I Need to Do More on Islam: Bush

I Need to Do More on Islam: Bush
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"I've got to do a better job of making it clear when I talk about
Islam, I talk about a peaceful religion, which I talk about a lot,"
Bush said. (Washington Times photo)

CAIRO — US President George W. Bush has admitted failure to do enough
to dispel the widespread belief that the United States' so-called "war
on terror" is targeting Islam, reported the Washington Times on
Saturday, May 17. "Somebody said to me, 'Well, how come you dislike
Muslims?'" Bush said during a meeting with a group of Jewish,
Palestinian and Arab Israeli students in Jerusalem shortly before
concluding a three-day visit to Israel.

"I don't."

An Israeli Arab female student, Henriette Charcar, told the American
president that he often related extremism to Islam and Muslims.
"Actually what I say is you're not a religious person if you're a
murderer," Bush replied.

"But you're right. I've got to do a better job of making it clear when
I talk about Islam, I talk about a peaceful religion, which I talk
about a lot."

Bush has repeatedly portrayed his so-called war on terror as a battle
between good and evil.

He upset many Muslims after the 9/11 attacks by referring to his war
as a "crusade," a term which for many Muslims connotes a Christian
battle against Islam.

Bush has recently said that the United States was at war with "Islamic
fascists," drawing immediate rebuke from his American Muslims.
Bush arrived in Egypt on Saturday on the third leg of a regional tour
that took him to Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The American president, who will leave office in January, started his
tour with a visit to Israel on Wednesday, May 14, to mark the 60th
anniversary of Israel's creation.

Bad Image

Bush blamed "poisonous" state-run TV stations in the Middle East for
giving the perception that the US is at war with Islam. "There is a
propaganda machine on state-owned TV that is poisonous and we just
have got to do a better job of reaching out," he said.

Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television, the most popular outlet in the
Middle East, has often angered the US government for its reporting of
the Afghan and Iraq wars.

In 2004, the Bush administration launched their own Middle East TV
station, al Hurrah, in an effort to counter Al-Jazeera. "One way to do
it, by the way, is to invite people to America and let them see what
America is all about," said Bush.

A recent poll by the Washington-based Pew Research Center found that
the US image has plummeted deeply across the world, even among allies,
with foreign policy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan topping a
long list of disappointing factors.

Palestinian Rights

Bush said that the major obstacle to peace in the Middle East is the
refusal by some to accept a Jewish state.

"I think why people are fighting is there's a group of people that
refuse to accept a Jewish state . . . a refusal to admit a certain
reality," he said, drawing fire from a young Arab Israeli student.
"We can't wipe out a whole section of history," Charcar, the female
student, said, adding that Israel refuses to recognize the
Palestinians' rights and identity.

"The Palestinian people did exist."

"Did exist and do exist," Bush answered, forecasting a Palestinian
state. "It's going to happen."

Bush pledged during a much-touted US-hosted peace conference in
Annapolis in November to help Israel and the Palestinian Authority to
reach a peace deal by 2008.

But since then, peace talks have stalled over Israel's refusal to put
the issues of Al-Quds (occupied East Jerusalem) and refugees on the
agenda. Al-Quds is home to Al-Haram Al-Sharif, which includes Islam's
third holiest shrine, Al-Aqsa Mosque, and represents the heart of the
Arab-Israeli conflict.

Israel captured Al-Quds in the six-day 1967 war before annexing the
holy city and declaring it part of its eternal undivided capital, a
claim not recognized by the UN or the world community.

Palestinians insist the city will be the capital of their future
independent state. Palestinians also insist on the return of almost
4.5 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants to their homes
from which they were forced out when Israel was created.

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