DATE=8/25/98
TYPE=ENGLISH PROGRAMS FEATURE
NUMBER=7-30383
TITLE=DATELINE: RELIGION & TERRORISM
BYLINE=PAMELA TAYLOR
TELEPHONE=619-1101
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
EDITOR=ROB SIVAK
CONTENT= // NOTE: SOME MATERIAL CONTAINED IN THIS PROGRAM WAS
PREVIOUSLY ISSUED ON HOUSE WIRES //
INTRO: IN THE WAKE OF LAST WEEK'S MISSILE STRIKES AGAINST
SUSPECTED RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORIST CAMPS IN AFGHANISTAN
AND SUDAN, U-S OFFICIALS HAVE STRESSED THE ATTACKS WERE
DIRECTED AGAINST EXTREMISTS, NOT ANY RELIGION. HOWEVER,
THE STRIKES AND SUBSEQUENT THREATS AGAINST AMERICANS
THROUGHOUT THE WORLD HAVE REAWAKENED FEARS ABOUT RADICAL
ISLAM. 'RELIGION AND TERRORISM' IS THE ISSUE EXAMINED
ON TODAY'S EDITION OF DATELINE. HERE'S PAMELA TAYLOR.
TEXT: MUSLIM EXTREMISTS ARE CLEARLY NOT THE FIRST TO DO
TERRIBLE THINGS IN THE NAME OF GOD AND THEIR RELIGION.
CHRISTIAN HISTORY, FROM THE CRUSADES TO PRESENT DAY
IRELAND, TESTIFIES TO THAT.
SO WHEN PRESIDENT CLINTON MADE THE DRAMATIC ANNOUNCEMENT
IN MASSACHUSETTS, HE WAS CAREFUL TO SAY THE U-S MISSILE
ATTACKS ON THE ALLEGED TERRORIST SITES WERE NOT DIRECTED
AGAINST ISLAM.
TAPE: CUT # 1 CLINTON [FR # 2-237420] RUNS :32
I WANT THE WORLD TO UNDERSTAND THAT OUR ACTIONS TODAY
WERE NOT AIMED AGAINST ISLAM, THE FAITHOF HUNDREDS OF
MILLIONS OF GOOD PEACE-LOVING PEOPLE ALL AROUND THE
WORLD, INCLUDING THE UNITED STATES. NO RELIGION
CONDONES THE MURDER OF INNOCENT MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN.
BUT OUR ACITONS WERE AIMED AT FANATICS AND KILLERS WHO
WRAP MURDER IN THE CLOAK OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND IN SO
DOING, PROFANE THE GREAT RELIGION IN WHOSE NAME THEY
CLAIM TO ACT.
TEXT: PRESIDENT CLINTON'S REMARK WAS ECHOED BY SECRETARY OF
STATE MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, WHO SAID THE U-S MISSILE
STRIKES SHOULD NOT BE SEEN IN RELIGIOUS TERMS.
[OPT] SHORTLY AFTER TERRORIST TRUCKBOMB ATTACKS ON THE
U-S EMBASSIES IN KENYA AND TANZANIA, A CONFERENCE ON THE
GROWTH OF ISLAM OPENED IN WASHINGTON. MUSLIMS FROM ALL
OVER THE WORLD STRESSED THE PEACEFUL ASPECT OF ISLAM,
WHICH HAS ATTRACTED NEW ADHERENTS TO THE RELIGION --
MANY APPARENTLY DISILLUSIONED WITH SECULARISM. VOA'S ED
WARNER REPORTS
TAPE: CUT # 2 WARNER # 5-41129 RUNS 2:59
NEWS OF THE BOMBING OF THE AMERICAN EMBASSIES WAS
SHATTERING TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE ISLAMIC CONFERENCE.
THOSE ACTS OF VIOLENCE WERE IN STARK CONTRAST TO WHAT
THE CONFERENCE WAS TRYING TO CONVEY: THE GROWING
UNIVERSAL APPEAL OF A PEACEFUL ISLAM.
THE PEACEFUL NATURE OF ISLAM WAS STRESSED BY SHEIK
MOHAMMED HISHAM KABBANI, CHAIRMAN OF THE ISLAMIC SUPREME
COUNCIL OF AMERICA, THE NEWLY FORMED ORGANIZATION WHICH
HOSTED THE CONFERENCE.
SHEIK KABBANI SAID AMERICA IS A MAJOR REASON FOR THE
SPREAD OF ISLAM. WITHOUT THE FREEDOM THE UNITED STATES
PROVIDES, HE INSISTED, ISLAM WOULD NOT BE GROWING THE
WAY IT IS:
// KABANNI ACT //
THAT IS THE FREEDOM THAT ALLAH GAVE TO HUMANITY, AND
THIS COUNTRY IS IMPLEMENTING IT, AND THAT IS WHY
ALLAH IS GIVING THEM SUCCESS. SO WE SAY MAY GOD BLESS
THOSE WHO SUPPORT FREEDOM THOSE WHO SUPPORT HUMAN
RIGHTS, THOSE WHO SUPPORT HAPPINESS AROUND THE WORLD.
AND MAY ALLAH SUPPORT THOSE WHO CONDEMN AND TRY TO
PUT DOWN ANY ACT OF TERORISM AROUND THE WORLD BECAUSE
TERRORISM IS NOT FROM OUR RELIGION.
// END ACT //
SHEIK KABBANI SAID VIOLENT IDEOLOGUES WHO OPERATE UNDER
COVER OF ISLAM SHOULD NOT BE CONFUSED WITH THE GENUINE
FAITHFUL.
ANOTHER CONFERENCE PARTICIPANT, MHAAMMAD KHAN, PRESIDENT
OF THE MUSLIM NETOWRK WHICH WORKS WITH YOUTH GANGS IN
LOS ANGELES, PRAISED SHEIK KABBANI FOR PRACTICING WHAT
HE PREACHES ABOUT THE PEACEFULNESS OF ISLAM. BUT NOT ALL
MUSLIMS FOLLOW THE EXAMBLE OF SHEIK KABBANI, SAID ROBERT
CRANE, PRESIDENT OF THE CENTER FOR PUBLIC POLICY
RESEARCH IN VIRGINIA. HE NOTED SOME MUSLIMS PRESENT A
VASTLY DIFFERENT IMAGE TO THE WEST:
// CRANE ACT //
SOME MUSLIMS SEEM TO BE TORN INWARDLY AND TO FACE
OTHERS CONFRONTATIONALLY. THEY SEE ENEMIES EVERYWHERE
AND PERCEIVE UNITY ONLY AS A TACTIC TO DEFEND THEIR
OWN COMMUNITY OR CO-RELIGIONISTS AGAINST OUTSIDERS.
POLITICALLY, THE REGARD THEMSELVES AS A TRIBAL
SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP WHICH MUST IMPOSE UNIFORMITY
WITHIN THE GROUP AND SUPPORT A PARTICULAR POLITICAL
FACTION IN THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM IN ORDER TO
COMPETE IN THE JUNGLE OF WASHINGTON.
// END ACT //
MR. CRANE SAID THE ISLAMIC CONFERENCE IN WASHINGTON WAS
INTENDED TO OVERCOME SUCH NOTIONS OF CONFLICT WITH
NON-MUSLIMS. THE POINT OF THE GATHERING, HE SAID, WAS TO
EXPLORE WAYS TO GIVE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING AND
APPRECIATION OF ISLAM TO THOSE OUTSIDE THE FAITH.
TEXT: VOA'S ED WARNER REPORTING FROM WASHINGTON. [END OPT]
ONE PART OF UNDERSTANDING ISLAM IS, OF COURSE,
UNDERSTANDING THAT THERE ARE EXTREMISTS IN EVERY CULTURE
AND IN EVERY RELIGION. JOHN ESPOSITO, A PROFESSOR OF
RELIGION AT WASHINGTON'S GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY, IS
DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN
UNDERSTANDING.
TAPE: CUT # 3 TAYLOR/ESPOSITO INTERVIEW RUNS 3:33
(ESPOSITO) WHAT EXTREMISTS DO IN VARIOUS RELIGIOS
TRADITIONS, WHETHER THEY'RE MUSLIMS, CHRISTIANS OR JEWS
IS THAT THEY USE THEIR SCRIPTURES AND THEIR BELIEFS TO
LEGITIMATE THEIR ACTIONS AND TO ATTEMPT, AS A RESULT OF
THAT, TO MOBILIZE SUPPORT FOR WHAT THEY DO. AND SO TO
THE EXTEND THAT ONE CAN SAY THE STRUGGLE IS A SACRED
STRUGGLE, THAN ONE ESTABLISHES THAT LEGITIMACY. THEY ARE
TRYING TO SAY 'THIS ISN'T TERRORISM, IT'S A LEGITIMATE
ACT IN DEFENSE OF ISLAM.'
(TAYLOR) BUT WHAT DOES THE KORAN ACTUALY SAY WITH REGARD
TO TERRORISTS ACTS? I MEAN, HOW FAR CAN ONE GO,
ACCORDING TO THE MUSLIM RELIGION IN DEFENDING THAT
RELIGION AND WHERE DOES IT CROSS THE LINE INTO
TERRORISM?
(ESPOSITO) I THINK, AGAIN, THE KORAN IS VERY CLEAR ON
THE FACT THAT WHAT WE WOULD CALL TERRORISM IS NOT
PERMITTED. I THINK THE KORAN AND INDEED, ISLAMIC
TEACHING ON THE OTHER HAND THAT MUSLIMS HAVE THE RIGHT
TO DEFEND THEMSELVES, THE ISLAMIC COMMUNITY AND THE
INTERESTS OF ISLAM. AND SO THE KORAN TALKS ABOUT WAGING
WAR AGAINST THE ENEMIES OF GOD. YOU HAVE TO REALIZE,
ONCE YOU SAY 'THE ENEMIES OF GOD', YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT
PEOPLE WHO ARE THEMSELVES IN A POSTURE OF AGRESSION
AGAINST YOU AND YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO DEFEND YOURSELF BY
WAGING WAR AGAINST THEM. YOU'LL FIND A SIMILAR DOCTRINE
DEVELOPED IN CHRISTIANITY WHEN IT DEVELOPED ITS 'JUST
WAR' THEORY. BUT THE PROBLEM YOU HAVE IS WHEN
EXTREMISTS, WHETHER IN ISLAM OR CHRISTIANITY, TAKES THAT
DOCTRINE AND GOES BEYOND THE 'JUST WAR'. WHEN IN FACT AN
EXTREMIST SAYS WHAT I AM DOING IS JUST WHEN IN FACT IT
IS UNJUST.
(TAYLOR) WOULD YOU MAKE A DISTINCTION IN THE CASE OF
KOSOVO FOR EXAMPLE, WHERE THE SERBS ARE CALLING THE
KOSOVO LIBERATION ARMY 'TERRORISTS' AND YET THE K-L-A
HAS, TO OUR UNDERSTANDING, BEEN VERY CAREFUL NOT TO
ATTACK CIVILIANS, IT'S ONLY ATTACKED POLICE POSITIONS.
IS THAT KIND OF DISTINCTION (ABOUT WHAT DEFINES A
TERRORIST) MADE IN THE KORAN OR BY MUSLIMS?
(ESPOSITO) I THINK THERE CLEARLY IS A DISTINCTION
BETWEEN HARMING INNOCENT CIVILIANS AND FIGHTING WITH
MILITARY OPPONENTS. BUT I THINK THE EXAMPLE YOU GIVE IS
AN INTERESTING ONE BECAUSE IS THE UNITED STATES GOING TO
MOVE AGAINST THE SERBS WHO ARE MASACRING IN KOSOVO?
THIS IS PRECISELY WHAT HAPPENED IN BOSNIA. THE SERBS
THERE, FOR THE LONGEST TIME, FROM THE VERY BEGINNING AND
RIGHT THROUGH, USED AS THEIR RATIONALE 'WHAT WE'RE
ATTEMPTING TO PREVENT IS WHAT HAPPENED CENTURIES AGO AND
THAT IS HAVING MUSLIMS OVERRUN, NOT ONLY SET UP AND
OVERRUN BOSNIA, BUT OVERRUN AND THREATEN EUROPE. AND THE
SAME SERBIAN RATIONALE IS NOW BEING USED IN KOSOVO. SO
WHAT YOU HAVE IS A VERY INTERESTING SITUATION, YOU HAVE
MILITANT SERBS WHO ARE (EASTERN) ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS. SO
YOU COULD SAY YOU HAVE ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY ATTEMPTING
TO LEGITIMATE ITS BARBARISM IN THE NAME OF RELIGION BY
SAYING 'WE'RE FIGHTING MILITANT MUSLIMS (ISLAM)'.
TEXT: JOHN ESPOSITO ALSO POINTED OUT THAT YESTERDAY'S
TERRORISTS ARE OFTEN TOMORROW'S LEADERS AS IN THE CASE
OF NELSON MANDELA, MENACHEM BEGIN AND YASSER ARAFAT.
(SIGNED)
NEB/PAM/RMS
25-Aug-98 11:48 AM EDT (1548 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
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