Abu Dhabi, November 09: US Homeland Security officials are working with groups around United States to head off any possible anti-Muslim backlash following the shootings at Fort Hood in Texas, the agency’s chief said Sunday.
The comments by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also appeared part of efforts to reassure the Arab world that US authorities were taking measures to quell anti-Islam sentiments after last week’s rampage by an American-born Muslim serving as US Army psychiatrist.
“This was a terrible tragedy for all involved,” Napolitano told reporters in the United Arab Emirates’ capital Abu Dhabi. “Obviously, we object to — and do not believe — that anti-Muslim sentiment should emanate from this.” Napolitano said her agency is working with state and local groups to try to deflect any anti-Muslim anger after the Thursday attacks by Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a Muslim who reportedly expressed growing dismay over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The shootings left 13 people dead and 29 wounded.
“This was an individual who does not, obviously, represent the Muslim faith,” she said after meeting with a group of women university students.
Meanwhile in Washington, US Army Chief of Staff George Casey on Sunday warned deadly shootings at Fort Hood could prompt a backlash against Muslim soldiers, undermining diversity needed to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Casey warned against guessing at the motives of Hasan.
Casey, a former commander in Iraq, said he was “concerned that this increased speculation could cause a backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers.
It has been suggested that US-born Hasan carried out the shootings as revenge for persecution about his Islamic faith at the hands of his comrades.
“I worry that the speculation could cause something that we don’t want to see happen.”
—–Agencies