Muslim Extremists Preach

Violence in Europe

Steve Harrington

FOX News

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T he following article appeared on the FOXNews website Monday November 29, 2004. It is very telling. The real tragedy here is that the HATE promoted so brazenly in western culture by those who despise freedom is actually protected by the laws of the very nations they despise. Some argue that this is what makes freedom so special. Others claim that to let evil share a common moral voice with liberty reflects a contempt for decency and is not true freedom at all. You be the judge.

LONDON — He's called Sheik Terra.

With a Koran in one hand and pistol in the other, the British rapper calls for the murder of non-Muslims, including several world leaders, on a videotape. The video is well known in one London mosque, whose imam — or leader — is accused of setting up a terrorist training camp in Oregon and whose followers don't like Western media.

Abu Hamza, who lost two hands and an eye in Afghanistan, is in jail now but other extremists from among Britain's two million Muslims continue to preach violence, veiling the message to take advantage of some of Europe's most liberal freedom-of-speech laws. "We cannot tolerate a crocodile in our bedroom," said Sheik Omar Bakri. "U.S. forces in Muslim countries are crocodiles in our bedrooms. So we are not going to give them ice cream."

Bakri says the terrorists who staged the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States are magnificent and Westerners in Arab lands need to be killed by any means necessary. He makes the threats with a smile. “If we use violence, you will forget the name of your mother and father," he said.

The drawing power of the extremists, especially among the youth, has posed a challenge for mainstream Muslim leaders across Europe. Part of Britain's problem is that it can't provide native-trained imams; more than 90 percent are foreigners with very limited training or, some like Hamza, have none at all.

To prevent more mosques from being hijacked, London's Muslim college is trying to educate home-grown British imams but the voices of moderation struggle to be heard over media-savvy terrorists. When a hostage gets beheaded in Iraq, the images spread through this community almost instantly. It is a real mix of barbarity and technology. The beheading of British engineer Kenneth Bigley in Iraq went from videotape to the Internet, then from cell phone to cell phone, bringing a smile from one young British Muslim who says he knows who the real killers are. "They are not Muslims. They are Jews," the young man said. An old message of hatred for a new generation of consumers who can spread murder across a continent with the push of a button, or a song and a laugh.