Gone : Australian government nixes plans for new Saudi-funded mosque fearing it would foment extremism

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Australian government nixes plans for new Saudi-funded mosque fearing it would foment extremism

The Australian reported last week that the government vetoed plans for the Saudi government to invest in a mosque in suburban Adelaide, a city in Australia.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer was reported as saying, "There has been concern internationally, not specifically to Australia, about some elements in Saudi Arabia which is the heartland of Wahibbism and Sufism ... trying to spread that particular extremist interpretation of Islam.

"Historically the Saudi Arabian Government has provided funding (to overseas mosques), I'm not saying there's anything illegitimate about that ... but we can obviously express a view to the Saudi Arabian Government."

About me

In fall 2007, I started working for the Kabul Center for Strategic Studies, a think tank founded by Afghans based in Kabul, Afghanistan, to build Afghan policy research expertise.

In 2006 Palgrave published a book I cowrote, "Jihad and International Security," with Jalil Roshandel.

Now I'm watching what I see to be the last gasp of a nonviable movement: militant, insurgent jihadism. This movement has killed many more Muslims than polytheists, infidels, or non-Muslims. It has also done more to damage the image of Islam than any other force in 1400 years of Islamic history.

"Prior to 9/11, who in the modern West ever worried about Islam? The jihadists have succeeded in casting suspicion on an entire religion, a substantial percentage of the world’s population, and centuries of Islamic history, in addition to all the widows and orphans they have created.

"It is unfortunate that Muslims who don’t terrorize people can’t command headlines. But that’s the way the media operates, if it bleeds it leads."

Me, Sharon Chadha, in an interview by Pooja at Instablogs.