In case you are wondering just what sort of organization President Bush is dispatching a special envoy to, you can get a fairly good idea from the group’s Human Rights Declaration:

ARTICLE 24:

All the rights and freedoms stipulated in this Declaration are subject to the Islamic Shari’ah.

ARTICLE 25:

The Islamic Shari’ah is the only source of reference for the explanation or clarification of any of the articles of this Declaration.

In other words there are no human rights outside of Shari’ah law. A law intepreted by unelected religious authorities of a 7th century text which claims to be the unalterable word of God. The OIC wrote their Human Rights Declaration in 1990. Of course there have been many changes in the Muslim world in the past 15 years. So perhaps a more recent declaration should be examined. From the December 7th 2005 Third Session of the Extraordinary Islamic Summit Conference Makkah Al- Murkarramah Declaration:

At this stage, we are consequently called upon to take a pause for a sincere and firm reflection on reforming the Ummah, which is a process that starts with reforming the self by rallying round a common stand based on Almighty Allah’s Holy Quran and the Noble Tradition of His Prophet (PBUH). This reform process should then naturally end in a staunch counteraction of any miscreants who would wantonly work evil sedition, who would misguide and mislead, and would distort the loftiest tenets of our Islamic faith enshrined in its intrinsic call for love, peace, harmony, and the civilized way out. How can they speak and act for such perverted ideas entrenched as they are in ignorance, isolationism, hatred, and blood-letting?

Sounds good right? These must be moderate Muslims looking to exclude the extremists from the Religion of Peace. Maybe not. From the same document:

To Almighty Allah we pray that He may guide us onto the right path, crown our endeavors with success, and bless our lives with abundant prosperity.

“Allah has promised those who believe among you and who have done good deeds that He will surely empower them in the earth just as He did with their predecessors and that He will surely establish for them (therein) their religion which He has preferred for them and that He will surely substitute for them, after their fear, security (for) they worship Me, not associating anything with Me. But whoever disbelieves after that—then those indeed are the evil doers.” (Al-Nour 53, True are the Words of Allah).

So just who are the miscreants the OIC seeks to oppose? The Islamist terrorists threatening Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Israel? No, it’s the disbelievers who are the evil doers, which includes you, me, and President Bush.  This is the group to which President Bush is dispatching a Special Envoy to hear their concerns? From the White House Fact Sheet following the Speech this morning:

The Special Envoy Will Represent America’s Views And Values And Work To Demonstrate To The Wider Islamic World Our Interest In Respectful Dialogue And Continued Friendship. The Envoy will maintain formal contact with the OIC Secretariat, the Secretary General, the chairing country, plus other member countries, to follow OIC affairs and activities, understand the views of OIC members and leaders, seek ways for the U.S. and the OIC to cooperate, and seek to promote U.S. views on important policy matters that may come before the OIC.

Will the Special Envoy promote the idea that human rights are not bound by backwards 7th century judicial rulings? That the first duty and alleigance of Muslims must be to their nation and its constitution, and not to some hypothetical Ummah? I’m not hopeful.  The Organization of Islamic Conferences is the Pan-Islamist cover group par excellence. President Bush will find a Mermaid riding on a unicorn over a rainbow before he finds a moderate Muslim at the OIC.