Arab and Muslim groups were quick to condemn the Fort Hood massacre on Thursday - and to warn against anti-Muslim retribution.
“Such violence is morally reprehensible and has nothing to do with any religion, race, ethnicity or national origin,” said Mary Rose Oakar, president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
She called for law enforcement agencies to protect all Arab and Muslim institutions and communities because “a clear backlash has already started.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations added its voice to the denunciations of Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s rampage, calling it a “cowardly attack.”
“No religious or political ideology could ever justify or excuse such wanton and indiscriminate violence. The attack was particularly heinous in that it targeted the all-volunteer Army that protects our nation,” the group said.
Hasan, a U.S. citizen whose parents reportedly are from Jordan, is a devout Muslim, according to an Islamic center in his former hometown of Silver Spring, Md.
He was reportedly upset over an upcoming deployment to Iraq.