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Reaching Out Quietly to Muslims in America

(New York Times) Andrea Elliott - The Obama administration has reached out to Arab-Americans in a sustained and widening effort that has left even skeptics surprised. Muslim and Arab-American advocates have participated in policy discussions and received briefings from top White House aides on health care legislation, foreign policy, the economy, immigration and national security. They have met privately with a senior White House adviser, Valerie Jarrett, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to discuss civil liberties concerns and counterterrorism strategy. White House officials cited several recent government actions that were influenced, in part, by the discussions. "We're being made to feel a part of that process and that there is somebody listening," said James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute in Washington. This month, Tariq Ramadan, a prominent Muslim academic, visited the U.S. for the first time in six years after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reversed a decision by the Bush administration. Clinton also cleared the way for Muslim professor Adam Habib, who had been denied entry under similar circumstances.
2010-04-19 09:30:40
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