Posted on 12/09/2002 7:38:48 AM PST by 1bigdictator
US Conservatives dispute Bush’s portrayal of Islam
Dana Milbank
Washington, December 8 PRESIDENT Bush finds himself in a rare disagreement with Conservatives in his party over his efforts to portray Islam as a peaceful religion that is not responsible for anti-American terrorism. In a score of speeches since the September 11, 2001, attacks, Bush has called for tolerance of Muslims, describing Islam as ‘‘a faith based upon peace and love and compassion’’ and a religion committed to ‘‘morality and learning and tolerance.’’
But a large number of foreign policy hawks — some of them with advisory roles in the Bush administration — have joined religious conservatives in taking issue with Bush’s characterisations. While most of them understand the political rationale for Bush’s statements — there’s no benefit in antagonising Muslim allies such as Pakistan and Indonesia — they say the claim is dishonest and destined to fail. For Bush and for the country, the outcome of the argument is crucial.
The administration, and moderate governments in Arab and Muslim nations, are struggling to prevent the war on terrorism from becoming what Osama bin Laden wants: a war of civilisation between the Judeo-Christian West and a resentful and impoverished Muslim world. Calling Islam a peaceful religion ‘‘is an increasingly hard argument to make,’’ said Kenneth Adelman, a former Reagan official who serves on the Bush Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board.
‘‘The more you examine the religion, the more militaristic it seems. After all, its founder, Mohammed, was a warrior, not a peace advocate like Jesus.’’ Another member of the Pentagon advisory board, Eliot Cohen of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, wrote an article on the Wall Street Journal editorial page arguing that the enemy of the US is not terrorism ‘‘but militant Islam.’’ ‘‘The enemy has an ideology, and an hour spent surfing the Web will give the average citizen at least the kind of insights that he or she might have found during World Wars I and II by reading Mein Kampf or the writings of Lenin, Stalin or Mao.’’
Cohen acknowledges it is impolitic and ‘‘deeply uncomfortable’’ for the administration to say such things. ‘‘Nobody would like to think that a major world religion has a deeply aggressive and dangerous strain in it — a strain often excused or misrepresented in the name of good feelings. But uttering uncomfortable and unpleasant truths is one of the things that defines leadership,’’ he said.
At the same time, social conservatives are resisting Bush’s efforts to portray Islam in a favorable light. ‘‘Islam is at war against us,’’ Paul Weyrich, an activist who is influential in the White House, wrote recently.
‘‘I have had much good to say about President Bush in recent months. But one thing that concerned me before September 11 and concerns me even more now is his administration’s constant promotion of Islam as a religion of peace and tolerance just like Judaism or Christianity. It is neither.’’ — LATWP
Actually, that's the Muslim screed. It just doesn't seem to bother you.
In a separate celebration in Khan Younis stadium and attended by around 40,000 Hamas supporters, Younis Al-Astal, one of the Movement's leaders, said that Hamas would never bargain over resistance.
He said that Zionist crimes and massacres proved correctness of the choice pursued by Hamas and the Palestinian masses.
http://www.jihadunspun.com/index-side_internal.php?article=37599&list=/home.php&
Assad then stressed his country's support to Palestinian Islamic organizations such as the Hamas and Islamic Jihad Movements because "They reflect the opinions of millions of Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian lands". He added that those Palestinians were supported by 300 million Arabs and more than a billion Muslims in addition to millions of people worldwide. Astal affirmed that martyrdom commandos would continue to chase Zionists on all areas of Palestine. He denounced attempts by certain quarters within the PA to deviate the intifada from its path or to spread doubts on feasibility of resistance.
For a Christian, you are some liar.
You have called me a racist by lying about my post, and now you are lying again.
"In the last century, America was threatened by a global communist revolution. Avoiding all-out war, we outlasted it. And we can outlast this Islamist revolution. What we must avoid is a war of faiths, a war of civilizations between Islam and America. And those who propagandize for such a war are the unwitting or willful collaborators of Osama bin Laden." Pat Buchanan.
And of course, every Muslim is a liar, except the guy you quote.
I guess you alse believe that there were a million men in the Million Man March.
You were the guy who didn't think killing 200 to 300 million Muslims was sufficient...right?
Hundreds of black people died in the towers on 9/11...I guess the fact that you brought that up, makes you a racist. I can link you to hundreds of posts in FR containing the words "drink the Kool-Aid", and you can ask everyone if they are a racist. We all know what that stands for.
You are a true embarrasment to Christians. You use lies to promote Jesus, you know damned well that you claim of my racism is a bunch of crap.
Let me correct myself, you are no Christian.
I am glad that I exposed you.
If you can't, and since you seem to be saying that I said that, that would make you the liar...right?
Here is a little education for you:
"Koolaid -- as in "go ahead and drink the Koolaid". A reference to the Jim Jones cult which committed mass suicide by drinking poison-laced Koolaid. It means to go ahead and fully commit yourself to a position or group or political philosophy being foisted."Fifth Edition of the Free Republic Lexicon
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