Bali Terrorist Blasts Kill 19
A series of bombs went off around the Indonesian island of Bali today, killing at least 19. Groups related to al Qaeda are the prime suspects.
19 reported dead in Bali blasts (CNN)
A string of blasts on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Saturday killed at least 19 people and wounded about 50 others, hospital officials said. Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa told CNN it appeared the blasts were “the work of terrorists.”
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Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recently issued a warning that terrorist cells inside the country were still active, despite hundreds of arrests. The blasts also come after recent warnings from several other governments, including the United States, of a high terrorist threat to foreigners in Indonesia as the holy Muslim month of Ramadan arrives early next week.
A report issued in early September warned that bin laden and his top lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahiri may be planning a series of attacks in October, dubbed “The Great Ramadan Offensive.”
Well, that can’t be. We all know Muslims would be offended by any fighting during Ramadan, a season when the Religion of Peace is especially peaceful.
I’m sorry, but that’s a pack of snarky silliness, like saying the Jews were wrong for fighting on Yom Kippur.
Calling the terrorists on horseshit just clutters the very real message of hate that they *should* be called on.
I don’t think he’s “calling the terrorists on horseshit.” I think he’s casting aspersions on Islam in general. Welcome to the Clash of Civilizations. Islam in Indonesia has historically been moderate, a fact that should be appreciated given that Indonesia is the most populous Muslim nation in the world. In other words, Indonesia is potentially a good ally in the war on terror, one that we would do well not to alienate with “Islam is a terroristic religion” rhetoric.
Islam does not equate terrorism.
Over the centuries, religion has been “hijacked” at some point or other by murderous extremists.
Examples include the Spanish inquisition (Catholicism), the civil war in Northern Ireland (Catholicism vs. Protestantism), the massacre of Muslims by Hindus in India in 1947, the massacre of Sikhs by Hindus that occur at regular intervals in India…
Your average, normal, Muslim, is more interested in raising a family, make money, and live in peace like anyone else, than he/she is inclined to go bomb people; just like your average Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Sikh, Zoroastrian, Jew, etc…
Today it’s Islamic extremists, tomorrow, who knows what religious wackos people will have to face.
Osama’s contempt for the teachings of Islam, insofar as they oppose his wishes, is pretty well known by now.
In the de-centralized world of Islam, all he has to do is get some rogue cleric to issue an opinion that fighting the infidels is permissible during Ramadan (as it surely is, in some contexts), and he’s good to go.
I’ve compared the Islamic hierarchy to the academic community, with lots of room for dissent and plain b.s., and with the need to look at the consensus (where one exists) rather than to single out some Ward Churchill-type.