http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20060212-121659-7362r Prophet cartoons row 'veritable gift' to Islamic radicals
AFP February 11, 2006 EYE OF STORM: Flemming Rose, editor of `Jyllands-Posten', poses in his office in Denmark. Twelve cartoons of Prophet Mohammed published last September by `Jyllands-Posten' have outraged Muslims, provoking violent protests worldwide. (REUTERS) PARIS -- The international outcry over cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed has been an unexpected but welcome "gift" for Islamic radicals to win new recruits and sharpen their polemic against the West, experts said. Al Qaeda and its radical allies did not start the furore or even lead it, according to several experts on Islam, but it has given them an extraordinary chance to intensify their the propaganda and radicalize still further anti-Western feeling in the Arab and Muslim world. "You have to emphasize that crisis did not come from so-called jihadist [holy war] circles; they are far beyond that," said French researcher Francois Burgat, a well-known expert on the Muslim world. "It brings them a bit of additional ideological back-up: you are seeing the anger reach into traditionally moderate circles," he said. "It is obvious that jihadist factions benefit from this 'double standards' reaction by the Western press, where it is so natural to stigmatize the symbols of the 'Muslim side' while it is so hard to criticize Israel." Janne Haaland-Matlary, a former Norwegian state secretary for foreign affairs and now an academic, wrote recently: "Islamist fundamentalists and European Union rightwing activists both enjoy a veritable gift that can be used to ignite fire after fire." Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al Zawahiri, his deputy in Afghanistan, have not made any public comment but chiefly because the sending of cassettes and messages takes time, experts said. "I am sure that within a fortnight we will have a cassette from Zawahiri saying, 'You see, you can expect nothing from Westerners - they spit on the Prophet!'" said researcher Olivier Roy, who has written on Islam in its international context. "Al Qaeda is bound to take up the issue, even if it is not directly involved" he said. "They are going to chalk it up as a success, even though for them it isn't the central problem... It lets them show what they been arguing for years, that the so-called war against terrorism is in fact an attack on Islam." In Brussels Claude Moniquet, head of the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center (ESISC), said that "this whole story is, if I may say so, a gift from heaven for them. Al Qaeda can only grab hold of it, as it grabbed hold of [the prison scandal in Iraq at] Abu Ghraib or the headscarf affair in France that Zawahiri mentioned," he said. -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
