Posted on 11/21/2003 6:32:30 PM PST by blam
Muslims round on 'British way' minister
By George Jones, Political Editor
(Filed: 22/11/2003)
A Foreign Office minister caused outrage yesterday when he told Muslims they must make a choice between the "British way" of political dialogue and Islamic terrorism.
The comments by Denis MacShane, which came the day after 27 people died in two bomb blasts at Istanbul, were described as "outrageous" and "disgraceful". Mr MacShane urged imams and other Muslim leaders to use "clearer, stronger language" to speak out against terrorism.
"It is time for the elected and community leaders of British Muslims to make a choice: it is the British way - based on political dialogue and non-violent protests - or it is the way of the terrorists, against which the whole democratic world is now uniting," he said in a speech in his Rotherham constituency.
"I hope we will see clearer, stronger language that there is no future for any Muslim cause anywhere in the world that validates, or implicitly supports, the use of political violence in any way.
"Democracy has no place for terrorism and - like Nazism and other forms of tyranny - it must be defeated by the common will and determination of all who live under rule of law and in democratic freedom."
The remarks by Mr MacShane, the Minister for Europe, follow growing concern within Government that Muslim fundamentalists in Britain are supporting terror groups in the Middle East and encouraging disaffected young men to train as terrorists.
But his speech drew a furious reaction from leaders of Britain's 2.5 million Muslims, who said terrorism had always been condemned by law-abiding citizens.
Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, said they did not need lectures from a representative of a Government "that has conducted an unlawful war against Iraq". He said the Muslim community had consistently condemned terrorism, including the latest attack on the British consulate and the HSBC bank in Turkey.
"The attacks only emphasise that the disastrous war in Iraq has not reduced the risk of terrorism, as our own Governments had us believe beforehand, but has exacerbated it,"said Mr Bunglawala.
Anas Altikriti, the director of communications for the Muslim Association of Britain, said Mr MacShane's remarks were "an outrage" and "no way" to address law-abiding Muslims in this country.
He said when Muslim leaders cautioned against policies which could lead to more bloodshed, they were not listened to. "But when those attacks then happen we are told we are not condemning them loud enough. It is utterly disgraceful."
Massoud Shadjareh, the chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, said the majority of Muslims had consistently condemned violence against any individual, no matter what the source.
He described Mr MacShane's call for "clearer, stronger language" by Muslim leaders as ridiculous. "What does he want us to do? Apologise so much as to give an indication that somehow we are all responsible when we are not?
"If attacks are carried out by Muslims we condemn it, if it comes from non-Muslims we condemn it," he said. "I just wish some people in Government would take a similar view."
Mr MacShane stood by his comments last night. He said he was "disappointed" that there had been a "knee-jerk" response from some Muslim leaders.
The row came as Clare Short, the former international development secretary, suggested that the "accumulating tragedy" of terrorism seen in the Istanbul bombings could be blamed on the way the Iraq war was "mishandled".
In an interview to be broadcast on GMTV tomorrow she criticised Tony Blair for "swallowing the whole argument" of the American neo-conservatives and called him "messianic", "Right-wing" and "shallow".
Miss Short, who resigned from the Cabinet after the Iraq war, said she saw a danger of "a growing disorder, violence, killing, bitterness that will spread and grow, destabilise across the world, create more bitter division".
This reminds me of bill clinton. He never actually apologized for Monica, but he came out and said that he had already apologized (even though he hadn't) so it was time to move on. The news media seemed not to notice this.
Similarly the Muslims say that of course they apologized. Or maybe they didn't apologize, actually, but their silence should be taken in that spirit. Somehow or other, the apology never gets made in the present tense. I wonder if they got this habit of speech from clinton, or if he got it from them. Probably the latter, since Muslims have been talking this way a lot longer than bill clinton.
Notice, too, if you parse the sentence I've quoted, much of it depends on the meaning of "law abiding citizens." Does that mean Muslims? Or is it like the meaning of "is"?
And what happened to "Onward Christian Soldiers" ....?
Yup. I posted an article yesterday about the Italians who deported a number of Muslims, reason given, "undesireable." One had been in Italy for 11 years.
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