It was a dinner like no other in congressional history. On a frigid night in early 1996, top government figures joined Muslim Americans in the Hart Senate Office Building for solemn prayers and a roast beef supper, the first such celebration marking the Islamic holy days of Ramadan.
The guest list was impressive: Clinton administration officials, ambassadors and Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), a prominent Jewish senator. To Abdurahman Alamoudi, the charismatic Muslim leader who organized the Feb. 13, 1996, dinner, it was a landmark in his community’s struggle for political recognition. “I was elated to be there,” Alamoudi recalled. “That was a fulfillment of part of the dream.” Today, Alamoudi sits in a green jumpsuit in the Alexandria jail, charged with accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from Libya, a U.S.-designated sponsor of terrorism. He has pleaded not guilty. Full Story
