Limbaugh: “There is no backlash against Muslims in America. Zip, zero, nada.”

From the November 11 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show:

LIMBAUGH: And General Casey is now the Chief of Staff of the Army and he talked about the diversity in the Army, and oh, how this incident is so -- he said something to the effect that it'd be so bad, it'd be even worse if this incident caused us to lose our diversity in the military. And he went out there and said we're going to do everything we can to make sure there's not a backlash against the Muslim soldiers in our military. Janet Napolitano of the United Arab Emirates says we're gonna do everything we can to make sure there's not a backlash against Muslim-Americans in the United States, and there are statistics and numbers out there. Hate crimes against Muslims are at an all-time low; since 2001, they have plummeted. There aren't any hate crimes. There is no backlash against Muslims in America. Zip, zero, nada.

FACT: FBI's 2002 analysis reportedly showed that “Hate crimes against Muslims soared after Sept. 11”

A 2002 FBI hate crimes analysis reported that the distribution of hate crimes based on national origin changed in 2001, “presumably as a result of the heinous incidents that occurred on September 11.” The FBI further noted, “Anti-Islamic religion incidents were previously the second least reported, but in 2001, they became the second highest reported among religious-bias incidents (anti-Jewish religion incidents were the highest), growing by more than 1,600 percent over the 2000 volume. In 2001, reported data showed there were 481 incidents made up of 546 offenses having 554 victims of crimes motivated by bias toward the Islamic religion.” A November 26, 2002, San Francisco Chronicle article reported, “Hate crimes against Muslims soared after Sept. 11, according to an FBI report released Monday that also shows that most hate offenses in 2001 were committed against African Americans.”