Friday, November 6th, 2009
Canadian Muslim group says Fort Hood massacre shouldn't be linked to religion
OTTAWA - One of the country's most vocal Muslim organizations is appealing to Canadians not to link the massacre of 13 people at U.S. Army base to religion.
The appeal for calm comes from the Calgary-based Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, which is also calling on all Muslims in the country to condemn the shooting at Fort Hood, Texas.
Imam Syed Soharwardy, the council's founder who walked across the country to promote non-violence, has implored the public not to link the massacre with Islam or Muslims, even if the shooter was shouting Islamic slogans.
He says random shootings are carried out all of the time and they are the work of psychopaths or extremists.
Investigators in the U.S. are trying to piece together how and why Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly gunned down his comrades but some who knew the army psychiatrist say he may have been struggling with a pending deployment to either Iraq or Afghanistan. The 39-year-old Hasan was among 30 people wounded in the rampage Thursday and remains hospitalized in a coma, attached to a ventilator.
