...First, a few facts about Pathways. Pathways is part of a federally funded initiative whose aim is to create opportunities for dialogue on college campuses amongst students of different faith backgrounds to promote tolerance and inter-religious understanding...

Edina Lekovic serves as the communications director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and has been featured on various media outlets, including CNN, BBC, the History Channel, the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. She has also spoken at the United Nations as part of a seminar called "Confronting Islamophobia."...

...the Al-Talib piece to which Halper refers, which called Bin Laden a "freedom fighter," was published after Lekovic graduated from UCLA and cannot even remotely be construed as representative of her political views. Lekovic publicly stated that she "abhor[s] the sentiments expressed in the article" and was not involved in its authorship. Lekovic and MPAC have repeatedly condemned the actions of violent extremists - including Bin Laden - and publicly stated their support of the use of non-violence in political disputes.

Unfortunately, those who have chosen to make a career out of defaming and discrediting prominent Muslim activists have succeeded in linking Edina's name to extremist viewpoints, thereby implying that her entire life's work and perspectives are somehow suspect or covertly anti-American. This represents nothing but a return to a McCarthy-esque era, which promotes fear, mistrust and censorship in the American public sphere...