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Islamic world must confront its Ladens: Rushdie

The Islamic world must face up to its Ladens if terrorism is to be defeated, renowned India-born author Salman Rushdie wrote in The Guardian on Saturday.

"There needs to be a thorough examination, by Muslims everywhere, of why it is that the faith they love breeds so many violent mutant strains," Rushdie wrote.

"If the West needs to understand its Unabombers and McVeighs, Islam needs to face up to its bin Ladens," he remarked, referring to the prime suspect in the terrorist attacks on the United States.

Rushdie recalled that in January 2000 he had written that "the defining struggle of the new age would be between terrorism and security". The worst-case scenario came true on September 11, he said.

"They broke our city," said the author against whom the late Iranian spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, had issued a death sentence for blasphemy in 1989.

"I'm among the newest of New Yorkers, but even people who have never set foot in Manhattan have felt its wounds deeply, because New York is the beating heart of the visible world -- tough-talking, spirit-dazzling, Walt Whitman's 'city of orgies, walks and joys', his 'proud and passionate city -- mettlesome, mad, extravagant city'!"

On the question of a counterattack by the US, Rushdie wrote: "We must send our shadow-warriors against theirs, and hope that ours prevail. But this secret war alone cannot bring victory. We will also need a public, political and diplomatic offensive whose aim must be the early resolution of some of the world's thorniest problems: above all the battle between Israel and the Palestinian people for space, dignity, recognition and survival."

Better judgment would be required on all sides in future, he said. "No more Sudanese aspirin factories to be bombed, please. And now that wise American heads appear to have understood that it would be wrong to bomb the impoverished, oppressed Afghan people in retaliation for their tyrannous masters' misdeeds, they might apply that wisdom, retrospectively, to what was done to the impoverished, oppressed people of Iraq. It's time to stop making enemies and start making friends."

Rushdie said it was essential to bring peace between Israel and Palestine. But the US could not be blamed for the attacks it had suffered, he added. The "savaging of America by sections of the left, that has been among the most unpleasant consequences of the terrorists' attacks on the United States."

He argued: "A country which has just suffered the most devastating terrorist attack in history, a country in a state of deep mourning and horrible grief, is being told, heartlessly, that it is to blame for its own citizens' deaths. To excuse such an atrocity by blaming US government policies is to deny the basic idea of all morality: that individuals are responsible for their actions."

Rushdie wrote: "Terrorism is not the pursuit of legitimate complaints by illegitimate means. The terrorist wraps himself in the world's grievances to cloak his true motives. Whatever the killers were trying to achieve, it seems improbable that building a better world was part of it. The fundamentalist seeks to bring down a great deal more than buildings. Such people are against, to offer just a brief list, freedom of speech, a multi-party political system, universal adult suffrage, accountable government, Jews, homosexuals, women's rights, pluralism, secularism, short skirts, dancing, beardlessness, evolution theory, sex. These are tyrants, not Muslims."

Rushdie said: "What will we risk our lives to defend? Can we unanimously concur that all the items in the above list -- yes, even the short skirts and dancing -- are worth dying for? The fundamentalist believes that we believe in nothing. In his world-view, he has his absolute certainties, while we are sunk in sybaritic indulgences. To prove him wrong, we must first know that he is wrong. We must agree on what matters: kissing in public places, bacon sandwiches, disagreement, cutting-edge fashion, literature, generosity, water, a more equitable distribution of the world's resources, movies, music, freedom of thought, beauty, love. These will be our weapons. Not by making war, but by the unafraid way we choose to live shall we defeat them."

Indo-Asian News Service

The Attack on America: The Complete Coverage

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