Center for Security Policy joins Muslim reform movement in formal opposition to Rashad Hussain nomination

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December 6th, 2021

Center for Security Policy Joins Muslim Reform Movement in Formal Opposition to Rashad Hussain Nomination

Washington, D.C. – The Center for Security Policy, a Washington-based national security think tank founded in 1988, formally announced today its opposition to the nomination of Rashad Hussain for the position of Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. In doing so its joins the Muslim Reform Movement, co-founded by Center Senior Fellow and President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser and other prominent Muslim reformers.

During his time in the Obama Administration as special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Hussain presided over a policy of privileging Islamist movements and governments throughout the Middle East at the expense of Muslim reform groups or traditional American allies. Hussain directly participated in the spread of false narratives about the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. Hussain’s willingness to support a U.S. policy of promoting Islamist movements in the Middle East and North Africa region, at the expense of religious minorities, is clear evidence of his unfitness for duty as Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom.

As the U.S.-based Muslim Reform Movement articulated in their opposition letter of 1 December,

While Mr. Hussain may have given lip service, in his previous positions as “Special Envoy” from the U.S. to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, in supposedly trying to protect the rights of non-Muslim minorities in the Muslim majority autocracies and theocracies that are members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, his painful silence about the dangers embodied in Islamist movements, Islamist governance and their theocratic instruments of shariah, or Islamic law, underscores why he is not a sensible choice for this position.

Center President Fred Fleitz agreed saying,

We are proud to stand with our friends in the Muslim Reform Movement in calling for the U.S. Senate to reject the Hussain nomination. The Senate should not send the message that it approves of returning to policies which promote the worst actors in the Middle East at the expense of religious minorities and Muslim reformers. President Biden’s decision to nominate Rashad Hussain for the position of Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom shows that his administration continues to pursue the failed policies of the Obama Administration in this regard.

The U.S. Senate must take seriously its advise and consent role and use the opportunity of the Hussain nomination to force a debate regarding the advisability of supporting Islamist movements in the region, as well as to demand that the Biden administration adhere to a policy that genuinely supports the freedom of religious minorities and Muslim dissidents against theocratic Islamist governments. Based on his track record, Rashad Hussain simply cannot be relied upon to carry out such a policy.

The Center for Security Policy urges that the Biden Administration immediately withdraw the Hussain nomination, or failing that, that the U.S. Senate move swiftly to reject this inappropriate nomination.

Center for Security Policy

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