Oklahoma group condemns Fort Hood attack
Ethnic Council leader hopes no anti-Muslim violence comes from shooting

BY MICHAEL MCNUTT Comments 3
Published: November 7, 2009

A governor’s council made up mostly of Muslims on Friday "strongly criticized” the actions of an Army psychiatrist of Arab descent who allegedly killed 13 during a shooting rampage at a military base in Texas.

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Islamic group

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The Islamic Council of Oklahoma issued this statement:

"Oklahoma Muslims feel the loss of the murdered Fort Hood soldiers deeply and strongly condemn this despicable act. Thousands and thousands of Muslims have honorably served in the American military since the founding of this nation. The victims of this Fort Hood shooter are our compatriots, brothers and sisters in arms protecting this country. We honor them and their families for their sacrifice. We can only imagine that this was an act of illness because no cause, religious or political, is served by such a horrific deed.”

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"This council strongly condemns the actions that occurred yesterday,” Dr. Sandra Kaye Rana of Tulsa said during Friday’s meeting of the Governor’s Ethnic American Advisory Council, made up of several representatives of the Middle Eastern community in Oklahoma.

"There will be further investigation, but it appears to be the act of one person for whatever motive. It is very shocking that this has occurred,” Rana said.

Marjan Seirafi-Pour, the council’s chairman, said after the meeting that she hoped suspected gunman Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s Muslim and Arab heritage does not result in verbal or physical attacks on Muslim-Americans.

"We pretty much know these days that religion and culture does not have anything to do with these violent acts,” she said.

"We have more than 85,000 Muslims in the American military. This is just one very sick individual who decided to take his own personal anger into a public level. I don’t think religion and culture have anything to do with it,” she said.

"We condemn any kind of terrorism and any kind of violent act in our country,” said Seirafi-Pour, of Norman. "The events of yesterday are very sad. Our prayers and our hearts go to the families of the victims. We just pray that they can find peace, and we can make sure that events like this don’t happen in our country anymore.”