Another Perspective
One of my favorite web sites is Watching America, which usually has a nice compendium of news articles from around the world. Because the US media appears to have donned Administration approved blinders at this time, it's nice to be able to see what actually is happening in the world.
Today I was particularly struck by an op-ed piece from The Daily Star, a Bangladeshi newspaper. Since the London bombing, some people have once again slipped into the "it's all those whacked Islamic Fundamentalists' fault" mode. Here's one 'moderate Islamist' interpretation of the current state of affairs, at least from his perspective.
It is not just the U.S. that has changed irrevocably since America’s most horrendous attack on September 11, 2001. The whole world has changed since then, and yet many in the West have little idea of how great the change has been.
The greatest tragedy of 9/11 is not what the U.S. lost on that fatal morning, but what the world has lost since then -- which is a lot. Muslim support or non-support of al-Qaeda, Saddam Hussein, or the Taliban have nothing to do with recent changes in the Muslim world, as moderate Muslims never regarded those ultra-Islamists as heroes taking on the infidel. Rather, it is America’s post-9/11 policy that has lumped together secular Muslims and Islamist militants, that has so greatly contributed to the cause of religious fundamentalism across the globe.
Secular Muslims have been quite understandably caught on the horns of a dilemma over George W Bush's war on terror, as they subscribe neither to the terrorism being perpetrated in the name of Islam nor to Bush's post-9/11 foreign policy, which he has pursued with outrageous arrogance. ...
Under post-9/11 U.S. policy, the countries that were reluctant to join Bush's war on terror are regarded as allies of terrorism. Such arrogance from America's cowboy president has only encouraged the dangerous divisions in the world, forcing many to believe that Bush’s war is a sort of American jihad, its own brand of fundamentalism, against both Islamist terrorists as well as peace-loving Muslims.
The Bush Administration must understand Islam before deciding who it should fight with or against. The U.S. leadership must accept the conventional wisdom that war is by no means the only remedy to terrorism. Also, Bush must realize the fact that any real change in the Muslim world should come from within and not be imposed by US military power. [Emphasis added]
This kind of analysis is refreshing in that it proves that the Muslim world does not necessarily hate the US, merely its misguided policies. Unfortunately, I doubt that anyone in the current mal-administration is interested in the erudite musings of a moderate Muslim in a tiny, insignificant nation that refused to join the war in terror in Iraq.
Today I was particularly struck by an op-ed piece from The Daily Star, a Bangladeshi newspaper. Since the London bombing, some people have once again slipped into the "it's all those whacked Islamic Fundamentalists' fault" mode. Here's one 'moderate Islamist' interpretation of the current state of affairs, at least from his perspective.
It is not just the U.S. that has changed irrevocably since America’s most horrendous attack on September 11, 2001. The whole world has changed since then, and yet many in the West have little idea of how great the change has been.
The greatest tragedy of 9/11 is not what the U.S. lost on that fatal morning, but what the world has lost since then -- which is a lot. Muslim support or non-support of al-Qaeda, Saddam Hussein, or the Taliban have nothing to do with recent changes in the Muslim world, as moderate Muslims never regarded those ultra-Islamists as heroes taking on the infidel. Rather, it is America’s post-9/11 policy that has lumped together secular Muslims and Islamist militants, that has so greatly contributed to the cause of religious fundamentalism across the globe.
Secular Muslims have been quite understandably caught on the horns of a dilemma over George W Bush's war on terror, as they subscribe neither to the terrorism being perpetrated in the name of Islam nor to Bush's post-9/11 foreign policy, which he has pursued with outrageous arrogance. ...
Under post-9/11 U.S. policy, the countries that were reluctant to join Bush's war on terror are regarded as allies of terrorism. Such arrogance from America's cowboy president has only encouraged the dangerous divisions in the world, forcing many to believe that Bush’s war is a sort of American jihad, its own brand of fundamentalism, against both Islamist terrorists as well as peace-loving Muslims.
The Bush Administration must understand Islam before deciding who it should fight with or against. The U.S. leadership must accept the conventional wisdom that war is by no means the only remedy to terrorism. Also, Bush must realize the fact that any real change in the Muslim world should come from within and not be imposed by US military power. [Emphasis added]
This kind of analysis is refreshing in that it proves that the Muslim world does not necessarily hate the US, merely its misguided policies. Unfortunately, I doubt that anyone in the current mal-administration is interested in the erudite musings of a moderate Muslim in a tiny, insignificant nation that refused to join the war in terror in Iraq.
posted by Diane at 7:25 AM
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