Paul Harvey
In response to a demand for an apology from the Council on American Islamic Relations, Paul Harvey has issued this statement through an assistant: “Last week [Harvey] told you about bloody cockfights in Iraq and mentioned the relationship between Islam and violence. He says he received several letters from dear friends in the American Muslim community who expressed their disgust with those who have hijacked their religion to achieve their goal through violence. They reminded all of us that Islam is a religion of peace, that terrorists do not represent Islam.”
Last week Harvey said that Islam “encourages killing.” This new statement is not exactly an apology, but it is an affirmation of CAIR’s central thesis: Islam is a peaceful religion that has been hijacked. Evidently the hijackers are a wily bunch, as they have even penetrated into CAIR itself: three of CAIR’s employees have recently been arrested on terrorism-related charges. It would be refreshing to see CAIR stop attacking people like Harvey, who have abundant reasons to think that Islam and killing have something to do with each other, and instead focus on efforts to ensure that radical Islam and the doctrines of violent jihad are eradicated from the Muslim community in the U.S. and around the world.