I have heard far too many people including this nation's President declare that international terrorists have hijacked Islam for their own evil objectives.   A number of people of stature in the media and elsewhere have claimed that only "radical fundamentalist" Islam is implicated in the current state of international terrorism.   Yet I wonder what are the roots of Islamic terrorism, what are its goals and when did those first manifest themselves.

I'm sure many a college student today knows very little about the history of Islamic international terrorism.   Ask a college kid and they might say something like it started before 9-11 but that was mostly in Israel.   A really clever student might cite the attack on the USS Cole or maybe, if they've been to the cinema recently, one might even suggest the murder of Israeli athletes in Munich was the beginning.   Obviously that was not the roots of the movement.   They started even before the state of Israel was founded.   The pogroms and riots in Palestine of the 1920s and immediately subsequent decades all predate the founding of Israel.   Yet during those pre-Israel decades, Arabs targeted Jews for murder, killing a couple hundred and injuring thousands.   There is nothing which even suggests that a radical fundamentalist islamo-fascist ideology was at work during those times.   In fact, most Arabs of the day held similar views.

In more current years, the key organizations, which by the way predate al Qaeda, include Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Abu Nidal Organization and others.   Many of these organizations have members who are Islamo-fascists or fundamentalist but this philosophy has little to do with the foundations of these organizations.   Yes, they are all Muslim organizations but they do not espouse something which is radical when compared to "moderate Muslims."

The goals of all Islamic terrorists have always been the removal of Jews, Christians and all other non-Muslim others from what they view as land given them by God.   They set out to accomplish this goal by terror which they believe will ultimately result in "the removal of Israel from the map."   They advocate the complete anihilation of Jews - translated genocide.   They also advocate the same fate for anyone who gets in their way including us.   These organizations have never been outside the mainstream of Islamic thought.

Where did we ever get the notion that Islamic terrorists have ever been the one percenters - the radical extremists among the most fundamentalist Muslims?   Where did this idea that a few radicals hijacked a religion come from?   It just ain't so.   It is a complete fabrication.   It is a lie.   The next time you hear someone refer to a few radicals who have hijacked a religion, call them on it.   The concept does not withstand historical scrutiny.