Photo: Photo by Evan Vucci/ Reuters
The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) today condemned President Trump’s “unhinged” rhetoric after the president posted a message online saying a “whole civilization will die tonight” and referred to Iranians as “animals” in response to a reporter’s question. The organization also reiterated its call for Congress to reconvene and vote to end the war on Iran and urged military leaders to obey their oath to the U.S. Constitution and refuse any unlawful orders to commit genocide.
SEE: Trump Says a ‘Whole Civilization Will Die Tonight’ If Iran Misses Deal Deadline
In a statement, CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush said:
“Declaring the Iranian people ‘animals’ and threatening to destroy their whole civilization is the sort of unhinged rhetoric we would expect from a racist, genocidal tyrant, not the president of the U.S.
“Nothing in U.S. law, military law, or international law would authorize the president to attempt to destroy another civilization by rendering their nation uninhabitable through indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure.
“President Trump must be prevented from committing a genocidal crime that would live in infamy, whether by Congress reconvening and voting to stop the war, the cabinet invoking the 25th amendment, or military leaders refusing unlawful orders to exterminate civilians. Refusing to take any action in the face of this open threat to commit genocide is complicity.”
CAIR’s National office made a similar call last weekend following President Trump’s inflammatory remarks mocking Islam and announcing planned war crimes targeting Iranian civilian infrastructure. The organization also condemned President Trump’s recent threat to bomb Iran “back to the stone ages” as “anti-Muslim, racist, and dehumanizing.”
CAIR-LA is Southern California’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice and empower American Muslims.
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CONTACT: CAIR-LA Communications Manager Enjy El-Kadi, (714) 851-4851 or eelkadi@cair.com; CAIR-LA Senior Communications Coordinator Madi Hameed, mmorse-hameed@cair.com
