Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) is persistent. For the seventh time in the last year, he’s written the State Department to ask them to resolve questions about the textbooks used at a Islamic school in Northern Virginia. Thursday’s letter comes in reaction to an Associated Press story on Thursday which states that "while the Islamic Saudi Academy deleted some of the most contentious passages from the texts, copies provided to the Associated Press show that enough sensitive material remains to fuel critics who claim the books show intolerance toward those who do not follow strict interpretations of Islam." (The school doesn’t welcome Jewish vendors, either, according to this 2008 Washington Jewish Week report.)
Wolf wants the State Department to convene an independent panel to definitively translate and interpret the textbooks.
“This issue needs to be resolved,” Wolf said in a statement. “The State Department has a role to play in this controversy and needs to help resolve the issue. If there is still a problem, let’s address it. If no, let’s report that, too. The bottom line is there needs to be resolution to this issue. It’s time to settle this.”
Here’s Wolf’s full letter: [[READMORE]]
Dear Secretary Clinton:
I write to bring to your attention an AP story which ran today about the content of textbooks being used at two Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) campuses in northern Virginia.
According to AP, "While the Islamic Saudi Academy deleted some of the most contentious passages from the texts, copies provided to the Associated Press show that enough sensitive material remains to fuel critics who claim the books show intolerance toward those who do not follow strict interpretations of Islam."
This is the seventh time I’ve written the Department about this matter in less than a year and I have yet to receive a satisfactory response. ISA’s direct link with the Saudi government is unquestioned. Under the Foreign Missions Act of 1982, the State Department is charged with overseeing all foreign missions in the United States. Continued inaction on the part ofthe department is inexcusable.
I await your response to my call for the Department to convene a panel of independent experts, including representatives of the bi-partisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, to definitively translate and interpret the textbooks and detennine exactly what is being taught at ISA.
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