(I took a few days to edit this one. Khatami's speech ties in well with what I wrote before.)

What's Khatami been saying in India?

"NEW DELHI JAN. 26. After the collapse of Marxism, the West had to create a "new enemy'' in the form of an extremist vision of Islam, the visiting Iranian President, Mohammad Khatami, said tonight.

Admitting "mistakes'' by some Muslims, he said that the Western world was using "psychological operations'' to make Islam the source of violence. This image would allow the West to unleash more horrible violence in the world."

This is both hypocritical and hilarious. He is constantly playing the "blame game" - he doesn't have the answers for Iran, only a contradictory vision of "religious democracy", and wishes to distract attention away from the failures of the government. He is the representative of a regime whose leaders talk about "enemy plots" like no other. The problem, more than he would like to admit, is that some Muslims DO have an "extremist vision"; this hasn't been "created" by the West; and where, after all, is the Muslim outrage?. Let's look at some articles from the last few days.


FBI report pointed to Bali bombing

Jabarah told the FBI that al Qaeda used specific code words in Asia, including the phrase, "white meat" to describe American interests.

Sharia in Lagos At Last: (from LGF)

To liberate the Muslim world from alleged Western domination and oppression, Professor AbdulKareem suggested that Muslim countries must strive hard to possess international might through:

· the acquisition of chemical and nuclear weapons to check the incessant threat from the West;

Nuclear Warfare is the Solution for Destroying America
(from LGF)

"This is the only way to kill the greatest possible number of Americans."

Imam 'instructed British Muslims to kill infidels'

“This is how wonderful it is to kill a kuffar (an unbeliever). You crawl on his back and while you are pushing him down into the hellfire, you are going into paradise.” ...the defendant had stated that “assassination was lawful” and that a Muslim’s primary task was “to lessen the population of the unbelievers”...The cleric claimed that his talks came “either directly or indirectly” from the Koran, and that if he was on trial, then so was the holy text.

Now, this "imam" has a degree in Islamic studies from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. How could he get Islam so "wrong"? There is certainly a wide range of opinions about what "Islam" is and what "jihad" means. Unfortunately, to a large extent, it is the violent, intolerant Muslims, though a minority, who define what these terms mean to people in the West - they get a greater "mindshare". If you are a Muslim and you think these people (mostly Wahhabis) are wrong, you should speak up! Otherwise, people in the West may consider the silence to be "deafening".