Shoeless George Bush by Daniel Pipes

"When Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicated the Islamic Center in Washington, D.C., in June 1957, his 500-word talk effused good will ('Civilization owes to the Islamic world some of its most important tools and achievements') even as the American president embarrassingly bumbled (Muslims in the United States, he declared, have the right to their 'own church'). Conspicuously, he included nary a word about policy.

Exactly fifty years later, standing shoeless, George W. Bush rededicated the center last week. His 1,600-word speech also praised medieval Islamic culture ('We come to express our appreciation for a faith that has enriched civilization for centuries'), but he knew a mosque from a church – and he had more on the agenda than flattery."

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