Blair sends us this Washington Post article about the Secret Service’s Muslim community outreach program:

The Secret Service took responsibility yesterday for sending an Arab American waiter home from his job at a Baltimore hotel before a presidential fundraiser last week. But it said the decision resulted from confusion over his work schedule, rather than from ethnic or religious discrimination. …

Pharoan, a Syrian-born Muslim who immigrated to the United States in 1992 and became a citizen in 1996, was told to go home shortly after he arrived Friday morning at the Hyatt Regency at the Inner Harbor, where he has worked for seven years.

He had expected to help serve lunch to 550 people at a banquet at which President Bush raised $1 million for his reelection campaign. Instead, he says, he was given a few minutes to change clothes and was escorted off the premises after a manager asked him one question: “Is your name Mohamad?”

Last week, the Secret Service denied that it had requested the hotel’s management to dismiss Pharoan for the day. But a spokesman said yesterday that after further review, the Secret Service found it was responsible.

“Mr. Pharoan was dismissed when the Secret Service learned he was not among the employees that we were aware were scheduled to work that event,” said the spokesman, John Gill. …

Moreover, Pharoan said, the Hyatt Regency’s security staff told him that his name was on the list given to the Secret Service for background checks. “I was one of the employees allowed to come to work that day, and my name was checked off when I arrived,” he said. “It’s not true at all, what they say about ‘not scheduled’ or confusion.” [Emphasis added]