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Dr. Tarek Hussein is the president of the Houston chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, or CAIR. He says, for now, the group is not requesting extra police protection at mosques or other places where substantial numbers of Muslims congregate.
“Because we believe that Muslim community is responsible. And they will take any preventive measures to prevent any attack to happen on any institution or any mosque.”
Dr. Hussein says those preventive measures mostly consist of Muslims simply keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity.
“At the same time, we also call upon our friends from the non-Muslim faith, just to assure solidarity. Because this is the time when people really need to demonstrate their tolerance to each other.”
Dr. Hussein adds that he hopes that the public dialogue over the Fort Hood shootings focuses on the actions of one person, and won’t be used by anyone to condemn an entire group of people.
