August 1,
2005
Muslim Terror:
Bogus Fatwas, Mea Culpas, and Defiance
The London bombings and the Fatwa issued last week in
this country against suicide bombings (see
my July 28 entry) continue to emit all manner of intellectual
fallout.
Terror expert Steven
Emerson writes:
"…the fatwa is bogus.
Nowhere does it condemn the Islamic extremism ideology
that has spawned Islamic terrorism. It does not renounce
nor even acknowledge the existence of an Islamic jihadist
culture that has permeated mosques and young Muslims around
the world. It does not renounce Jihad let alone admit
that it has been used to justify Islamic terrorist acts.
It does not condemn by name any Islamic group or leader.
In short, it is a fake fatwa designed merely to deceive
the American public into believing that these groups are
moderate. In fact, officials of both organizations
(the Fiqh Council of North America and the Council on
American - Islamic Relations) have been directly linked
to and associated with Islamic terrorist groups and Islamic
extremist organizations. One of them is an unindicted
co-conspirator in a current terrorist case; another previous
member was a financier to al-Qaeda.”
In an interesting piece that gives a rare glimpse into
the growing Muslim apprehension over a coming Western
backlash, Youssef M. Ibrahim, a former Middle East
correspondent for The New York Times, writes
in the Cyprus-based
Middle East Times. He warns that the strength of the
West has been underestimated yet again, and a great
reckoning is coming…
"The only accomplishment of jihadis
is that now they have aroused the great ‘Western
Tiger.’ There was a time when the United States
and Europe welcomed Arab and Muslim immigrants, visitors
and students, with open arms. London even allowed all
dissidents escaping their countries to preach against
those countries under the guise of political refugees.
Well, that is all over now. Time has (come) for the
big Western vengeance. In this new cold and hot war,
car bombs and suicide bombers here and there will be no
match for the arsenal that those Westerners are putting
together - an arsenal of laws, intelligence pooling, surveillance
by satellites, armies of special forces, and indeed,
allies inside the Arab world who are tired of having their
lives disrupted by demented so-called jihadis…”
And from the defiant quarter of Islam, Mansour el-Kikhia,
an associate professor of political science at the University
of Texas-San Antonio and a Libyan-born American citizen,
writes an opinion piece for the San
Antonio Express-News. He writes,
"I am fed up with the ceaseless
requests by columnists, religious personalities, and other
American public figures for Arabs and Muslims to apologize
for terrorist acts committed by thugs and murderers in
the name of Islam.”
Then he places ultimate blame for Islamic terrorism on
the west:
"…it was the British and the
United States that drew first blood. The Middle East didn't
come to America or go to Britain; rather, America and
Britain went to the Middle East. Both powers used and
abused regimes, toppling some, and keeping others in power.
They never thought that the people they were helping suppress
were human beings with needs, beliefs, and emotions. They
didn't care as long as their interests were served. America's
experience in the Middle East is no different from its
Southeast Asia stint, and look at the mess it left in
that region.“
