Muslims are not Fascists

Monday, 14 August 2006
By Sabria S Jawhar
The Saudi Gazette

AN overwhelming majority of peace lovers – both in the Muslim and non-Muslim world – has strongly criticized US President George W. Bush’s remarks, linking Islam to fascism. Bush said that a foiled plot to blow up US-bound passenger planes from Britain showed that Washington was “at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation.”
Although the link that Bush drew between the plan and what he referred to as “Islamic fascists,” sparked an instant outcry from some Muslims, the rest are silent. But they are the ones that President Bush and his advisors have to fear. Those silent groups keep their views concealed and swallow their anger, but never forget such remarks.
The reaction to Bush’s remarks, however, will take years and decades to emerge. People of the region are burning with fury and I believe that when the time comes and they put one to one, they will certainly react. At that time, peace and negotiation will be meaningless words.
By using that rhetoric, President Bush has lost the last chance of making America perceived as a model country for peace and democracy. He has lost all those advocates of democracy in the region who would be ashamed of carrying that flag simply because it has become associated with the US and Israeli brutal practices.
Many Arabs and Muslims consider President Bush’s remarks as a fuel to the ongoing war against Islam. They believe this war was started in 2001 following the September 11 attacks and shortly before the US-led invasion of Afghanistan. It started when Bush called his war on terrorism “a crusade.”
Though the White House apologized for using that loaded term, nothing has been said on behalf of the president this time. This raises many questions: Is the White House ashamed of justifying its president’s recurrent mistakes? Or are they busy teaching him lessons in semantics to avoid such mistakes next time when his handlers and speechwriters are not around?
Yet the irony is that at a time when Bush is linking Islam to fascism, there are internal American voices that link his administration to the same term.
Laurence Britt in his “Fascism Anyone?”, compared the regimes of Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Suharto, and Pinochet and identified 14 characteristics common to those fascist regimes.
The Project for the Old American Century collected news articles dating from the start of the Bush presidency and divided them into topics relating to each of the 14 points of fascism.
The project website said: “There is no little red book or manifesto of fascism; it cannot be gathered from one systematic treatise but must be culled from various sources that express thought and opinion as much as political philosophy.”
In conclusion, Bush had no right to talk about fascism or even to make such a comment in such a difficult time when the whole world is seeking peace by all means.
It seems that he does not realize that by making such reckless and inflammatory comments he is not only harming Muslims overseas, but also the Muslim community in his own country. Besides, he is creating unnecessary enemies at a time when he needs all support and efforts to win his so-called war against terrorism.
However, the most important thing that he has to learn is the fact that fascism is a system of government characterized by one-party dictatorship that forcibly suppresses opposition.
Taken that into consideration, Bush should stop unreasonably linking fascism or terrorism with Muslims or Islam.
He has to stop harming those Muslim countries and communities that cooperate and assist his government in finding the real terrorists. By saying what he said, President Bush is basically turning his war against terrorism into a factory that produces terrorists on a very large scale. Muslims all over the world should also demand an official apology or take tough measures to stop such anti-Muslim campaigns.
* Note: for further reading please visit: http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm