Ya, prior to the war in Iraq, Islam was the religion of peace and there were no areas of strife in the world involving Islam.
Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Iran, Phillipines, Pakistan, Afghanistan were all visions of peace and love.
Radical Salafism is based on a particular reading of the Medieval writer Ibn Taymiyya, who wrote after the fall of Baghdad to the Mongols. He viewed non-Salafi Muslims, and Christians, and Jews, as allies of the Mongols and as threats to the security and purity of Islam. And he was particularly angered by Mongols who had invaded Islam and said they had converted, but who weren’t, in his view true converts. The latest radical view of Islam sees a [new] threat of occupation by outside forces….It sees the West as occupying Islam, so it views them the way Ibn Taymiyya viewed the Mongols.
This does bring up an interesting perspective. From a western perspective, we have been so liberalized into a 'comparative reigion' theology, that recent Talaban (actual group released I'm recalling from memory of press reports, so I may be off a bit here)prison releasees from Afghanistan were reportedly doled $25 and a copy of the Koran.
By this article, those who would follow a Wahhabbist perspective might find the issuance of the Koran to Muslims by American allies to be the height of arrogant insult to their faith, because it would render the document 'impure'.
IMHO, the only way to remain consistent would be to issue them a Bible in good faith and let God handle the situation.
(speaking of muslims in the US, he says:
"And they do want ownership of their own Islam. They want a mosque and a teaching that relates to their culture, to their society, their neighbors, that teaches them a way of getting along in peaceful and constructive ways with their non-Muslim neighbors."
I stopped reading right there, on pg 3 of 4. This clown has quite an arrogance and imagination, LOL.
just since the interview was first printed, more and more incidents in the world have convinced even MORE people that these mooooslems are bad news, and we're gonna be ready for anything.
"... the Iraq war united radical Islam ..."
And .. that's exactly what it was intended to do.
It might have been a gamble .. but Iraq was training and supporting the terrorists .. and taking away the facilities and the money would be a severe blow. It certainly would seem like a rather educated guess on our part on how the terrorists would react. But .. the gamble was that it was better to meet them on the battlefield of Iraq, than in the streets of NYC or WashDC or LA.
I'm not the least bit surprised so many terrorists started showing up. It was their chance to hit the "Great Satan" again - right in their own backyard.
I don't know why people can't see that ..??