***Asked whether the bus and subway bomb blasts were acts of Islamic terrorism, London Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair responded that the culprits were certainly not "Islamic terrorists." He stated that Islam and terrorism are incompatible.
***Armstrong pointed out that acts of terrorism by the Irish Republican Army were not referred to as "Catholic terrorism." ***Sayang sekali, Inggris baru sadar setelah ber-tahun2 ikuti AS, samakan Muslim dengan teroris. Kesadaran Inggris tentu memalukan AS, Inggris harus hati2 agen2 AS lakukan teror di London. Itali sudah dikerjain lho... OPEN FORUM Blaming Islam is the wrong way to fight terrorism William Youmans Friday, July 15, 2005 British officials deserve praise for their responsible remarks following the attacks in London last week. By embracing the views of Islam's moderate majority, they steered clear of the trap American commentators often fall into -- holding Islam and Muslims accountable for the acts of an extreme fringe. It is not only factually accurate to dissociate Islam from these horrendous crimes, but also an important strategic step in the war on terrorism. Asked whether the bus and subway bomb blasts were acts of Islamic terrorism, London Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair responded that the culprits were certainly not "Islamic terrorists." He stated that Islam and terrorism are incompatible. The commissioner echoed the sentiments of Prime Minister Tony Blair, who said, "The vast and overwhelming majority of Muslims both here and abroad are decent and law-abiding people who abhor this kind of terrorism every bit as much as we do." During a private meeting with American Muslims, Sir David Manning, British ambassador to the United States, was emphatic in distancing the London terror bombings from Islam, which he described as a faith of "peace, reconciliation and tolerance." British officials recognize that promoting these views undermines the aims of extremist groups. This important outlook is largely absent in political rhetoric on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, however. It is quite common to see terrorism committed by Muslims referred to as "Islamic terrorism." Similarly, pundits and military leaders often depict Islam as a religion with members more prone to violence than others. The California National Guard recently stirred a controversy over a flyer in its offices suggesting that dipping bullets in pig's blood and burying dead terrorists with pig entrails could be tactics in the war on terrorism. This rests on the notion that U.S. Armed Forces should demean Islam's sacred values. Another example: New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman promoted a damaging myth by writing: "The Muslim village has been derelict in condemning the madness of jihadist attacks. ... To this day, no major Muslim cleric or religious body has ever issued a fatwa condemning Osama bin Laden." But Juan Cole, a professor of history at University of Michigan, debunked this on his Web site, cataloguing numerous condemnations from prominent Muslim religious figures. They not only called the "jihad" of Osama bin Laden un-Islamic but also pointed out Islam's doctrinal rejection of terrorism. As author Karen Armstrong recently noted in Britain's Guardian newspaper, when "incorrect statements about Islam" have such currency, it sends a negative message to its 1.3 billion practitioners worldwide. Armstrong pointed out that acts of terrorism by the Irish Republican Army were not referred to as "Catholic terrorism." This month marks the 10th anniversary of the massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica, an act of barbarism that was never attributed to any religion, despite the overlap between partisan lines and religious divisions in the former Yugoslavia. Americans should likewise avoid treating Muslims who attack civilians as representatives of the entire religion. A major study released in May countered the common view that religious attitudes are directly related to terrorist attacks. Jeremy Ginges of the Institute for Social Research found that "Islamic beliefs and devotion are not, in themselves, linked to support for such terrorism." Robert Pape, a University of Chicago political science professor, reached a similar conclusion after a study of suicide attacks since 1950. When the aimless blame game stops, we can move forward with constructive dialogue to address the problems terrorism presents. American Muslims, like most Muslims in the world, stand against fringe groups misrepresenting the religion. Most important, they practice a way of life that is at odds with the vision groups such as al Qaeda hope to spread. Almost all Muslims continue to reject violence and versions of Islam that exploit it. As British officials know, supporting the inherently moderate voices of most Muslims serves to undermine the violent agenda of fringe extremists. The first step to doing that is to de-link Islam from their terrorism. Otherwise, the extremist view that they represent Islam wins. William Youmans is civil-rights and media relations manager at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area chapter (www.cair-california.org). http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/07/15/EDG2IDOBG61.DTL Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> 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/
