Krauthammer Bashes Obama's Infantile NASA Muslim Outreach Program


NASA Chief Revealed Muslim Outreach Plan to Al Jazeera Before Congress
FOX NEWS: NASA Administrator Charles Bolden revealed his plans to improve relations between America's space exploration agency and the Muslim world to Al Jazeera before Congress, the Washington Examiner reported.

Bolden called a couple of lawmakers with the news on June 28, after his interview with the Middle East news organization but before it aired, the newspaper reported.

"He ran down some of the things from the president's new space policy, and mentioned outreach to Muslims," Rep. Pete Olson, the top Republican on the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics recalled to the newspaper. "That stunned me. I didn't believe it."

Bolden's interview with Al Jazeera ignited a firestorm of controversy that has gone largely unreported by major news outlets. Michael Griffin, the NASA administrator during the latter half of the Bush administration told FoxNews.com that he believes the Muslim outreach plan is "deeply flawed."

"NASA ... represents the best of America. Its purpose is not to inspire Muslims or any other cultural entity," he said.

Bolden sat down with Al Jazeera's Imran Garda on June 17 during a Middle East trip to mark the one-year anniversary since Obama delivered an address to Muslim nations in Cairo, a NASA spokesman told the newspaper.

The interview aired June 30 after the Obama space plan was unveiled and members of Congress were briefed. >>> FoxNews.com | Friday, July 09, 2010

Barack Obama on Middle East Mission

THE JERUSALEM POST: Obama Starts Outreach Bid in S. Arabia

President Barack Obama began his latest bid to repair ties with the Muslim world on Wednesday by seeking the counsel of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's two holiest sites in Mecca and Medina.

"The United States and Saudi Arabia have a long history of friendship. We have a strategic relationship," Obama said as he visited the monarch's desert horse farm. The US president called Abdullah wise and gracious, adding: "I am confident that working together that the United States and Saudi Arabia can make progress on a whole host of issues of mutual interest."

In turn, Abdullah expressed his "best wishes to the friendly American people who are represented by a distinguished man who deserves to be in this position."

Meanwhile, according to a report in the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi,
Obama intended to appeal to the Saudi leadership to open an interest office in Tel Aviv as a goodwill gesture towards Israel that would signify the beginning of normalizing relations between Jerusalem and Riyadh.

According to the report, the office would allow Israelis to apply for visas to visit Saudi Arabia as tourists and allow El Al aircraft to fly through Saudi air space.

There are indications that the Saudis will not accede to proposed gestures, but rather insist that Israel first make confidence-building measures, such as dismantling West Bank settlements or committing to a two-state solution, said the paper.

It is known that Israel has trade relations with Saudi Arabia, but this is a sensitive issue that is often kept quiet by both parties.
According to the Manufacturers Association of Israel, Israeli exports to Saudi Arabia amounted to around $33,000 in the first quarter of 2009.

In addition, every year, hundreds of Israeli Muslims head to Saudi Arabia to participate in the Hajj, the main annual pilgrimage to Mecca. They usually travel through Jordan where they are given temporary Jordanian documents, but the Saudi authorities are well aware that these tourists are Israeli and they turn a blind eye to the fact that they are citizens of Israel.

As the creator of the Arab Initiative, Saudi Arabia plays an important role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The plan was launched in 2002 as the Saudi Peace Plan and relaunched in 2007 under the title, the Arab Initiative. At least two points of the plan - making Jerusalem the capital of a Palestinian state and acknowledging the "right of return" for Arabs who fled Israel in 1948 and their descendants - are unacceptable to Israel.

The Obama administration has been seeking Arab acceptance to modify the plan in order to make it more palatable to Israel, even though the Arab League has said the plan is not subject to changes. >>> By AP and the Media Line | Wednesday, June 03, 2009