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.”

Associated Press, 8 September 2006

See also interview with Mohammad Khatami, Washington Post 5 September 2006