The "Muslims are being targeted too" canard

Apologies for the delay in this, but I had been meaning for the last week to write more on Michael Gove's analysis of the terror threat we face. See my earlier entry for more on his confusion on this matter. I guess with the anniversary of 7/7 upcoming, it is going to be a busy week with this stuff.

Gove in his attempt to prove that it's not just Western pro-war countries that are being hit by 'Islamist violence', says:

Since the beginning of the 90s Islamist fighters have also targeted, among other nations, Indonesia, Pakistan, Israel, Qatar, Spain, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, India, Australia and Kenya. Tourists, businessmen and travellers of almost every nationality have been victims of Islamist atrocities. Attacks have been planned, and terrorist cells established, in Germany, Italy and France as well as the United Kingdom and most of the Arab world. Nations with colonial traditions, and those which have never played the imperial game, countries which are Christian, Muslim or multi-confessional, nations which supported the Iraq war and those which opposed it, all have been visited by the shadow if Islamist violence.

Despite his protestation that bombings were carried out in all sorts of countries including Muslim ones like Indonesia and Turkey, in each case it is Western targets that were hit:

• Jordan - 3 American hotels: Radisson, Grand Hyatt, Days Inn
• Indonesia - Western tourists at Bali
• Pakistan - US consulate, KFC & McDonald's
• Qatar - a British man at a theatre was killed on 2nd anniversary of Iraq War
• Saudi Arabia - various US targets including military and consulate
• Turkey - HSBC - UK bank
• India - US consulate in Calcutta
• Kenya - US embassies

It's a common attempted trick to say "the Muslim world is being targeted too" when in reality it is Westerners in the Muslim world being targeted - for reasons Gove is keen to avoid.

Comments

[Sunny]

when in reality it is Westerners in the Muslim world being targeted - for reasons Gove is keen to avoid.

Tell us Osama, what are the reasons that innocent people in each of those countries are directly responsible for, since Michael Gove is avoiding that.

And you funnily enough forget to mention all the killings in Afghanistan and Iraq of Muslims. But I suppose you believe those are American plants too...

[Osama]

Yawn, not too interested in getting into this with you just now Sunny. Because no doubt you know my opinions - http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1534690,00.html - and because I'll have more on this later in the week.

[Sunny]

Sure, no doubt your opinions don't change and you continue to selectively see events that justify that.

Remember the Muslim wedding party that were caught in Jordan and the subsequent huge demonstrations in Amman against Al-Qaeda?

Or what about the fact that the Muslim Action Committee organised a bigger demonstration following the Danish cartoons than the MCB/MAB crew could manage, with many posters stating that Bin Laden should stop killing Muslims.
Same goes for the demonstration in Bahrain.

Don't worry though, I wouldn't want these facts get in the way of your opinions.

[Osama]

Glad to see you approve of MAC. They sound like they should be a Scottish organisation, don't you think? I'd add to their posters that Bin Laden should stop killing all people, not just Muslims. Surprised you're being so 'communal' about it.

I mentioned the Jordanian bombings above. They were aimed at US hotels.

My point in this post was not to say that no Muslims have been killed by Al-Qaeda and associates - obviously they have. It was that it is misleading of neocons like Gove to claim that the bombings in Muslim countries were deliberately targetting killing Muslims. They were not - in each case they were aimed at Western interests. They are being very selective at how they report events.

[Yitzchak Goodman]

Pakistan - US consulate, KFC & McDonald's

And a number of mosques.

[Sunny]

Osama you keep forgetting to mention all the mosques that are being blown up in Iraq. You keep forgetting the militants who blow up Shia Mosques in Pakistan too.

Your problem is you see religious militancy as a danger only for the west. You don't get that religious militants ultimately want control of their community because they want that power. Then who do you think they will aim that religious militancy at? Muslim men and women who don't follow their puritan style of living. They'll tell you to take off the sunglasses off your face because it is a western abomination and if you resist you'll get a lashing like they did in Afghanistan.

Sure the religious militants are a threat to the west. But they cannot destroy "the west". But they can destroy their own communities by turning them into suicide bomber making machines.

[Osama]

The Kharijite strain has existed since the early days of Islam. They've never taken over, and call me complacent, they never will. The West are interested now, because they are being targeted, and are blowing the importance of these people way out of proportion. I shall be posting something more full on this shortly.

[Yusuf Smith]

As-Salaamu 'alaikum,

Don't forget that besides most of the victims being western tourists, Bali is a predominantly non-Muslim part of Indonesia - they follow a Hindu-derived religion (although there have been bombings in Java, which is mostly Muslim).

By the way, Yitzchak Goodman forgot to close an italic tag, resulting in all the other comments and your whole sidebar going italic as well.