Saturday, June 21, 2008

"Just chilling, reading the Koran"

"Sometime you have to do violence to bring peace." What do you think he means by "peace"?

"Suspect said he was 'just chilling, reading the Koran,'" by Melissa Leong in the National Post, June 20 (thanks to Twostellas):

A young suspected terrorist told a police officer hours after he was arrested that violence was sometimes justified to bring peace.

But during the police interrogation the youth seemed confused by allegations that his associates were making bombs to kill innocent people and claimed that a so-called terrorist training camp was a really a religious getaway to get in shape. "The intent of the camp was wrong ... and you know that," RCMP Sergeant John Tost said.

The youth disagreed, saying that the campers were "just chilling, reading the Koran" and exercising because "some guys are lazy you know, they're gaining weight.

"For two weeks we just kind of worked out," he said of the December, 2005, trip....

The officer asked the youth -- who had recently converted from Hinduism to Islam -- whether he felt it was justified to use violence to spread a religious message.

"Sometime you have to do violence to bring peace," he answered.

"For example, let's say that the Americans, when they fought against the Russians right? If they were to sit down, say ... we got to do it peacefully, peacefully, peacefully, America would have been gone a long time [ago].

"Peace talks won't work. We have to put the physical effort. We have to plan 'B' to action."

But he admitted that he also thought deeply about the merits of discussion versus "the sword."

"I feel in my heart that it would be nice if you know we could ... just talk to people, sit down with them humbly, instead of, you know, because look at this ... I'm basically in like a prison right now."

Sgt. Tost told him his faith had been corrupted. He called the youth, who was barefoot and in jeans and a T-shirt, "respectful" and "well-raised."...

Sgt. Tost is, like so many Western non-Muslim judges and law enforcement officials, apparently an expert on Islam. He knows that it doesn't really teach warfare against unbelievers. Everyone, in fact, knows that -- except the Muslims who read the Qur'an carefully and take it seriously with an eye toward following its commands.

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