A State Department-sponsored exchange program to bring foreign Muslim clerics to the United States and send American clerics to Muslim communities overseas has some Middle East experts worrying that terrorist groups could use the program to slip into the country.
The State Department will award two or more grants totaling about $500,000 to groups that establish programs to "enhance understanding about the place of Islam in American society."
The new program comes at a time when anti-U.S. sentiment appears high in Muslim countries and officials fear future terrorist attacks from Muslim extremists.
"We've found in the past that this type of exchange can be very effective in breaking down stereotypes," said Stephen Hart, deputy assistant secretary for professional exchanges in State's Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs.
But some Middle East experts, including Daniel Pipes, director of the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum, worry the program could be used by groups hostile to U.S. interests. He points to Muslim extremist groups that have used charitable and educational organiza- tions as cover for money laundering and other illegal activities.
"There is a real danger that this will fall in the wrong hands, and the State Department will give this program to the same sort of people that the government has turned to over and over again -- people in the Muslim leadership who are more on [Osama] bin Laden's side than ours," Pipes said.
Hedieh Mirahmadi of the Washington-based Islamic Supreme Council of America said her group has some interest in participating, but also some worries.
"If we want them to come and enjoy the American experience, we have to be careful about who is bringing them and what they are learning," Mirahmadi said.
Hart said State is working with other federal agencies in a "robust process" of checking out the groups and individuals involved.
"The embassies are intimately involved working with the NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] in a formal review of applicants for visas," Hart said.
Anti-U.S. sentiment runs through much of the Muslim world. According to a poll released in February by the Gallup organization, residents of nine predominately Muslim nations had an unfavorable opinion of the United States by a margin of two to one. Some statisticians disputed the claim, pointing out problems with the survey.
But the Gallup poll results are consistent with the State Department's internal polling, according to Charlotte Beers, the department's undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs.
"It is imperative that we reach out, inform, educate and persuade these populations that we are a society and a country that is based on certain shared values, values that resonate with the Muslim world, such as peace, acceptance, tolerance and love of family," Beers told a Senate panel in April.
Some leaders of U.S. Muslim groups believe the potential benefits of the exchange program make it worthwhile.
Radwan Masmoudi, executive director of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, said the foreign imams could learn "that Islam is growing and prospering in America. . . . There is no problem or conflict between Islam and the U.S."
"[W]e can have a dialogue about how we can live as Muslims in the 21st century and in modern society," said Masmoudi, whose Burtonsville, Md., group is interested in participating. "Our nation's own imams and scholars have a very interesting experience and can bring some very fruitful viewpoints."
But the program's focus on religious leaders concerns the Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
"There's a significant constitutional issue when you're paying to have clergy of any kind brought to this country or sent from this country to anywhere else," said Barry Lynn, executive director of the advocacy group. "Clergy swaps ought to be funded solely by private dollars, not taxpayer funds."