WASHINGTON,
August 23, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A US radio
talk-show host said Monday, August 22, he had been fired after
branding Islam a "terrorist organization" in remarks slated
by Muslim groups as "hate radio."
Michael
Graham said bosses at WMAL-AM in Washington, owned by the Walt Disney
Company, sacked him after he refused to apologize for the remarks, for
which he was suspended last month pending investigation, reported
Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"I
find it absolutely outrageous that pressure from a special-interest
group like (the Council on American Islamic Relations) CAIR can result
in the abandonment of free speech and open discourse on a talk radio
show," Graham said.
"As
a conservative talk host whose job is to have an open, honest
conversation each day with my listeners, I believe caving to this
pressure is a disaster," Graham said in a statement.
Graham,
part of a line-up of conservative talk-show hosts at the station, did
not repeat his incendiary remarks, referring instead to "Islam
and its tragic connections to terrorism."
Executives
at WMAL said the star host had "crossed the line."
"We
do not condone his position, and we believe his statements were
irresponsible," WMAL-AM President Chris Berry said.
Graham
reportedly claimed last month that blame for recent acts of terrorism
lay not with Islamic radicals alone but also with Muslims generally.
"The
problem is not extremism," Graham told listeners. "The
problem is Islam." He also said: "We are at war with a
terrorist organization named Islam."
The
Muslim minority in the United States was quick to strongly condemn the
July 7 terrorist attacks in London, which killed 56 people including
four British-born Muslims.
Famed
British writer Karen Armstrong has warned that Islam should not be
associated with terrorist acts committed by people who call themselves
Muslims.
A
prolific writer on all three monotheistic religions, she said that
terror has no religion, with people calling themselves Muslims,
Christians or Jews committing crimes in the name of their religions.
"So
although Muslims, like Christians or Jews, have all too often failed
to live up to their ideals, it is not because of the religion per
se," averred Armstrong.
Muslims
Welcome
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"We do welcome WMAL's action as a step toward reducing the level of anti-Muslim bigotry on our nation's airwaves," said Awad.
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Graham's
departure is seen as a victory by active US Muslim activists.
"Just
as Michael Graham has the right to hold bigoted views, so, too, does
our society have the right to live free of hatred and
incitement," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad in a
statement Monday.
"We
are saddened that Michael Graham would not take responsibility for his
hate-filled words, but we do welcome WMAL's action as a step toward
reducing the level of anti-Muslim bigotry on our nation's
airwaves."
In
response to Graham’s remarks, CAIR initiated a public campaign
against WMAL and the station's advertisers after receiving complaints
from listeners who heard Graham make those anti-Islam remarks.
While
WMAL initially stood behind Graham, it changed its position after
hundreds of people responded to the group's action alerts by
contacting the station and its sponsors.
In
June, a California radio station was forced to issue an on-air apology
for an Islamophobic skit that claimed Muslims have sex with animals,
avoid bathing and are obsessed with killing Jews.
The
Chicago-based syndicated radio commentator Paul Harvey, the most
listened-to radio personality in the United States, claimed in
December 2003 that Islam "encourages killing."
But
after receiving hundreds of angry messages from Muslims, Harvey
backtracked on his defamatory comments, praising Islam as a
"religion of peace".
