. So I put his name in google.

@Aster: “That’s easy; a Facebook friend emailed me about him. So I put his name in google.”

Ok, so someone told you on Facebook that a man you knew nothing about was attending a conference held by an organization you never knew existed. Your attempt at researching this is to do type in the guy’s name in Google and bring up the first couple of hits, which happen to include a white nationalist neo-nazi forum. Your next step is to ask a question on fluther, calling the guy an “Islamic supremacist defender of Hamas and Hizballah”.

I highly recommend that you rethink your internet use, critical thinking skills, and research methods.