Reality Check

It's time to stop pretending that the insurgents in Najaf and elesewhere across Iraq are "terrorists" - or that the battle to suppress them has anything at all to do with the so-called "war on (ahem!)..."

93 prominent Muslim figures have called on Muslims around the world to support resistance to US forces and to the Iraqi government installed in June:

"The signatories included senior members of the Brotherhood, leading Qatari-based moderate Youssef al-Qaradawi, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah of Lebanon, Khaled Mashal of the Palestinian group Hamas, two Egyptian opposition party leaders, Sheikh Abdeslam Yassine of Morocco's Justice and Charity Group and Yemeni Speaker of Parliament Sheikh Abdullah al-Ahmar.

Others came from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bosnia, the Comoros, Germany, India, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan and Tunisia."

Are all these figure now "terrorists"?

It should be noted by the Bush neo-cons that many of these figures represent religious groups rather than political parties. Ignoring their calls is likely to lead to continued political instability across the Muslim world, and increased support for extremist groups.