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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/58988/full/58988/u.s.-sends-ground-zero-imam-on-trip-to-arab-countries/ <br /><br /> <b>U.S. sends ground zero imam on trip to Arab countries</b> <br /> Thursday, August 19, 2010 | by <br /><br /><p>The State Department is sending the imam at the center of plans for a mosque near ground zero on an outreach trip to the Middle East.</p> <p>Feisal Abdul Rauf will visit Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to promote religious tolerance and discuss Muslim life in America. Rauf is behind the controversial plan to build a Muslim center near the site of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.</p> <p>According to CNN, Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs committee, and Peter King (R-N.Y.), ranking member of the Homeland Security committee, said taxpayers should not have to fund the trip, which they called “unacceptable.”</p> <p>State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said it is Rauf’s third such trip, and that it was planned before the imam developed plans for the mosque. “We have a long-term relationship with him,” Crowley told reporters. “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.”</p> <p>Crowley said the trip is one of about 1,200 similar programs. He said Rauf would not be allowed to raise funds on the trip. <em>— jta</em></p>

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