The Latest Victim

Goldblog goes to bat for Dalia Mogahed, who was recently smeared as a radical by Hannity and others for misconstrued remarks made on a TV show hosted by a member of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, an extremist Muslim group:

Well, I know Dalia Mogahed, and if she's a Muslim extremist, then I'm the King of Sweden. From  everything I can see, Dalia went on the show in her role as a pollster, and, in the conversation, stuck to her polling data.

I've heard her present the same findings she presented on British television on two separate occasions. I'm sure some people are freaked out by Dalia's appearance -- she covers her hair and dresses very traditionally, though she is not a "veiled woman" in the language of some of the more ridiculous posts on the subject -- but I know her as a devout, modest and sensible woman, someone who likes being American very much, and someone who even has -- shocking though it may seem -- Jews to her home at Ramadan (that would be moi, along with Mrs. Goldblog and several smaller Goldblogs).  Do we agree on much? Nah, especially on Middle East politics. But so what? I don't agree with this guy on everything, and I don't think he's a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir.

One key difference between American Muslims and British Muslims -- and this is a massive over-generalization, of course -- is that American Muslims seem to like their country very much. Obviously, there are pockets of Muslim extremism in America and I'm all for watching the extremists, and arresting them if needed -- but Dalia doesn't live in one of those pockets. In fact, she is quite often criticized by Muslim radicals as a "sell-out." Most recently, she was attacked for speaking at an iftar (the Ramadan break-fast meal) at the Pentagon. She's stuck in the responsible middle, in other words. Right where many thinking people find themselves these days.