Quit blaming America: We didn't earn Islamofascists' hatred

Quit blaming America: We didn't earn Islamofascists' hatred

http://www.suntimes.com/news/laney/242780,CST-EDT-LANEY05.article

February 5, 2007
BY MARY LANEY
It's difficult to have calm discussions about Islamic terrorists, 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq or Iran. Too often the chats -- between friends, relatives, co-workers, or strangers on the train -- become heated and illogical. I've heard them and seen them argue. Everyone wants to place blame for the rise in violent Islamofascism.
As for putting the blame somewhere, those on the extreme left and extreme right wings both place the blame on America. Instead of blaming the terrorists, these groups blame Americans. Really.

On the left, they're against the war in Iraq and have now gone so far as to state our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are mere mercenaries, being paid to fight over there and being given good benefits. They not only want us to pull out of Iraq, this group openly states there's no reason to have to "support the troops" as they have enough money and support already. One scribe even wrote this opinion in a newspaper.

At the "Peace Rally" in Washington, marchers carried signs blaming the terror attacks on America on President Bush. Then again, this group blames Bush for everything, including global warming, infertility, disease, secondhand smoke and any terrorist attack anywhere. Sen. John Kerry, speaking at a conference in Switzerland recently, referred to America as a "pariah." He was sitting next to the former president of Iran, yet never mentioned anything against Iran's current U.N.-defying nuclear buildup.

Then there are the far right-wingers who blame terrorism on America because of the television programs and movies that they consider decadent. These right-wingers state that radical Islamists had to wage war to protect their delicate culture. To this argument I might point out that their delicate culture has recently allowed them -- according to British authorities -- to allegedly plot to behead a British Muslim soldier, videotape the beheading, and post the video on the internet.

Some place the radical Muslim hate for America -- and the forming of terrorist groups -- on America's support for Israel. This view is historically void. The Muslim Brotherhood, the forefather of Hamas and al-Qaida, was founded in 1928.

In discussions there are those who will point out -- no, actually shout out -- that America's alleged atrocities at Guantanamo and the humiliation of prisoners at Abu Ghraib have made radical Muslims hate us. Actually, they've hated us for decades and plotted to attack America within our borders for years. Remember the bombing of the Twin Towers in 1993?

But what good are facts when emotions -- or politics -- are involved? Many Americans simply believe that the global war these Islamofascists are waging is all our fault.

Some believe we deserve the Muslim hatred because we invaded Iraq for the oil that is there. Members of this group say the administration lied when it said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and there was fear he might use them -- as he did when he gassed to death thousands of Kurds. It's true that no weapons of mass destruction were found. It's also true that many nations, and members of both parties in Congress, believed he had the WMDs, and said so as far back as the Clinton administration.

I don't like war. I don't like to see our nation's men and women go into battle. But I will never agree with those who say we need not support them. And I will never agree with anyone who blames America for the rise in Islamofascism or radical Muslims' violent and inhumane actions or their hate-filled rhetoric.

In the Quran, Islam's holy book, the Prophet Muhammad tells his followers to offer non-Muslims three things: Conversion, second-class citizenship, or war.

We Americans, our lifestyles, our support of Israel, our protection of Afghanistan, our actions in Iraq, didn't cause Islamofascists to hate us. They hate us because we are not Muslims. They hate us because they do not rule us. They hate us because we live with freedom and equality. They hate us because, to them, we are infidels, renegades from their true religion of Islam.

They're not offering us conversion. They are offering us war. They declared it loud, explosively and deadly in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. That's something to remember in your next discussion with friends, relatives, or co-workers.

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