Dr. Ismail Salami: Islamophobia: Washington's New Colonialism!

In an organized act of brutality, a number of US soldiers went on a house-to-house shooting spree in Zangabad village, Kandahar in March and massacred 16 people including nine children, while they were sleeping, and all Washington had to say were a few words of condolence and apology nonchalantly strung together in order to appease the overwhelming public rage in Afghanistan. However, Western media reduced the number of the killers to one. The bodies were reportedly wrapped in blankets and set on fire. US President Barack Obama said he was deeply saddened, "I offer my condolences to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives, and to the people of Afghanistan, who have endured too much violence and suffering. This incident does not represent the exceptional character of our military and the respect that the United States has for the people of Afghanistan." As contradictory as these words seem, the very 'exceptional character' of the US military had earlier urged them to burn copies of the Holy Quran, an incident which saddened the hearts of Muslims all across the world. These and earlier incidents are not coincidental, and well attest to a prevailing mindset in the US military, and a dominant policy in Washington. It is clear that the US government has commenced a large-scale campaign against Islam with the express intention of debilitating the Muslim community. In fact, the war on Islam started in 2001, when the then US president George Bush made a crass reference to his so-called war on terror "crusade". He warned Americans that "This crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take awhile." Bush's politically untoward remark rang alarm bells in Europe and the Muslim world, though it went barely noticed in the American community.