Islam and Terrorism
The biggest issue the world is facing today is Islamic terrorism. After the fall of Berlin Wall in 1989, a perception was created among Muslims all over the world that western countries, especially the United States, are the enemies of Islam and west's support to Israel against its Arab neighbors was cited as an example. A number of militant organizations were formed in Muslim countries to launch jihad� against the West. A perception was created that targeting western interests was not terrorism but a religious duty. For example, Iran and Hizballah termed the US 'the Great Satan'. In a 2001 statement, US Department of State said "Iran remained the most active state sponsor of terrorism in 2000. It provided increasing support to numerous terrorist groups, including the Lebanese Hizballah, HAMAS, and the Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ), which seek to undermine the Middle East peace negotiations through the use of terrorism" (state.gov
English: Osama bin Laden interviewed for Daily Pak...
English: Hamid Mir interviewing Osama bin Laden fo...
English: Frame grab from the Osama bin Laden video...2001). During the past three decades the big success for Islamic terrorist groups has been their ability to present themselves as the true bearers of Islam and portray the West as an enemy of Muslims.
In the 2009 report about state-sponsored terrorism, the US Department of State said there are some active terrorist groups which enjoyed the support of some governments. It said these groups were responsible of some big terrorist acts around the world. Checking the links of these groups with some governments is important because they could not continue their activities without their. The report claimed that the governments of Iran, Syria, Cuba and Sudan were still supporting some terrorist groups. These countries support terrorist groups either by engaging in terrorist acts themselves or by providing weapons, financial support or diplomatic facilities. "Iran's financial, material, and logistic support for terrorist and militant groups throughout...