Absentminded bigotry

Anti-Muslim comments allegedly made by US Attorney-General John Ashcroft have caused an uproar in the Arab and Muslim American community, writes Anayat Durrani
Major Arab and Muslim groups have strongly criticised the anti-Muslim remarks allegedly made by United States Attorney General John Ashcroft during a 9 November radio interview with conservative Christian syndicated columnist and radio personality Cal Thomas. Ashcroft was quoted as having said: "Islam is a religion in which God requires you to send your son to die for him. Christianity is a faith in which God sends his son to die for you." Thomas's short article, "Men of Faith in Washington, DC Need Our Prayers," which repeats this quote and praises Ashcroft for his statement, was carried by an online religious Web site, crosswalk.com, in December.
Arab-American and Muslim groups have since demanded Ashcroft either clarify his statements or be removed from office.
The New York Daily News first reported on the story. When asked about the quote, Thomas, who has remarked that he thought the quote was "profound," told the Daily News, "I wrote it down accurately and repeated it to make sure I had it right. I've got my integrity and a four-decade career as a journalist and people can decide for themselves."
The Muslim Public Affairs Council called Ashcroft's alleged comments a distorted view of Islam and said such a statement was alarming coming from the US attorney general. The group immediately sent a letter to the Department of Justice, which responded saying that the remarks attributed to Ashcroft did not accurately represent his views and that the Department of Justice "remains committed to protecting the civil rights and dignity of all Americans." The Muslim Public Affairs Council has called for a meeting between Ashcroft and Muslim leaders to address general distrust in the American Muslim community towards law enforcement and called for providing sensitivity and diversity training about Islam to Department of Justice officials. "It is now even more imperative that a dialogue ensues between the attorney general's office and the American Muslim leadership. It is time to move from words to substantive policies in the halls of power that will institutionalise sensitivity toward American Muslims," said the council's political adviser, Mahdi Bray.
Other Muslim and Arab groups were also quick to react. James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, wrote a letter to President George W Bush on 8 February, calling Ashcroft's alleged remarks "a horrible distortion of Islam" which could only serve to incite anti-Muslim hatred. He said Ashcroft's statements had undermined Bush's efforts to promote tolerance and understanding in the aftermath of 11 September, and asked President Bush to remove Ashcroft from office or ask for his resignation if the attorney general did not publicly repudiate the statements. "The bigoted comments reportedly made by our nation's chief of law enforcement are outrageous! The fact that he has not denied making them or apologised for them raises serious questions about his ability to enforce our nation's laws in a fair and unbiased manner. The president should act to correct this situation," Zogby said.
The American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee also wrote a letter to President Bush condemning Ashcroft's comments, calling them, "inflammatory, fanatical and inexcusable, particularly coming from the attorney general of the United States." The American Muslim Political Coordinating Committee sent a letter to Ashcroft, signed by leaders of four major American Muslim groups, calling his remarks "offensive to our community due to their inaccuracy and divisiveness." The committee called on Ashcroft to clarify his statements and to take actions in the Department of Justice to "sensitise officials regarding Islam and Muslims."
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, said that if it were true that Ashcroft made the remarks, they were "inaccurate, offensive and are unbecoming of a law enforcement official who is currently initiating and administering policies that have a disproportionate impact on Muslims."
In the days that followed the horrific 11 September attack, President George W Bush took a lead role in encouraging tolerance towards Arabs and Muslims. Bush described Islam as a "peaceful" religion, not at all associated with the acts of terror committed against Americans. During a visit to the Islamic Centre of Washington, DC, President Bush said, "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. The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That's not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don't represent peace. They represent evil and war." American Muslim and Arab groups have pointed to Ashcroft's remarks as having negated Bush's efforts at promoting unity as a nation.
Ashcroft's comments come at a time when American Muslims and Arabs have become increasingly uncomfortable with the actions of the Department of Justice towards their communities in the wake of 11 September. They cite the hundreds detained following the attacks who have been singled out based on their religion and ethnicity, many of whom continue to be detained, as well as the FBI interrogations of more than 5,000 Middle Eastern men, the closure of immigration hearings and profiling of Muslim and Arab-American airline passengers. Also cited is the focus of the Department of Justice and the FBI on rounding up and deporting 6,000 Muslims and Arabs -- out of some 314,000 foreign nationals or "absconders," the vast majority of whom are from Latin America -- who have ignored court orders to leave the country.
"It is hard to see how policies such as these, which after all are based on racial and religious profiling, can be administered in an unbiased manner given Mr Ashcroft's apparent hostility towards Islam," Awad said.
In response to Arab and Muslim groups, Justice Department spokeswoman Susan Dryden told the Washington Post that Ashcroft's statement was misrepresented and reflected views on terrorists and not mainstream Islam. "The attorney general made reference to extremist suicide terrorists who have hijacked the religion," Dryden said. "The reported remarks do not accurately reflect the attorney general's views."
Ashcroft did release a brief statement last Wednesday saying that the quotes "do not accurately reflect what I believe I said." In reaction to Ashcroft's statement, Zogby told the Washington Post, it was "akin to saying 'I don't recall.'" He added, "The consequences those remarks have had, and the fact that they've been out there so long, require a far more emphatic response from the attorney general." Arab and Muslim groups said Ashcroft's remarks had since caused a flurry of hate e-mails and phone calls to their offices.
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