RIYADH, 13 August 2006 — US President George W. Bush’s statement that the US is at war with “Islamic fascists” will deepen anti-American and anti-Western sentiments, a cross-section of expatriates contacted by Arab News said yesterday.
Reacting to the report that some Muslims in Britain were involved in the plot to blow up aircraft bound for US airports from London, the US president said: “It was a stark reminder this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation.”
Describing the US president’s remarks as “ill-conceived” and “inappropriate”, expatriates from Britain, India and Pakistan said some hypermarkets in Riyadh had already withdrawn American products from their shelves in response to the US’ anti-Islam campaign. “By linking Islam with fascism, Bush is stoking the fire of hatred against his country and his people, besides further expanding the recruitment pool of extremists,” said the expatriates.
Giving his name only as Hamza, a British expatriate, told Arab News that Bush’s remarks were racist.
“Would the term fascist also apply to the members of other communities? We never speak of Christian fascists or Jewish fascists when they are involved in acts of terror. On what ground has the US president used the term with reference to Muslims?” he asked.
Shamshad Ali Siddiqui, secretary-general of the Pakistani Investors Forum, described Bush’s remarks as highly derogatory and said everyone knows that terrorism has no religion or boundary. He called on the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to act within the framework of the action plan drawn up at the Makkah summit last year.
Under the chapter “Combating Islamophobia,” the OIC Action Plan stressed the need to counter anti-Muslim hatred through the establishment of an observatory at the OIC General Secretariat to monitor all forms of Islamophobia, issue an annual report thereon, and ensure cooperation with the relevant governmental and nongovernment organizations in order to counter the phenomenon.
The OIC’s Action Plan also called on the international community, including all governments, to ensure respect for all religions and combat their defamation. It called upon all states to enact laws to counter Islamophobia through deterrent punishment, among other measures.
In a related development, Parvez Ahmed, chairman of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said in a message sent to Bush: “You have on many occasions said Islam is a ‘religion of peace’. Today you equated the religion of peace with the ugliness of fascism. 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. It feeds the perception that the war on terror is actually a war on Islam.” (See Page 12)
In this context, Joanne, an American, said in a message to CAIR, “It is lack of knowledge by the American people that cause them to associate terrorism with Islam and to automatically be pro-Israel, regardless of the facts. I believe, Americans (by nature), are good people. It is just our lack of knowledge in religion, politics and foreign affairs that we are easily misled.”
CAIR has appealed to the people in the Middle East to make “modest monthly donations — between $25 and $200 or more” to enable it to launch an awareness campaign on Islam in the US.
