Source: The Boston Globe
On September 21, 2005 The Boston Globe ran an opinion piece by Shahid Ahmed Khan, a consultant in international development in Boston who serves on the board of trustees of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Khan responds to the recent remarks made by Massachusetts Governor, Mitt Romney who, as Khan puts it, "advocat[es] 'monitoring' and 'wiretapping' of Massachusetts Islamic centers and foreign students... The governor has demonstrated not only a lack of cultural understanding and a disregard for civil liberties but also an alarming ignorance about effective methods of combating radicalism. If Mitt Romney intends to run for president, as seems likely, he needs to learn some basic lessons -- about American Muslims and about uniting Americans in the struggle against extremism of every sort... Mosques and Islamic centers are houses of worship and of cultural identity; if there is no evidence of wrongdoing within them, they must be accorded the respect due an institution of significance. Based on his recent comments, it seems the governor is incapable of respecting the dignity of one of the world's great religions... We must present a unified front against the forces of radicalism that seek to destroy America. If we allow Mitt Romney to divide us, the radicals will have prevailed. We cannot -- we must not -- allow this to occur."