Whereas Margaret Hassan, a helpless humanitarian aid worker and the Iraqi head of CARE International’s Iraq operations, was brutally murdered while in captivity of Muslim fanatics in Iraq;
Whereas Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was ritually slaughtered on an Amsterdam street on November 2, 2004;
Whereas van Gogh’s crime
was a film he made, Submission, which recounted stories of Muslim women who were forced into arranged marriages and abused in various ways; and
Whereas these latest atrocities sadly mark only the most recent high-profile incidents of violence, mutilations, beheadings, and other acts of savagery committed in the name of Islam, and such barbarous acts contradict the teachings of the monotheistic faith that Islam shares with both Christianity and Judaism: Now, therefore, be it
That Congress—
(1)denounces the horrific killings of Margaret Hassan, the Iraqi head of CARE International’s Iraq operations, and Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh as acts of terrorism and condemns all such monstrous acts committed in the name of Islam;
(2)strongly urges Muslim countries and leading clerics and practitioners of the Islamic faith to take the lead in denouncing, marginalizing, and thwarting the violence committed in the name of Islam against unarmed and helpless victims;
(3)similarly calls on people of all faiths to denounce such barbarous acts committed against Muslims; and
(4)strongly encourages the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to deny access to Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia both to individuals who are members of organizations that have taken credit for, and to individuals who have committed, any crime or act of terrorism, barbarism, or mutilation in the name of Islam.