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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (199749)	9/2/2004 4:23:58 PM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1586440

Cleric Says It's Right to Fight U.S. Civilians in Iraq CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian cleric based in Qatar and often described as a moderate has ruled that it is a religious duty for Muslims to fight Americans in Iraq (news - web sites), including U.S. civilians, his office director said Thursday. But Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi said that two French journalists kidnapped in Iraq should be freed immediately. Qaradawi gave his opinion at a meeting Tuesday evening at the Egyptian journalists' syndicate in Cairo. "All of them (U.S. military personnel and civilians) are invaders who came from their country to invade our country and fighting them is a duty," said his office director Essam Talima, quoting a fatwa or ruling on religious law by Qaradawi. Qaradawi is revered in much of the Muslim world for his intellectual rigor and ability to adapt the fundamental tenets of Islam to the modern world. The cleric was quoted by pan-Arab daily newspaper al-Hayat as saying during the Tuesday meeting that the French journalists should be freed. "If those kidnappers care about the reputation of Islam then they should free the two French journalists," the newspaper quoted him saying. Qaradawi said the presence of the French journalists "broke the American monopoly on relaying information and facts (on the situation in Iraq) to the outside world." He also referred to France's foreign policy in dealing with the Islamic and Arab worlds, which he said could serve as an example to other countries. The kidnapping of Georges Malbrunot and Christian Chesnot on August 20 by a group called the Islamic Army in Iraq has deeply shocked France which was a fierce opponent of the U.S.-led invasion and has no troops in Iraq. The kidnappers have demanded that Paris rescind a law banning Muslim headscarves and other conspicuous religious symbols from state schools. The deadline passed Wednesday and France put the ban into force Thursday. Qaradawi was one of 93 prominent Muslim figures who in August called on Muslims around the world to support resistance against U.S. forces in Iraq and the Iraqi government. After the September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities, Qaradawi urged Muslims worldwide to donate blood to help the victims and also condemned the 2002 Bali bombing as barbaric and immoral but he caused controversy during a visit to Britain in July after condoning some suicide attacks. A prominent poet, writer and public speaker, Qaradawi has a reputation for spurning extremists which is seen by some to be at odds with his stance on suicide bombings and statements deemed to be homophobic.