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Issues > Wars & Conflicts > Terrorism > Al-Qaeda > Forum > Thread

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Separating al-Qaeda from Islam

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2010-06-05 08:53 AM

Schmidt
Colorado Springs, CO
Posts: 854

Reference: Adam Serwer, The American Prospect, The War Over the War on Terror, June 3, 2010

Adam Serwer in his above article discusses the Obama administration's efforts to disassociate al-Qaeda from Islam. Quoting John Brennan, the Obama administration would not "describe our enemy as 'jihadists' or 'Islamists' because jihad is a holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam, meaning to purify oneself or one's community, and there is nothing holy or legitimate or Islamic about murdering innocent men, women and children."

"By cleaving terrorism from Islam, the administration hopes to dismantle any claim al-Qaeda and its ideological allies have to the religion. "We reject the notion that al-Qaeda represents any religious authority," reads part of the administration's recently released National Security Strategy. "They are not religious leaders, they are killers, and neither Islam nor any other religion condones the slaughter of innocents.""

Serwer closes with a quote from Malcolm Nance: "Al-Qaeda is an existential threat to Islam; it is not an existential threat to America. You can't fight a war against the Islamic world; we have to help the Islamic world in its battle against this virus."

Conservative critics oppose Obama's approach citing not just terror groups but Islam itself as a threat. "They see the threat as posed not merely by plots against the homeland but by the influence of Islamic culture within the United States."

It appears to me that Obama's approach is the right one. There are 1.3 billion Muslims in the world and the United States is morally and strategically correct to separate al-Qaeda from Islam. We cannot win a war against Islam, but we might be able to win against al-Qaeda if the Islamic world sees it as just that, and not a Christian crusade against Islam, as many Muslims now perceive it.

Conservatives need to get on board.

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