Both Bush and Blair and their administrations have gone to great lengths to
emphasis that the "War on Terrorism" is not a "War on
Islam" or a "War on Muslims". Indeed home grown rubber stamped
Muslim representatives in each country have been reeled in to stand dutifully
behind their Imams, 'Shaikh' Bush and 'Alama' Blair as they recite
translations of the Quran and lead multi-faith prayers in what is a deceitful
display of admiration of Islam.
Judging by the latest FBI list naming the 22 most wanted terrorists recently
issued by 'Dubya' Bush, one would logically assume that America's greatest
terrorist threat arose from the Muslim world. Every one of the 22 named was
Muslim.
However even a superficial study of the annual US State Departments reports on
Terrorism available via their website suggest otherwise and reveal a more
sinister agenda.
The annual "Patterns of Global Terrorism" Report by the US State
Department (www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/)
details events which the State Department defines as international terrorist
incidents (it therefore excludes domestic terrorism by purely US-based groups,
such as anti-abortion groups).
The Reports spanning several years (the latest issued in 1999) describe some
interesting trends, contradicting the current focus on "eradicating the
international network of terrorists" as Blair put it - which all happen
to be in the Muslim world.
Leaving aside the attacks this September (for which proof is still
unsubstantiated), there has been a significant and consistent downward trend
in international terrorist incidents in the period 1979-1998. In 1998, number
of international terrorist incidents, at 273, was the lowest ever in the
period, and the annual number has shown a consistent downward trend since it
reached a peak of 666 in 1987.
Although it did rise in 1999 even more interestingly the number of attacks
increased in every region of the world except in the Middle East, where six
fewer attacks occurred. Rather the increases occurred in Europe in protest to
the NATO bombing campaign in Serbia and because of the capture of Kurdish
Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan.
The 1999 Report detailed that terrorists targeted U.S. interests in 169
attacks in 1999, an increase from 1998. However the increase was concentrated
in Colombia (bombings of commercial interests and an oil pipeline), Greece
(anti-NATO attacks), Nigeria and Yemen (foreign nationals abducted).
Therefore the majority of international terrorists incidents were not related
to the Middle East, Muslims or Arabs. There were no notable "Islamic
incidents"!
Rather since 1995, Latin America has consistently had the highest annual
number of international terrorist incidents of any region, followed by Western
Europe. The incidents in Latin America are primarily connected to conflicts in
Colombia and Peru, while the vast majority of incidents in Europe are,
according to the State Department, attributable to Basque separatists in
Spain, the conflict in Northern Ireland, the Kurdish movement in Turkey and
various anarchist groups in Greece.
Middle East or "Islamic" terrorism was not a significant factor in
either region. Yet the Muslim world has become the focus of the West's
activities. By their own admission the US should be targeting South America,
and Western Europe if she sincerely wishes to eradicate international
terrorism. In fact both the US and the UK have stated that the hunt will not
end with Afghanistan but will gradually turn to other nations, which all just
happen to be in the Muslim world.
Since the majority of terrorist attacks are in other than the Muslim world and
conducted by other than Muslims it can only be concluded that their goals and
objectives are other than what they claim. We are repeatedly told "this
is not a war on Islam" but the facts say otherwise.
Abu Ayesha
14 October, 2001
