Know Thy Terrorists

Submitted by Stephen Berghoff (Japan), Nov 19, 2002 at 23:23

I'd like to add to Dr. Pipes' concern about being more specific on the war on terror.

If we or our government officials need to be more specific, and I agree that we should be, wouldn't it be important to focus more specifically on who the militant parties or groups are with whom we are at war? Not only just the generic "militant Islamists," but "Wahhabists, " "Salafis," "Deobandis," "Tableeghi", etc.(I hope I got these right), as opposed to traditional Sunnis. Of course, some of the other Islamists are members of Shia groups (Hizbullah, etc.) .

I'm no expert on these matters, just a guy who likes to be informed on who our enemies and friends are in the Muslim world. Perhaps if both people in the mainstream media and government would identify these people to the American public (frequently and constantly), it might help better inform Americans about Islam, and it could perhaps even show the Muslim world that the American public does not see all or most Muslims as members of one "monolithic" religion.

Thanks

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