Here's the headline story:
"President Obama took office in January 2009 eager to speak to Muslims around the world on behalf of Americans, looking to reset a relationship poisoned by the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Seven years later, Obama makes his first visit to a U.S. mosque on Wednesday, eager to speak to America on behalf of its Muslim citizens, looking to counter what the White House describes as poisonous election-year rhetoric from Republicans.
“We have seen an alarming willingness on the part of some Republicans to try to marginalize law-abiding, patriotic Muslim Americans, and it is offensive,†White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday. “We have seen a willingness on the part of leading Republican presidential candidates to try to appeal to people’s fears and anxieties.â€
White House aides say Obama won’t call out any Republicans by name during his visit to the Islamic Center of Baltimore mosque. But they privately say that the spark for the president’s visit was Trump’s call to halt Muslim immigration to the United States, a proposal that drew condemnation from some — but not all — of the bombastic billionaire’s rivals to be the Republican standard-bearer in 2016, and won considerable support in Congress. Obama’s advisers also bristle at charges from some in the GOP that Islam is inherently prone to violence. And administration officials worry that coverage overseas of Trump’s remarks could fuel what one called a “false impression that we are at war with Islam.†Republicans have often countered that Obama’s refusal to brand the enemy “Islamic extremists†is a nod to politically correct sensibilities that shows he does not take the threat seriously."
more
https://www.yahoo.com/politics/obama-borrows-from-bush-in-first-visit-to-us-220904813.html______________________________________
Here's the back story:
"Watch: Muslim Official DESTROYS Obama With 1 Sentence For Visiting Controversial Mosque
Barack Obama is slated to make the first visit of his presidency to a U.S. mosque on Wednesday, but the one he has chosen is stirring controversy, due to its once leader’s links to Muslim extremism and his claim that suicide bombings are justified at times.
The former imam of the Islamic Society of Baltimore, Mohamad Adam El-Sheikh, not only has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, but to a northern Virginia mosque where radical Anwar al-Awlaki used to preach.
Al-Awlaki was an American who joined al Qaeda and released several propaganda recruiting videos for the terrorist organization. He also became a top al Qaeda operative, who was reportedly killed by an American drone strike in Yemen in 2011.
“As a Muslim American I’m just insulted, this is disgraceful that this is one of the mosques — or the mosque — that he’s chosen to visit,†Zuhdi Jasser, of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, told Fox News on Sunday. “This mosque is very concerning.â€
El-Sheikh was head over the Baltimore mosque from 1983-1989 and 1994-2003, Fox News reported. “A member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan, he had moved to the U.S. in 1978 and went on to receive several advanced law degrees as he became involved in the religious community,†according to the news outlet.
While in Baltimore, El-Sheikh also served as regional director of the Islamic American Relief Agency, whose parent organization has been cited by the Treasury Department for connections to al Qaeda and the Taliban.
The imam later became head of the Dar Al Hijrah Center in Falls Church in Northern Virginia. Al-Awaki gave fiery messages in that same mosque only months before El-Sheikh’s arrival in 2003.
The Washington Post reported that El-Sheikh stated that same year that Islamic law allows for suicide bombings in some instances, “if certain Muslims are to be cornered where they cannot defend themselves, except through these kinds of means, and their local religious leaders issued fatwas to permit that, then it becomes acceptable as an exceptional rule, but should not be taken as a principle.â€
“Dar Al-Hijrah, which is located right outside Washington, D.C., is connected to several high-profile Islamic terrorists who prayed there, including Major Nidal Hassan – the Ft. Hood massacre jihadi, two September 11 hijackers, and an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing,†Breitbart reported."
more
http://beforeitsnews.com/blogging-citizen-journalism/2016/02/watch-muslim-official-destroys-obama-with-1-sentence-for-visiting-controversial-mosque-2529602.html