Republican Senate Aide's Breathtaking Anti-Arab Racism Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source - CAIR In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful CAIR Council on American-Islamic Relations 1050 17th Street, N.W., Suite 490 Washington, D.C. 20036 Tel: 202-659-CAIR (2247) Fax: 202-659-2254 E-mail: cair1@ix.netcom.com URL: http://www.cair-net.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MUSLIM ADVOCACY GROUP CALLS ON SENATE COMMITTEE TO SEVER TIES WITH STAFFER OVER ISLAMOPHOBIC ARTICLE RPC analyst says Islam is outgrowth of the "darkness of heathen Araby" (WASHINGTON, D.C., 6/10/99) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is calling on Senate Republican Policy Committee (RPC) Chairman Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) to sever ties with a committee foreign policy analyst over what it claims are "Islamophobic" statements made in an article published on the Internet. (A version of the article first appeared in the February issue of Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture.) In a letter to Craig, the Islamic advocacy group outlined "offensive and inaccurate comments about Islam and Muslims" allegedly made by RPC staffer James George Jatras. The letter read in part: "In an undated article called 'The Muslim Advance and American Collaboration' published online by The Christian Activist, a James George Jatras wrote: 'There is little doubt that Islam's 'God' is none other than the former chief deity of the polytheistic Arab pantheon...stripped of his consorts and offspring...In short, Islam is a self-evident outgrowth not of the Old and New Covenants but of the darkness of heathen Araby.' "In the same article, he refers to 'Islam's fraudulent self-depiction as a pacific creed' and claims 'Islam has been unthinkable without its mandate for violence, war, terror...' Jatras writes: 'Islam was born in violence.' He adds: 'I will leave it to the specialists to calculate which - Islam or communism - can claim the greater achievement as gigantic Christian-killing machines...' "...Concerning the building of a Muslim school in Northern Virginia, he wrote: 'The importation of Shari'a [Islamic law] into a once-Christian commonwealth seemingly registered not at all in evangelical minds blissfully unaware of Islamic aims.' "He also wrote: '...in light of the growing volume of Muslim immigration, western Christians will soon find out - maybe sooner than they think, given western birthrates - that confronting the Islamic advance has become...a simple matter of physical survival. But by that time it may be too late for the West as well.' "The article contains many other Islamophobic statements too numerous to mention. For example, Mr. Jatras writes of 'business executives who would sell their grandmothers to Abdul Abulbul Amir [presumably a derogatory term for Arab Muslims] for oil drilling rights...' (See http://www.tca1.org/vol13/Muslim.html) "...I hope you agree that these remarks should be repugnant to all Americans. It is most disturbing that these bigoted and inaccurate views are allegedly espoused by a person who assists in the formulation of U.S. foreign policy." The Republican Policy Committee was established by a 1946 law creating separate policy committees for the U.S. Senate majority and minority parties. The committee, which is composed of GOP Senate leaders and the chairmen of the Senate's standing committees, is designed to "coordinate and enhance legislative policymaking." RPC staffers produce "in-depth research papers on many of the complicated and controversial issues facing Congress." Recent Policy Papers focused on issues such as allegations of the theft of nuclear weapons technology by China and claims that the Kosova Liberation Army (KLA) is supported by terrorists and drug dealers. (See http://www.senate.gov/~rpc/) Jatras has been outspoken in his support for Serbian positions on international affairs. At the Serbian Unity Congress convention in 1998, Jatras is quoted as saying the U.S. government's policy toward Serbia was "was criminal and worthy of being brought to The Hague tribunal." (See http://www.suc.org/sucinfo/conventions/ninth/banquet.html) In other articles, he downplayed Serbian massacres (he even placed the word in quotation marks) in Bosnia, claimed Bosnian Muslims killed their own people as a ploy to gain Western support and referred to "the myth of Muslims as innocent victims in the [Bosnian] war." (The Washington Times, 7/20/97, page B5) In a letter to CAIR, Sen. Craig said he condemns "any sort of bigotry or intolerance." He did not say whether he regarded Jatras' statements as bigoted, inaccurate or offensive. Craig did say Jatras' article examined "complex questions of history and international events that are legitimate subjects for study and commentary" and that it did not suggest "hostility against any individual or group of individuals." When contacted by CAIR, Jatras confirmed that he was the author of the Internet statement and said, "I stand by every word in the article." "Everyone is entitled to their personal views on religion and politics, however offensive. But these private views must not be allowed to fuel a personal agenda disguised as public policy," said CAIR Board Chairman Omar Ahmad. Ahmad added that similar statements attacking faiths such as Judaism or Christianity would not, and should not be tolerated by elected officials. There are an estimated six million Muslims in this country and some 1.2 billion worldwide. Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in America. - END - ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytrc-06.11.99-02:53:11-4143