The [Louay] Safi affair reveals the deep divisions within the U.S. government over how to combat terrorism and over what constitutes moderate Islam.

Some believe insight into Islamist thinking can be gained only by engaging a wide range of people in North America’s close-knit Muslim community, where leaders may well have ties to extremists – ties that do not necessarily signal alliances or support. Others argue that engagement should be limited or shunned to avoid legitimizing radicals or embarrassing the government.

Safi is a senior official of the Islamic Society of North America, the country’s largest Muslim organization. ISNA has been consulted for years by Washington and is described as a partner in the fight against terrorism. In addition to serving as ISNA’s communications director, Safi runs its program certifying Muslim chaplains for work in the U.S. military and prison system. He publicly denounces terrorism and advocates peace.
….

“You have a schizophrenic government and a schizophrenic institution,” Zelikow said, referring to ISNA. “The schizophrenia cuts right into how the government views the whole Fort Hood affair. We don’t know whether to treat him [Hasan] as part of an international conspiracy or as a lone wolf who happened to have gotten solace from a radical imam.”

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“The report demonstrates that we are unwilling to identify and confront the real enemy of political Islam,” says a former military colleague of Hasan, speaking privately because he was ordered not to talk about the case. “Political correctness has brainwashed us to the point that we no longer understand our heritage and cannot admit who, or what, the enemy stands for.”

The authors have defended the report, saying that the focus of their investigation was ‘actions and consequences not motivations.’

Mark Lynch wrote about the broader right-wing response earlier:

A lot of people — some well-meaning, some clowns or worse — evidently want the American response to the Ft. Hood shootings to revive the post-9/11 “war of ideas” and “clash of civilizations” anti-Islamic discourse. It’s a jihad, they shout, demanding careful scrutiny of the loyalty of American Muslims. That’s what they seem to mean by the demand to throw away “political correctness” and confront the ideological menace. The overall effect of their recommendations, however, would be to revive the flagging al-Qaeda brand and to greatly strengthen the appeal of its narrative. And that’s exactly what we should not want.

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Army recruiter Sgt. Chris McGarity is on the front lines of the military’s effort to add troops who speak Arabic and understand Middle Eastern culture — a battle that grew more challenging after the shooting at Fort Hood, Texas.
McGarity says he recently signed up an Arab-American high school student who lacked only her parents’ approval to enlist. Then came the Nov. 5 rampage at Fort Hood. The Army has charged Maj. Nidal Hasan, 39, a Muslim and Arab American, with killing 13 people and wounding 32.

The high school student’s mother “made her withdraw her application,” McGarity says.

Such experiences illustrate heightened fears of discrimination and harassment aimed at Arab-American and Muslim troops since the Fort Hood shooting, says Mikey Weinstein, a former Air Force lawyer who founded the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which advocates for separation between church and state in the military.

Muslims in the military experience “horrible” discrimination, he says.

Before the shooting at Fort Hood, the foundation had 80 Muslim clients who had reported instances of discrimination and harassment, Weinstein says. Complaints jumped 20% to 103 in the weeks after the shooting. “We had people almost immediately … being told ‘you people’ should not be in the military,” he says.

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…It’s true that Major Hasan was unbalanced and alienated — and, by my lights, crazy. But what kind of people did conservatives think were susceptible to the terrorism meme? Like all viruses, terrorism infects people with low resistance. And surely Major Hasan isn’t the only American Muslim who, for reasons of personal history, has become unbalanced and thus vulnerable. Any religious or ethnic group includes people like that, and the post-9/11 environment hasn’t made it easier for American Muslims to keep their balance. That’s why the hawkish war-on-terrorism strategy — a global anti-jihad that creates nonstop imagery of Americans killing Muslims — is so dubious…

Full article.

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CAIR: Va. Gov-Elect Asked to Repudiate Anti-Islam Donor’s Remarks

One of McDonnell’s top contributors says Muslims should be treated like communists, fascists

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization today called on Virginia’s Governor-elect Robert F. McDonnell to publicly repudiate anti-Islam remarks by Pat Robertson, the televangelist and gubernatorial campaign contributor who recently said Islam is “not a religion” and that American Muslims should be treated like members of a communist or fascist party.

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said Robertson has in the past called Muslims “satanic,” claimed the Quran, Islam’s revealed text, is “fraudulent” and said Islam is “a monumental scam.”

Robertson’s most recent inflammatory anti-Islam comments came in response to the Fort Hood shooting spree and after he made a $25,000 contribution to McDonnell’s campaign. He also attended McDonnell’s election night victory party. McDonnell has rejected calls to repudiate Robertson’s remarks.

SEE: Robertson’s Remarks Put McDonnell in a Bind (Wash. Post)

http://tinyurl.com/robertsonislam

SEE ALSO: Virginia Muslims Call on Bob McDonnell to Denounce Statements

http://www.wusa9.com/rss/local_article.aspx?storyid=93796

“If Governor-elect McDonnell wishes to show that he will be the governor of Virginians of all faiths, he should publicly repudiate Pat Robertson’s hate-filled and divisive remarks,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. “Anything less is an indication of tacit approval for Robertson’s bigoted and un-American views. Such comments evoke McCarthyism and would not be tolerated if they targeted any other religious or ethnic group.”

He noted that CAIR recently called on American political and religious leaders to challenge Islamophobes engaged in a rhetorical backlash to the recent shooting spree at Fort Hood in Texas. Awad said Robertson was one of the Islamophobes cited by CAIR.

SEE: U.S. Leaders Should Reject Anti-Muslim Rhetoric Prompted by Fort Hood Shootings

http://ca.sys-con.com/node/1185025

More

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For Muslim converts who observe Thanksgiving with non-Muslim relatives, I’m wondering if anybody is anticipating that the recent Fort Hood attack will be, conversationally speaking, the 800 lb. gorilla in the room. Will you be put “on the spot” and expected to declaim about Maj. Hasan? Will you feel pressure to ‘represent’ for the Muslim team with big bold exclamations? Do you have relatives that still get their back up about your conversion or who are uneasy about it and who will feel licensed by Fort Hood to dump it on you again?

Might be a good year to volunteer at the food pantry instead.

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Muslims need not be apologetic
By Linda S. Heard

Muslims make up roughly one quarter of the world’s population. Just because one out of almost 1.5 billion ran amok, leaving 13 dead and 23 wounded, does not mean the entire Muslim nation is responsible. When Sergeant John M. Russell opened fire on his comrades at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, last May, killing five, the media did not even mention his religion. Instead, papers reported that the young man, who “had been broken by the army” was suicidal and in debt.

When National Guard soldier Joshua Cartwright shot and killed two Florida deputies in April he was characterized as “severely disturbed”. No one investigated his spiritual beliefs. The media, likewise, took a soft approach, last year, when Dustin Thorson, an Air Force sergeant, shot his wife and son at Tinker Airbase and, in 1995, when Sergeant William Kreutzer killed one and injured 18 at Fort Bragg. But when an American-born major with the name Nidal Malek Hassan commits a similar crime he is judged in the court of public opinion based on his ethnicity and religion.

Bill O’Reilly of Fair and Balanced on Fox News has already decided that Hassan is either a “Muslim terrorist” or “crazy”. Fox’s Brian Kilmeade has made up his mind too. He asked a guest: “Do you think it is time for the military to have special debriefings of Muslim Army Officers …?” or “anyone enlisted”?

Teheran Times

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