Associated Press: Preparedness Drill Sparks Controversy

REPUBLISHED:Chicago Tribune CBS 2 Chicago NBC: 14 News | WPSD 6 WQAD Ch 8 WSJV, FOX28

IRVING, Ill. (AP) -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations is crying foul over an emergency preparedness drill targeting a simulated mosque in the central Illinois commuity of Irving.

Ahmed Rehab of the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations says the exercise wrongly typecast Islamic houses of worship as security threats. Rehab says he has no reason to believe the exercise was meant to be malicious, but it still perpetuates a stereotype linking all Muslims to terrorism.