Opinion: No to Terror, Yes to al-Qaida

The Arab religious institutions keep saying they reject terror and the killing of the innocents; they denounce the terror with the Islamic gown. But if you ask them about their opinions of Zarqawi, Bin Laden, or al-Qaida organization, they will give no clear answer. They will try to play on their skilled use of words with out giving (a direct answer) or leading to the direct point of the question. They dare not denounce Bin Laden or al- Qaida directly. In the conferences and in their sermons, they keep urging the people to stand against all kinds of terror, but they lack courage to name names. They know well there is no terror targeting the people’s lives except that from al-Qaida; there is no terror targeting the safety of the Islamic and foreign states except that of al-Qaida; and there is no terror using Islam its veil except that of al-Qaida. Yet, they dare not denounce it, which renders their sermons and declarations useless.