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Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company
The New York Times
June 29, 2001, Friday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section A; Page 14; Column 6; National Desk
LENGTH: 543 words
HEADLINE:
Secret Service Ousts Muslim; Others Leave White House
BYLINE:
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
BODY:
American Muslim leaders walked out of a White House meeting in protest on
Thursday after a Secret Service agent suddenly removed a Muslim student with
their group, without explanation.
The student, Abdullah Al-Arian, 20, had joined the Muslim leaders for a meeting
in the Old Executive Office Building with members of the staff of the White
House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Early in the meeting,
for which all the visitors had been given security clearances, a Secret Service
agent appeared, asked for Mr. Al-Arian and escorted him from the room.
Secret Service officials later apologized for what they said was a mistake,
but would not elaborate. The Rev. Mark Scott, deputy director of the Office of
Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, invited the group to return and resume
the meeting.
But the Muslim leaders refused and issued a statement saying,
"This incident is the latest in an unfortunate pattern of exclusion by the Bush
administration."
Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, who
was at the meeting, said:
"They want to dictate the terms to us, and we're saying nobody should tell us
who can be at the table and who cannot. We determine who should be at the table."
Mr. Al-Arian is a political science major at Duke University who is spending
the summer as an intern for Representative David E. Bonior, Democrat of
Michigan.
His father is Sami Al-Arian, a professor of computer engineering at the
University of South Florida and a pro-Palestinian organizer who has campaigned
against the government's use of secret evidence to detain political organizers
in the United States, a cause also taken up in legislation introduced by Mr.
Bonior.
The senior Mr. Al-Arian is an associate of Mazen Al-Najjar, who was detained
for three and a half years by the American government on secret evidence, never
charged, and then released by Attorney General Janet Reno late last year.
The intern, Abdullah Al-Arian, said his expulsion from the White House meeting
was a shock.
"I would really like to know why," Mr. Al-Arian said.
"I'm an American citizen. I've never been involved in any political activity
other than my new internship on Capitol Hill. I think it's a really sad day for
freedom in this country."
Last week, his father was among a group of Muslim leaders admitted to the White
House for a political briefing. But several Muslim leaders said they were
insulted at that meeting, too, when Vice President Dick Cheney did not appear,
as promised.
In the presidential campaign, Mr. Bush reached out to Muslim Americans when, in
a televised debate, he mentioned his opposition to secret evidence. He includes
mosques when he speaks of religious initiatives.
Muslim groups have been generally supportive of the president's initiative but
sought more information about it at the White House meeting.
Representative Bonior issued a statement saying:
"I am very troubled that Abdullah was forced to leave the White House with no
explanation. There have been too many instances where Muslims have been
stopped, harassed or discriminated against for no apparent reason. This happens
in airports, on our highways, and now we see it happens in the Bush White House."
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LOAD-DATE: June 29, 2001