Understanding Your World: Terrorism Rooted in Ancient Wounds, Modern Poverty

Summary

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Let's make one thing perfectly clear: The war in Iraq has little to do with the terrorist attacks in London. Critics of the war claim the world is not any safer because of the fighting in Iraq, and indeed may be less safe. And they have a point. But they are also quick to say that the London attacks prove their case. The terrorists themselves will use Iraq as an excuse. Both are wrong.

We need to remember that Sept. 11, 2001, occurred before any war in Iraq or Afghanistan. Australians were verbally attacked by Osama bin Laden because of Australia's role in East Timor well before Sept. 11. They were then killed in great numbers in Bali in an explosion carried out by radical Muslim terrorists. The current wave of terrorist attacks is not incident specific. The attacks are part of a world view held by a small minority of radical Muslims, and it's going to take the world's law-abiding Muslims -- the great majority -- to end them. The West cannot do it on its own.

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Extract

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Understanding Your World: Terrorism Rooted in Ancient Wounds, Modern Poverty

As previously noted in this column, Islam is engaged in something of a civil war with itself. For the past 250 years or so, Islam has been on the losing side of history. For Muslims, this is difficult to understand o...

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