Muslim group: Bush distorts 'Islamic'

[oberliner]

ROSEMONT, Ill. - The newly elected head of the largest Muslim group in North America called
President Bush's recasting of the war on terror as a "war against Islamic fascism" inaccurate and not helpful to people of her faith.

Ingrid Mattson, the first woman president of the Islamic Society of North America, said Friday that labeling terrorism as "Islamic" only adds to a misunderstanding of the religion.

Mattson acknowledged that terrorist groups "do misuse and use Islamic concepts and terms to justify their violence."

"But I think that when we then bestow that term upon them we only make the situation worse and somehow give validity to their claims which we need to deny and reject," she said at the opening of the group's 43rd annual convention.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060902/ap_on_re_us/american_muslims