"Of the over 1000 British Muslims arrested under anti-terrorist legislation, only 12% are ever charged with anything. That is simply harassment of Muslims on an appalling scale. Of those charged, 80% are acquitted. Most of the very few - just over 2% of arrests - who are convicted, are not convicted of anything to do with terrorism, but of some minor offence the police happened upon while trawling through the wreck of the lives they had shattered."
- Craig Murray, former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, pointed out in an August 14 article on his website.
A non-Muslim friend said, "I suggest that we cease appending the word "Moslem" or "Islamic" to "terrorist" or "extremist". We don't call the Irish Republican Army "Catholic Terrorists". The Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka are not called "Hindu terrorists". Nor is the Israeli armed forces a "Jewish occupation army". The separatists and white supremacist wackos in the mountains of Idaho are not "Christian separatists". By dropping these religious labels, we open our minds to a broader and, I hope, more realistic view. Certainly a more humane one. Don't you think so???".
I couldn't agree more.
In the aftermath of Sept. 11, a French newspaper, Le Monde, said, "We're all Americans". I couldn't help but to wonder:
- Did it say "We're All Sudanese" when civilians were killed when U.S. bombed a phamaceutical firm in Sudan?
- Did it say "We're All Bosnians" for the thousands of Bosnians slaughtered by the Serbs?
- Did it say "We're All Palestinians" for the massacre victims of Sabra and Shatila?
- Did it say "We're All Iraqis" when hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi children died due to the economic sanction and the America-led invasion?
- Did it say "We're All Ambonese" when the people in Ambon were massacred?
Who shared their pain? Who heard their cries?