Treat Muslims with Respect, Bush Says

Yahoo! News ^ | 9-17-01

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) said on Monday that American Muslims must be treated with respect after last week's attacks, saying ``the face of terror is not the true faith of Islam.''

``In our anger and emotion, our fellow Americans must treat each other with respect,'' Bush said, standing in his stocking feet in the Islamic Center of Washington, a mosque in the heart of the nation's capital.

The president said he had heard reports that some Muslim American women who veil themselves are afraid to go out, fearing they will be harassed following last Tuesday's attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon (news - web sites).

Muslim American groups have reported a surge in anti-Muslim threats, harassment and assaults since the attacks.

``Those who feel like they can intimidate our fellow citizens to take out their anger don't represent the best of America, they represent the worst of humankind and they should be ashamed of that kind of behavior,'' Bush said.

The United States suspects Muslim militants of launching the attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which killed several hundred people and have left more than 5,000 people dead or missing.

``These acts of violence against innocents violate the fundamental tenets of the Islamic faith and it's important for my fellow Americans to understand that,'' Bush said. ``The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam.''

Respecting Muslim custom, Bush, his White House aides and Secret Service agents removed their shoes before entering the mosque, which sits in a leafy neighborhood of the nation's capital surrounded by embassies.

At one point, the president quoted a translated verse from the Koran, saying: ``In the long run, evil in the extreme will be the end of those who do evil.''

Police in Dallas are investigating whether the weekend slaying of a Pakistani grocer was part of a string of backlash attacks against Muslims and Arab-Americans.

An Indian man running a gas station in Arizona was shot and killed on Saturday, prompting the Indian government to urge the United States to take steps to protect Sikhs, members of a religion based in northern India, in the United States.

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What the heck is Bush thinking? Words like this could get him called a traitor around here.

[American Soldier]

The cr*ppy, unpleasant reality is that someone does have to go and flush the traitors out of the Muslim community ... they shouldn't abuse them though. But I just wonder of the Clintonian P.C.'ified FBI is capable of thinking in terms of target demographics.

[dandelion]

NOT by most of us - the few haters/shills/diruptors who are here WILL try to make themselves look like they are many, but considering the number of Freepers out there, they are but a few.

If there are Muslim terrorist sympathizers out there, then the only way to catch them is to enlist the support of the community - NOT to kill Arab-Americans who could have helped the U.S. catch them...

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I picked up my cleaning today. The person who owns the dry cleaning business is originally from India and is a Hindu. He has flags and pro-American signs in his window. He is also scared to death for himself and his family because of possible retribution by some for the terrorist acts of Muslim extremists. I would imagine this sad story is being played out thousands of times across the country.

[HEFFERNAN2]

We will give Bin Laden et al a respectful burial. Semper Fi, Mike

[socal_parrot]

To paraphrase VP Cheney yesterday, I'd take his head on a platter today.

[El Gato]

Left to their own devices and if the rest of us don't make them hunker down into their shells, the Muslim population will smoke out the terrorists in their midst, themselves. I suspect they are already doing so. Not all of them, of course, but enough.

[Bobby777]

the Muslim population will smoke out the terrorists in their midst

umm, no offense intended, but could you provide decent examples of this? i.e. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, PLO (in their various countries), Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Togo, Algeria ... sure, bin Laden isn't a Saudi resident anymore, but ...

[krb]

I stopped by a greeting card store owned by a couple of Indians. They have flags all over the place (marked way up in price, mind you--at least supply/demand hasn't changed recently :-) and they wear American flag lapel pins because they are scared to death of other Americans thinking they are anti-US muslims.

[cmsgop]

There are some Fantastic Arab American's Out There.....!!Hard Workin, Republican Voters,......They Could Share my Foxhole anytime so to speak!

[Dale 1]

Assassin (2) A member of a secret order of Moslem fanatics who terrorize and killed Christian Crusaders.

If the Moslems want to distant themselves from the fanatic murders, they need to weed the bad ones out of their society and systematically expunge that type from their religion. Other wise, one might think they condone such activity. The ball is in their court. They like the murder and mayhem or they don't. They are a part of the problem or they or not. They need to choose and let the rest of the world know where they stand.

[agrace]

Wish I could find a couple more flags - I think my husband bought the last one in the entire metropolitan area...but since I refer to the NY metropolitan area, it's no surprise we can't find any. :) We're about 30 or so miles west of Manhattan.

I stopped by my usual gas station yesterday - NO business whatsoever, totally deserted and attended by two very wary looking guys of Middle Eastern descent. The one who pumped our gas (NJ is completely full serve) was wearing a Yankee hat, probaby quite deliberately, and smiling profusely at me. My daughter utterly charmed him like she does everyone she meets (she's 4) so I think he was a little less nervous by the time we left.

Funny though, I've been hearing about the backlash all over the country, but not much in the five boroughs.

[F.J. Mitchell]

I agree. Too many jackasses around the country are taking their frustrations out on anyone who looks like they came from the middle east. Only the dimwittedest damn fools among us will start abusing people for how they look.

"Trust but verify" as President Reagan said, is the way we must co-exist in America. Most from such ethnic groups are loyal Americans, but some are enemies of everything we stand for. If we abuse those who are loyal Americans, we are no better than Bin Laden. That doesn't mean we have to sign on to politically correct and ignore any suspicious activity we see-just that we report it to the authorities and let the experts handle it.

[Malcolm]

I can't believe that Muslims, those who are truly devoted to the Koran, are totally upset about the lost of life at WTC; their Koran commands that infidels be converted or killed. One "liberal" Pakistani woman in my office, (is non-religious, never wears a dress), insists that the Koran is the Word of G-d. I'm glad that I know this to be completely and totally false, but she has been giddy and cheerful since this happened (not too broke up about it at all). The only people from that region of the world that I would trust are those that have converted to Christianity, and I would barely trust them. I'm glad all you liberal-minded posters on here are going to assume that every devout Muslim in the US is not sympathetic to this terrorism, not a long-term terrorist plant, waiting to perform some heinous crime, and is one who holds the same basic values as a typical American. I, for one, am not that trusting. I will treat individuals with good manners and the rest, but I will never trust ANY foreigner like I do a typical person, esp Muslims who have left the Islamic Middle East to live in the Great Satan; forget it......

[D-fendr]

Well done GW. Only our enemies benefit if we make this a religious war.

[tm22721]

Last Tuesday we found out that you can lose your life giving a Muslim stranger the 'benefit of the doubt'.

Rush said today that it is OK to hate 'in self-defense'.

After Tuesday the rules have changed. It will be hard for your average man on the street to ever trust any towelheads again, whether or not they are Americans.

PC is dead.

BUMP

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I'm glad all you liberal-minded posters on here are going to assume that every devout Muslim in the US is not sympathetic to this terrorism

The "liberal-minded posters" are saying no more than President Bush and VP Cheney. And nobody said that every Muslim in the US is against this act, where did you get that from?

but I will never trust ANY foreigner like I do a typical person,

This statement kind of says it all. What the heck is a "typical person"?

[Austim]

Where was your hatred of White men when Tim Mc Vegh blew up the Fed. Building in OKC???

[socal_parrot]

Rush said today that it is OK to hate 'in self-defense'.

Rush also said that this is not a war against all Muslims.

[Dale 1]

Malcolm, We’re in agreement. My point was that after reading all the public weeping and moaning from the Muslim community in this country about how unfairly they are being treated, I have to wonder why they are allowing terrorist to live among them.

Either they eradicate their evil members or they suffer the consequence with their evil members. Their choose.

P.S. Being called a Lib really hurts! Sigh!