Andrew McCarthy posted an article in the National Review Online today based on a story published in the Hindu which states that the Obama Administration has chosen Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi to mediate negotiations between the United States and the Taliban. Even if you ignore the concept of negotiating with the Taliban, there are some serious problems with this arrangement.

These are a few of the things in Sheikh al-Qaradawi’s past that make him a less than idea moderator. In 2003, he issued a fatwa calling for the killing of American troops in Iraq. He maintains that Islam “will conquer Europe [and] will conquer America.” He urges the destruction of Israel.

The article lists some of his ideas:

Thus does Sheikh Qaradawi champion Hamas, mass-murder attacks, and suicide bombings. “They are not suicide operations,” he brays. “These are heroic martyrdom operations.” Indeed, he elaborates, “The martyr operations is [sic] the greatest of all sorts of jihad in the cause of Allah.”

…Qaradawi uses his al-Jazeera platform to preach this message to the Muslim masses. As the Middle East Media Research Institute and Robert Spencer document, in one memorable Friday “sermon” broadcast in 2009, he prayed that Allah would kill all Jews: “Oh Allah, take this oppressive, Jewish, Zionist band of people. Oh Allah, do not spare a single one of them. Oh Allah, count their numbers and kill them, down to the very last one.” He added that throughout history, Allah had imposed upon Jews “people who would punish them for their corruption. The last punishment was carried out by Adolph Hitler.”

There is a concept in Sharia Law called taqiyya. Loosely translated, this term means that it is acceptable to lie to an infidel in order to advance the cause of Islam. The concept is based on Quran 3:28 and 16:106 and other Islamic literature (my reference is SHARIAH, THE THREAT TO AMERICA, AN EXERCISE IN COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS, REPORT OF TEAM B II, published by the Center for Security Policy).

I reported yesterday (rightwinggranny.com) on the discussions to release some terrorist leaders from Guantanamo to Afghanistan as part of the peace discussions. What we are seeing here is the Obama Administration’s desperation to declare peace (and American troop withdrawal) in Afghanistan before the 2012 election. Unfortunately, because of the way they are going about it, all they are doing is setting up a government which includes the Taliban and will be little different from the one that gave us the events of 9/11.