WASHINGTON, 14 March — The Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) has taken strong exception to statements by the editor of an American magazine calling for nuclear strikes on a number of Middle Eastern cities, including Makkah.
The Washington-based council urged Muslims to contact the National Review to demand an apology from its Editor Rich Lowry for suggesting that “nuking Mecca” would “send a signal” to Muslims, according to Asharq Al-Awsat. (National Review online, www.nationalreview.com, calls itself “America’s premier conservative website.”)
In an online forum called “The Corner,” Lowry wrote March 7 that there are “lots of sentiments for nuking Mecca.” Baghdad, Tehran, Gaza City, Ramallah, Damascus, Cairo, Algiers, Tripoli and Riyadh also figure on his list of Middle Eastern cities to be targeted.
“Mecca seems extreme, of course, but then again few people would die and it would send a signal. Religions have suffered such catastrophic setbacks before...And, as a general matter, the time for seriousness — including figuring out what we would do in retaliation, so maybe it can have some slight deterrent effect — is now rather than after thousands and thousands more American casualties,” writes Lowry in the worst display of anti-Islam bigotry in the US media in the aftermath of Sept. 11 events.
“Such hate speech can never be justified or excused,” said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad.
