Arlington, USA - Iran's former president decried a wave of "Islamophobia" that he said is being spread in the United States by fear and hatred of Islam in response to terror perpetrated by Muslims.
"In the crime of 9/11, two crimes were committed," Mohammad Khatami said. "One was killing innocent people. The second crime was masking this crime in the name of Islam."
Under smothering security, with dozens of uniformed police and plainclothes American security personnel provided by the State Department, Khatami spoke Friday night at an event sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations called "The Dialogue of Civilizations: Five Years After 9/11."
Khatami is visiting the United States for two weeks, coming to this Washington suburb after two days in the nation's capital. Unlike at an appearance Thursday night in the Washington National Cathedral, no protesters were evident outside the hotel where he spoke. Multiple marked and unmarked security vehicles were outside, and a segment of Jefferson Davis Highway, a main Arlington artery, was shut down while he was there. At least one helicopter swooped repeatedly over the area.
Khatami, the most senior Iranian to visit Washington in a quarter-century, spoke in front of American and Iranian flags, draped in each other's folds.
The talk broke no new ground for Khatami, considered a reformist during his two terms as president that ended last year. He was among the first foreign leaders to condemn the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. His visit to the United States drew criticism from some politicians and others because of the bitter contention now under way between Iran and the United States over actions of his successor, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad
He told his audience through an interpreter that in conditions that have followed the Sept. 11 attacks, American Muslims should show their countrymen by example that they, not terrorists, represent Islam.
"Demonstrate to others that whatever is said about Islam in the media is not correct" and combat the "wave of Islamophobia and hatred of Islam that we unfortunately are experiencing today," he said.
He laid out three goals for Muslims: "Your responsibility and our responsibility is to be first a good citizen in whatever country you live; to try for yourself and your children to move up the ladder of social achievement and education; and third is to fight the vague Islamophobia that has been created by those who don't have the best interests of Islam at heart."
He said "killers who go among others and kill others in acts of terror, if they identify themselves with Islam, they are lying. You Muslims who live in the United States should be representatives of enlightenment and don't allow those who create this Islamophobia" to speak for the religion.