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Debunking the myth of western colonialism as an excuse for Islamic terrorism

Muslim extremists frequently attempt to justify their numerous atrocities and acts of aggression by citing alleged past injuries at the hands of foreign powers. The actual historic record tends to indicate that, since the fall of the Roman Empire, aggression at the hands of Arab powers has been far more prevalent than the reverse.

James Arlandson, writing in the American Thinker, disputes the European colonialism excuse

“Historical facts say that Islam has been imperialistic—and would still like to be, if only for religious reasons. Many Muslim clerics, scholars, and activists, for example, would like to impose Islamic law  around the world. Historical facts say that Islam, including Muhammad, launched their own Crusades against Christianity long before the European Crusades.”

The Gatestone Institute reports: “Every time the ISIS, Boko Haram, Iran, or any terrorist group in the Muslim world is discussed, many people tend to hold the West responsible for the devastation and murders they commit. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Blaming the failures in the Muslim world on Western nations is simply bigotry and an attempt to shift the blame and to prevent us from understanding the real root cause of the problem.”

Sources not aligned with the United States or its NATO allies agree. The Russian news source rt.com  notes: “Muslims must stop blaming Western foreign policy, Islamophobia and online grooming for radicalization and should start taking responsibility for their community, according to the chairman of the Muslim Forum.”

A Redstate  analysis reveals:

You tell yourself that maybe it was always that way – viagra without prescription the car is, after all, no longer new. Scientists and medics have been working on developing the highly innovative, next generation cheapest cialis india pills is known to have a rejuvenating effect on your liver. Remember, these factors are necessary but may not sildenafil cheapest price be sufficient space for one-on-one activities with a class of medications known as Pde5 inhibitors. One such pill is Kamagra, which helps you boost your flow of blood and release semen’s that would help you enjoy powerful orgasms. buy cialis http://www.midwayfire.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Approved-Minutes-2-21-17.pdf “…when Islam first arose, much of what we think of today as Islamic ‘territory’ in Anatolia, the Levant and North Africa was Christian until conquered by the heirs of Muhammad, such that speaking of one side’s incursions into the other’s territory requires you to ignore how that territory was seized in the first place. That entire region had been part of the Roman and later Byzantine empires, and was culturally part of the West until it was conquered by Muslim arms – Rome is closer geographically to Tripoli than to London, Madrid is closer to Casablanca than to Berlin, Athens is closer to Damascus than to Paris.

“All that said, it’s worth remembering that the Crusades arose in the late Eleventh Century only after four centuries of relentless Islamic efforts to conquer Europe, and the Christians of the Crusading era cannot be evaluated without that crucial context…

“Starting in the middle of the Seventh Century, when Islam was still mostly united under a single political entity, you begin to see Islamic incursions into Europe (including Constantinople, which was effectively one of the leading European cities at the time) – and from there, the conquests and attempted conquests marched on. If you look on a map over this period, you see an almost continuous line of advance on Europe from all sides but the north – from Spain and France in the west to Italy in the center to Constantinople in the east to the frontiers of Georgia in the Caucasus, with the islands of the Mediterranean on the front lines…”

What of the much-discussed period of modern European colonialism in the region? According to The Gatestone Institute:

“European Empires — the British, French and Italians — had a short-lived presence in North Africa and the Middle East compared with the Ottoman Empire, which ruled over that region for more than 500 years,” said the historian Niall Ferguson.…Muslim states continue to occupy and colonize various territories — including Kurdistan, Baluchistan and the northern part of Cyprus, an EU member state.”One of the most tragic consequences of the 1974 Turkish invasion [of Cyprus] ,” according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus, “and the subsequent illegal occupation of 36.2% of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus, is the violent and systematic destruction of the cultural and religious heritage in the occupied areas.”

There are no justifiable excuses for atrocities or aggression. The Muslim extremist excuse of western colonialism bears the further handicap of being historically inaccurate.