MEMRI has translations of an amazing series of articles by Qatari liberal Dr. Abd Al-Hamid Al-Ansari, calling for reform in Arab educational systems, and the renunciation of violence and xenophobia.

“I am among those who maintain that some of the preachers in the mosques incite hatred towards those of a different religion. It is they who caused the Afghan-Arab phenomenon; it is they who portrayed the war in Afghanistan as a crusader war between Islam and Christianity. This is a lie that many youth fell for, and fell victim to. Questions must be addressed to the inciters, because they are partners to the same crimes. Incitement, radicalization, [and] calling for the destruction of the Christian enemies of Islam have become mandatory for some preachers. If Allah had destroyed the Christians, the Muslim preacher would not have a microphone to preach with, or the air conditioner or the car he so enjoys…”

“It is unfair to name the American response [to September 11] ‘terrorism,’ because by so doing we are confusing the concepts of terrorism and self-defense or response to aggression… and at a time when we are demanding that the international community not confuse ‘terrorism’ with ‘legitimate resistance.’ What happened in America is terrorism; the American response is a response to that aggression, and there is a world-wide consensus on this.”

“…[O]nly those with a hatred-of-America complex, whose goal is to permit the perpetrators to escape, [name America’s response ‘terrorism’]. Any other country in which such an act of terror had taken place would have hastened to respond and to annihilate everything… we have many examples of this in Arab history.”

I’ll bet this guy gets some interesting mail.