Let’s be very clear: Islam is not an “evil Ideology”, as Tony Blair asserted. The teachings of Islam are peace and equality; it is outrageous for Mr. Blair to suggest otherwise. It is Mr. Blair who is riding on an imperialist ideology of violence and domination against the wishes of the majority of the British people.
No other religion which can claim to teach tolerance, pluralism and respect for the other as beautifully as Islam. Here is just one example and I challenge Mr Tony Blair to produce a similar text from Christian sources that specifically recognise other religions.
“Those who believe, and those who are Jewish, and Christians and the Sabians, — any who believe in God and the Day of Judgement and perform righteous deeds, shall have their reward with their lord; on them shall be no fear, or shall they grieve”. (Qur’an, 2:62, 5:69).
It is true that there are verses in the Qur’an that advocate taking arms in self-defence – as the Iraqi people are resisting foreign occupation of their land. Yet these verses are taken out of context and deliberately misinterpreted as to advocate violence in order to smear the Qur’an and Islam. Contrary to Christian teachings about Prophet Mohammed, Muslims revere Jesus and recognise his miracle.
The linking of violence to the Qur’an is deliberate and designed to incite violence and prejudice against Muslims. Muslims are not interested in changing Blair or Bush “ways of life”. The opposite is true. It is Blair and Bush who are interested in changing not only the Iraqis ways of live, but also other people ways of live and impose an imperialist- Western model.
The only “evidence” Blair provided to support the allegations that the 7/7 London bombing was the acts of four Muslim “suicide bombers” was a cut and paste photo. Why suddenly four Britain-born Muslims with no history of crimes have become “suicide bombers”? Were they the only four young men travelling that day on the London Transport?
Sadly, the so-called Muslim “leaders” and pundits in Britain (and Australia) have unconsciously jumped on the Blair’s wagon and condemned their follow Muslims without the slightest glimmer of factual evidence or proof. By blaming their own Muslim community for the violence, those “leaders” are playing into the hands of Blair’s ideology. Hence, they do not speak for Muslims, but speak for themselves. They are the carbon copies of the despotic leaders of the Muslim regimes, including Arab regimes that are using Islam to serve their interests. Remember, no one of these Muslim “leaders” dares to condemn the daily atrocities and crimes committed against the Iraqi people by the Blair-Bush pact of “pre-emptive” terrorism.
The Brazilian young man, Jean Charles de Menezes, who was executed at point-blank by Blair’s police in London, was an innocent man looking like a Muslim with brown skin colour. Had Mr. de Menezes been a Muslim, his name would have been added to the anti-Muslim propaganda of “suicide bombers” perpetuated by politicians and biased media. Mr. Menezes was the target in Blair’s “shoot to kill” policy because of his skin colour.
Having brown or black skin colour and a Muslim name could invite troubles and even murder. The hidden agenda is to manipulate the public to focus on the violence of the oppressed rather than that of the oppressors. Linking Islam with terrorism has always been part of Western imperialist agenda to provide public relations support for imperialist wars of conquest.
The 2005 study by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) on “Intolerance and Discrimination against Muslims” in eleven EU countries found that attacks on Muslims have markedly increased. In Britain, 64 per cent of Muslims interviewed said they were “unfairly targeted by counter-terrorism policies”. In the Netherlands, attacks on Muslims have peaked dramatically. In Germany, which benefited from cheap Muslim workers to build its economy, the situation is not different. Muslims have been unfairly arrested because they fit the new profiling criteria. Western media are playing their own dishonest part by associating Muslims with “terrorism” and crimes.
In Australia, Muslim refugees are incarcerated in isolated prison camps and denied their basic human rights. Targeted Muslim homes and shops in Melbourne and Sydney have been raided by Australian Special Forces and immigration officers in search of “terrorism materials”. Like their counterparts in the US, Australian Christian fanatics and right-wing parties are embarking on an agenda of distortions by associating the teachings of Islam with terrorism and Communism. As a result, Muslims have been subjected to unprovoked racist attacks. Muslim women wearing traditional clothes were spat upon, physically assaulted and had their scarves ripped from their heads by bigoted cowards. In addition to the crimes committed against the Iraqi people, it is becoming harder and harder for Muslim Australians to find decent employment.
We all know now that the US-Britain war on Iraq was unprovoked and an illegal act of aggression. Iraq was a defenceless nation and had no link to terrorism or the 9/11 attacks on the US. In fact Mr. Bush’s own 9/11 Commission found no link between Saddam Hussein regime and 9/11. We also know that the decision to attack Iraq was taken several years prior to the 9/11 attacks, which were carried out by individuals from nations allied with the US and Britain.
The silence in the US and in many parts of the world allowed the US-Britain to resort to a policy of war and terror. Terrorism is an “ideological instrument of propaganda and control. It is the West and Western interests that have pushed terrorism to the forefront, not the ‘terrorists’”, wrote Edward Herman. Hence, terrorism is used as the driving force behind Blair-Bush ideology of imperialism and domination.
The Iraqi army did not attack and occupy British and US cities and towns. The Iraqi army did not kill tens of thousands of Britons and Americans because Iraqis did not like British and American ways of life. It is Blair and Bush who attacked and occupied Iraq and Afghanistan. The real motive is to dominate the Middle East and conquer Iraq’s oil resources.
Evil is: the occupation of Palestine, the occupation of Afghanistan, the occupation of Iraq, the abuse and torture of Iraqis, include the torture of children at Abu Ghraib, Baghdad, and Basra. It has been estimated that since the 2003 invasion of Iraq by US-British armies, more than 150,000 innocent Iraqi men, women and children have been killed and countless number of Iraqis injured.
No one in the West suggests a two minutes of silence for the mass slaughter of Iraqi children.
The deliberate destruction of Iraq’s essential infrastructure and health care systems has contributed to Iraq’s health crisis, including the doubling of child mortality and malnutrition. Evidence shows that the occupying forces are deliberately targeting hospitals, residential neighbourhoods, electricity grids and water purification plants. The total destruction of the city of Fallujah is just one example of evidence.
Furthermore, no Iraqi citizen has asked the US to built military bases on Iraqi soil. The US is illegally embarking on building permanent military bases in Iraq in pursuit of its imperialist agenda and support for Israel’s Zionist expansion. The vast majority of Iraqi voters interviewed after the fraudulent elections of January 30, 2005, cited their desire to see an end to the military occupation as a major impetus for voting. Building permanent US military bases directly violates Iraqi sovereignty and the will of the Iraqi people.
The Blair-Bush ‘Crusades’ in Iraq and Afghanistan are the precursor of violence and prejudice against Muslims. As rightly put by the late Mohammed Asad in his seminal The Road to Mecca, in which he traces his own (as a European), discovery of Islam and of his integration within the Muslim community. Asad wrote: “The damage caused by the Crusades was the poisoning of the Western mind against the Muslim world through a deliberate misrepresentation of the teachings and ideals of Islam”. The West-Muslim World relations are at a cross road: only rational just solution and respect for the other is the right way to avoid a serious “clash of ignorance”.
The best solution to end the violence and deal with the “evil ideology” of imperialism is for the US and Britain to withdraw their occupying armies from Iraq, return Iraq to full sovereignty, pay back Iraqi stolen assets, and stop interfering in the affairs of the Iraqi people.
Global Research Contributing Editor Ghali Hassan lives in Perth, Western Australia.
