WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- The United States needs to communicate its messages more effectively in the war against terrorism and a new information agency would help fight a "war of ideas," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has suggested. "We are in a war of ideas, as well as a global war on terror," Rumsfeld said in an interview with The Washington Times published Friday. "And the ideas are important ... they need to be communicated in ways that are persuasive to the listeners." He made the remarks when asked to comment on a leaked memo he sent to top Pentagon officials last week. Questioning the progress in the US campaign against international terrorism, Rumsfeld referred three times in the memo to the danger from religious schools in the Islamic world. *I have a comment below "The overwhelming majority of the people of all religions don't believe in terrorism," he said in the interview. "They don't believe in running around killing innocent men, women and children. And we need more people standing up and saying that in the world, not just us." Comment: the danger is not just from madrassas, its from the internet too. Forums for instance are huge opinion builders and places to learn all kinds of new stuff, such as what hadiths condone the enslavement of enemy women and how to make explosives. And they are great places for people in the middle east to share their knowledge and opinions with impressionable muslim teenagers right here in the US. That's not a potential I am pointing out -- that is happening widely right now, and you can go to Bridgeview, Illinois and be watched by suspicious American eyes the moment you drive onto the block where the mosque is until you leave the muslim neighborhood where you don't belong. Rumsfeld needs to watch out for that as a symptom that the war of ideas is happening not just in the middle east and south asia, but in the midwest and all ove the world.
Posted by internethaganah
at 11:58 AM CDT
