Posted on 08/14/2006 7:48:51 PM PDT by mdittmar
Shortly after 9/11, President Bush described and later retracted our fight against terrorism as a "crusade." In his first news conference after last week's thwarted terrorist plot to blow up several aircrafts the president said, " This nation is at war with Islamic fascists."
The use of the phrase "Islamic fascists" has drawn the ire of the American Muslim community. As Muslims, we use "Islamic ethics" to mean ethics based on Islamic teachings that guide our behavior. Similarly, "Islamic art" draws its inspiration from Islamic teachings that discourage certain types of art (immodest imagery or certain life forms). When the president uses "Islamic fascists," it conveys that fascism is rooted in Islam or fascism that is inspired by Islam. This is the way the Muslims will see it, regardless of what George W. Bush may claim he really means.
Bush, on an earlier occasion, said Islam is a religion of peace. Now, caving into extreme right-wing pressure, he equated the religion of peace with the ugliness of fascism. Such rhetoric contributes to fear and backlash against American Muslims. A recently released Gallup poll shows four out of 10 Americans feel "prejudiced" against Muslims.
"Prejudice" against Islam and Muslims allowed politicians to whip up a frenzy in rejecting the approval of a Dubai firm to operate U.S. ports. Conservative columnist David Brooks wrote, "But it is certain that the xenophobic hysteria will come back to harm the U.S. This (Middle East) is a region in the midst of traumatic democratic change. The strongest argument the fundamentalists have is that they are engaged in a holy war against the racist West, which imposes one set of harsh rules on Arabs and another set of rules on everybody else. Now comes a group of politicians to prove them gloriously right."
Scholarly writings are delving deeper into the root causes of suicide terrorism. Robert Pape in his book "Dying to Win" uses more than two decades of data to show the paucity of connection between suicide terrorism and any religion. The pioneering instigators and the largest purveyors of suicide terrorism are the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka, a Marxist-Leninist group whose members are overwhelmingly Hindu.
Pape writes: "From Lebanon to Israel to Sri Lanka to Kashmir to Chechnya, the sponsors of every campaign have been terrorist groups trying to establish or maintain political self determination by compelling a democratic power to withdraw from a territory they claim." Occupation is the primary motivator and religion, at best, is an "aggravating" factor.
Today we all live in fear of terrorism. Equating terrorism with Islam makes the mainstream Muslim community doubly vulnerable to both the random acts of terror and the ensuing backlash.
In these trying times it is important our nation stands united. Muslims form an important part of the fabric of America. We are law-abiding citizens who have always been dedicated to the protection of our national security. We should not be targeted or singled out because of our faith. Nor should our faith be equated with the evils of terrorism or fascism. We do not control or have say over the actions of shadowy terrorist groups. But as taxpayers we certainly have a right to petition and expect our own to government do everything in its powers to protect us by all means, including avoiding counterproductive rhetoric.
A recent policy brief by the Stanley Foundation states that Western powers "should not focus on the religious and cultural divisions between East and West when approaching this issue (of terrorism), as this plays into the existing grievances of Arab and Muslim populations and creates a sense of clash between civilizations, all of which hinder the resolution of differences."
An attempt to institutionally and rhetorically dissociate Islam from terrorism is imperative.
Parvez Ahmed is chairman of Council on American-Islamic Relations. CAIR is the United States' largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy group. To find out more about CAIR go to: www.cair.com E-mail: pahmed@cair.com.
Start exposing the terrorists in your midst and having rallies to support their destruction and then we'll talk. Until then STFU, Parvez.
Quite accurate. ....in all respects.
File this under "Too Effing Bad"
They want it to change? Start turning in you rImams and your "students" who are plotting night and day to attack us again. Publicly condemn the attacks from the past to present day, and PUBLICLY protest what they do in your name outside the UN.....
I don't remember that. And guess what? He's 100% right that these are Islamofascists.
People who are willing to blow up their own children and who think all Jews and infidels in the West should be killed are sick and only the most dedicated leftist would give their psychotic ramblings the slightest bit of attention.
Which equals Sharia law for all people.
It would be nice if they accepted their erring brothers and tried to convert them to peaceful measures. I think many Christians were the first to distant themselves from the Fundamentalists pseudo Christian types like David Koresh of Waco or the Jim Jones of Guyana. I've never heard any apologies that I thought were sincere.
U.S. Muslims?
How about Americans feeling as if we all have targets painted on our backs by Muslim fanatics?!?
Law abiding, patriotic Americans aren't going around planning to murder Muslims in their sleep or at work. We may be on the lookout for suspicious behavior among Muslims, but we aren't looking for weaknesses in their defenses that will allow us to slaughter them wholesale.
If Muslims want to save themselves from our justifiable paranoia, they should start rigorously policing their own and getting rid of their extremists and fanatics. Especially since wherever the terrorists have won, the neutral and moderate Muslims have all been labeled as apostates and infidels, and often suffer far worse in the way of prejudice.
Screw the freakin' Muslims. They can get the hell out of this country -- that would be THE solution to these kill-crazy, death-cult freaks. They don't want to be Americans -- just Islamics living in America, which spells nothing but trouble. Islam first, America second. That does not get it in America -- we are not a country RUN BY A FANATIC RELIGION -- as the Islamofascists would have it.
Kick them all out. Get out! Go away! Country's full. FO.
Put some ice on it Haji. *-o(:~{>
Prejudice?! Yes, at one point I did pre-judge islam without understanding sufficient facts about that abhorrent political system. Then 3000 of my countrymen were murdered by muslim sub-humans on 9/11. Now the facts are sufficiently clear to me.
If the Muslims are so fearful of "backlash" and "profiling" I have a suggestion.
The government should create "communities of refuge" where all those poor scared Muslims who feel threatened will be protected 24/7. No infidels will be allowed to approach these gated havens of safety which will be surrounded by razor wire, alarm systems and raked perimeters.
There are some sites in Utah, Idaho, Colorado, and Wyoming that would be just perfect for these "havens of safety."
As for Muslims, if you were to make them a race, they could also be facing some racism from consistent racists, but most people would simply oppose Islam, and wouldn't kill or attack them.
Islam is to blame for a large, large part of any racism toward them. It was Muslims who decided to attack the United States, not the other way around.
A bit creepy seeing JR "Bob" Dobbs smiling at you from the porcelain.
Parves can be a heretic on his own if he wants, but he risks death for making this argument.
Gee, do you suppose these terrorist attacks and plots have anything to do with it?
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