JINSA Report #507 What They are Thinking? Part II--CORRECTED

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August 8, 2005

JINSA Report #507

What They are Thinking, II

The indispensable Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) (28 July)
provides more evidence of Muslim thinkers who believe it is the
responsibility of Muslims to control Islamist fascism:

In February, a group of reformists submitted to the UN a request that it
establish an international court to judge Muslim clerics who incite to
violence and bloodshed. The request was examined by the UN legal counsel
and distributed to the Security Council.

Saudi intellectual Mashari Al-Dhaydi, columnist for the London daily
Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, wrote that "Europe Must Change its Lenient Treatment
of Muslim Extremists."

Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed, director-general of the Al-Arabiya TV called
for the expulsion of Muslim extremists. In another article, he singled
out the Internet as "the preferred arena for extremists" and called for
Internet incitement to be stopped.

In an article in the Saudi daily Al-Jazeerah, columnist Hamad bin Hamad
Al-Salami mentioned by name bin Laden supporters residing in Britain who
openly expressed their support for al Qaeda terrorist operations in the
media, including Al-Jazeera TV and in the Arabic daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi.

Egyptian Al-Sharq Al-Awsat columnist Muna Al-Tahawi pointed out that
some Arab intellectuals try to please their target audience and say
different things in Arabic and in English. Egyptian scholar and
columnist Dr. Mamoun Fandy has also focused on Arab intellectuals'
hypocritical approach to terrorism. After the bombings at Sharm
Al-Sheikh he called upon Muslims to issue religious edicts [fatwa]
against terrorism. Iraqi Majed Al-Gharbawi called for going beyond the
issuing of new fatwas against terrorism to form a new, clear-cut
religious culture and to expose those who exploit religion for political
purposes. Iraqi human rights activist Dr. Kazem Habib said the war on
terrorism requires intellectual, political and educational activity.

Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi, former editor of the Saudi daily Al-Watan, called
on Muslims to ban suicide operations. Sa'ad Allah Khalil, who writes for
reformist websites, joined him in criticizing the Muslim religious
establishment.

Max Boot wrote in The Los Angeles Times on 27 July that the Pew Global
Attitudes Project has found broadly declining support for suicide
bombings (except, "in Jordan, with its large anti-Israeli Palestinian
population.") and Osama Bin Laden. It is coupled with "large and
growing majorities in Morocco (83 percent), Lebanon (83 percent), Jordan
(80 percent) and Indonesia (77 percent) — as well as pluralities in
Turkey (48 percent) and Pakistan (43 percent) — [that] say democracy can
work well and is not just for the West." And lo and behold, the
percentage of people holding a favorable impression of the United States
increased in Indonesia (+23 points), Lebanon (+15), Pakistan (+2) and
Jordan (+16). It also went up in such non-Muslim nations as France,
Germany, Russia and India. More than half of Jordanians and 2/3 of
Indonesians think the U.S. favors democracy in their country.

The game surely isn't over yet, but Boot's conclusion is ours: "At least
there are some signs that the battle for hearts and minds in the Islamic
world is far from hopeless."

To view this JINSA Report online click on the link below.
http://www.jinsa.org/JINSAReports/3104

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