🚀 go-pugleaf

Jane Lampman, Christian Science Monitor
http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2003/0417/p14s01-lire.html

When President Bush called his war on terrorism a "crusade," he backtracked 
quickly in the face of intense reaction at home and abroad. Now many people 
are worried that, in the case of Iraq, that inopportune choice of words may 
turn out to hold more than a modicum of truth.

As Christian relief agencies prepare to enter Iraq, some have announced 
their intent to combine aid with evangelization. They include groups whose 
leaders have proclaimed harshly negative views of Islam. They are also 
friends of the president. The White House has shrugged its shoulders, 
saying it can't tell private groups what to do, though legal experts disagree.

Yet to many Muslims and Christians alike, proselytizing at this highly 
volatile moment in the newly liberated country, with Muslims worldwide 
questioning US motives, could only spur outrage and undermine US policy in 
the region as well as in Iraq.

"Coming in the wake of a military conquest of an Arab country, and of 
openly hostile statements by [the Rev. Franklin] Graham and others, it's 
going to backfire in the worst way for US plans to be seen as a liberator," 
says Seyyed Hossein Nasr, professor of Islamic studies at George Washington 
University.