Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Southern California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, shared his insights on current hostilities with several hundred worshippers as he led the jum‘a prayer service in a Mission Viejo mosque yesterday: the war on terror has become a "war on Muslims" and the United States government has become the "new Saddam." He then concluded: "So let's end this hypocrisy, this hypocrisy that we are better than the other dictator."
I have previously addressed the "war on Muslims" angle but Ayloush's equating Washington with the "new Saddam" deserves comment. First, Ayloush again (for a prior example, concerning the word "zionazi," see here) does Americans the favor of making explicit what his less hot-tempered CAIR colleagues are presumably thinking but not ready to say out loud. Second, he equates the Saddam Hussein regime's systematic use of torture with the apparent actions of a few rogue and criminal elements in the U.S. military, giving a clear insight into his political stupidity. Third, the phrase "the other dictator" implies that Ayloush sees the U.S. government as dictatorial. Finally, this repugnant comparison reveals the mentality and outlook of CAIR, again showing how it despises the United States and its freely elected government. (May 8, 2004)
