Islamist Extremism or just Islam?

Submitted by Caesar Arevalo (United States), Oct 4, 2006 at 00:15

Speaking about the mission of NATO, Mr Aznar said, "This new mission or purpose for the Alliance can be none other than to protect freedom and democracy by defeating Islamist extremism." What he is implying, if he is aware of the outlined mission, is an open war against Muslims who use terror as a mean to achieve their goals and whose ideology is contained in the Quran.

The characterization of "Islamist terrorism" is actually the expression of Islam in the 21^st century. He is right when he said that "The fight against terror is an imperative that has been imposed on Western societies." Muslim terrorists are impossing Islam by force and intimidation. Terror is just the political expression of Islam in those who are ascribed to the values of the Judeo Christian philosophy. We have never forget that the death of Van Gogh, the persecution of the late Oriana Fallaci, the murder and rape of children in Chechnya, the riots of Muslims in Europe due to the publication of the caricatures of Mohammed, and the last outburst of violence in Asia, Middle East and Europe against the academic speech of the Pope, are just few examples that "Islamist extremism" is actually the natural characteristic of Muslims at the present time. In other words, the war against "Islamist extremism" is a war against a culture that worships death and does not tolerate our values of freedom of speech, religion, press and democracy.

This culture of death, which is practiced every day all over the world under the name of Islam, is the result, as Mr, Arnaz put it, of "political oppression, religious intolerance, economic asphyxiation, …systematic teaching of hatred against the Western and the modern world." Interestingly, based on this analysis, we can see the relation between intolerance and hatred in the Muslim world. Islam has not been hijacked, as wronged Islamic apologists and the anti-western media claim. Islam has been put in practice by decout Muslims and was found ugly, uncivilized, and oppressive.

As Mr. Arnaz said, "If there is something the Allies have learned from recent history, it is that standing up to our enemies as soon as possible is the best way of eliminating their destructive potential." And those enemies are fanatic and intolerant Muslims in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, and America.

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