Below is a letter I just wrote to the author of this article in the Christian Science monitor. I believe this mans way of thinking will get us no where and is greatly inaccurate. Below is the letter I wrote him. I hope I get a response back from him on things I put forward. Here is the letter:



This letter is a response to Kenneth Ballens article in the Christian Science Monitor here:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0223/p09s01-coop.html?s=t5

"The myth of Muslim support for terror."

I would appreciate if you would forward this to him if this is not him. I would be curious to hear his response on how he views the things I put forward.

First of all in the headline of the article you say "The common enemy is violence and terrorism, not Muslims any more than Christians or Jews."

While I believe the majority of Muslims are peaceful people. I believe a percentage of 15-25% of them are Radicals and want to see the whole world under Islamic Law. That is millions of people worldwide.
You seem to be saying that terrorism is committed in the name of all religions. The truth is the majority of the terrorism we see is in the name of Islam. Radicals quote the Quran and invoke the example of Muhammad to justify what they do. I ask you to show me where Christians are quoting the Bible and invoking Jesus in to justify terrorism throughout the World. The same goes for Jews show me where they are quoting the Torah to justify war on unbelievers. The truth is you cant show me because it is not happening. The bottom line is that we must not sugar coat this and act like terrorism is equal in the name of all religions. This is false! True moderate Muslims must realize that radicals are using the Quran to justify terrorism. The moderates must address these passages that terrorist quote from the Quran and develop a doctrine that rejects these teachings. This is not happening though. You trying to sugar coat this and saying that terrorism is terrorism and is equal within all religions does not work.It is also dangerous thinking if we really want to defeat terrorism.

I also wanted to address when you said "small minority of Muslims who peddle hatred of the West and others as authentic religious practice."

As I said it is 15-25% of Muslims that are extremist worldwide. Yes that percentage sounds small doesn't it? To bad its actually millions of people that is almost equal to the population of the United States. Not to mention a recent story that just came out that 2000 radical Muslims in the UK are ready to attack there again. That doesn't just sound like a "few" people to me. Also in Canada a report came out that 12% of Muslims there said that beheading the president and bombing of the Parliament would be justified. Sounds like a small percentage again right? Well thats actually 84,000 Muslims in Canada. Thats no small number. Not to mention another poll in Europe recently showed that 40% of the Muslim community would want to see Islamic law rule Europe. Finally it is not hard to find imams on television in the Middle East preaching jihad warfare and hate of Jews. This just goes to show how main stream this is type of teaching is in the Middle East. As you can see it is not just a "small minority" there is nothing small about the problem of radical Islam as I have shown here. True moderate Muslims that want to see things change will agree with my analysis as well and want to deal with this problem

Another comment you made is "Whether recruits to violent causes join gangs in Los Angeles or terrorist cells in Lahore, the enemy is the violence they exalt."

Do you honestly believe that a person in a gang in LA is equal to an Islamic terrorist? An Islamic terrorist wants to see Islamic law rule the world and believes the his religion tells him to do this by waging jihad warfare against unbelievers. Explain to me how this is equal to a thug in a gang in LA?

The final comment I would like to address is: "Our surveys show that not only do Muslims reject terrorism as much if not more than Americans, but even those who are sympathetic to radical ideology can be won over by positive American actions that promote goodwill and offer real hope."

First I beg of you the next time you do this type of survey be more specific by what you mean when you say "terrorism" ask them questions like "Do you condemn the attacks on the Pentagon on 9/11?" You may get some interesting answers because Hezbollah condemned the attack on the World Trade Center because there were Muslims and civilians in the building. The Pentagon on the other hand is considered a military facility so therefore that attack was justified. Also you may want to ask them questions like "Do you believe Hamas and Hezbollah are terrorist organizations?" Once again I believe you would get some answers you wouldn't like. Even here in America I am in search of Muslims that will denounce these two groups. As far as I am aware the ONLY Muslim organization in America that names Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist groups is the Free Muslim Coalition. Sadly the majority of the Muslim community does not back the Free Muslim Coalition. CAIR the largest Muslim organization even went a step further and said "The Free Muslim Coalition does not represent main stream Islam." Not to mention that CAIR even names Hezbollah and Hamas as groups that denounce terrorism. Kind of ironic. I have been asking Muslims over and over again why they there is no backing for the Free Muslim Coalition. I either get no response or they tell me that ultimately it is because that Hamas and Hezbollah are not terror organizations. Maybe you are aware of a Muslim organization that NAMES Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations. If you are please let me know. I would love to promote them. If you don't I challenge you to seek them out.