Muslims Upset by Bush's
Remarks
By Louis Sahagun
Los Angeles, CA: President Bush
was widely criticized by Muslim leaders Thursday for saying
that the breakup of an alleged plot to blow up airliners over
the Atlantic Ocean was a triumph in the "war against
Islamic fascists."
Muslims, already resentful of the scrutiny they have been
under since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, said the politically
charged phrase unfairly connected one of the world's great
religions with Nazism and totalitarianism — and fueled
hostility against Islam and Muslims in America.
They said it also contradicted Bush's earlier statements that
Islam was a religion of peace.
"There's nothing Islamic about fascism," said Edina
Lekovic, communications director for the Muslim Public Affairs
Council in Los Angeles. "Suggesting there is only over-politicizes
things in a way that does not accurately describe the criminal
adversaries we face at the moment."
She added: "It would have been far more accurate had
he linked the situation to a segment of people rather than
an entire faith, along the lines of, say, radical Muslim fascists."
Dr Muzammil Siddiqi, director of the Islamic Society of Orange
County, based in Garden Grove, agreed. "He should be
very sensitive about such things so that people do not misunderstand
any faith, let alone one of the largest faiths of mankind,"
Siddiqi said. "I don't think his advisors are giving
the right advice."
It's not the first time Bush has angered Muslims with his
remarks. Shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, he referred to
the global war on terrorism as a crusade, a term that connotes
Christian attacks on Islam in the Middle Ages.
Over the last five years, administration
officials and conservative talk-show hosts have frequently
referred to Al Qaeda, terrorists and Iraqi insurgents as "Islamo-fascists."
Muslims say the administration
is trying to convince Americans that they have the moral high
ground in the fight against terrorism.
In a letter to Bush, Parvez
Ahmed, board chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
in Washington, wrote, "The use of ill-defined hot-button
terms such as 'Islamic fascists,' 'militant jihadism,' 'Islamic
radicalism' or 'totalitarian Islamic empire' harms our nation's
image and interests worldwide, particularly in the Islamic
world." (Courtesy Los Angeles Times)
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-na-fascist11aug11,1,7296631.story
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