September 10, 2009: The U.S. CIA is taking a lot of heat in the American Moslem community for arranging a dinner, and speech by the CIA director, for 150 prominent Arab (and Moslem in general) leaders in Michigan on September 16th. Unfortunately, this is the Moslem equivalent of Christmas Day. It’s the 27th night of Ramadan, "The Night of Power." You get the idea.
The CIA said they were aware of what the date was, and had consulted with Moslem community leaders to set the date. The intelligence agency is still trying to find out how it got the wrong information. Or did it? The date for the dinner was suggested by members of the local Michigan Moslem community, and appears to reflect the great variety of religious practice within the Islamic world. Moslems don’t like to discuss this, but this variety of practice is what the CIA may have encountered, with unfortunate results.
The CIA, like the FBI, is trying to recruit more Arabs, and Moslems in general, for work as field agents and analysts.
