Trent Franks: “in April of this year, my office expressed a deep and sincere concern to the State Department over agreeing to the…”

“in April of this year, my office expressed a deep and sincere concern to the State Department over agreeing to the designation of Bisera Turkovic as the new Bosnian Ambassador to the United States. At that time, State was postured to recommend an agreement on this appointment. After several discussions, the State Department asked me not to go public with my concerns because there was a pending deal with the Bosnian government to send Bosnian troops to Iraq in July. In good faith, Mr. Speaker, my office agreed not to publicly raise our very grave and sincere concerns. But, Mr. Speaker, our office was surprised and profoundly disappointed when we learned this past Wednesday, after literally months, that the State Department had granted agreement on this outrageous appointment without contacting us or informing us in any way. Mr. Speaker, President Bush has repeatedly and strongly stated that in this fight against terrorism, that you are ``either with us or you are against us.'' Yet, I am beginning to wonder if our own State Department is with us. Bisera Turkovic is one of the founders of the radical Islamist Muslim SDA Party in Bosnia, a party that has had, since its foundation, strong links with al Qaeda, numerous other terrorist organizations, and even the intelligence mechanisms of Iran. In 1939, Bisera Turkovic's father, Alija Izetbegovic, started a group called the Young Muslims.…”