West Must Stop Ignoring The Core of the Problem

23/03/2006

Your Letters

The war in Iraq and the continual battle against terrorism are about civilisation and not against civilisation, according to Mr Blair. Once again he is denying that the upsurge in Islamic terrorism has been largely due to the illegal Iraqi war, the failure to address the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and to engage with the worldwide Muslim world. But it is not just the US and Britain which claim that the only military and political danger facing the world is transnational terrorism as the UN has endorsed the US doctrine identifying terrorism, necessarily Islamic, as the enemy.

When Mr Blair talks of civilisation is he not, in reality, only referring to the Judaeo-Christian world, which he believes is being confronted by multiple Islamic enemies? Were not these same Islamic cells used by the western powers in the battles against the Russians and Taliban in Afghanistan, the Balkans and the Caucasus and elsewhere? The world is witnessing human degradation in Iraq and Guantanamo by US forces, while Palestinians continue to be widely abused by Israeli forces in the West Bank and Gaza; all of these factors have added to the progressive deterioration between the Judaeo-Christian and Islamic civilisations.

The west can no longer ignore the situation in the Middle East, the core of the problem. The horrific attacks in New York, London, Madrid and elsewhere are totally unacceptable but unless there is a serious move to address the Islamic world's concerns, the situation will continue to deteriorate to the detriment of all.

Ian F M Saint-Yves, Dunvegan, School Brae, Whiting Bay, Isle of Arran

SOURCE: The Herald