Rashad Hussain Update-Who is Lying?

Rashad Hussain


President Obama's new choice to be ambassador to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Rashad Hussain, has been embroiled in a controversy over statements he had allegedly made at a conference about the then-on going prosecution of Sami al-Arian, a University of South Folorida professor who is serving time for providing support to a terrorist organization (Palestinian Islamic Jihad). Now it appears that Hussain has admitted to making the remarks after efforts were made to attribute them to al-Arian's daughter, who was also present at the conference.

Here are snippets of the report as quoted by the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT)based on information obtained by Politico:


"When reports surfaced last week citing a magazine account of the remarks, Hussain, through a White House spokesman said he couldn't remember making them.

....."On Friday, Politico provided quotes from a recording of the event to the White House. The recording (excerpts are available here) shows Hussain calling the terror-finance indictment of Sami Al-Arian "truly a sad commentary on our legal system. It is a travesty of justice, not just from the perspective of the allegations that are made against Dr. Al-Arian. Without passing any comment on those specific allegations or the statements [that] have been made against him, the process that has been used has been atrocious."

Did I say "had allegedly" made? I'll withdraw that, Your Honor.


Sami al-Arian (bad guy)
"Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to jail I go"

IPT continues:


"....A statement was issued shortly after the excerpts were received by the White House in which Hussain backtracked, calling his comments "ill conceived." The statement reads:

"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. 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."

Ok, so now we have cleared up who made the statements. But what about that stuff about the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs (who published the statements)deleting the damaging quotes-even though the reporter in question stood by her account?

IPT continues:


"....That's not the only reversal. The original magazine article, published by the Washington Report for Middle East Affairs (an outlet decidedly supportive of Al-Arian's case), deleted Hussain's comments from the online version of its story at least a year ago. That was five years after the fact. Yet, no one seemed to know why it happened or who asked for the change."

"....Now, Politico reports, "It was Hussain himself, he said Friday, who contacted the publication to complain about the story." He felt they were offered "without context."

Hey! That makes a lot of sense to me. Here we have Mr Rashad set up in government with his career on the ascent, and he thinks, "What if those quotes ever get out?"

I can empathize with Mr Hussain. I mean, what if someday, some president appoints me to be ambassador to Germany, my first thought is gonna be....

"Do they know about Fousesquawk? Can I delete all that stuff I wrote-I mean really delete it so it can never be found by anyone, anytime?"

"Fousesquawk? What Fousesquawk?"

But seriously, I am not comfortable with this Rashad Hussain guy. I think President Obama should withdraw this appointment. In addition, I would like to know who else, if anyone, participated in this lie.

Surely, our mainstream news media will get to the bottom of this.