Reuters Gives Advice: Want To Dampen Muslim Extremism? Support People Who Want To Commit Genocide.
Egypt's President Mubarak is engaging in a little bit of soul searching:
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak questioned on Thursday whether Muslims had done enough to change the West's "wrong perceptions" about Islam, which he said was under "ferocious attack". He also said Islam needed a fresh religious discourse to promote tolerance and uproot extremist views. "The Muslim world is facing a ferocious attack, describing Islam wrongly and offending Muslims' sacred (symbols and figures) and beliefs," Mubarak said in a speech marking Lailat al-Qadr, the night Muslims believe God started the revelation of the Koran to Prophet Mohammed more than 1400 years ago.
"Don't we Muslims share part of the responsibility for the wrong perceptions about Islam? Have we done our duty in correcting the image of Islam and Muslims?" he said. Analysts say the rise of Islamist militancy since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States has deepened beliefs among many in the Christian-dominated West that Islam advocates radicalism. At the same time, many Muslims regard U.S. support of Israel against the Palestinians and the 2003 invasion of Iraq as part of a campaign targeting their faith.
Now it's Reuters, so we wouldn't trust them to tell us anything about what "many Muslims regard" if their journalism was limited to statements like "many Muslims regard the sky as blue". Reuters coverage tends to oscillate between the "Muslims are peaceful and funloving kite fliers" and "Muslims have justifiable grievances that need to be understood and addressed (PS - right now only the New York Times and State Department get it)". But if it's the case that many Muslims regard US support of Israel against a government of genocidal maniacs as a "campaign targeting their faith", then isn't that something that should be at the forefront of calculations describing the US's diplomatic options?
In other words, it appears to us that Reuters has just endorsed the following: in order for the US to dampen Muslim extremism even a little, it would have to side with Palestinian government currently amassing cutting-edge munitions with the intent of using them against densely packed Israeli population centers. Now we're not sure that this is true, but if that's the sophisticated wisdom on the journalistic street them we don't know where they get off calling the Free Republic people right-wing extremists.
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak questioned on Thursday whether Muslims had done enough to change the West's "wrong perceptions" about Islam, which he said was under "ferocious attack". He also said Islam needed a fresh religious discourse to promote tolerance and uproot extremist views. "The Muslim world is facing a ferocious attack, describing Islam wrongly and offending Muslims' sacred (symbols and figures) and beliefs," Mubarak said in a speech marking Lailat al-Qadr, the night Muslims believe God started the revelation of the Koran to Prophet Mohammed more than 1400 years ago.
"Don't we Muslims share part of the responsibility for the wrong perceptions about Islam? Have we done our duty in correcting the image of Islam and Muslims?" he said. Analysts say the rise of Islamist militancy since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States has deepened beliefs among many in the Christian-dominated West that Islam advocates radicalism. At the same time, many Muslims regard U.S. support of Israel against the Palestinians and the 2003 invasion of Iraq as part of a campaign targeting their faith.
Now it's Reuters, so we wouldn't trust them to tell us anything about what "many Muslims regard" if their journalism was limited to statements like "many Muslims regard the sky as blue". Reuters coverage tends to oscillate between the "Muslims are peaceful and funloving kite fliers" and "Muslims have justifiable grievances that need to be understood and addressed (PS - right now only the New York Times and State Department get it)". But if it's the case that many Muslims regard US support of Israel against a government of genocidal maniacs as a "campaign targeting their faith", then isn't that something that should be at the forefront of calculations describing the US's diplomatic options?
In other words, it appears to us that Reuters has just endorsed the following: in order for the US to dampen Muslim extremism even a little, it would have to side with Palestinian government currently amassing cutting-edge munitions with the intent of using them against densely packed Israeli population centers. Now we're not sure that this is true, but if that's the sophisticated wisdom on the journalistic street them we don't know where they get off calling the Free Republic people right-wing extremists.
