In the months before the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, a Dearborn cleric emerged as one of the leading public voices in support of the push to topple the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Husham Al-Husainy is a well-known Iraqi-American imam in Michigan, overseeing the Karbalaa Islamic Education Center in Dearborn. Al-Husainy was among a swath of Muslim voters in Michigan who ...