Experts fear ‘endless’ terror war – Terrorism & Security – MSNBC.com
The London bombings on 7/7 has lead to a new debate on where we really stand in the efforts to contain and perhaps eventually defeat the forces of global terrorism, as well as the link of this issue with the war in Iraq.
There is no doubt that terrorism has accelerated in recent years, although large-scale attacks have been on a gradually less impressive and less effective scale.
The database on these issues kept by the RAND Corporation – I happen to be on the Board of Trustees – certainly shows this. ”The 5,362 deaths from terrorism worldwide between March 2004 and March 2005 were almost double the total for the same 12-month period before the 2003 U.S. invasion.”
But at the same time it’s very obvious that the entire thing started well before the Iraq war and that the curve was pointing distinctly upwards well before that time.
So, we simply don’t know the answer on that particular issue. But we do know that the curve continues to point upwards and that it does present a very grave challenge for our socities.
It’s not a question of us fighting all Muslims and their religion, as some would extremists on either side woul certainly like. It’s a question of us encouraging those forces inside the Muslim world that want to modernize and reach out to the rest of the world. There are many of those.
The war inside Islam against the forces of intolerance and hatred will certainly not be won easily. It will take a long time. But it can in essence only be won by those inside the Islamic world ready to stand up for true democracy and tolerance.
Our task is to support them. Islam must be made our ally in the fight against terrorism.
If not – everything will be vastly more difficult.
The Choran is interpreted as non-democratic and non-changable by those who preaches Islam, so there couldn´t be any hope for compromises, just retreats.
The Globe is inevitably warming up for the next round.
It’s not inevitable but there’s a risk and if there would be a ”next round” the burden of responsibility will be heavy on those who use every opportunity to sow mistrust and hate. Surprisingly many who never opened the Koran stand ready to provide an interpretation.
How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries!
Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property‹either as a child, a wife, or a concubine‹must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die; but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.
Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science the science against which it had vainly struggled the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.