Former Australia Prime Minister John Howard says went too far accommodating Muslims

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9/29, "Australia Ex-PM: We went too far accommodating Muslims," MiddleEastOnline.com, by S. Tandon

""This is a time not to apologize for our particular identity but rather to firmly and respectfully and robustly reassert it," Howard said at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank.

• "I think one of the errors that some sections of the English-speaking world have made in the last few decades has been to confuse multiracialism and multiculturalism," Howard said.

Howard pointed in particular to Britain, whose Muslim community came under a spotlight after the 2005 bombings on the London transport system.

• "I am a passionate believer in multiracialism. I believe that societies are enriched if they draw, as my country has done, from all parts of the world on a non-discriminatory basis and contribute, as the United States has done, to the building of a great society," he said.

"But when a nation draws people from other parts of the world, it draws them because of the magnetism of its own culture and its own way of life," Howard said.

"People want to live in the United States not because of some futuristic ideal of multiculturalism, but because of what they regard as the American way of life and American values," he said.

While in office, Howard faced criticism from his opponents that he aggravated anti-Islamic sentiment through tough anti-terrorism laws and tighter immigration controls, including a test on "Australian values.""...

• via Weasel Zippers