WASHINGTON, 12 August 2006 — US Muslim groups criticized US President George W. Bush on Thursday for calling a foiled plot to blow up airplanes part of a “war with Islamic fascists,” saying the term could inflame anti-Muslim tensions.
US officials have said the plot, thwarted by Britain, to blow up several aircraft over the Atlantic bore many of the hallmarks of Al-Qaeda. “We believe this is an ill-advised term and we believe that it is counterproductive to associate Islam or Muslims with fascism,” said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations advocacy group. “We ought to take advantage of these incidents to make sure that we do not start a religious war against Islam and Muslims,” he told a news conference in Washington.
Awad said US officials should take the lead from their British counterparts who steered clear of using what he considered inflammatory terms when they announced the arrest of more than 20 suspects in the reported plot.
Hours after the news broke, Bush said it was “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 and other administration officials have used variations of the term “Islamo-fascism” on several occasions in the past to describe militant groups including Al-Qaeda, its allies in Iraq and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told MSNBC television the phrase reflected what he called Osama Bin Laden’s own vision of leading a totalitarian empire under the guise of religion.
