The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy organization, is asking a North Carolina Republican group to remove a link to anti-Islam rhetoric from its website and apologize to
local Muslims. From a CAIR announcement today:
The website of the
Greensboro-based Guilford County Republican Party has a link to a site
called "Islam Exposed" that states: "This website was designed with 1 (sic)
objective in mind – to expose one of the greatest evils on our planet –
Islam. We have the evidence and materials to prove that this false religion
is nothing more than a barbaric occult (sic) invented by savages for
savages."The party maintains the link to the anti-Islam site despite past objections
from concerned American Muslims. The GOP website itself offers a disclaimer
and states: "We have received a few emails from Muslims who indicate that
this material misrepresents their religion.""It is unconscionable that a political party claiming to represent all
Americans would associate itself with a site that expresses open hatred for
the faith of millions of fellow citizens. The Guilford County Republican
Party should remove this defamatory link and apologize to the Muslim
community of North Carolina," said CAIR Board Chairman Omar Ahmad.
Link to CAIR website (press release not online as of 10:30PT, but will likely be posted shortly press release here).
Link to Guilford County, NC GOP website (scroll halfway down the page. Link is on the left side).
Update: As of 9:00AM PT on 12-27-02, the Guilford County GOP website has removed the link, and replaced it with this: "This site was introduced to readers of WorldNetDaily.com. The Guilford GOP does not endorse the opinions expressed on this website, nor have we fully researched the site It is presented as interesting reading material relating to the War on Terrorism. We have received a few emails from Muslims who indicate that this material misrepresents their religion. We apologize for the link to this website and have instituted safeguards against links to such sites in the future. There is no room for hate in our society."
