September 22, 2007 1:52

News Flash: Muslim Denounces Terrorism!

Posted by Scott MacLeod

Among the unfortunate examples of Muslim bashing in the U.S. are Op-Eds of Thomas Friedman, who has sometimes used his very influential platform as a best-selling pop author, prestigious Middle East maven and New York Times pundit to accuse Muslims of some sort of collective responsibility for extremism and terrorism. One of his recurring points, as he wrote two months ago after the latest terrorism episode in Britain, is that "hundreds of Muslims have committed suicide amid innocent civilians...without generating any vigorous, sustained condemnation in the Muslim world."

Maybe it hasn't been up to Friedman's standards of being vigorous and sustained. But Muslim leaders and ordinary Muslims have consistently condemned extremism and terrorism. I agree if he is saying that the Muslim world can and must do more to advance unambiguous moral imperatives. On the other hand, many could (and do) turn around and say that Americans, including the U.S. government and Friedman too, are at fault for not making a vigorous and sustained criticisim of Israel's occupation policies...[more]