Last Tuesday we noted that the European Union is preparing to make Islamic terrorism vanish.

No, not the actual thing, but the words “Islamic terrorism.” To avoid enraging Muslims, of course.

Here’s a piece at Turkey’s Zaman Online, whose author is quite pleased with the EU’s willingness to blind itself to reality: EU Removes ‘Islamic Terrorism’ from its Dictionary. (Hat tip: W-lover.)

The European Union (EU) also admitted that the concept of “Islamic terrorism” is misused by racist groups in Europe and terror networks such as al-Qaeda.

The Union, taking action to rid such expressions, which are offensive to Muslims, from its dictionary, searches for new concepts behind closed doors. The European bloc is expected to release its new dictionary in June. …

Many experts believe that the words “Islam” and “terrorism” must not be used together, and concluded that the use of such expressions “alienates” Muslims in Europe.

As a result of long consultations with academic experts, the EU will review expressions such as “Islamic terrorism,” “Islamist terrorism,” “fundamentalist,” and “jihadi.”

EU counter-terrorism chief Gijs de Vries, told Reuters, terrorism does not exist in the essence of any religion and praised Muslims struggling against those conducting terrorism in the name of religion.

Professor Rik Coolsaet, one of several authorities serving as an adviser to the EU, in the statement he made to Zaman, emphasized that Brussels realized such words can be used as “political weapons.”

Instead of expressions like “Islamic terrorism” and “Islamofascist,” a phrase the United States insistently uses, Brussels is trying to develop new concepts that will not cause offense to Muslims.

And the unelected bureaucrats and myopic wacademics of the European Union really turn their noses up at the word “Islamofascism.”

Europeans have to formulate a particular method, dissimilar to that of the United States, for dealing with religion-based terrorism, said Rik Coolsaet, a professor of political sciences at Gent, and head officer of the Royal Institute of Belgium. The term “Islamic terrorism” has for years provoked objections from Coolsaet, whom the European Union conferred with over the upcoming edition of the dictionary.

“We have to care for the kind of people living here together with us, most of who have already worked very hard for citizenship from a European country. We should, therefore, desist from helping the right-wing extremists.”

The European outlook on Islamic terrorism, unlike the United States, does not view it as a problem brought in from overseas, said Coolsaet, who also spoke out against a reference from George W. Bush, President of States, to Islamofascism.

“That is a silly expression. Fascism is ironically a gift from Western Europe to the rest of the world. Islam, on the other hand, is a religion like any other religion, and cannot by any means be associated with fascism. The expression in question is invented with the intent of bolstering their assumptions and for use by neo-conservatives in the United States. This term is also in danger of being abused by such terrorist organizations as al-Qaeda.

UPDATE at 4/15/06 9:26:30 am:

The EU’s next step after making these offensive words vanish will be to criminalize their use as “hate speech.”