WASHINGTON - President Bush has reassured a crowd of Muslim Americans that the US remains completely committed to religious freedom and the defence of Muslims in the US against attacks from terrorists.
Following in the footsteps of President Dwight D Eisenhower a half century ago, Bush rededicated the Islamic Centre of Washington on Wednesday. He pointed to the centre's close proximity to a synagogue, a Lutheran church, a Catholic parish, a Greek Orthodox chapel, and a Buddhist temple to highlight religious diversity in the US.
"The freedom to worship is so central to America's character that we tend to take it personally when that freedom is denied to others," Bush said.
"Our country was a leading voice on behalf of the Jewish refusniks in the Soviet Union. Americans joined in common cause with Catholics and Protestants who prayed in secret behind an Iron Curtain," he continued. "America has stood with Muslims seeking to freely practice their beliefs in places such as Burma and China."
However, Bush switched focus to the growing Islamic extremism in the Middle East and the difference between extremists and moderate Muslims.
"This enemy [extremists] falsely claims that America is at war with Muslims and the Muslim faith, when in fact it is these radicals who are Islam's true enemy," Bush emphasised.
"They have staged spectacular attacks on Muslim holy sites to divide Muslims and make them fight one another," he said. "The majority of the victims of their acts of terror are Muslims."
