This is one of the most interesting Anti-Islam posts I have ever seen. I happen to disagree with about 80% of it, as I know Muslims who would be and ARE outraged at some of the fringe elements in their religion. Nevertheless, agree or disagree, this video is certainly thought provoking...

I dont know how anyone got this, from this.

Whatever....

This is a great story, and please make sure you check out INDC Journal:

Great roundup of moderate Muslim statements over at INDCJournal.

It becomes more and more clear over time that far from being the monolithic bloc of violent extremists they are often stereotyped as ("the Arab street"), the majority of Arab Muslims are actually more the victims and dupes of repressive regimes and power-hungry, rabble-rousing clerics than their willing tools. And as freedom of expression grows, the majority are begining to speak up, and are less easily duped as they gain more access to channels of information not controlled by their selfish oppressors (notice Iraq, with its blooming fields of satellite dishes and internet cafes, is conspicuously absent from the list of countries with violent protests over the Mohammed cartoons; anyone think that would have been the case under Saddam?).

It is nice to see some of the Right Leaning Blogs doing something other than bashing Islam...

Racism may be out of vogue, but religion is another matter... I dont understand why Right Wingers can so broadly condemn an entire religion, while at the same time supporting the "liberation," of people who practice that religion. Someone want to explain that to me? Or is the next step "conversion," to Christianity?

I find the images Jay sites in his piece to be just as disturbing as he does, but WHY do we insist on branding every Muslim as a radical and terrorist, because of the actions of a fraction of them. Are all Christians terrorist because of the actions of the KLAN, or those on the Radical Christian Right who blow up abortion clinics?

In fact, I wonder if this will even be mentioned on their blogs.

I had quite a few battles on ISOU V.2 (My Blog that was lost) with people who want to paint all Muslims as either evil or appologist for evil. Dean has written a great piece on the subject.

One way to lose the war on terrorism is to send a message to muslims like these that they are liars, fakers, and fools. It's also a great way to be a flaming hypocrite. How can you support building pluralist democracies in Iraq and Afghanistan, but then spit on any muslims who embrace the values of pluralism and democracy?

Pretty much sums up my thoughts on the subject.

I have several friends who are Muslims. I have known them for years and they were as grieved as I was after 9/11. We have often talked about Islam and the context of world wide terrorism. While their opinions vary based on ethnicity, they all stand on the basic principle that Terrorism is not a solution to their grievances and that terrorist hurt rather than help the cause of Islam.

My experience with Islam has been varied. As a child I was first aquainted with the Islam of the so called Black Muslims, whose hatred if not capacity for action, matched that of Ossama. Later I read the Autobiography of Malcom X and learned that what these bow tie wearing morons were preaching was NOT Islam.

While working for Acer America, I came to know and befriend a group of Muslim men, one from Jordan, one from Pakistan and another from Palestine. We became very good friends and had long soulfoul discussions about religion. Through them I learned all the good of Islam. I met their families. I ate in their homes. I celebrated Ramadan with them. After 9/11, we cried together. They were no appologist for Radical Islam...

So thanks Dean for pointing out what is obvious to anyone who is not already so twisted up in their hatred of Islam, that they cant see that the majority of Muslims are as differen't from Terrorist, as Christians are from Klansmen.

Last week, I heard repeated for the nth time the charge that the war on terror is a failure. Why did we invade Iraq, and more importantly, why is Osama Bin Laden still out there somewhere? Where is he? And how can we say we're winning the war if he's still unaccounted for?

I can see that argument. There's a part of me (the liberal, emotional, vindictive, touchy-feely part of me) even sympathizes with it. I want to see his ugly, bearded head on one of the spikes on the White House fence. But my intellect dismisses it as a non-issue.

Osama Bin Laden is not THE enemy. He is not who we declared war against. He is not the be-all and end-all of our foes, and even if he were to surrender today, that would not put an end to the struggle.
Jay Tea
Wizbang

Eh, are these the same people who supported and continue to champion a war based on, "Saddam Hussein is a bad, bad man... and needed to be removed from power?" Well, I don't know, maybe I am missing something, but I see the dude who ordered the murder of thousands of Americans as being a pretty bad chap too, and "rendering him irrelevant," while convienant for those who want to deflect from the embarrassment that we have not captured him, does not make it so..." Neither do I see us, "thoroughly stomping," anyone. If we have, then the terrorist that Osama continues to at least provide inspiration for, must be roaches, 'cause for every one we "stomp," ten more seem to appear. Jay Tea was once someone I respected, as at least inserting logic into his arguments, now he is nothing more than a well written apologist for a failed policy and a disgraced administration, one that does not quite know it has been disgraced.... YET...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. diplomats have conceded ground to Islamists on the role of religion in Iraq, negotiators said on Saturday as they raced to meet a 48-hour deadline to draft a constitution under intense U.S. pressure.

So what exactly was it we were fighting for in Iraq?

Bringing Freedom to Iraq? It will be interesting to see how Women's rights are respected under the new constitution. It will also be interesting to see how the Administration spins this. Conservatives continuously scream loud about not cutting and running, and it is one of the few areas I agree with them about Iraq. But this is just cutting and running under a another name folks. The administration will do ANYTHING to get out of Iraq at this point, including selling out the Iraqi people to the very terrorist who have been cutting off their heads and blowing up their markets for the last two years.

In the Meantime...
The NEW Iraq promises to be a model of stability, with none of the torture, abductions, cruelty and injustices of the Saddam Regime.... Yeah Right!

BASRA, Iraq -- Shiite and Kurdish militias, often operating as part of Iraqi government security forces, have carried out a wave of abductions, assassinations and other acts of intimidation, consolidating their control over territory across northern and southern Iraq and deepening the country's divide along ethnic and sectarian lines, according to political leaders, families of the victims, human rights activists and Iraqi officials.

While Iraqi representatives wrangle over the drafting of a constitution in Baghdad, forces represented by the militias and the Shiite and Kurdish parties that control them are creating their own institutions of authority, unaccountable to elected governments, the activists and officials said. In Basra in the south, dominated by the Shiites, and Mosul in the north, ruled by the Kurds, as well as cities and villages around them, many residents say they are powerless before the growing sway of the militias, which instill a climate of fear that many see as redolent of the era of former president Saddam Hussein.

I told you, this was coming.

I am just surprised it took this long.

I agree in principle that mainstream Muslims need to continue to work to eliminate extremism from their ranks, and to educate their youth on the evil of this philosophy. We need to do more to encourage them to do so. This type of push back, only serves to reinforce the arguments of those who would argue, "See, they hate you. Nothing you do is going to change their mind."

We need to start a dialogue with progressive Muslims. We need to encourage them to speak up, and support the efforts of those who do. The inflammatory rhetoric from some quarters about Islam only serves to push the young and impressionable, into the arms of the Terrorist.

When I was a young man, I remember the recruitment techniques of street gangs like the Crips and Bloods. What they offered was a rhetoric based on "Us vs. Them," and a sense of belonging. This is what we are fighting against, and until we offer young Muslims an alternative to that, a sense of belonging... Islamic Terrorism will continue to be attractive.

Think of the positive effect if more non Muslim Americans simply reached out to the Muslim Community, tried to include them, broke down some of the barriers which currently exist, and made them feel like Americans, instead of Muslim Americans.

As for the Right Wing Rhetoric, I will take it a bit more seriously when the Right spends as much energy condemning Right Wing hate groups, including those who bomb Abortion Clinics and disparage Gays and Lesbians. I will also be impressed with they tone down their rhetoric and match their rhetoric about caring for the people of Iraq, by demonstrating some compassion and soladarity with Muslims right here in the U.S., who are as much a victim of Islamic Terrorism as non Muslims are.

From CNN today:

(AP) -- American Muslim scholars who interpret religious law for their community issued an edict Thursday condemning terrorism against civilians in response to the wave of deadly attacks in Britain and other countries.

In the statement, called a fatwa, the 18-member Fiqh Council of North America wrote that people who commit terrorism in the name of Islam were "criminals, not `martyrs."'

"There is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism," the scholars wrote. "Targeting civilians' life and property through suicide bombings or any other method of attack is haram -- or forbidden."

Many Muslim leaders overseas have issued similar condemnations in recent weeks, but some have left an opening for violence to be used. British Muslim leaders who denounced the July 7 attacks in London said suicide bombings could still be justified against an occupying power.

The U.S. fatwa did not specifically address suicide bombings in a war, but the scholars barred Muslims from helping anyone "involved in any act of terrorism or violence." The council also declared that Muslims were obligated to help law enforcement officials protect civilians.

Now of course this won't be enough for some on the Right, who will only be satisfied with Muslims when they renounce their faith altogether!