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CNN – August 10, 2006
Bush: U.S. at war with 'Islamic fascists'
GREEN BAY, Wisconsin (CNN) -- President Bush said Thursday that an uncovered British terror plot to blow up planes flying to the United States was further proof "that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists."
Bush made a brief statement on the tarmac of the airport in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he traveled to tour a local factory and to attend a Republican fundraiser.
British authorities arrested at least 21 people suspected of planning to use liquid explosives to destroy as many as 10 jetliners. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the suspects were in the final stages of the plot.
"This country is safer than it was prior to 9/11," Bush said. "We've taken a lot of measures to protect the American people. But obviously we still aren't completely safe, because there are people that still plot and people who want to harm us for what we believe in."
Bush's use of the term "Islamic fascists" was criticized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "We believe that this is an ill-advised term and we believe that it is counterproductive to associate Islamic Muslims with fascism," the council's Executive Director Nihad Awad said at a Washington press conference.
"We ought to take advantage of these incidents to make sure that we do not start a religious war against Islam and Muslims...We urge him and we urge other public officials to restrain themselves," Awad said.
"It is a mistake to believe there is no threat to the United States of America, and that is why we've given our officials the tools they need to protect our people," Bush said.
The president approved raising the color-coded threat level to red, or severe, for all flights leaving Britain for the United States and orange, or high, for all other flights. Bush said that travelers would be inconvenienced by new flight restrictions, which include a ban on carrying liquids, lotions or gels onto airplanes.
In a statement, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, described the plot as "extremely sophisticated and lethal" and "the biggest terrorist threat since the attacks of September 11, 2001." Collins is the chairwoman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, and Sen. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, said the plot shows that the Bush administration needs to rethink its Iraq policy, which the lawmaker said had diverted $300 billion from the war on terrorism and created a rallying cry among terrorists.
Reid's and Kerry's statements drew criticism from Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman. "On a day when American authorities are working with our allies to stop a global terror plot, instead of focusing on political attacks, we should focus on the fact that we are at war and need every tool to win the war on terror," Mehlman said, citing the pair's opposition earlier this year to renewing the Patriot Act and their calls to withdraw from Iraq.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/08/10/washington.terror.plot
Los Angeles Times – August 11, 2006
Muslims upset by bush's remarks
By Louis Sahagun
President Bush was widely criticized by Muslim leaders Thursday for saying that the breakup of an alleged plot to blow up airliners over the Atlantic Ocean was a triumph in the "war against Islamic fascists."
Muslims, already resentful of the scrutiny they have been under since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, said the politically charged phrase unfairly connected one of the world's great religions with Nazism and totalitarianism - and fueled hostility against Islam and Muslims in America.
They said it also contradicted Bush's earlier statements that Islam was a religion of peace.
"There's nothing Islamic about fascism," said Edina Lekovic, communications director for the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles. "Suggesting there is only over-politicizes things in a way that does not accurately describe the criminal adversaries we face at the moment."
She added: "It would have been far more accurate had he linked the situation to a segment of people rather than an entire faith, along the lines of, say, radical Muslim fascists."
Muzammil Siddiqi, director of the Islamic Society of Orange County, based in Garden Grove, agreed.
"He should be very sensitive about such things so that people do not misunderstand any faith, let alone one of the largest faiths of mankind," Siddiqi said. "I don't think his advisors are giving the right advice."
It's not the first time Bush has angered Muslims with his remarks. Shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, he referred to the global war on terrorism as a crusade, a term that connotes Christian attacks on Islam in the Middle Ages.
Over the last five years, administration officials and conservative talk-show hosts have frequently referred to Al Qaeda, terrorists and Iraqi insurgents as "Islamo-fascists."
Muslims say the administration is trying to convince Americans that they have the moral high ground in the fight against terrorism.
In a letter to Bush, Parvez Ahmed, board chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington, wrote, "The use of ill-defined hot-button terms such as 'Islamic fascists,' 'militant jihadism,' 'Islamic radicalism' or 'totalitarian Islamic empire' harms our nation's image and interests worldwide, particularly in the Islamic world."…
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-fascist11aug11,1,2291799.story
CIOGC bulletin – August 12, 2006
Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago:
President should disassociate himself with
the term Islamic fascists
The Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago commends British law enforcement for foiling a potentially horrific terrorist attack on airplanes destined to the U.S.
“We thank British law enforcement for their excellent police-work to uncover this plot and for not having resorted to violence to get the job done. Today, the Council sent a letter to the Chicago British Consul General extending its relief and support of their commitment to safety and due process in intelligence gathering.
“It’s also very heartening to see on-going cooperation from the Pakistani government. Leads from them along with British Muslims were instrumental to the success of this investigation" he said.
The Council also hopes that there is due process of law in the ensuing trials of these men.
The Council is, however, dismayed that the President of the United States used the term “Islamic fascists.” This phrase is currently being promulgated by right wing polemicists to attack Islam.
The President’s use of this Islamophobic phrase will harm American interests just as the President’s use of the term, “crusade” to describe his response to 9/11. Fascism is a European product which is often opposed to religion and has nothing to do with Islam. "The President should disassociate himself with any terms or ideology that promotes hatred of Islam or Muslims in America,” said Mr. Abdul Malik Mujahid. The faith of 1.5 billion of Muslims should not be attached to the acts of a few.
[The Council represents over 50 mosques and Islamic centers, schools and organizations throughout Chicagoland with a cross-section of over 400,000 Muslim Americans in the Greater Chicago area.]
Atlanta Journal-Constitution – August 12, 2006
Bush insists on 'Islamic fascists'
By Ken Herman
Washington --- President Bush drew the ire of Muslim-American leaders by labeling the arrest of suspected terrorists in Britain a reminder of the "war with Islamic fascists."
But spokesman Tony Snow said Friday the president will continue to use the phrase.
Snow said Bush has gradually shifted from general rhetoric about a war on terrorism to the more specific "war with Islamic fascists." With the new description, Bush "tries to identify the ideology that motivates many organized terrorist groups," Snow said in an e-mail interview. "He also tries to make it clear that the label does not apply to all or most Muslims, but to the tiny factions," such as Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida.
Snow said there was "no formal decision" to start using the term, which had cropped up from time to time in Bush's talks recently before drawing the spotlight this week. Bush used it Thursday in his first public comment about the alleged plot to bomb several airliners headed to the United States.
"The recent arrests that our fellow citizens are now learning about are a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation," Bush said in Green Bay, Wis.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations sent a letter to Bush after the Green Bay speech. "Unfortunately, your statement this morning that America is 'at war with Islamic fascists' contributes to a rising level of hostility to Islam and the American-Muslim community," CAIR Chairman Parvez Ahmed said in the letter. "You have on many occasions said Islam is a 'religion of peace.' Today you equated the religion of peace with the ugliness of fascism." He said the term "feeds the perception that the war on terror is actually a war on Islam."
Brookings Institution senior fellow Michael O'Hanlon said Bush's term is not inaccurate. But, "I guess I don't see the benefit of doing it even though it is not wrong. It doesn't add much, and it sort of reopens an old wound."
The metamorphosis of Bush's war rhetoric aligns with a strategy urged publicly by Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) who in July chided those who talk about a war on terror.
"I would say that we have a messaging problem, and that we in this country for a variety of different reasons have chosen not to identify the enemy and do it with consistency," Santorum said at a National Press Club luncheon.
"Some say we're fighting a war on terror," Santorum said. "That's like saying World War II was a war on blitzkrieg. In World War II we fought Nazism and Japanese imperialism. Today we are fighting against Islamic fascism."
http://www.ajc.com/search/content/auto/epaper/editions/today/news_44dd575c112b22cd00b4.html
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