Moderate Muslims

Moderate Muslims

On Thursday the Indonesian President, Megawati Soekarnoputri,
warned the U.S. that its bombardment of Afghanistan should halt
during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan, which begins in mid-
November. A "humanitarian pause" is essential, she says, to allow
aid agencies to deliver desperately needed food and medical
supplies and prevent a humanitarian disaster as winter takes
hold.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation. It is
also a moderate Muslim state which rejects the religious
extremism which drives Osama bin Laden's network. Indonesia was
quick to condemn the suicide attacks on the U.S. and to declare
its commitment to a global coalition against terrorism. It does
not, however, support a war against the people of Afghanistan.

Washington needs the support of moderate Muslims as it pursues
its "just war" against "terrorism" and it can expect that support
as long as the targets are clear and there is no suggestion that
the war has become one not against terrorists but against a
Muslim people.

Islamic terrorism feeds off the deep sense of injustice that
consumes too many of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims. Now the
bombing of Afghanistan is further galvanizing anti-U.S. sentiment
in such moderate nations. In the longer term, the destabilization
of moderate Muslim states by anti-U.S. Islamic militants could
prove as threatening to global security as were the Sept. 11
attacks.

-- The Sydney Morning Herald