(AKI) - The alleged spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, Southeast AsiaÂ’s largest terrorist group, has revealed he wrote a letter to US President George W. Bush, asking him not to use GodÂ’s name to destroy Islam. In an interview with the online site Asia Times, Muslim cleric, Abu Bakar Bashir, also called on Muslims to fight Washington with words and not with violence and bombs. But he also declined to condemn the terrorists convicted of the 2002 Bali bombing which killed 202 people. "The bombers are actually counter terrorists because they are opposing US terrorism," he said. "They are mujahids."
| Right. That makes sense. Not a lot of sense, but sense. In an Islamic kind of way. |
The controversial religious leader claimed the US was spreading the message that all terrorists are Islamists, and that all Muslims who fight for sharia [Islamic law] are being stigmatised, arrested and imprisoned. “America is instigating a war of ideas, therefore we should fight back with our own war of thoughts, issues, preaching," the cleric said. "What we try to do is counter the lies, break down the lies. This activity in and of itself is much more productive and efficient than bombing."
Bashir said that although Indonesian bombers’ intentions were “right,” their methods were “wrong.” He then argued that bombing 'safe' places such as Bali and the Marriot hotel in Jakarta gave ammunition to the Americans. “When events occur, they (are) taken as justification by the government and US,” he said. “It is easy for them (Islamists) to become prey to US efforts to stigmatise all Muslims.”
Bashir, aged 69, was released from prison in 2006 after serving two years in Jakarta's Cipinang penitentiary for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali bombings. His conviction was later overturned in appeal. He has consistently denied any connection to that or other attacks blamed on JI, whose objective is the creation of a caliphate in the region. He has also often denied the mere existence of the terror group. The cleric is on a US list of terrorists.