Nidal Hasan Was NOT An Advisor To Obama's Homeland Security Team--But These Men Are...

I read this on Arlene Kushner's blog:

I would like to thank those readers who shared with me information on Muslims of dubious or clearly inappropriate background who have been given positions in Homeland Security in the US. There are two of particular note:

Arif Alikhan was appointed by Obama several months ago to be Assistant Secretary for Policy Development at the Department of Homeland Security. Responsible for developing policy to secure the nation against terrorism, he killed an LA Police project for monitoring terrorist activities in local radical mosques. He has also referred to Hezbollah as a "liberation movement."

Kareem Shora was appointed by Obama to Homeland Security's advisory council, which directly provides advice and recommendations to the Homeland Security Secretary. He was formerly executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), which refers to jihadists as "heroes."

This is from http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2009/nov/devout-muslims-key-homeland-sec-posts and checked out.

A similar item sent to me with regard to Fort Hood terrorist Hasan turned out to not be quite accurate: According to Snopes [read here], he attended one or more meetings organized by George Washington University's Homeland Security policy institute, but was never actually an advisor to Obama's Homeland Security Team. [emphasis added]

It's important to make clear what information is verifiable and which is just plain inaccurate. According to an update on Gawker:

Daniel Kaniewski, the institute's deputy director, confirms that Hasan attended task force meetings as an audience member, and stresses that he was not a member of the task force. "All of our events are open to the public," Kaniewski says, "and when someone RSVPs we put their name in the [report] so everyone knows who was in the room." He says institute staffers recall Hasan attending at least one task force event, and that he RSVP'd for several. "We do recall him speaking at one of our events as an audience member," he says, "but none of us recall what he actually said. Generally, our events are attended by people in the homeland security community, and Hasan had a very legitimate reason to be there. He was a fellow at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences."

So the concern about Obama's advisers continues--and extends to more than just whether they have paid their taxes.

Technorati Tag: Obama and Arif Alikhan and Kareem Shora and Nidal Hasan.