Fundamentalists gain strength in Iraq
Our war, through their eyes, is not a pretty picture. As they see it, war with Iraq weakens the United States and strengthens a mutual enemy — Muslim fundamentalists.
A small delegation of female journalists and media professionals from Morocco visited Boston to “break the ice between the United States and Muslim countries,” as they explained in French, through a translator.
When the discussion turned to war in Iraq, their message was loud and clear, in French or English.
“C’est une catastrophe,” said Hinde Taarji, a journalist and author of several books, including one about women and Islam.
“C’est terrible,” said Maria Latifi, director of an educational television station in Morocco.
The other Muslim women echoed those sentiments.
They came to the United States, first, to get the word out that not all Muslim women are swathed in veils and burkas, living lives of oppression and misery. Their larger mission is to fight on behalf of those who still struggle.
To that end, they seek a longstanding weapon of mass influence: U.S. moral authority. Yet, to them, that sharp and precious tool is dulled by U.S. policy in Iraq.
Didn’t they and other progressive Muslims see the proudly purple fingers of voters in Iraq?
No, said Latifi. They “went completely unnoticed.” People see “the mayhem … the sectarian war. They see a country sinking.”
And, as she pointed out, they see it every day, as the United States does, via CNN.
Because of the negative perception in the Muslim world of what is happening in Iraq, the women believe hard-line religious fundamentalists are gaining strength.
Bahia Amrani, founder and publisher of a newsweekly magazine, Le Reporter, said the United States does not understand that democracy cannot be secured through force. Before people can fight for freedom on their own behalf, she said, “There has to be a fight against illiteracy, poverty, exclusion.”
seattlepi.nwsource.com