Arab-American, Muslim groups concerned about suspicions

[maddezmom]

Source: Star Telegram


Arab-American and Muslim groups condemned the mass shooting at Fort Hood and expressed concern that the tragedy would cause thousands of Muslims and Arabs who serve honorably in the U.S. military to be viewed with suspicion.

“I hope we don’t go down that road of looking at one another as suspects,” said Jamal Baadani, a U.S.Marine reserve and founder of the Association of Patriotic Arab Americans in Military. “We are all serving this country together and sacrificing together.”

“Our hearts go out to our injured fellow service members and their families,” he said.


~snip~

“I think we learned from 9/11 not to just paint each other with a broad brush,” he said. “We learned just because somebody looks like us and talks like us and does something horrific, not to blame everyone in that community.”

More than 3,500 Arab-American and Muslims serve honorably in the U.S Military, he said.

“Some have given their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said. “There are thousands of patriotic Arab-Americans and Muslims who are protecting their country from harm.”


Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/story/1741925.html

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[Bozita]

2. similar piece in today's DFP: "Arab, Muslim groups in Michigan condemn Ft. Hood shooting"

http://www.freep.com/article/20091106/NEWS05/91106014/1318/Groups-in-Michigan-condemn-Ft.-Hood-attack

POSTED: 10:04 A.M. NOV. 6, 2009
Arab, Muslim groups in Michigan condemn Ft. Hood shooting
BY NIRAJ WARIKOO
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER


Arab-American and Muslim groups based in metro Detroit and across the U.S. have strongly condemned the shooting rampage in Ft. Hood, Texas. According to reports, the shooter is a Muslim of Arab descent who attended a mosque.

The Association of Patriotic Arab Americans in Military, founded and led by a Dearborn native in the Marines, released a statement that said "our thoughts are first and foremost with the Fort Hood shooting victims and their families."

The statement notes that thousands of Arab Americans serve proudly and honorably in the U.S. Armed Forces.

"Many of us have willingly stepped forward to fulfill our duty with our fellow soldiers in both Afghanistan, Iraq and other locations around the globe for the defense of our national security," the statement said.

The statement added that "the actions of Hasan are those of a deranged gunman, and are in no way representative of the wider Arab American or American Muslim community."

more...

[Dreamer Tatum]

3. knr

[Eric68601]

4. I'm just waiting

Watch Faux News label this a Muslim terrorist act and blame Obama's failure to screen our American troops for terrorist cells. And how it also proves we aren't safe with him in office, since he is indoctrinating troops into Islam, taking us over from within and all that Orwell ministry of truth shit Faux likes to spew.

[Maestro]

5. When I started seeing reports about being a devout Muslim

I cringed because I knew the reich-wingers would start painting with their broad strokes again. Any religion taken to an extreme is horrible and dangerous. Throw in mental instability and anger and a person is a ticking time bomb.

My heart goes out to the victims and to the family of the shooter.

[No Elephants]

7. What makes you think he took his religion to an extreme? Are you saying his

religion had to have been responsible for these shootings to one degree or another?

[intheflow]

11. No, he's saying the opposite.

He's saying any religion taken to extreme is dangerous, and that there were obviously other factors contributing to this shooting, such as "anger and mental instability." But the teabaggers will only latch on to his Muslim faith and use that to justify their continued bigotry and hatred toward Muslims.

[Maestro]

16. Exactly and thanks.....

:hi:

[Maestro]

15. What intheflow said....

[Kablooie]

6. Even if his insanity has nothing to do with his religion or ethincity there will be some backlash.

I just hope it will be shown that his religion did not play a part in his madness.

If it did, it's going go very, very hard on Muslims in the US.

Particularly because he was in a secure camp in a trusted position.

[ShortnFiery]

8. We can thank the whores in the M$M for that. They will have blood on their hands. n/t

[No Elephants]

9. Or his ethnicity or it will be hard on Arabs, whether they are Christian, Moslem, Jewish or

whatever and all Arab Americans are going thru enough shit already, regardless of their religion or lack thereof.

[951-Riverside]

10. If the Military were more suspicious of the Maj. this probably wouldn't have happened. n/t

[intheflow]

12. I blame, in part, the "Christian" soldiers who bullied this guy about his faith

after 9/11 waaaaaay more than I blame the teachings of Islam. That, and the military's inept understanding of how desperately this man did not want to go into a war zone to fight people who look like him and share his faith. Of course, Christians have no problem killing other Christians if their denominations quibble on Biblical interpretation, so naturally they assume no other faiths would have a problem killing their spiritual siblings.

[leftynyc]

13. Funny

I don't blame anybody except the person who could have blown his own head off if he was that set against fighting. I don't give a shit what religion he is. People get bullied every single day - they manage not to become mass murderers after taking the government money for their education and then deciding being in the military may just mean having to kill people. May he rot in prison and hell.

[Kablooie]

14. I tend to blame the guy that had the gun in his hand, myself.

[intheflow]

17. I'm not saying he's blameless.

But I do think it's highly likely that his mental state was influenced by Christian bullying post-9/11. That, and his head being fucked up by listening to god only knows how many hundreds of GIs telling him about what triggered their PTSD; and his easy and Army-trained access to guns; and his anger at the military for blowing off his pleas to not be sent overseas--even when he offered to pay for his education! All contributed to this tragedy. That doesn't mean I think he shouldn't be held accountable for his actions. It just means I see that he was a product of his environment, he's caught up in the evil web that is a real part of our armed forces today.