[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 178 (Thursday, December 20, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2390]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




U.S. HAS LONG TRADITION OF HELPING MUSLIMS, AS SHOWN BY 1952 EMERGENCY 
               ASSISTANCE TO NEARLY 4,000 MECCA PILGRIMS

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                         HON. PAUL E. KANJORSKI

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 20, 2001

  Mr. KANJORSKI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call the attention of the 
House of Representatives to the fact that our nation has a long history 
of helping Muslims. While we are familiar with the actions America has 
taken in recent years to intervene for the benefit of Muslims in 
Somalia, Bosnia and Kosovo, among numerous other locations around the 
world, America is hardly new to coming to the aid of people of the 
Islamic faith.
  In particular, I would like to call the attention of the House to an 
instance brought to my attention by an alert constituent, Mr. Leonard 
Mulcahy of Wyoming, Pennsylvania. In light of recent events, Mr. 
Mulcahy recalled seeing an article in the July 1953 issue of National 
Geographic magazine about the U.S. Air Force assisting nearly 4,000 
Muslims in 1952, and he was kind enough to provide me with a copy of 
that issue of the magazine.
  Mr. Speaker, the article states that in August 1952, ``with the 
opening of the hadj only a few days away, nearly 4,000 desperate 
Moslems found themselves in Lebanon . . . with air tickets but no 
reservations. Commercial lines, flooded with applications, could take 
only a few.'' As you may know, Mr. Speaker, the hadj is the annual 
pilgrimage to Mecca which each Muslim is expected to undertake at least 
once in his or her life if possible.
  The article continues, ``To help in the emergency, American 
Ambassador Harold B. Minor asked the United States Air Force to fly 14 
C-54s from Libya and Germany. Quickly a shuttle service was set up; in 
75 flights 3,763 pilgrims were transported 900 miles from Beirut to 
Jidda in time to begin their hadj. In gratitude, the Mufti of Lebanon 
ordered prayers for Americans in all mosques, and King Abdul Aziz al 
Saud presented Arab robes to 86 airmen.''
  The article also states, ``The Air Force accepted no money for the 
pilgrim passages. Fares collected by commercial airlines, for flights 
they were unable to complete, went to Moslem charity.''
  Mr. Speaker, I would again like to thank Leonard Mulcahy for making 
sure that America's assistance to the Muslim pilgrims in 1952 is not 
forgotten. Despite our imperfect history, Americans can be proud that 
ours is a generous and tolerant nation, and I believe the fact that we 
provided this type of assistance to thousands of Muslims nearly half a 
century ago helps to illustrate that fact.

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