CAIR Commends Pentagon for Dropping Islamophobic Course

Muslim civil rights group asks DoD to retrain officers with accurate materials

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization today commended the Department of Defense (DoD) for dropping an Islamophobic training course attended by senior officers and for instituting a complete review of training relating to Islam and Muslims.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) also called on the DoD to retrain those officers who took the course that, according to an exclusive investigative report by Wired magazine, was suspended after it was found to contain inaccurate and derogatory material about Islam.

According to Wired: "The course instructed captains, commanders, lieutenant colonels and colonels from across all four armed services that 'Islam had already declared war on the West.'"

Exclusive: Senior U.S. General Orders Top-to-Bottom Review of Military's Islam Training
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/04/military-islam-training/

"We commend the Department of Defense for taking appropriate action when the biased and inaccurate information contained in this course came to light," wrote CAIR National Legislative Director Corey Saylor in a letter to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. "It is essential that senior officers who received inaccurate training be retrained using credible and balanced information about Islam and Muslims."

He noted that CAIR last year welcomed a White House-ordered comprehensive review of government counterterrorism training materials to weed out Islamophobic content.

SEE: Obama Orders Clean Up of Islamophobic Terror Training
http://tinyurl.com/74ozglm

Saylor said CAIR chapters nationwide have filed 87 separate public records requests about possible Islamophobic training of local, state and national law enforcement personnel.

SEE: CAIR Files Multi-State Records Requests on Anti-Muslim Law Enforcement Trainings
http://tinyurl.com/d5kxrql

The Washington-based Muslim civil liberties organization has in the past called on the Obama administration, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and Congress to provide oversight for apparently widespread anti-Muslim bias in the training of law enforcement, security and military personnel nationwide.

SEE: CAIR Asks Sec. Napolitano to Probe Use of Islamophobic Trainers
http://tinyurl.com/3qgb5uu

Video: CAIR Decries Anti-Muslim Police Trainers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxX5y7zX8RU

CAIR noted the release of an 80-page report by Political Research Associates (PRA), titled "Manufacturing the Muslim Menace: Private Firms, Public Servants, & the Threat to Rights and Security," which details a systemic failure to regulate content in counterterrorism training.

Manufacturing the Muslim Menace
http://tinyurl.com/4qeretq  

Washington Monthly magazine also published a major investigative article showing similar anti-Islam attitudes by private trainers of law enforcement agencies.

SEE: How We Train Our Cops to Fear Islam
http://tinyurl.com/4ajnx3h

A number of recent reports have documented the growth and promotion of Islamophobia nationwide.

CAIR: Same Hate, New Target
http://tinyurl.com/66enzm8  
Center for American Progress: Fear, Inc.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/08/islamophobia.html
Southern Poverty Law Center: Jihad Against Islam
http://tinyurl.com/3qsv2v8
People for the American Way: The Right-Wing Playbook on Anti-Muslim Extremism
http://tinyurl.com/6j9fttw

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

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CONTACT: CAIR National Legislative Director Corey Saylor, 202-384-8857, E-Mail: csaylor@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Communications Manager Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, 202-341-4171, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com

SOURCE Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)