President Bush met yesterday with Sada Cumber, the first US envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
(Ron Edmonds/Associated Press)
WASHINGTON - President Bush, acknowledging that the United States needs to burnish its image in the Islamic world, named a Texas entrepreneur as liaison to The Organization of the Islamic Conference.
Sada Cumber, a Muslim, is the first US special envoy to the intergovernmental organization, which represents more than 50 Islamic states and promotes Muslim solidarity in social and political affairs.
Bush said the United States is misunderstood and that Cumber's mission is to explain to the Islamic world that America "is a friend of freedom" and that the United States values the freedom of religion.
"Now, a lot of people love America, don't get me wrong," Bush said in the Oval Office, where he met with Cumber.
"After all, there's a lot of people trying to come here because of what we stand for.
"But we've got work to do in certain areas."
Bush's new envoy has founded six companies in the past 25 years and is chairman of SozoTek Inc., a global imaging technology company in Austin.
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