Excerpt:
America's largest Islamic civil liberties group on Wednesday defended Sen. Barack Obama after the Democratic presidential candidate's Muslim-outreach coordinator resigned because of a brief association with a suspected Muslim extremist.
"Muslim bashers play a 'six degrees of separation' game of guilt by association with any Muslim who dares to engage in positive social or political activism," said Ahmed Rehab, executive director for the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
The Muslim group's defense came two days after Chicago lawyer Mazen Asbahi, who was appointed national coordinator for Muslim-American affairs by the Obama campaign on July 26, stepped down.
Questions had arisen about Mr. Asbahi's connection to Jamal Said, the imam at an Islamic fundamentalist-controlled mosque in Illinois. In 2000, Mr. Asbahi served with Mr. Said on the board of Allied Assets Advisors Fund, a Delaware-registered trust.