Bush hails Islam to quell anti-US feelings (praises Islam as a religion of liberty and tolerance)

Daily Telegraph ^ | October 23, 2003 | Alex Spillius

[Korth]

President George W Bush went to Bali, site of the worst terrorist atrocity since the September 11 attacks, yesterday to praise Islam as a religion of liberty and tolerance.

Mr Bush's trip was an attempt to tackle anti-American sentiment in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation.

At a press conference in Bali, where 202 people were killed when Islamic extremists linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda network blew up two packed nightclubs a year ago, Mr Bush said: "Terrorists who claim Islam as their inspiration defile one of the world's greatest faiths.

"Murder has no place in any religious tradition."

Mr Bush said he wanted to correct what he felt was a misconception that the war on terrorism was a cover for a war against Islam or that Americans thought all Muslims were terrorists.

He paid tribute to the victims of the Bali bombings and praised his host, President Megawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia, for hunting down terrorists.

Three of the Bali bombers have been sentenced to death but critics have accused Indonesia's secular government of failing to explain the dangers of radical Islam to its people and to tackle militancy at its roots, especially in radical Muslim boarding schools.

Owing to security concerns, Mr Bush spent only four hours on the resort island and chose to remain at a hotel five minutes' drive from the airport where his meetings were held.

Flights were postponed throughout his visit and as he spoke, just yards from the Indian Ocean, warships could be seen patrolling offshore. Five thousand heavily armed police and troops backed up by sniffer dogs and bomb squad units were deployed.

The brevity of his trip underlined how much more dangerous Indonesia and South-East Asia have become since the boom era of the 1980s and early 1990s. When Ronald Reagan visited, he stayed three nights in Bali, hosted by the dictator Suharto.

Mr Bush made a point of meeting leaders of two moderate Muslim organisations which represent about 50 million of the 210 million population.

They pointed out that American policies in the Middle East were a root cause of terrorism and asked him to listen more to the rest of the world. "We told him US foreign policy should seek a new paradigm if the US wants to be respected by the world community and be safe," said Syafii Maarif, head of one of the groups, Muhammadiyah.

"It was an open and lively meeting which we did not expect."

Thousands of protesters - including Mrs Megawati's sister - gathered at an independence monument in the centre of the capital, Jakarta, to demonstrate against Mr Bush's visit,

Mr Bush arrived last night in Australia, the last stop on his six-day, six-nation tour.

[TADSLOS]

If we were any closer to them, we'd be behind them

I'd rather be facing their back than the other way around.

[KriegerGeist]

"President George W Bush went to Bali, site of the worst terrorist atrocity since the September 11 attacks, yesterday to praise Islam as a religion of liberty and tolerance."

Name one Islamic country Mr. President that has liberty and tolerance! Iran? Saudi Arabia? Pakistan? Afghanistan? Kuwait? United Arab Emerates? Syria? Lebanon? Turkey? ...and the list goes on...

[Prime Choice]

Islam has been in the past and can be a religion of peace and tolerance.

This reminds me of the stories from battered wives who reminisce on how sweet and thoughtful their battering husbands were before they got married.

The past is the past. We have to deal with the present and plan for the future. And right now, we have followers of a specific faith (Islam) who either planning to kill us outright, or are turning a blind eye and giving tacit approval to those who plan to kill us outright.

Islam may have been a religion of peace once. It sure doesn't look like that's the mainstream anymore.

[B Knotts]

And they were second class citizens

...and still are. Even the Vatican is starting to point this out.

[Napoleon Solo]

My momma always said that if you didn't have anything good to say about something then keep your mouth shut...When does he (GWB) get the message and just stop spouting about that religion?

He may believe in the speak softly and carry a big stick and he may sneak up on these Islamofacists through trickery but enough of this Religion of Peace BS already. Stop this maddness, George!! Keep it to yourself. The rest of us think just the opposite!!

You demoralize the good peoples of the USA by constantly spewing this PC BS Religion of Peace mantra!! Enough is enough!!

[Prime Choice]

I'd rather be facing their back than the other way around.

Turning our back to them is essentially what we're doing every time the "Religion of Peace" white flag goes up. After all, we're supposed to welcome "peaceful" people with open arms, right? People who are adherents to a "peaceful" religion wouldn't have any reason to harm us, right?

I don't believe we can disarm the enemy by being disarming.

Like it or not, the enemy we face does not view tolerance and mercy as a virtue; they view it as a weakness.

[Belial]

Most of them I see in the news every freaking night either seem totally dedicated to the absolute destruction of Western Civilization or are blathering some pap about "not all Muslims are raving homicidal maniacs".

And we all know the evening news is great at providing a full glimpse of reality.

[opus86]

"We told him US foreign policy should seek a new paradigm..."

And of course that paradigm would be for us to abandon Israel.

[alloysteel]

Sometime up in the future, Islam is going to go through a huge turmoil and upheaval, finally purging themselves of the apostasies and false doctrines like Wahhabism and some of the more extreme passages that have been attributed to Mohammad. Project that some scholars acting as agents may consider undertaking:

Translate the Qu'ran from its original Arabic to modern English vernacular. Rewrite the more inflammatory passages or eliminate them and all references to them altogether. Then retranslate the redacted text into Arabic, and seize all the old versions, replacing them with the revised verses for distribution to every Muslim household.

Islam may be a fine religion by which to plan one's life. But it may need a little nudge from time to time.

[TheGunny]

Yeah, its called P-O-L-I-T-I-C-S, get it?

[John Beresford Tipton]

LOL, a good one Revolting!

[Celtjew Libertarian]

And they were second class citizens, more than welcome to renounce their faith and become Moslems to attain first class citizen status.

Yes, but it was still a step up from being forced to convert, leave, or die in Spain and many other European in countries at that time.

In fact, one of the significant Jewish returns to the Holy Land was shortly after 1492, when Ferdinand and Isabella kicked the Jews out of Spain and the Ottoman Sultan Beyazid II took as many in as he could get, allowing some to settle in what is now Israel.

[antiRepublicrat]

You said it better than I could have.

There were also many Christians caught in the denominational wars, hunted as heretics, who welcomed the Muslims taking over North Africa in the 700-800s. It was better to live under Muslim rule than to be slaughtered by their own church.

[John Beresford Tipton]

Yes, he always used his "pedifile" when getting a pedicure.

[antiRepublicrat]

You just described half the people in the Old Testament!

[johnb838]

That's Redi-Killowatt-i to you.

[Cyrus the Great]

Indonesians aren't Arabs.

[TADSLOS]

Appearances are one thing. Actions are another. They routinely practice deception on us as a function of their "religion". We practice deception on them as a matter of practicality and necessity. There's alot of machinery turning in the background to fight islamic terror that relies on the Bush administration to take the public stance they do on islam.

[Cyrus the Great]

President has had this policy all along.

The 'i hate Islam crowd' is a radical fringe movement not in line with our President, government, nor frankly our country and it's been denounced several times by President Bush.

[mulligan]

Sent an e-mail to the President yesterday and said if Islam is a tolerant religion then we were using diffenent dictionaries re: the definition of tolerant.

Would like someone to show me one act of sympathy or indulgence for beliefs differing from or conflicting with one's (Islam's) own belief.