On the afternoon of September 11, 2001, I walked down the hill
to the 99-cent store to pick up some emergency candles and
flashlights. We had suffered a fire in our basement the week
before and were still without electricity in parts of the house.
The young man behind the counter wore Arabic headgear and the
store radio was blasting Middle Eastern music. The shop was
empty, and after I collected my purchases and brought them to the
counter, I told the young man that he should change the station.
He didn't. I'm not sure if he even understood me. A man who was
entering the store as I left heard the music and abruptly walked
out.
I thought of that afternoon the other day after hearing the news
of the foiled airplane bomb plot and the capture of alleged
terrorists in England. My source for international news is always
lucianne.com, because there are articles posted from around the
globe. Several indicated that the British Muslim community was
worried about a backlash and reprisals. What balderdash. Britain
lost 67 citizens in the World Trade Center on 9/11, and yet
radical Muslims in 2002 felt safe enough to hold a convention
lauding the attacks.
Here in New York, the site of the heinous, cowardly attacks,
there were very few notable reprisal incidents. One neighborhood
deli owner claimed that her son, Abdul, was beaten up in
Brooklyn, but as far as I know there were no incidents resembling
what we've seen happen in the Middle East. No one was beheaded.
No stores were burned down and the owners strung up on a bridge.
Americans did not riot or demand that all Muslims leave the
country. No imams or mullahs were murdered, as was a Roman
Catholic priest, Andrea Santori, who was shot in Turkey by a man
who shouted "Allahu Akbar," presumably in retaliation
for the publication of caricatures of the prophet Mohammed.
Islamic fascists murdered thousands of innocent Americans on
9/11, and how did this country react toward the Muslim community?
Americans behaved like civilized people.
For some strange reason, I'm on the mailing list of the Council
on American-Islamic Relations, and I keep getting press releases
from their spokesman, Ibrahim Hooper. While he invariably
expresses regrets for any outrageous murderous activity involving
a Muslim, there's always a "but" in his statement that
more or less blames the incident on America or Israel.
In CAIR's latest release, following the news of the airline
terror plot that is qualified as "alleged," Mr. Hooper
writes: "American Muslims have consistently condemned all
acts of terrorism, whether carried out by individuals, groups or
states. We repudiate anyone or any group that plans or carries
out a terrorist act. We welcome early actions by law enforcement
authorities against credible threats to the safety of the
traveling public."
Oh, really? I happen to have Muslim neighbors who hail originally
from Albania. Staten Island actually has a very large Muslim
community. Nearly all of the 99-cent stores are operated by
Middle Eastern and Asian owners. Palestinian Americans for many
years operated the D &L deli on Broad Street, and insisted
they were not political. Nevertheless, on the counter were
collection boxes for a Muslim charity in the Middle East.
I don't recall ever seeing demonstrations by any of these people
or groups condemning the 9/11 attacks or the beheadings of Daniel
Pearl, Nick Berg, or others. I also have to wonder if CAIR is
condemning the actions of the two Pakistanis, one from Staten
Island, arrested in a plot to bomb the subways. I never received
an e-mail with Mr. Hooper's apology.
In another press release from CAIR, he writes, "As the
largest American Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, it is
our religious and civic duty to reach out to all Americans to
reaffirm Islam's teachings of peace, justice and tolerance for
all."
Somehow that message is not being relayed to certain followers of
radical Islam, who seem to have little tolerance for non-Muslims.
In countries where civility reigns, we can have dissent without
violence. When the Indian prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee,
visited Staten Island in September 2000, a group of 50 angry
Pakistanis protested his appearance over the ongoing Kashmir
conflict, yet they did so peaceably. In America, cartoonists are
free to ridicule all.
If CAIR is truly concerned with demonstrating how peaceful Islam
is, it needs to stop equivocating and must finally condemn
radical Islam outright - no ifs, ands, or "buts."
Otherwise, Mr. Hooper, please remove me from your list.