US MUSLIMS WANT REPUBLICAN’S APOLOGY
Washington, 10 Dzulqa’dah 1436/25 August 2015 (MINA) – A leading US Muslim advocacy group has called on the Republican presidential hopeful Scott Walkers to apologize over his anti-Muslim remarks, in which he claimed that there are only a “handful of reasonable, moderate followers of Islam.”
“These types of inaccurate statements reflect a lack of understanding of Islam and Muslims that is, frankly, not presidential,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Government Affairs Manager Robert McCaw said in a statement obtained by OnIslam.net.
“If Mr. Walker believes only a ‘handful’ of Muslims are moderate or reasonable, then he is ignoring the very clear reality that violent extremists murder more Muslims than they do people of any other faith.” Islam Story quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
CAIR’s calls followed Walker’s remarks he made in Derry, New Hampshire, where he said that the vast majority of Muslims are extremists.
Moreover, Wisconsin governor taunted the US president Barack Obama and said: “You’ve got to identify who the enemy is loud and clear,” Wisconsin State Journal reported on Sunday, August 23.
“We’ve said it repeatedly, it’s radical Islamic terrorism, it is a war not against only America and Israel, it’s a war against Christians, it’s a war against Jews, it’s a war against even the handful of reasonable, moderate followers of Islam who don’t share the radical beliefs that these radical Islamic terrorists have.”
Defending the governor’s remarks, spokeswoman Ashlee Strong said in a statement: “The Governor knows that the majority of ISIS’s victims are Muslims. Muslims who want to live in peace — the majority of Muslims — are the first target of radical Islamic terrorists.
“Under the Obama-Clinton foreign policy doctrine, we’ve been abandoning our traditional Muslim allies in the Middle East and allowing ISIS, al Qaeda, and Iran to fill the void.”
He added that the campaign’s follow-up statement about Muslims wanting to live in peace encompassed “exactly what he was saying.”
The presidential candidate offensive remarks came a month after one of his advisors called for using nuclear weapons on a number of Muslim-majority nations and for the deportation of undocumented immigrants of Middle Eastern descent.
Later on, Walkers distanced his campaign from the comments of his foreign affairs advisor.
Last February, Republican assemblywoman Melissa Melendez launched an anti-Muslim hashtag, #standupagainstIslam, in response to the death of American hostage held by the so-called Islamic State (ISIL) in Syria.
She came under fire over her anti-Islam comments that were condemned by Twitter users as “irresponsible” and “deeply offensive”.
Since the 9/11 attacks, US Muslims, estimated between 6-8 million, have complained of discrimination and stereotypes in the society because of their Islamic attires or identities.
A US survey has revealed that the majority of Americans know very little about Muslims and their faith.
A Gallup poll also found that the majority of US Muslims are patriot and loyal to their country and are optimistic about their future. (T/P007R03)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
