WASHINGTON, 30 October 2003 — President Bush on Tuesday night offered his annual iftar to Muslim ambassadors and heads of a few Muslim American organizations at the White House, but a group of excluded American Muslim leaders say the president uses his occasional meetings with the community as mere photo opportunities.
Ibrahim Hooper, executive director of Council of Arab Islamic Relations, CAIR, said significant Muslim organizations that disagree with the president on political and religious issues were not included.
The uninvited national Muslim leaders, imams, non-Muslim leaders and activists responded by holding their own iftar last night in Lafayette Park across the street from the White House, timed to coincide with the White House iftar.
“It seems that the only time this administration wants to meet with us is for photo opportunities, not to hear our concerns about policies here at home and abroad,” said Mahdi Bray, executive director of Muslim American Society. “How can they claim to have good relations with our community when they don’t even have dialogue with its leadership? President Bush and his administration’s failure to address American Muslims’ domestic and foreign policy concerns can no longer be accepted.”
The president’s iftar, meanwhile, included Muslim ambassadors, a few college professors, businessmen and representatives from Islamic organizations such as Karimah, a human rights group for female Muslim lawyers; the American Task Force on Palestine; the American Muslim Council; the Islamic Supreme Council of America; the Council of American Muslim Understanding; the Islamic Free Market Institute; the Washington Islamic Center; Secretary of State Colin Powell and Sheikh Hamdan ibn Zayed Al-Nahayan, the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates.
In the short speech he gave at the iftar, the president spoke of Iraq and Afghanistan “whose citizens have survived decades of tyranny and fear.
“Now, new leaders are emerging. They’re emerging in Iraq in the form of medical workers and teachers and citizens of all backgrounds who are coming together to guide their country’s future. They’re moving toward self-government and practicing their faith as they see fit.”
Bush said the US will continue to support the people of Iraq and Afghanistan “as they build a more hopeful future. And we will not allow criminals or terrorists to stop the advance of freedom. Terrorists who use religion to justify the taking of innocent life have no home in any faith.”
Organizations not invited to last night’s iftar included CAIR, the Islamic Society of North America, Project Islamic Hope, and the Coordinating Council of Muslim Organizations of Greater Washington.
