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New York Times columnist David Brooks recently wrote, "The reason we have a democracy is that no one side is right all the time. The only people who are dangerous are those who can't admit, even to themselves, that obvious fact." Aside from the glaring error in his declaration that we live in a democracy (the United States is actually a Democratic Republic, not a democracy) his assertion is spot on. In light of the logic in Mr. Brook's statement, it would seem that the woman slated to be Barack Obama's "Muslim liaison" is dangerous, especially to women.

While Barack Obama was lecturing tens of thousands of Germans during his "fact-finding tour" - interesting that he declared he was going to the Middle East and Europe to "listen" and ends up pontificating - his campaign created the position of "Muslim Liaison;" a position meant to serve as a conduit between his campaign and the Muslim community. (web site) Presumably, this position was created because his campaign realized that their Islamophobia (he has yet to address a Muslim forum or talk at a Mosque) was incredibly hypocritical and served to disenfranchise and discriminate against the American-Muslim community.

The likely candidate for this position is Hiam Nawas, a Jordanian-American who served in a similar capacity (web site) for the ill-fated 2004 presidential campaign of aspiring politician Wesley Clark (interestingly, for someone who served in a recent presidential campaign the Internet is stunningly devoid of any substantial biographical information on Ms. Nawas).

One of the things we do know about Ms. Nawas is that she has a fairly nonchalant and cavalier attitude regarding the plight of women in the Islamic culture.

In 2005, Nawas wrote that the Bush Administration should "nuance" its approach toward addressing the cruelty and barbarity women face in the Islamic culture:

"We need to recognize that the social structure in the Muslim world is very different from America's...American women need to understand that what is best for them is not necessarily what is best for Muslim women. Advocacy of women's rights in the Muslim world must show sensitivity to local political realities."

Anyone who has spent even the smallest amount of time researching the plight of women in Islamic society should be stunned, not only by the depth of Nawas' appeasement to the totalitarian and despotic attitudes toward women in Islamic society, but for the fact that a presidential candidate would be so callow as to find someone - let alone a woman - possessing Nawas' attitude acceptable to serve as a liaison to any plurality.

As I outlined in a prior article, Women in Islam: Suffering the Barbary of an Ideology, (web site) the treatment of women in Islamic society can only be defined as barbaric. While there are some locations throughout the Muslim World that are making strides toward rectifying this situation - Saudi Arabia is allowing women to drive now - this is overwhelmingly the exception rather than the rule.

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