A rchive Date
[ 14-10-2001 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Terrorism ]
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[http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/jacobs.html
Will the Muslim world meet the challenge?
By MINDELLE JACOBS -- Edmonton Sun
October 14, 2001
Muslim leaders, intellectuals and clerics have no trouble turning on the rhetoric when it suits them.
Some of the most florid, grandiose, over-the-top language you'll ever hear comes from the Arab world.
So what are we to make of the taciturn, reticent response from Arab nations in the wake of the U.S. call to root out the terrorists responsible for the attacks on New York and Washington?
Where are the Muslim voices exhorting citizens to draw a line in the sand and take a clear stand against terrorism? Why aren't there tens of thousands of people protesting against Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network?
Remember the remarkable speech by British Prime Minister Tony Blair?
"There is no compromise possible with such people, no meeting of minds, no point of understanding with such terror," Blair declared.
"Whatever the dangers of the action we take, the dangers of inaction are far, far greater."
New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani delivered an equally powerful speech recently at the UN.
"We're right and they're wrong. It's as simple as that," he said, referring to democracy and the religious and political freedoms enjoyed by westerners.
"You're either with civilization or with terrorists," he said.
He's right but the usually loquacious Arab world has been struck with an uncharacteristic case of stage fright at a time when a strong moral stand against terrorism is needed more than ever.
Where are the Blairs and Giulianis of the Muslim nations?
They certainly weren't at the emergency meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference this week.
The OIC's endorsement of the U.S. strikes against the Taliban in Afghanistan was timid at best.
To be sure, the chairman of the group denounced the attacks against the U.S. but then said striking back against the terrorists should be addressed through the UN.
Sure. Let's leave terrorism-busting to the organization that symbolizes inertia and impotence.
Some Muslim countries, including Yemen, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, had no official reaction to the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan.
Some, such as Jordan, Qatar and Morocco, were lukewarm in their responses.
Others, including Malaysia, Kuwait and Sudan, were critical of the U.S. attacks on Afghanistan.
Noticeably absent in the past month? A fiery, eloquent, heart-stopping speech by a single leader of any Arab country condemning terrorism and religious fanaticism.
Instead, the only forceful speeches we've heard from Muslim countries recently have been full of hate.
Airplane hijackings will not stop, a spokesman for the al-Qaida movement warned this week.
"There are thousands of young people who are as keen about death as Americans are about life," he said.
It would be a ridiculous statement if it weren't for the fact that there are tens of thousands of young Muslim men happily prepared to fight for - not against - terrorism.
If it's only a few rabble-rousers who support terrorism, why have there been massive anti-U.S. protests across Pakistan?
Why has Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf had to place Islamic religious party leaders under house arrest and reshuffle his senior military officers?
The uncomfortable truth is that Pakistan, like many Arab countries, is grappling with growing numbers of Islamic conservatives, for whom the U.S. represents the Great Satan.
Many of them firmly believe that a jihad against the West is a religious duty.
In that light, the test is not just to crush the Taliban but to stamp out the fanaticism simmering in Muslim lands.
"You're either with us or against us," U.S. President George W. Bush declared.
It's depressing but, unless Muslim countries reform their political, social and economic systems, vast numbers of their citizens are likely to remain against us.
Democracy and pluralism are the best weapons against terrorism. The U.S. can't do it all.
Is the Muslim world up to the challenge?
Mindelle can be reached by e-mail at mjacobs@edm.sunpub.com
 World Fact Book (CIA]
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