Posted on 11/05/2009 8:54:48 PM PST by Saije
Fearing that a gunman who killed 11 people at a military facility in Texas may have been Muslim, US Islamic groups were bracing themselves for a public backlash against the faith today.
Soon after Pentagon officials named one of the shooters at the Fort Hood facility as Nidal Malik Hasan, Islamic groups rallied to condemn an act President Obama had earlier described as a "horrific outburst of violence".
"The guy's name is a Muslim name," Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) told AFP, expressing fears about damage to inter-faith relations, already strained by the September 11 attacks, and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In a statement, CAIR condemned the shootings as a "cowardly attack" adding that "no political or religious ideology could ever justify or excuse such wanton and indiscriminate violence.***
Qaseem Ali Uqdah, who was a Marine for 21-years before becoming the Executive Director at American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Council, now fears a "witch-hunt" like that which followed September 11, 2001.
"This is a criminal act and we have to treat it like a criminal act, not something to do with religion" he told AFP.
For the estimated 3500 Muslims in the US armed forces, Uqdah said there could be some fallout from the attack.
"What we don't need is people downrange sitting in foxholes (in Afghanistan or Iraq) questioning if you are a Christian, if you are a Muslim or if you are a Jew... that is not what we need as a nation.
"We need to fight the war on terror together," he added.
In a Pew survey published last September, 38 per cent of respondents said that Islam encouraged violence more than other religions.
Fifty-eight per cent said there was a lot of discrimination against Muslims in the United States.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalpost.com ...
It’s not his Muslim name but his Muslim religion that drives him to commit atrocities.
Maybe they should become Christians.
Everyone does their best to ignore the 8000 pound elephant in the room
Well they did declare war on us.
There wasn't a "public backlash" against Muslims after 9/11 (except for that unfortunate Sikh murdered by a knuckledragging moron). Doubt there will be a "public backlash" tomorrow.
“...expressing fears about damage to inter-faith relations, already strained by the September 11 attacks, and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
...not to mention calling Christians and Jews “apes” and “pigs,” and having a “holy book” that urges Islam’s adherents to kill the “infidels” who do not believe Mohammed was a greater prophet than Moses and Jesus.
I can’t imagine why those “inter-faith relations” aren’t going well, Ibrahim.
Sun rises in the east. Sun sets in west. Muslim commits act of savagery. Reporter writes story about Muslims fearing backlash. Yawn.
The shooter’s father was born in ‘Palestine’ in 1946. Lovely. Yet more American blood on their hands. Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. U.S. Ambassador in Khartoum in 1973. Leon Klinghoffer in 1986.
>>”What we don’t need is people downrange sitting in foxholes (in Afghanistan or Iraq) questioning if you are a Christian, if you are a Muslim or if you are a Jew... that is not what we need as a nation.”
Well..I’m sure the Jew and the Christian wont go nuts and attempt to shoot me while in the foxhole. However, the “other” religion of so-called “peace”..
Here we go again...we’re the victims boohoo.
Unless they do, they have no business in the U.S. military, intelligence services, or FBI.
B-o-o. H-o-o.
Of course it is. Muslims are now the victims.
More whining about a mythical anti-muslim backlash. Pretty tasteless how this comes out just hours after another muslim slaughter of innocents.
“The guy’s name is a Muslim name, . . .”
They are right. This proves nothing. Just last century, there was a quaker guy named “Mohammed.”
When your “god” is Satan and your #1 dude is a pedophile and your religion is responsible for 90% of all wars in the world, why would you be worried?
Don't worry, the President will be out to apologize to you for any inconvenience before a joint session of Congress first thing in the morning. There will also be mandatory Islamic Diversity and Sensitivity Orientation (ISDIVSOR) for all newly entering servicepersons to make sure no Religion of PeaceTM adherents are driven to kill twelve people by meanies in the US military again.
A much overdue backlash by Americans would be a welcome sight.
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