You are unaware of the support both Europe and the U.S. is giving to the present religious AKP government, calling the perfectly legal suit by the Kemalist Judiciary "undemocratic" because pro-Kemalist forces in Turkey are actually working for the self interests of Turkey as opposed to being puppets for U.S. and European interests.

You are unaware that problems in Iran can be traced back to the US overthrow the democratically elected leadership of Dr. Mohammed Mosaddeq, only because he wanted to nationalize the oil companies, which wouldn’t be good for American oil interests in the region, would it? When the U.S. and Britain put the puppet government of Shah who was unable and unwilling to provide for the good of the people, the Iranian Revolution occurred, which led to the rise of Ayatullahs and hence to further rise of Fundamentalist Islam in the country. All of these wouldn’t have occurred, by the way, had the US, along with Britain, not overthrown Mossedeq’s democratic government to secure its share of oil resources. Madeleine Albright has conceded that this coup was a clear setback for Iran’s political development.

I have given only two details of American foreign policy in support of my argument on how disastrous American policies have been in leading to the rise of Political (and hence Fundamentalist) Islam around the Middle East.

However, you still haven’t expressed a word of critique OR regret for America’s unconditional support for Saudi Arabia despite the fact that this country has had the most undemocratic regime in the region. You don’t seem to be well versed in foreign policy details except for complaining about how Christians are unable to carry their Bible under Fundamentalist Islamic regimes. I can ignore your ignorance.

BUT… For an American who complains about Saudi Arabia yet won’t even discuss or admit to America’s unconditional support for that country, aren’t you a bit quick to blame Muslims for not critiquing Saudi Arabia that vigorously. From the demeaning arguments of you and of others, it’s clear that no "Christian" is turning the other cheek when they make their points. I am a big girl and I can handle it if such "Christians" will not take me seriously. I’m not going to blow up on you, so spare the "suicide bombing" argument, but pleeeease don’t expect me to "turn the other cheek" when I get continually slapped in the face.

By all means, perhaps if you read my comments in a different light it could even teach you a lesson on "empathy" for a change. For instance, how does it feel to be treated just like the way YOU are treating the "other" in YOUR battle of the "Clash of Civilizations"? Maybe instead of criticizing me for not turning my other cheek in your battle, you should learn about how it feels to have tables turned around for once in your life.

Also, you have talked about how well Muslims are integrating to the American Society. As a Muslim AND as an American Citizen who used to live and work in the U.S., I can tell you that what you say has NOT been my personal experience precisely because of prejudice from people like you that I’ve encountered in my daily living.

How is rising Fundamentalism in Turkey "America’s doing"?

I’m perfectly content to work with you to restrain a "clash of civilizations" mentality in America and elsewhere in the West, but when you speak in such broad generalities, condemning MY entire country and apparently every policy we’ve ever had regarding the region, I lose interest, because you are just doing the broad stereo-typing you claim to oppose when done to Muslims. Particularly when you make such criticisms without any analysis of what other options may or may not have been available to America and Europe at the time. Sometimes, all policy choices are bad, and one must simply pick the best of the bad lot. Criticizing such choices with the benefit of 20 or 30 years of hindsight is misleading, because it presumes that some other choice would have led to better outcomes.

Yes, I critique Saudi Arabia a lot yet I know what a darling the country has always been to the United States despite the egregious practices of human rights in that country.

I also know how much America encouraged (and still encourages) the so-called "Green Crescent Revolution" surrounding the Middle East to Central Asia, in their historical effort to fight and eradicate the "Red Revolution" of Soviets under the bed.

Perhaps Fundamentalist attitudes of Saudi Arabia has not been America’s doing, but rising Islamic Fundamentalism in a few other countries including Turkey, has been. So it is up to people like us who need to live in the Middle East to try to undo the disastrous effects of both American and European policies that was designed to maintain an *unstable* Middle East so that no one country including Turkey would be allowed to become a major player in the region. Because that could have prevented the Western countries from exerting full control over the precious oil resources of the Middle East.

You have no idea how hard secular Turks work to fight Islamic Fundamentalism. Which means it is up to people like us to prevent Islam from being hijacked by Fundamentalist Forces. Which also means we need to work *equally* hard against the "Clash of Civilizations" mentality of the West, as Fundamentalist Islam is a necessary ingredient for Fundamentalist Christianity to survive and flourish as well.

The answer to the "big" question is this: The Western Media cannot get itself to intelligently critique Islam because doing so would necessitate a firm and honest look into the mirror. That would necessitate an equally harsh critique of the Western military, economic, diplomatic, and social policies around the world, not to mention the realization of how Christianity has also been used and abused as an ideological tool the same way that Islam has been.

We’re perfectly aware over here that not all Muslims are backwards, suicide-bomb-toting savages. However, your purported representatives here in America, like CAIR, seem to be intent on calling US names, saying that anybody who opposes fundamentalist Islam of the sort practiced by Osama Bin Laden and routinely exported by the government of Saudi Arabia is perforce a bigot.

I’ll ask you the same question I ask others making the same points you made. Have you criticized Saudi Arabia and other Arab Islamic countries who make it a criminal offense to attend a Christian church or to even bring a Bible into the country? When you acknowledge the simple fact that on the whole, Muslims in the West are treated far, far better than Christians are treated in Muslim countries, I’ll take you seriously.

As for your #2, you should narrow your targets. It is France and a few other countries in Europe who actively keep Muslims from integrating into their societies. In the U.S., there are no legal roadblocks to Muslims becoming citizens, and there are millions of practicing Muslims who are completely integrated into American society.

"Hey everyone, there is a new twist to the never-ending saga of daily portrayal of Islam’s humiliation and defamation: Fasten your seat-belts, because the Western Press has just decided that it is… Guess… NOT criticizing Islam… Rigorously enough…"

I’ll try to be calm in this article although you must imagine how hard it must be for a fierce Muslim like myself to try to reason like a "civilized" person as opposed to blowing up myself to become a martyr. Here’s a "thought", wow, I actually came up with two!

1) If Europeans are incapable of expressing their disapproval of the religion of Islam without coming up with some well thought-out and intelligent philosophy for a change, or without evoking the ideas of superiority that they are entitled to as the white European Masters of Enlightenment, then they are being no better than us Muslim "Barbarians" who react at the slightest provocation.

2) Excluding their Muslim minorities out of the "moral system and order" insures that those very Muslim minorities never integrate into the Western society, which is very much done on purpose, because, hello, who would actually want MUSLIMS to be integrating into the Western Society? If the West applied the same laws and regulations to Muslims without showing its hypocritical "business as usual", Muslim minorities would actually have a *chance* to become mainstream rather than remaining as the usual "untouchables" of the Western Cast System. (And we don’t want that, do we?)

So notwithstanding the whole nine yards of stereotyping that comes along with declaring violence as being "unique to Islam", this article is now chastising - guess who - the West, for what exactly?