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Nearly A Year After 9/11 Attacks, Americans Say “Enough Already”
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Graham says Muslim scholars must apologize in the name of Islam for the September 11 attacks
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CHICAGO,
Aug 24 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The first anniversary of
the attacks on New York and Washington is still more than two weeks
away, but already some Americans are turning off, tuning out and
running for cover.
"I
hate to be callous about it, but I think it was more of a New York or
Washington thing," said Donna Walters, a 50-something Chicago
tour guide, said Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"It
didn't affect me personally. I didn't know anyone killed there, and
frankly I'm more concerned about the economy than 9/11 (a shorthand
reference to the attacks) as I think are a lot of other people."
Sarah
Tyler, an American living in Germany, will be vacationing in Florida
when the one-year anniversary rolls around -- and is doing her best to
block out what promises to be wall-to-wall media coverage.
"The
coverage has just overwhelmed me -- I'm fed up with having it rammed
down my throat," she said, speaking by phone from Berlin, where
she works for a non-governmental organization. "People need
to move on."
Even
one New Yorker, who had business acquaintances who perished in the
collapse of the World Trade Center towers, said he would probably only
take a passing interest in the media blitz.
"I'll
watch the first five minutes of it... it was pretty close to
home," said Maurice Regan, a 37-year-old contractor in the
construction industry.
"But
I think it's probably more relevant for the families of the
victims." And they're not alone in suffering from 9/11
fatigue.
In
a recent -- informal -- poll of USA Today readers: half of the 350
respondents expressed a weariness with the subject, while nearly all
of them said they hoped the television networks would refrain from
bombarding them with images of September 11 carnage.
"I
saw the images of the planes hitting the towers over and over that
day. I don't need to see them again," said Janet Braunstein, 42,
a freelance writer in Detroit, Michigan.
The
national television networks plan blanket coverage of 9/11 on
Wednesday, September 11; NBC has scheduled 14 hours of coverage, ABC
15 and CBS 13.
But
12 months after the devastating attacks -- 12 months of collective
anxiety about anthrax attacks, airport security, homeland security --
and as much as they regret the loss of life in New York, Washington
and Pennsylvania, some Americans would rather use the occasion for
reflection than introspection.
Tyler,
for one, said she was concerned about the direction of President
George W. Bush's war on terrorism, and the widening gap between the
Bush administration and its European allies over its counter-terror
offensive.
"I'm
embarrassed to see how U.S. policy has unfolded in Afghanistan, in
Pakistan, in Saudi Arabia and ashamed that, in many instances, human
rights have been so clearly ignored and even trampled on.
"What,
in the end is the United States fighting for? It may be time on this
anniversary for some clear answers."
Like
Tyler, Braunstein is concerned about the repercussions of 9/11,
notably the latitude it gave the Bush administration to circumscribe
the civil rights.
Civil
rights activists say authorities have violated the civil rights of
Arabs by arresting hundreds of mostly young Arab men, often on minor
immigration violations, subjecting them to secret hearings, and
profiling individuals of Arab or Middle Eastern origin at U.S.
airports and borders in the months since last September.
Meanwhile,
the Washington Times reported on Saturday, August 24, that Rev.
Franklin Graham, a Baptist evangelist in the U.S. said that Muslim
scholars must apologize in the name of Islam for the September 11
attacks and that they must condemn those who “preach Islamist
Jihad”.
Graham’s
comments have angered Muslims and offended some Christians, said the
paper adding that some Protestant and many Muslim leaders have scolded
the evangelist for his remarks during a press tour for his latest
book, "The Name."
Others,
including Christian churchmen and secular pundits, have applauded his
remarks, made in newspaper and television interviews, the paper said.
The
paper quoted Faiz Rehman of the American Muslim Council saying that
400 to 500 Muslims died in the attacks and that many Muslims attended
prayer services and vigils near ground zero.
"But
most of the media didn't show us going there," he said.
"Apologizing means owning it. Why would we apologize? Why do our
American fellow citizens expect us to apologize for the acts of a few
criminals? Most of the Muslims in this country felt terrible about it.
Mr. Graham comes up with this stuff whenever he wants to promote a
book. Since he claims to be on a higher moral ground, let him
apologize for slavery and Ku Klux Klan crimes and the Crusades and for
the crimes against Jews in the Holocaust and other things done in the
name of Christianity. Then we'll think about it," the paper
reported Rehman saying.
Last
November, Graham said in "NBC Nightly News", a national news
program that Islam was an “evil and wicked religion” and when
condemned for his remarks he said he stood by them.
Graham
said, "We're not attacking Islam but Islam has attacked us. The
God of Islam is not the same God. He's not the son of God of the
Christian or Judeo-Christian faith. It's a different God and I believe
it is a very evil and wicked religion”
"I
don't believe this is a wonderful, peaceful religion," said
Graham. "When you read the Koran and you read the verses from the
Koran, it instructs the killing of the infidel, for those that are
non-Muslim."
Asked
by NBC News to clarify his statement, Graham repeated his charge that
Islam, as a whole, is evil.
Graham
was then sent a letter from CAIR’s executive director who offered to
explain Islam to him first-hand.
In
his letter, Awad said, "negative impressions of Islam are most
often based on a lack of accurate and objective information."
Graham
is the eldest son of evangelist Billy Graham, and is the president of
the Samaritan's Purse, a Christian relief organization.
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