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US paper defends use of term 'Islamofascism'
A leading US daily has defended its use of the term "Islamofascism," insisting that the description which Muslims find unacceptable is "here to stay, like it or not".The term has been used more than once by President Bush but because of criticism from Muslim groups, he appears to have decided not to use it any further. The Washington Times, right wing and conservative, attributes the term to German-born Islamic scholar Khalid Duran who told the newspaper in a January 2001 interview that Islamism is really "Islamofascism" because it seeks to impose a forceful religious orthodoxy on the state and the citizenry. The Washington Times in an editorial on Saturday bragged that it had used the term more than 100 times since 2001 because it describes a "political reality". The editorial said, "It's incredible the depths to which ideologues stoop to prevent accurate language from taking hold". It noted with disapproval a recent comment made on National Public Radio that "linking Islam with a pejorative term such as fascism is extremely unfair. In fact, it is a form of racism". The newspaper declared, "The terms Islamic fascism and Islamofascism are here to stay. They describe an actual political phenomenon, like it or not". Posted by: Fred 2006-09-04 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=164964 |