n answer to this I do not think most Americans equate Islam with violence. G. Bush extolled the beauty and peaceful ways of our religion in his speech to the Senate after the Sept 11, which was televised live to the Nation. Also, in my work related travels to small town America, I have talked to various folks with different education or consciousness levels and most have given me the impression that they do not fault Islam for the tragedy of Sept 11. Oh yes American people do equate Islam with violence, especially in the arena of violence against women. As far as the speech that Bush delivered, if this was a known fact or this was an understand fact that this was strictly political in nature, Islam would have never been mentioned or an issue and we would not have seen our dear brother Imam Hamza Yusuf in the audience. I don't think the Islamic scholar is invited on a regular basis, do you? Besides, the President only delivered the speech, he didn't write it. I come from the epitome of small town America, Rice Lake, Wisconsin and they don't seem to get that Islam is a religion of peace. They believe it is violent and oppressive to women. Just my experience, Halima S. -----Original Message----- From: Y C Jow [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Friday, February 15, 2002 10:18 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Interesting article by John Pilger. Ginny: Thanks for your comments once again. I think you raised some very pertinent question in your response to my post. I would like to answer as many of them as possible to the best of my ability. But first I would like to take up your concern that Muslims are being victimized. In answer to this I do not think most Americans equate Islam with violence. G. Bush extolled the beauty and peaceful ways of our religion in his speech to the Senate after the Sept 11, which was televised live to the Nation. Also, in my work related travels to small town America, I have talked to various folks with different education or consciousness levels and most have given me the impression that they do not fault Islam for the tragedy of Sept 11. So IMO, I do think most folks understand that this issue has more to do with politics than it has to do with religion. I certainly would not take some off the wall remarks by Ashcroft to gauge public attitudes towards Muslims. Unfortunately many young Arabic men were detained after the attacks. With the advancement of the investigation some of them have been released while others have been tried and prosecuted for crimes ranging from immigration violations to lying under oath. Nevertheless, you certainly cannot blame the FBI and other authorities for casting a wide dragnet after the attacks, which were so horrifying that drastic action had to be taken to at least start to make sure this becomes a safer place. I would also like to point to the fact that most arrested were either visa violators or fundamentalists with known terrorist ties. These men were arrested for good reason and though some were eventually released, I think the justification for their arrests was solid. On civil liberties, the bottom-line is we need to give up some to make this place safer. After all, the terrorists used some of these liberties we have here to facilitate the planning that went into the attack. But in cutting back on some of these liberties, we must also be vigilant in not allowing the powers that be to infringe too much on the freedoms we have. I agree with you here.. On the Palestinian-Israeli issue, I have completely given up on trying to justify which side is being oppressed and what not.. When you have a situation where each side violates the other so randomly, it becomes difficult to support one or the other.. I am very pessimistic as to whether a solution will ever be reached there... On your analogy to Jammeh's detention of prisoners, with all due respect I think you are comparing apples and oranges. Of course a few mental midgets will try to use this analogy in their defense of the atrocities the regime commits. Please note that you cannot compare and administration that violates every single aspect of the human right's doctrine to one which epitomizes the adherence to due process & human rights. Again, I would like to reiterate that this line or argument is unfair to those of us who do not recognize the administration in The Gambia as a legitimate one.. Finally, I really think that once one starts to bring Islam into your train of thought it really does a disservice to one's objectivity. After all, Osama and his gang of murderers claim that the war against terrorism is one against Islam.. <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>