At Tampa mosque, Kucinich says Muslims unfairly targeted by U.S.
Originally published in the Bradenton Herald
Posted on Tue, Dec. 30, 2003
At Tampa mosque, Kucinich says Muslims unfairly targeted by U.S.
Associated Press
TAMPA, Fla. - Democratic Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich, the Ohio U.S. Rep.who led a fight in the U.S. House against war in Iraq, visited a mosque Tuesday and told the congregation that he thought American Muslims were unfairly targeted by the U.S. government.
"At this time of rolling back of civil liberties, all Americans need to be worried about any American deprived of his or her rights," Kucinich said at the Islamic Society of Tampa. "All Americans should be very concerned about a government trying to get more and more into peoples' private lives.
Kucinich said his opposition to the war in Iraq will take him to the White House.
"The war was wrong. It was wrong," he said. "We went to war under false pretenses. Americans were told that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, which turned out not to be true. Just because they caught Saddam Hussein doesn't mean going into Iraq was right."
Kucinich also opposed the Patriot Act, passed after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to give the government more access to private records and to make it easier to prosecute accused terrorists.
The Islamic Society of Tampa was the planned target of Tampa podiatrist Robert Goldstein, who assembled an arsenal of weapons before he was arrested and in June was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Parvez Ahmed, chairman of the board of the Florida Council on American-Islamic Relations, said that if the Patriot Act were truly intended to be fair, Goldstein would have been prosecuted under its provisions.
"Goldstein could have been used to give the Muslim community more of a sense of comfort," Ahmed said.
Ahmed said the traditionally conservative Muslim community in Florida supported George Bush in 2000. Though the agency will not endorse a candidate, he said he thought many Muslims would support Kucinich when they heard his message.
"On the issues of family values and abortion, we were closer to the Republicans," Ahmed said. "Almost 95 percent of Muslims in Florida voted for Bush in the last election. We tend to believe we gave Bush the election, at least in Florida."
The point was not lost on Kucinich.
"Florida is very important in this election and I'm making a very strong effort in Florida to reach out to the people of Florida ..." Kucinich said.
After hearing Kucinich, Tampa engineer Abdul Waris, 43, said that he liked what he heard.
"I think what he said was to the point and truthful. I think there's going to be an erosion of civil liberties in the U.S.," Waris said. "I don't think he's going to be nominated, but at least he's highlighting the hot-button issues."
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