Al-Qaeda's biggest target? Other Muslims

[Taraz]

Very interesting blog post by Juan Cole about how Al-Qaeda works. He has been studying and following religion in the Middle East as a professor since 1984.

http://www.juancole.com/2007/05/al-q...vement-al.html

[Bill Haywood]

Thanks!

[Taraz]

I'm shocked nobody is interested by this. I realize the guy is probably at least partially politically motivated, but he raises some interesting points.

[chezlaw]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm shocked nobody is interested by this. I realize the guy is probably at least partially politically motivated, but he raises some interesting points.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm shocked anyone could be remotely suprised by this.

but then people keep thinking its a religous fight rather than a political one so perhaps I shouldn't be shocked.

chez

[Taraz]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm shocked nobody is interested by this. I realize the guy is probably at least partially politically motivated, but he raises some interesting points.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm shocked anyone could be remotely suprised by this.

but then people keep thinking its a religous fight rather than a political one so perhaps I shouldn't be shocked.

chez

[/ QUOTE ]

I know this and you know this, but it seems like it's lost on the vast majority of people in the United States. Everyone is trying to claim that Islam is just a violent religion and that explains it all. I just wish this information would be publicized more.

[BluffTHIS!]

[ QUOTE ]
Everyone is trying to claim that Islam is just a violent religion and that explains it all. I just wish this information would be publicized more.

[/ QUOTE ]


That view of Islam doesn't explain "all", but it explains "a lot". However applying that view to Islam as a whole is not as correct as saying that view is a correct conclusion derived from a literal wording of parts of the Koran, and the interpretation of same by important Islamic clerics, and the uneducated masses as whole *not including* Moslems in western countries for the most part.

But the point you make about AQ targeting various Moslems as well as westerners and western countries really doesn't detract from that view. It just means that when various groups of Moslems intepret "unbeliever" to include Moslems who either don't belong to their specific sect, and/or don't adhere to their worldview. So the bottom line is that radical Islam is a threat to western countries and democracy, but they just happen to also be a threat to some Moslems/Moslem countries, that don't believe exactly as they do.

And I want to make another point that I have often. Which is that even *if* it is true that a majority of Moslems don't adhere to the radical/violent interpretations and views of terrorist organizations, if they also refuse to publicly and vigorously fight those views within their own religion, then the protestations of some, and especially western apologists, that the majority of Moslems don't think/act that way, not only can't be taken at face value, but also can't be the basis of foreign/defense policy.

To illustrate the previous paragraph I would say this. If a terrorists perpetrates a terrorist act, and then goes and hides in his village, and the government and citizens of that village do not either act against the terrorist or hand him over to outside authorities, then they collectively are collaboraters, the equivalent in our western legal systems of aiding and abetting after the fact. And they then have no right to think that there should never be some "collateral damage" spill over to them, just because they claim they don't condone terrorism, when all the while hiding or enabling terrorists. And the same goes for the citizens of any dictatorship of any ideology. The fact that to speak up or act might endanger their own lives doesn't change anything about this.