Source: CAIR Press Release

http://www.cair-net.org/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=1722&theType=NR

On August 29, 2005 a CAIR Press Release reported, "[The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)], a prominent [Washington-based] national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today called on local and national law enforcement authorities to investigate an attack on a Columbia, Mo., resident of Middle Eastern heritage as a possible hate crime... [CAIR] says the assault took place August 7th and included shouted racial epithets. The victim was allegedly told to 'go back to Iraq.' He and another person of Middle Eastern background who came to his aid suffered minor injuries during the attack. Local authorities say that while the ethnicity of the victims may have played a role in the attack, the incident has not been classified as a hate crime... 'Whenever an assailant mentions the perceived ethnicity or national origin of a victim, a bias motive should be presumed,' said CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. Hooper urged the FBI to use its resources, and federal law, to help bring the perpetrators to justice."