Source: Detroit Free Press
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060509/NEWS05/605090415/1007
On May 9, 2006 the Detroit Free Press reported, "On a visit sponsored by the U.S. State Department, about a dozen Muslim leaders from Africa were in Michigan on Monday to learn about Islam in America. While they praised the U.S. government's treatment of Muslims inside the country, they were less enthusiastic about how it treats Muslims elsewhere, criticizing the White House for how it deals with Muslims in Iraq, the Palestinian territories and Africa. 'America's population is good,' Abdel-Madjid Mahamat Amine, a Muslim leader from Chad, said through a translator. 'But its foreign policies have caused America to be seen as having an ill spirit.' Most of those on the visit, part of a State Department program to improve relations between the United States and foreign countries, were Muslim leaders from countries in the western part of Africa. The group visited the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn and then the Muslim Center in Detroit, where they discussed how Islam is practiced in the United States. Several said they were impressed with America's commitment to freedom of religion. 'We have noticed there is ... freedom to practice your faith,' Mahamat Amine said. At the Muslim Center, the group toured the mosque, had lunch and spoke with center members about a range of subjects, from politics to African-American Muslims. The group has been to Washington, D.C., and will next visit Santa Fe, N.M., and Seattle, before heading home."