| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Inside Khatami's CAIR Dinner |
| 2006-09-09 |
| This report, posted on LGF, is the kind of thing we should be reading in the Times or Post, but seldom see. LGF operative grayp attended the speech by Ayatollah Mohammad Khatami at the Marriott Crystal Gateway in Arlington, Virginia; here’s her citizen journalist’s report on the CAIR-sponsored event: Last night CAIR hosted a reception and dinner for former Iranian President Khatami. I attended. I got there about 20 minutes early so I had some time to check things out. Not surprisingly, security was significant. At the entrance to the hotel (Crystal City Marriott, Arlington, VA), there were two bomb dogs on duty checking every car. Inside and outside, I categorized the security as: 1. local - Arlington, Alexandria, and Wash. DC police, some of which were K-9 units. 2. The guys in suits with earpieces. 3. other plainclothes people in much more casual clothes - khakis & polo shirts 4. Men in Black. I don’t know who these dudes were. They were definitely in uniform but I never saw anything like it before. They were cut like camis but completely black w/no insignia and they were packing some serious stuff. Two of them had dogs. 5. Dept. of State/Diplomatic Security Service. These were the people who got us thru the metal detectors, etc. after they opened the doors to the ballroom complex. I think State sends them to classes on how to be firmly polite. All in all, there were literally hundreds of security people there. Once they were ready to let everyone in, I went to the checkin table for my name tag. This table was manned entirely by American Muslim women. I did have to show ID. Then thru the metal detectors and on into the ballroom complex. One ballroom was set for the dinner, the one next to it was being used by all the security services. The ballroom being used for the reception wasn’t quite ready, so I just hung out and observed for awhile. I saw a few people I recognized - Ibrahim Hooper being one. For some reason he did a double-take when he saw me. But I did not meet him or speak to him. He seemed to like playing a bit of a clown w/people he knew - very jovial, cracking jokes, etc. Then out of the blue one of the most magnificent German Shephards I’ve ever seen trots by me w/his handler. Another bomb dog doing sweeps. (I managed to catch his handler during a pause and he was gracious enough to pose the dog so I could take a pic w/my cell phone. His name is Rambo.) Ok, into the reception hall. There were about 60 people in all. I was greeted by the vice president of CAIR who was honestly astonished that I was a) apparently not Muslim (not covered) b) attending under my own sail, not representing any organization or media outlet. This apparently provoked some curiousity - two other CAIR people came over with ‘WTF?’ looks on their faces but treated me with pleasant surprise. There was a nice buffet, so I grabbed a plate and sat down. People were very friendly. I counted 5 women who appeared to be non-Muslim. Two were in their 20s and came together. One was a ringer for Valerie Plame and was with her husband. Another was there with some organization or other. Then there was me. About 20 Muslim women were there, not all American but I’d say most were. The most startling was a girl who appeared to be about 16. She was American. She was the ONLY one wearing the full black chadoor bit. All the other women dressed to the nines. Yes, they were covered, but some of their scarves had crystal beading and not a few pairs of Manolo Blaniks peaked out from under those floor length ruby red satin dresses. Eventually, we were told Khatimi had arrived and asked us to queue up into a reception line. And in he came. There was no entourage per se. Two security guys (American - the guys in suits with earpieces), a translator and another man who turned out to be the head of some Iranian/American cultural organization. Khatimi is slightly built and not tall - I’d say about 5' 7". He wore a combination of brown and black robes w/a black turban. My personal impression of the man is that there is a quietness about him. He moves slowly, speaks slowly. He uses his hands when he speaks but very deliberately. He’s very ‘still’. When it was my turn to meet him, he also looked surprised! His eyes are a very pale blue/green - almost a grey. And they twinkle. He seemed to find this apparitional American woman most amusing. He asked my name, which I gave, then asked what I would like to talk about. I asked him what changes in American policy toward Iran he would like to see from the next U.S. administration. He broke into a great big smile and became almost animated. I can boil it down for you to one word. Clinton. If we just do what Clinton did, things would be much better. Color me surprised. Heh. Well, there were more people to get thru the receiving line before the question and answer period started, so I went outside for a smoke break. When I got back the Q&A had begun. A gentleman was asking his view on how the sectarian strife in Iraq could be overcome and all of Islam could act as ummah. The translator had a very soft voice, (and an accent of his own) but this is what I caught. The sectarian differences are really very minor and can be easily overcome. The people who are causing this strife do not understand Islam. Hey, I’m just reporting this ok? The next question: You will be meeting w/President Carter during your visit. How do you think you and Carter can work towards peace between the West and the Middle East? Answer: President Carter’s invitation reached me too late. My schedule was already in place and could not be changed, so I will not be meeting with him. But President Carter does many good works helping to relieve poverty, blah blah blah. End of Q&A. Everybody off to the ballroom for dinner. On either side of the entrance there were elevated platforms for the media. And there were tons of it. Lots of round tables for the guests and an elevated dias at the other end of the room. I took a seat at an empty table. All the chairs had headsets attached to radio thingys so we could listen to English translations. I was soon joined by another unattended woman I’ll call SH. African-American Muslim, who is a Major in the Army reserves. She was down from Boston to attend the promotion ceremony of her former boss to Colonel at Ft. Belvoir. We were joined by 4 CAIR people. One American woman, one Iranian woman, one Egyptian man and one American man. And finally, the dinner companion that turned out to be the most interesting - an American/Iranian man down from NYC. He’s a law student at Fordham and knows more about the workings of Iranian politics and society than anyone I’ve ever met. He was directly to my left. Here’s his take on Khatami (briefly). He’s not a politican, he’s a theoretician/philosopher. He picked up a lot of this thinking from the rationalist German philosophers (he named a few - I’ve never heard of them and I was a philosophy major). The major reform he wanted for Iran was to move it away from oppressive theocracy to what the West would describe as pluralism. He NEVER EXPECTED to win the election. He campaigned simply to get the national discussion moving about his ideas. But win he did. The cabinet he put in place was comprised of absolutely brilliant people. But they too were of the ‘academic/theory’ bent, ‘elitists vs. populists’. So why did his reformist agenda fail? My dinner companion was blunt. “Theocratic thugs”. There was an assasination attempt on a cabinet member that left him w/permanent brain damage and it went downhill from there. Many in his gov’t wanted to strike the mullahs and strike hard but Khatami was afraid it would tear the country apart “he didn’t trust the strength of the social fabric”. Also, I asked everyone what they thought Khatami wanted to accomplish during his visit. Unanimously, they all thought he wanted to show Americans that dialogue w/Iran was a real possibilty. After dinner was cleared, CAIR’s president introduced everyone on the dias. Including him and Khatami, there was the head of the Iranian/American cultural organization, the translator, the VP of CAIR, the mufti of Washington DC and - the real jaw dropper - the ambassador to the US from Sudan. (Also in the audience was the ambassador from Uzbekistan - go figure). There was a reading from the Koran and then Khatami spoke. It was sometimes difficult to catch when he spoke simultaneously w/the translator (who we listened to via the headset), and sometimes either he lost the translator or the translator decided “no way am I sayin’ this” because there were blocks of silence from him. At any rate, the first part could have been a Sunday sermon. He spoke about the commonalites of the Abrahamic faiths. He spoke about how all human life - not just Muslim life - is eternal and not just of this world. I liked it. Then it got political a bit. (And this is the part where there were blocks of silence from the translator.) He started talking about Islamophobia and democracy. And that’s where I hit my limit. I said good night to my dinner companions and walked out. But one thing above all stood out when Khatami was speaking (I don’t know if it was Arabic or Persian). Apparently his language has no equivalent for the English word because he always said the word in English. Democracy. All in all, a fascinating evening. |
| Posted by:Glenmore |
| #5 All you need to know about the dems is that the Islamists want them elected. |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-09-09 21:14 |
| #4 Maybe he does have hopes of meeting Bush Administration people The only "administration people" I want Khatami to meet is a wetwork team. Bush must be brain dead to have this maggot on American soil while our nation mourns the 9-11 atrocity. Having Khatami in the national cathedral is like Israel inviting David Duke to Tel Aviv for an address during observance of the Shoah. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-09-09 18:53 |
| #3 Interesting that Khatami blew off a meeting with Carter. Maybe he does have hopes of meeting Bush Administration people, and doesn't want to antagonize them. |
| Posted by: Grunter 2006-09-09 17:20 |
| #2 Three words: Target Rich Environment |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-09-09 17:01 |
| #1 And her last, if CAIR has any say. She's been outted, now, as it would be easy for anyone there to ID her from this piece and identifying herself as an "LGF operative" seals the deal. Sounds like she wants it to be her last, lol. Thanks, "grayp" - and Glenmore. Very interesting stuff. I consider Khatami, commonly called a "moderate", to be a lesser evil among incredible evils. He is beyond the pale, no matter how relatively benign he is compared to the Khomeini or Ahmadinejad types. He should have been barred from the US, period. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-09-09 16:26 |