Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s request for investigations into several ties between the U.S. government and the radical Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood seems to have struck a nerve.
Bachmann, along with four other U.S. Representatives, have requested, in a series of letters sent from the five U.S. representatives, that several key issues be explored. Among those concerns mentioned is the connection between the family of Huma Abedin, Deputy Chief of Staff to Hillary Clinton, and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Central to the questions with Abedin, and the others, is first, a fact issue: Do these people in fact have ties, primary or through friends or relatives, to radical Islamist groups?
Second is whether, if indeed the concerns are proved accurate, we should be concerned as to their proximity and influence on United States foreign policy.
Senator John McCain was one of the first to express outrage at the suggestion that Huma Abadin’s family ties–her father, brother, and mother are involved with the Islamist group–would warrant investigation.
Ed Rollins, Bachmann’s former campaign chief, piled on, detailing his disgust at Bachmann’s queries in a piece entitled “Shame on You, Michele Bachmann”:
I have to say that Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s outrageous and false charges against a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin reaches that threshold.Her unsubstantiated charge against Abedin, a widely respected top aide to Secretary Hillary Clinton, accusing her of some sort of far-fetched connection to the Muslim brotherhood, is extreme and dishonest.Having worked for Congressman Bachman’s campaign for president, I am fully aware that she sometimes has difficulty with her facts, but this is downright vicious and reaches the late Senator Joe McCarthy level.
Josh Robin of Foreign Policy defended Abedin’s mother, Dr. Saleha Abedin:
In fact, Saleha Abedin is a leading voice on women’s rights in the Muslim world and is a member of dozens of organizations. Her main job is as the director of the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs at the Global Peace Initiative of Women, an organization that promotes dialogue and cooperation among women of various religions.
The fact is, Dr. Abedin does have strong ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, and has in fact expressed opinions that, if Robin considered them, might change his view that she is a “leading voice on women’s rights.”
Dr. Abedin has led the International Islamic Committee for Woman and Child for several years, which (via google translator) expresses radical Islamist opinions on its site.
Take, for example, female genital mutilation (FGM). On the website for the organization that Dr. Abedin runs, the opinion on laws prohibiting female genital mutilation is presented (note, google translation from Arabic). First the given law is presented, and then Dr. Abedin’s group’s reaction to it follows. In this case, that the “criminalization of female genital mutilation (FGM), clashed [with] and [is] completely incompatible with Islamic law”:
Article 116 bis (b) in the Children’s Act amended: “Without prejudice to any severer penalty provided for in other law shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than three months and not exceeding two years or a fine of not less than one thousand pounds and not exceeding five thousand pounds each of conducted or engaged in the conduct of a female circumcision. “D / Sheikh Abdul FattahConfirmed that he personally rejected these amendments fully, especially the item on the rhythm of punishment including his daughter circumcised, either the father or the mother or the doctor; may not be criminalized or prohibition of origin is permissible in Islam.International Islamic Committee for Women and ChildrenThe criminalization of female genital mutilation (FGM), clashed and completely incompatible with Islamic law, which did not provide for the prohibition, as Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi is one of the drafters of the Charter, where he says:”Juristic evidence and consensus on the inevitability of medical male circumcision only, while scholars differed in the female genital mutilation did not collect the mustahabb but they differed between being a duty or honor or desirable)
Dr. Abedin’s organization also rejects laws prohibiting child marriage, saying that age requirements for marriage “crash the provisions of Islamic law”:
Article 7 bis (d):May not be documented marriage contract is not a gender-eight ten full calendar years, and required documentation to be a medical examination for those wishing to marry to check themselves free of the diseases that affect the lives or health of both of them or the health of their offspring, informing them about the outcome of this examination, shall be determined by these diseases and screening procedures, types and licensees by a decision of the Minister of Health in agreement with the Minister of Justice.Violation of the provisions of the preceding paragraph, imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months and a fine of not less than five hundred pounds and not exceeding one thousand pounds or either penalty.Opinion of the Committee jurisprudence in the Islamic Research Academy:Article (7) bis (d) after the study:This article is not approved by the Commission; they crash the provisions of Islamic law, which authorizes the marriage before that age; The medical examination is not a condition of marriage to be valid.
These are just two examples of the information contained on Huma Abedin’s mother’s website.
Is this reason enough to have concerns about the influence her daughter, Huma Abedin, might have as the closest aide to our Secretary of State? That is up to the American public, but at the very least we can see that simple investigations turn up information that might lead a journalist like Robin to reconsider his pronouncement.
In the meantime, the attacks on Michele Bachmann reveal their time-worn tactic to attack the messenger, distract from the facts, and throw in Joe McCarthy for good measure. Bachmann has produced facts to back up all her requested investigations; it is up to the American people to demand their representatives back her up and the facts become known.
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