al-Zarqawi - "War on Democracy"

[hismajesty]

(CNN) -- An Internet recording claiming to be from wanted terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi condemned democracy as "the big American lie" on Sunday and said participants in Iraq's January 30 election are enemies of Islam.

The authenticity of the message could not immediately be confirmed by CNN.

"We have declared a bitter war against democracy and all those who seek to enact it," said the speaker in the 35-minute message.

"Democracy is also based on the right to choose your religion," he said, and that is "against the rule of God."

The message was posted on two Islamist Web sites that have carried previous messages thought to be from al-Zarqawi. Al-Zarqawi heads an insurgent group believed responsible for numerous car bombings and beheadings throughout Iraq.

Al-Zarqawi recently renamed his group from Unification and Jihad to al Qaeda in Iraq. The United States has placed $25 million bounties on al-Zarqawi and Osama bin Laden, whose recent taped messages have endorsed al-Zarqawi's acts of terrorism. (Full story)

The speaker attacked the Iraqi interim government as a tool used by the "Americans to promote this lie that is called democracy ... You have to be careful of the enemy's plots that involve applying democracy in your country and confront these plots, because they only want to do so to ... give the rejectionists the rule of Iraq. And after fighting the Baathists ... and the Sunnis, they will spread their insidious beliefs, and Baghdad and all the Sunni areas will become Shiite. Even now, the signs of infidelity and polytheism are on the rise."

The speaker said that 4 million Iranians had entered Iraq to vote in the coming elections.

"Oh, people of Iraq, where is your honor?" he asked. "Have you accepted oppression of the crusader harlots ... and the rejectionist pigs?"

"For all these issues, we declared war against, and whoever helps promote this and all those candidates, as well as the voters, are also part of this, and are considered enemies of God," the tape said.

On Friday, a video posted on an Islamist Web site showed two Iraqis apparently being beheaded on a city sidewalk. In the past, the Web site has shown video verified as having been produced by a group led by al-Zarqawi. CNN could not confirm the authenticity of the video.

In the 10-minute video, the two men tell their kidnappers that they drove truckloads of food and supplies to a U.S. base in the central Iraqi town of Ramadi

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/01/23/iraq.main/index.html

Discuss.

[CrAz3D]

People like that give Islam a bad name.  They hate us because of a few stupid overly injected women/men that walk around not caring about jack...we hate them because some of them decide that women should walk around & then kill the women.  Sad sad

[Banana fanna fo fanna]

May I say that, Muslims don't suck, but Islam as a whole sucks.

[Hazard]

Islam is not a bad religion at all. In reality it is a religion of peace, equality, and justice just like Christianity. Nowhere in the Koran does it say that men are actually superior to women or that men are allowed to treat women as they do in some Islamic countries. Nowhere does it say that killing in the name of Allah is justified, nor does it say that it is a heroes death to die for Allah. True muslims are great people, just like Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. Its the people that distort the religion that have the problem.

[MyndFyre]

May I say that, Muslims don't suck, but Islam as a whole sucks.

No.  There are Christians who can be just as militant as the Isalm extremists here.

I think that Christianity is based around the idea that you have to choose to accept God's gift through the sacrifice of Christ.  Therefore, I think that it is inherently wrong to force religion on someone, as those people are attempting to do.

[Banana fanna fo fanna]

Islam spawns the majority of the terrorists. Now that indicates to me a flaw in Islam, be it an interpretational one, or one in its beliefs. Either way, it's still a flaw.

[CrAz3D]

Ohh.......true.  I wonder why they haven't adapted to new world customs... (ie women aren't property)

[quasi-modo]

Islam is not a bad religion at all. In reality it is a religion of peace, equality, and justice just like Christianity. Nowhere in the Koran does it say that men are actually superior to women or that men are allowed to treat women as they do in some Islamic countries. Nowhere does it say that killing in the name of Allah is justified, nor does it say that it is a heroes death to die for Allah. True muslims are great people, just like Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. Its the people that distort the religion that have the problem.

Islam, from what I have seen, is inherently flawed and is not a religion of peace. There are quite a few problematic verses in the Koran that seem to be taken out of context time after time which the more militant groups of muslims use to justify their actions. But if it were not there to begin with they would have no ammo. These people are just the fundamentalist muslims. It is just the literal interpretation of these verses that causes all of the problems.

I disagree with you: The more liberal muslims are great people, the people who are not going to take their book verse by verse and act on it, but the people who take it literally and do act on it turn into our terrorists because of the problematic verses that exist within the Koran.

[Arta]

I have no doubt that if the western world were islamic, and the middle east christian, the bible would be used to justify the same kind of behaviour. I know this, because... it has! Just look at the crusades.

It's the circumstances of the countries in question, their politics and their economics that are the important factors - those are the things that create terrorists. Religion is just an excuse.

[Banana fanna fo fanna]

Arta, I'd agree with you, BUT:

- Islam has not had a reformation
- Despite your side's views that the US/western world is becoming more religious, it's not. The Western world is becoming more secular, while Islam is staying conservatively religious.

[Arta]

Islam is a younger religion by several hundred years. I think it will have a reformation one day, although, I have no basis for that presumption, really

I agree that the western world is becoming more secular, and I think that's great. The US does seem to be doing it rather more slowly than the rest of us, though!

[Banana fanna fo fanna]

Wow Arta.

We agree.

[DOOM]

I have no doubt that if the western world were islamic, and the middle east christian, the bible would be used to justify the same kind of behaviour. I know this, because... it has! Just look at the crusades.

It's the circumstances of the countries in question, their politics and their economics that are the important factors - those are the things that create terrorists. Religion is just an excuse.

Except the difference is that the crusades happened hundreds of years ago and Islamic extremists are still carrying out their "jihads" to this day.

Besides isolated incidents and the problems between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland, I have a hard time finding examples that put modern Christianity anywhere near on the same level as modern Islam.

[dxoigmn]

I have no doubt that if the western world were islamic, and the middle east christian, the bible would be used to justify the same kind of behaviour. I know this, because... it has! Just look at the crusades.

It's the circumstances of the countries in question, their politics and their economics that are the important factors - those are the things that create terrorists. Religion is just an excuse.

Except the difference is that the crusades happened hundreds of years ago and Islamic extremists are still carrying out their "jihads" to this day.

Besides isolated incidents and the problems between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland, I have a hard time finding examples that put modern Christianity anywhere near on the same level as modern Islam.

Note that as Arta pointed out Islam is a religion several hundred years younger.

[CrAz3D]

Since it is younger, shouldn't it be more intouch with today's people?