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My response to a viewpoint comment on the Jim Reed article - The revaluing of a society
http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_reed/20050727.html
I have to say Mr. Reed's article was well researched and well thought out and is a nice balance compared to American biased media that attempts to paint today's conflicts as a black and white, west versus east or Islam versus the world picture which could not be further from the truth.
I also agree with Mr. Zarnett and Deborah Burton that the creation of a palestinian state will not be the single solution to preventing terrorism, but as Mr. Reed is probably aware, it will be a significant step and the more issues such as Palestine that are resolved the more ground any terrorist movement will lose. The 9/11 Hijackers were motivated by the issue of Palestine and injustices and killings in Lebanon for example.
I hope Mr. Zarnett does not mean by "Bin Laden and his followers" as being representative of all muslims. Terrorism and suicide is completely foreign to Islam. Additionally the idea that their actions are a "jihad against the west" is completely wrong as well. They specifically chose targets and countries based on politics which explains why Canada and Sweden have not been attacked. What they are doing is wrong, but their cause is being aided by the further injustice and killing of civilians at the hands of the US and UK.
Mr. Zarnett also brings up the issue of India and Pakistan which is quite ironic. The conflict was started by the UK during the colonization of the region and dividing the two nations between Kashmir which they must have known would create an ongoing conflict.
It seems Mr. Zarneet is trying to imply that it is the nature of Islam to forever be in conflict. The question is how was the conflict started? In London MI5 has already linked the bombers to anger about the Iraq war, isn't that a conflict the US started over weapons that didn't exist. The only thing that exists there now is a worse condition than under Saddam Hussein and prisons like Abu Ghraib. There are conflicts between people of all religions throughout the world, why pick on Islam especially when many were started by other religions?
Did we forget the aggressive wars pursued by Christians and Jews and the unjust and illegal Iraq War perpetrated by a Christian nation? War is not a part of any religion, especially Islam and fighting is only permitted in self-defence. Islam itself means peace and jihad literally translated is "holy war". The idea of jihad is played on by the media which is a frightening term because people use it in a way that would have you believe it commands muslims to kill non-muslims. This could not be farther from the truth because jihad represents a spiritual and intellectual struggle to reform oneself and to fight injustice against anything or anyone with the pen.
The anti-Islamic idea that Mr. Zarnett is trying to portray is that by nature muslims are terrorists and that suicide bombings will never stop regardless of world policy. We should also not forget that statistically far more muslims are being killed by non-muslims than the other way around. Portraying the more than 1.2 billion muslims as inhumane, bloodthirsty terrorists because of the actions of less than 1% is just wrong. Don't forget the rampant human rights violations the US and UK have been cited for by the UN and Amnesty International, which should equally be considered terrorism.
I would be more inclined to think about the facts rather than rehashed American propaganda.
We should remember the terrorists get their fuel and support for injustices at the hands of the US and UK and for killing innocent people (CSIS has reported the war on terror is increasing terror). These policies and actions are what motivated the 9/11 hijackers (watch Hamburg Cell by CBC) . I believe everyone has the duty of preventing terrorism by removing the root causes regardless of religion and ensure it is done in a just way that does not unfairly harm or persecute any particular people.
Tags:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_reed/20050727.html
I have to say Mr. Reed's article was well researched and well thought out and is a nice balance compared to American biased media that attempts to paint today's conflicts as a black and white, west versus east or Islam versus the world picture which could not be further from the truth.
I also agree with Mr. Zarnett and Deborah Burton that the creation of a palestinian state will not be the single solution to preventing terrorism, but as Mr. Reed is probably aware, it will be a significant step and the more issues such as Palestine that are resolved the more ground any terrorist movement will lose. The 9/11 Hijackers were motivated by the issue of Palestine and injustices and killings in Lebanon for example.
I hope Mr. Zarnett does not mean by "Bin Laden and his followers" as being representative of all muslims. Terrorism and suicide is completely foreign to Islam. Additionally the idea that their actions are a "jihad against the west" is completely wrong as well. They specifically chose targets and countries based on politics which explains why Canada and Sweden have not been attacked. What they are doing is wrong, but their cause is being aided by the further injustice and killing of civilians at the hands of the US and UK.
Mr. Zarnett also brings up the issue of India and Pakistan which is quite ironic. The conflict was started by the UK during the colonization of the region and dividing the two nations between Kashmir which they must have known would create an ongoing conflict.
It seems Mr. Zarneet is trying to imply that it is the nature of Islam to forever be in conflict. The question is how was the conflict started? In London MI5 has already linked the bombers to anger about the Iraq war, isn't that a conflict the US started over weapons that didn't exist. The only thing that exists there now is a worse condition than under Saddam Hussein and prisons like Abu Ghraib. There are conflicts between people of all religions throughout the world, why pick on Islam especially when many were started by other religions?
Did we forget the aggressive wars pursued by Christians and Jews and the unjust and illegal Iraq War perpetrated by a Christian nation? War is not a part of any religion, especially Islam and fighting is only permitted in self-defence. Islam itself means peace and jihad literally translated is "holy war". The idea of jihad is played on by the media which is a frightening term because people use it in a way that would have you believe it commands muslims to kill non-muslims. This could not be farther from the truth because jihad represents a spiritual and intellectual struggle to reform oneself and to fight injustice against anything or anyone with the pen.
The anti-Islamic idea that Mr. Zarnett is trying to portray is that by nature muslims are terrorists and that suicide bombings will never stop regardless of world policy. We should also not forget that statistically far more muslims are being killed by non-muslims than the other way around. Portraying the more than 1.2 billion muslims as inhumane, bloodthirsty terrorists because of the actions of less than 1% is just wrong. Don't forget the rampant human rights violations the US and UK have been cited for by the UN and Amnesty International, which should equally be considered terrorism.
I would be more inclined to think about the facts rather than rehashed American propaganda.
We should remember the terrorists get their fuel and support for injustices at the hands of the US and UK and for killing innocent people (CSIS has reported the war on terror is increasing terror). These policies and actions are what motivated the 9/11 hijackers (watch Hamburg Cell by CBC) . I believe everyone has the duty of preventing terrorism by removing the root causes regardless of religion and ensure it is done in a just way that does not unfairly harm or persecute any particular people.
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