Briefing Skipper: Ground Zero mosque, Lebanon, Pakistan, Moscow, Wikileaks

Posted By Josh Rogin Tuesday, August 10, 2010 - 7:39 PM Share

In which we scour the transcript of the State Department's daily presser so you don't have to. These are the highlights of Tuesday's briefing by spokesman P.J. Crowley:

Imam Faisal Rauf, the man behind the Ground Zero mosque, will be traveling on a U.S. government sponsored excursion to the Middle East, including stops in Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE. He will discuss Muslim life in America and religious tolerance," Crowley said. The trip is organized by the State Department's International Information Programs bureau and will not include any fundraising. This is his third trip with the State Department; the first one was in 2007 under the George W. Bush administration. "So we have a long-term relationship with him," said Crowley. "His work on tolerance and religious diversity is well-known, and he brings a moderate perspective to foreign audiences on what it's like to be a practicing Muslim in the United States."
Crowley defended that the State Department posted New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's impassioned defense of the mosque despite that the White House has said it should remain a local issue. "It's not normal that the federal government would get involved in what is I think a zoning issue in New York City," he said. "We are obviously supportive of religious tolerance, not only around the world but in the United States."
Crowley said the article was posted on America.gov, which is aimed at foreign audiences, rather than State.gov, which is aimed at U.S. web surfers, to avoid violating the Smith-Mundt act, which prohibits State from spreading propaganda inside American borders. "As part of our efforts to help people understand a vigorous debate that is going on, within New York and around the country, we posted Mayor Bloomberg's remarks on america.gov, which is our website that is geared primarily to helping people overseas understand views on important issues here in the country," he said. The administration still has no official position on the mosque, he added.
Crowley defended ongoing U.S. assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces, which has apparently been held up by Congressman Howard Berman, D-CA and Congresswoman Nita Lowey, D-NY because of concerns the LAF is working with Hizbollah. "We continue to believe that supporting the Lebanese government and the Lebanese army or military is in our national interest. It contributes to stability in the region," he said. A State Department official told The Cable that he expects the holds to be released after State works with Congress on the issue.
Referring to the border clash last week with Israel, Crowley added, "We have no indications that our training programs were in any way implicated in what happened." As for whether Hizbollah infiltration of the Lebanese army was a reason not to continue military support, he said, "It's not a reason to be concerned; it's a reason actually to work constructively with the Lebanese government to try to reduce the impact that a group like Hezbollah can have."
The State Department announced $20 million more in aid to Pakistan to help with the ever expanding damage caused by floods there. The floods are also affecting India and a team of embassy officials have been dispatched to the city of Leh from New Delhi to assist there. For the most recent update on what the U.S. government is doing to help, go here.
State is also helping out Russia during their heat and fire crisis, dispatching a team from the U.S. Forest Disaster Assistance Support Program, but State only gave $50,000 to Russia on that issue. State issued another travel warning Tuesday, stating that the fires "have produced hazardous levels of air pollution and caused numerous flight delays and cancellations in Moscow." Non-essential embassy staff have been given permission to leave the country.
No confirmation on the report that the U.S. is pushing other countries to open prosecutions against Wikileaks, following the disclosure of 70,000 Afghanistan war documents and threats coming from the Pentagon. "Obviously, it is something that's cropped up in different conversations that we've had. Citing one, the secretary's call last week with President Karzai, they did talk about WikiLeaks and she asked the president what his perspective on it was," Crowley said.
State Department officials also met with RIM officials yesterday afternoon to discuss the blackberry ban in the UAE, but they did not get into the specifics of their ongoing negotiations, Crowley said.

(3)

HIDE COMMENTS LOGIN OR REGISTER REPORT ABUSE

MARTY MARTEL

4:36 AM ET

August 11, 2010

Karzai asks West to destroy militant havens in Pakistan

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on 7/29/2010 asked his Western allies to destroy Islamist militant sanctuaries in neighbouring Pakistan after thousands of secret US files were leaked by WikiLeaks.

“The time has come for our international allies to know that the war against terrorism is not in Afghanistan’s homes and villages,” Karzai told a news conference in the Afghan capital Kabul.

“But rather this war is in the sanctuaries, funding centres and training places of terrorism which are outside Afghanistan.

“Whether we are able to destroy these sanctuaries or not is another question. We will try what we can... Our international allies have this ability, but the question is why they are not doing it?”

His remarks came just two days after Afghanistan's national security adviser, Rangeen Dadfar Spanta, called on the West to review policy towards Pakistan after leaked Pentagon documents pointed to Pakistani double-dealing.

Kabul has consistently accused Pakistan’s intelligence agency of supporting Taliban insurgents — including masterminding attacks against Afghan and US-led targets in the country. Islamabad denies the claims.

Kabul said information contained in documents released on whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks on 7/24/2010 backed its long-held position.

A secretive US drone war routinely targets Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked groups holed up in Pakistan’s lawless border districts with Afghanistan.

M_MILES

11:28 PM ET

August 11, 2010

No Ground Zero Mosque

Governor Paterson offers new site for mosque as compromise
Rejection of peaceful compromise great bridge building technique by Fiesal!

Iman Fiesal chooses to be insensitive to 9/11 victims and reject the N.Y. Governor compromise he also needs to replace another mosque associated with 9/11, see accompanying link.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-08-09-germany-911-mosque_N.htm

Unbelievable as it may seem to facilitate Fiesal he is given free travel courtesy of Obama and the U.S. Tax Payer; ' 'that's your dollar.' ' This must first be certified by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Fiesal is also given free publicity courtesy of Bloomberg.

Germany did not bow down to the 9/11 mosque, but the Obama administration takes the opposite approach, or was that just another tiny person in the corner? No it was a bow to Fiesal! Fiesal doesn't even call Hamas a terrorist group, even though the U.S. Law states that Hamas is a terrorist organization.

it was terrorists that did this Fiesal . . .
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5474006551011489413#

Fiesal that is a terrorist act in case you did not know.

As a citizen(s) of the U.S.A. we do not have to bow to Fiesal! Our tax dollar does not have to go to the Fiesal world tour fund either.
Stop the globetrotting Iman as he uses your tax dollar to foot the bill!
To stand against Fiesal and his world tour at your expense, visit . . .

https://www.aclj.org/Petition/Default.aspx?sc=3621&ac=1

Also contact your Congressman and State Representative; tell them what you think and tell them that your vote counts!

M_MILES

11:33 PM ET

August 11, 2010

German Mosque Used by 9/11 Attackers SHUT DOWN!

Mayor Bloomberg it seems the Germans know something you don't. . . .

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-08-09-germany-911-mosque_N.htm