Donald Trump says stands by his 'Islam hates us' remark

Washington, Mar 11: Donald Trump on Mar 11 stuck to his controversial remarks of "Islam hates us", drawing flak from his Republican rivals as they engaged in a show of civility in their latest face-off, with one of them warning the presidential frontrunner of consequences of such statements.

Trump clarified that not all Muslims fall into this category but said he means "a lot of them". "I mean a lot of them. I mean a lot of them," Trump said when asked if he meant all 1.6 billion Muslims when he said "Islam hates us".

"I've been watching the debate today. They're talking about radical Islamic terrorism or radical Islam. There's something going on that maybe you don't know about, maybe a lot of other people don't know about, but there's tremendous hatred.

"And I will stick with exactly what I said," Trump said. "In large mosques, all over the Middle East, you have people chanting "death to the USA". Now, that does not sound like a friendly act to me," Trump said in response to a question at the last Republican presidential debate in Miami, Florida – which goes for primary elections on Tuesday.

The exchange, though charged up, remained mostly respectful - in stark contrast to the no holds barred face-off that it had become in the past few days. Trump's bitter presidential rival Senator Marco Rubio warned about consequences of such a controversial statement.

"I know that a lot of people find appeal in the things Donald says because he says what people wish they could say. The problem is, presidents can't just say anything they want. It has consequences, here and around the world," he said.

The US already has had consequences of airplanes flying into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and could have been the White House, Rubio added. "There have been a lot of problems. Now you can say what you want, and you can be politically correct if you want. I don't want to be so politically correct. I like to solve problems. We have a serious, serious problem of hate," he said.

Rubio said two days ago he met a couple who were on furlough because they are missionaries in Bangladesh. "It's a very tough place to be a missionary. It's Muslim. And their safety and security very much relies upon friendly Muslims that live along side them, that may not convert, but protect them and certainly look out for them.

"And their mission field really are Muslims that are looking to convert to Christianity as well," he said.

"They tell me that today they have a very hostile environment in which to operate in because the news is coming out that in America, leading political figures are saying that America doesn't like Muslims. So this is a real impact. There's no doubt that radical Islam is a danger in the world," Rubio said.

PTI