By Laurel Brishel Prichard – University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) is calling on the media and the American people to refer to any politically tinged attack against America, not just incidents involving Muslims, as acts of terrorism.

“Last week’s attack on the IRS office in Texas perfectly fits either legal definition of terrorism, yet it has not been labeled as such. This apparent double standard only serves to render the term “terrorism” meaningless and imbues it with a sense of religious and ethnic bias that is both counterproductive and offensive,” according to a statement released by CAIR Monday.

The use of the word terrorism has been placed on many attacks that have been carried out by Muslims, CAIR argues, and attacks such as those orchestrated by Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and Texas attacker Joseph Stack should fall under the same category.

“America should identify such acts as terrorism whenever they are committed, wherever they are committed, whoever commits them,” said the statement.

CAIR Legal Counsel Nadhira Al-Khalili stressed Monday that American Muslims do not support any act that justifies killing civilians in order to further political or religious agendas at home or abroad.

Council on American-Islamic Relation spokesperson Corey Saylor says the organization has recieved a spike in hate calls and emails following the shooting at Ft. Hood.

“The volume of hate calls has intensified, as have the hate emails, but that is to be expected,” said Saylor. (0:09)

 

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A spokesperson for the Council on American-Islamic Relations says that the organization is prepared for possible anti-Islamic attacks following Thursday’s shooting at Ft. Hood.

“We are expecting that, unfortunately, some people will choose to target more innocent individuals by trying to seek pay-back from the Muslim community,” said Saylor. (0:21)

 

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Council on American-Islamic Relations spokesperson Corey Saylor says that speculation Thursday’s tragic shooting at Ft. Hood could be potentially dangerous.

“Speculation on motivation at this point in time is unhelpful, and even some that we’ve seen at this point in time is downright dangerous,” said Saylor. (0:13)

 

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Rep. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.) announces a request for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate possible attempts by the Council on American-Islam Relations (CAIR) to illegally lobby Congress. (0:55)

 

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Rep. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.) announces that she has a Council on American-Islam Relations (CAIR) memo from 2007 that states their intentions of placing their interns in Congressional offices in order to “influence the policies of those members.” (0:48)

 

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Rep. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.) states Wednesday morning that Council on American-Islam Relations (CAIR) has handled more than $12 million dollars to the Islamic terrorist organization Hamas. (0:31)

 

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Nihad Awad, National Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) describes nationmal studies that show many more Americans wanting to learn about religions other than those they follow. (0:20)

 

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Nihad Awad, National Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), describes how President Obama’s desire for more Americans to understand the Quran will break down stereotypical barriers. (0:36)

 

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By Courtney Costello – Talk Radio News Service

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, an Islamic advocacy group based in Washington, DC, announced Tuesday the second phase of its “Explore the Quran” campaign, entitled “Share the Quran.” The objective of the new program is to immediately deliver 100 thousand Qurans to government leaders, as well as 1 million Qurans to the general public over the next five to 10 years.

“[The Council] took up this project, to reduce ignorance about Islam and to increase knowledge of it,” said Nihad Awad, National Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

According to CAIR’s studies, only 2% of the U.S. population is knowledgeable about Islam, and the Council speculates that this 2% are made up of predominately Muslim-Americans.

CAIR says the concept behind the campaign was ignited by President Obama’s speech in Cairo, in which he quoted the Quran.

“His speech was inspiring, historic, in the fact that he wanted to open a new page and new relationship with Muslims world-wide including in America, and we believe one of the first steps is information,” said Awad.

CAIR says anyone interested in obtaining a Quran should log onto www.explorethequran.com.