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Carole Mikita ReportingThe abuse of Iraqi prisoners has sparked outrage in the Utah Muslim community. To them, the humiliation reaches into their worldwide faith.
Fridays the world over, Muslims are united in worship. It is their holy day. Every week they pray for peace. This week they add a prayer for healing of man's inhumanity to man.
Iraqi prisoners, though enemies, are fellow Muslims. They were forced to undress and take sexual positions in front of female American soldiers.
Imam Shuaib Din, Khadeeja Masjid "The humiliation that they are facing in front of their families, in front of their fellow countrymen and in front of the world."
The difficulty for American Muslim is that to belong to Islam, one is a member of a vast, international community.
Imam: "We, Muslims are united by faith, not by superficial boundaries. The abuse that happened in the prison was not was not only a slap in the face of those prisoners, or the people of the middle east, it was a slap in the face of one and a half billion Muslims."
Utah native, Omar Kader, an expert on and advocate for peace in the Middle East, spoke at Weber State's commencement last night. He says America has never been held in such low esteem in that part of the world.
Omar Kadar, Ph.D., MIddle East Peace Advocate: "March into Iraq, knock off Saddam Hussein. Transform Iraqi citizenry into little Thomas Jeffersons and suddenly they would all become democrats, republicans and live happily every after. It's going to take decades to make this right."
Since September 11th, Muslims here, like most Utahns, have pledged support for the Bush Administration. On this Islamic holy day, they say there are new wounds that will take generations to heal.
Twenty-thousand Muslims live along the Wasatch Front, from Ogden to Provo.
