Ashcroft distances self from Anti-Islam statements
Regional-USA, Local, 2/13/2002

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft on Monday distanced himself from remarks attributed to him by columnist Cal Thomas, who quoted Ashcroft as saying that "Islam is a religion in which God requires you to send your son to die for him."

Justice Department spokeswoman Susan Dryden said Ashcroft made "references to extremist suicide terrorists who have hijacked the religion" in the Nov. 9 interview. Reports that Ashcroft applies the same belief more broadly to all of Islam "do not accurately reflect the attorney general's view," she said.

In a radio commentary called "Men of Faith in Washington, D.C.," Thomas said Ashcroft defined Christianity as "a faith in which God sends his son to die for you."

Thomas told The New York Daily News, which first reported the controversy, that he stood by his account. "I wrote it down accurately and repeated it to make sure I had it right," Thomas told the newspaper.

The Justice Department recalled that Ashcroft met Oct. 16 with Arab and Muslim leaders to reassure them that it was U.S. policy to "enforce laws that would guarantee that Americans, regardless of their national origin, are to be respected and their rights are to be safeguarded."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based group, urged Ashcroft on Monday to clarify the remarks, which the group called "offensive" and "unbecoming of a law enforcement official who is currently initiating and administering policies that have a disproportionate impact on Muslims."

Nihad Awad, the group's executive director, said President Bush and others should distance themselves from the remarks attributed to Ashcroft.

Another group, the Arab American Institute, wrote to Bush to call the remarks "a horrible distortion of Islam" that "send the wrong signal to Americans and do a grave disservice to your administration's efforts to unite all Americans in the war against terror."

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