Target Rich Environment

In this case: $494,368.  Guess who’s paying for it (link):

What is the role of Islam in the Muslim world today? And can faith communities build bridges between civilizations despite extremism?

Those are two questions that will addressed Saturday by Delaware faith leaders meeting with a visiting delegation of Muslim scholars from Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

They are arriving this week to meet University of Delaware students and faculty, the World Affairs Council of Wilmington, members of Masjid Ibrahim in Newark and scholars at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia….

“People have all these monolithic notions about Islam and one of our goals is to challenge some of those assumptions through conversations with all sorts of people in the United States,” said Dr. Muqtedar Khan, associate professor of political science and international relations and director of UD’s Islamic Studies Program, and the Center for International Studies.

A noted American Muslim scholar, Khan put together the tour with a $494,368 grant from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs. The tour is called “Faith and Community: A Dialogue.”

Later this year a group of American scholars will travel to Egypt and Saudi Arabia to take part in similar activities in those countries. The exchange will repeat in 2010. And in announcing the grant last February, Khan said a documentary film is planned of the visit to the U.S.

A total of nine scholars may arrive in Delaware but Khan said he’s had trouble with U.S. visas and expects only six to seven to make the tour.

They are scholars, such as Dr. Soraya Altorki, author of “Women in Saudi Arabia: Ideology and Behavior Among” and professor of anthropology in the American University in Cairo.

Oh, that’s right, you the taxpayer are paying for Islam advocacy events! *Don’t worry, you’re only paying for 2/3- the Bank of China is giving special “you’ll pay later” financing for the other third. Your tax dollars at work, helping you to understand Islam!  Granted, the scholars mentioned appear to be moderates, but I’m curious who the ones who couldn’t get visas are. 

And speaking of women in Islam, Michelle Malkin linked to a horrifying photo essay of girls who’d been tricked into going to a “party” in Kurdish Iraq which turned out to be a group genital mutilation in the Washington Post (link).  Evidently 60% of women in Kurdish Iraq undergo “female circumcision”.  The quote that Michelle Malkin brought to light is this one: “We don’t know why we do it, but we will never stop because Islam and our elders require it.” 

Okay, so maybe I have these “monolithic notions” about Islam.  So does the Washington Post, apparently.  Say- any word from “Americans United for Separation of Church and State” on this?  Oh, forget it, it’s about mosques, not churches…