CAIR Goes After Michigan Congressman

Wed, Sep 27, 2006 at 8:50:08 pm PDT

The radical Islamist front group calling itself the Council on American Islamic Relations is targeting another congressman, Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan, because he used the term “jihadist-fascist” to describe Al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq: Muslim group protests ‘polarizing’ term.

LATHRUP VILLAGE, Mich., Sept. 26 (UPI) — The U.S. Council on Amnerican-Islamic Relations has accused a Michigan congressman of using ‘polarizing’ language.

CAIR’s Michigan chapter said Tuesday its representatives wanted to meet with Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-MI, over what it called his use of “polarizing language” on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.

CAIR said that McCotter had used the term “jihadist-fascist” while discussing U.S. policy in Iraq in a House debate. CAIR quoted the congressman as saying, “The crushing weight of putting Iraq back into the terrorist and the jihadist-fascist camp will have enormous ramifications. . .”

“Representative McCotter should use his time on the House floor to foster dialogue and mutual understanding, not to introduce hot-button terms that will further damage our nation’s image in the Islamic world,” said CAIR’s Michigan Executive Director Dawud Walid.

Walid said President George W. Bush had stopped using the term “Islamic fascist” after Muslims in America and around the world had protested that it was ill-defined and counterproductive in persuading people in the global conflict against terror.