War on radicals, not on Islam

Re: “New approach to the ‘war on Islam,’ ” by Thomas Butko, Letters, April 6. Thomas Butko’s letter leaves one to wonder whether the terrorists are right and the rest of us wrong.

To suggest we are at war with Islam is factually incorrect, and most of the billion-plus peace-loving Muslims will tell you they resent the radicals in their midst who have hijacked Islam.

Young people and mostly young men have chosen to follow radical ideologies since man invented the wheel. The Crusades and fascism are two examples of evil ideologies that attracted young men by the thousands.

The West is at war with radical fascist Islam. Fascist imams and mullahs prey on the young with stories of heaven and virgins and the evils of the West.

It might be true that Christians have killed more Muslims than vice versa, but it also is true that Muslims have killed more Muslims than all others combined. Some 100,000 have been killed in Syria alone in the last 18 months, the UN says.

And to suggest the Canadian government’s “blatantly pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian stance” contributes to radicalization ignores that radicalization existed years before we had a Stephen Harper government.

If we are to cure the disease that is radical Islam, we must rally moderate Islam to speak out in the strongest way and let the radicals know their behaviour will not be tolerated. Many innocent lives are lost in this war but doing nothing is not an option. Abraham Silverman, Sturgeon County