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) NNNN Source: Voice of America .