Peace Loving Muslims

I think I can still count on one hand the number of Muslims who have come out and condemned terrorist attacks committed by other Muslims. But, they are so few and far between that I can't remember their names anymore. I think there was one last year and then another one the year before that.

That is the point of Dr. Walter Williams' latest column. It is short, simple and to the point. Here are some excerpts:

We're told it's only that 1 percent, out of 1.2 billion Muslims, who are fanatical jihadists who believe America is the Great Satan, cause of all evil, and should be attacked and destroyed.

By the way, 1 percent of 1.2 billion is 12 million.

Think back to the 1930s when the Japanese murdered an estimated 3 million to 10 million people in China, Indonesia, Korea, Philippines and Indochina; and on December 7, 1941 when they attacked Pearl Harbor, killing over 2,400 Americans. I'm betting that most of Japan's at-the-time 60 million population were peace-loving people and would have wanted nothing to do with the brutal slaughter in China and the attack on the U.S. In formulating our response to the attack, should President Roosevelt have taken into account the fact that most Japanese are peace-loving people ruled by fanatics? ... Horrible acts can be committed in countries where most of the people are peace-loving and simply want to be left alone to attend to their affairs. I imagine that described most of the people in the former Soviet Union; however, that did not stop the killing of an estimated 62 million people between 1917 and 1987. The same can be said of the Chinese people, but it didn't stop the killing of 35 million of their countrymen during Mao Zedong's reign. ... At this particular time, fanatical jihadists are calling the terrorism shots in many Muslim countries. Their success in committing terrorist acts is in no small part the result of the actions by the millions of peace-loving fellow Muslims. First, there is not enough condemnation of their terrorist acts by the Muslim community. More important is the direct or indirect assistance terrorists receive through the silence of their fellow Muslims. There is no way terrorists can carry on their operations, obtain explosive materials, run terrorist training camps, raise money without the knowledge of other Muslims, whether they're government officials, bankers, family members, friends or neighbors.

During the liberation of the Concentration Camps in Germany and other parts of Europe, the people living in nearby towns said they had no idea what the Nazis were doing. It was a lie. They knew full well what was going on, just as Muslim communities know full well what is happening within their own strata.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Peace-Loving Muslims
Dr. Walter Williams
TownHall.com
March 19, 2008