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New envoy hopes to better explain U.S. to Muslim world
An American Muslim, appointed new U.S. envoy, headed off Monday with the goal of repairing the battered image of the United States in the Muslim world.
They're not listening.
I think they understand us only too well. That's the trouble.
Sada Cumber, a Pakistani native, is the new special envoy to the Organization of Islamic Conference, a caucus of 57 Muslim nations.
Hope ya got Permanent Resident status in the US, dude. You're gonna need it soon.
They couldn't find anybody smart enough to do the job that'd been born in Wyoming or Texas or Noo Joisey.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at a reception for conference countries at the State Department that Cumber will help the United States explain itself to the Muslim world.
Right. Explain to them that we believe in individual liberty, that we don't believe in one religion lording it over all others, that if a free man decides he doesn't want to be a Moose limb or a Methodist or a Hindoo then there's nobody that can tell him to. That'll go over big in Lahore, won't it?
Rice said Islam is an important part of the American fabric of life. "Our growing Muslim population is a great and welcome addition to our country," she said at a gathering of diplomats from conference member countries at the State Department.
I certainly hope she's saying that to be polite. The Muslim population is no "greater" than the Salvadoran or Guatamalan or Hmong segment, and as yet probably smaller than the first two. And many of us find the thought of large numbers of Islamist holy man tromping around our country eying up the "uncovered meat" with just about as much welcome as we'd extend to termites.
I especially like the part where they show up and demand everybody change everything to fit their religious demands.
Cumber, an entrepreneur living in Texas, was most recently chairman and CEO of SozoTek, a wireless imaging company. He said he plans to travel extensively and use his business background and experience to build bridges between the United States and the Muslim world. "As an American Muslim, I believe I am in a unique position to promote dialogue," he said before leaving Washington for an Organization of Islamic Conference meeting later this week in Senegal. The Jeddah-based conference is the world's largest pan-Islamic group.

President Bush announced his intention last June to appoint an envoy to the conference, but took his time in making an appointment. "The core of his mission is to explain to the Islamic world that America is a friend, is a friend of freedom, is a friend of peace, that we value religion," Bush said last month when he formally announced Cumber's appointment. "It's an important job, there is a lot of misperceptions about America and Sada is going to be a part of our effort to explain the truth."
W, Western qualities don't fit well into their fundamental power structure.
Posted by: gorb 2008-03-11
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=232532