Comrades:

I thought this might be of interest to us.  Please read on.

The Guilford County Republican Party removed a link from its own Web site to
an anti-Islam site and issued an apology Friday morning.

The link from www.GuilfordGOP.com led to a site that describes the religion as
"one of the greatest evils on our planet" and has been replaced on the GOP
site with the following statement:

"We apologize for the link to this website and have instituted safeguards
against links to such sites in the future. There is no room for hate in our
society."

Marcus Kindley, chairman of the county GOP, said he had been unaware of the
anti-Islamic site's content until a reporter told him about it Thursday.

"We're not going to let that stand. That's not what we're about," said
Kindley, who also sent an apology by e-mail to the Washington-based Council on
American-Islamic Relations.

The leader of a local Islamic group praised the party's moves.

"I'm pleased that they removed the link. I'm really pleased," said Badi Ali,
president of the Islamic Center of the Triad. "This is a step in the right
direction."

The link, put on the GOP site about a month before the November election, led
to www.IslamExposed.com, a site that states: "This Web site was designed with
1 objective in mind -- to expose one of the greatest evils on our planet --
Islam.

"We have the evidence and materials to prove that this false religion is
nothing more than a barbaric occult (sic) invented by savages for savages."

When told about the site's content Thursday, Kindley said he had received only
a handful of e-mail messages complaining about it. But by Friday afternoon,
after the link was publicized, he had received about 100 more.

He said the party learned about the site from a conservative Internet news
site and had hoped to educate readers about Muslim extremists.

IslamExposed.com is at odds with statements by President Bush, who has said
"Islam is peace." The site contains numerous essays by Solomon Tulbure, the
author of the book "President G.W. Bush is a Moron: Islam Is NOT Peace."

The GOP link was accompanied by a disclaimer: "The Guilford GOP does not
endorse the opinions expressed on this Web site, nor have we fully researched
the site. It is presented as interesting reading material relating to the War
on Terrorism.

But Muslims, who denounced the link and the anti-Islam site, said that the
link's presence amounted to an endorsement.

On Thursday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations called on the Guilford
GOP to remove the link and apologize to the state's Muslims. On Friday,
spokesman Ibrahim Hoover applauded the party's response.

"We appreciate their willingness to take the link down," Hoover said.

Source:  Greensboro News-Record

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