During the 1991 Gulf War against Saddam Hussein, ADC president James Abourezk expressed concern that Arab Americans would be targeted, revealing that a violent anti-Arab telephone message had been left on an ADC answering machine.Felicity Barringer, Confrontation in the Gulf; With Loyalty Split, Arab-Americans Fault Hussein, but Question U.S. Too, The New York Times, August 16, 1990. ADC documented that more than 100 hate crimes against Arab-Americans were committed from August 1990 through March 1991, including arson against a Detroit restaurant and the planting of a bomb in a San Diego mosque.Jim Naureckas, Gulf War Coverage, The Worst Censorship Was at Home Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, 1991.
