After all, the bulk of terrorism worldwide is currently related to Islamic causes (despite government attempts to obscure that reality). Simulating an assault on a mosque as a part of training exercise therefore seems reasonable to me.

As part of a recent emergency preparedness drill in south-central Illinois, law enforcement personnel stormed a "mosque" where radical gunman were holding hostages.

The "gunmen" and hostages were playing a part, and the building wasn't really a mosque. And that bothers an Islamic advocacy group.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) opposes the stereotyping of Muslims as radicals.

"The use of a fake 'mosque' in this type of drill sends the wrong message to law enforcement officials who may now view mainstream institutions, such as Islamic houses of worship, as potential security threats," said Ahmed Rehab, executive director of CAIR's Chicago chapter.

Now letÂ’s set aside the obvious connection between Islam and terrorism -- even though Islam is the leading source of terrorism today, it is unnecessary to even consider that in justifying the use of the mosque scenario.

Police use a number of different scenarios in such training exercises – including some in which the target of the action is a “church” full of “extremist Christians”.

For CAIR to take offense at a scenario that is not unusual except for the use of the word “mosque” is therefore totally unreasonable – but then again, since when have we ever seen terrorist apologists at CAIR act reasonably when an unreasonable response is an option?

Posted by: Greg at 10:24 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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