thr 033                                                               


Press-US-Muslims-Attacks  /GNR/                                       


  Muslim world, West in need of deep soul-searching: daily           


Tehran, Sept 18, IRNA -- `Iran Daily' on Tuesday condemned last week's


devastating terror attacks on New York and Washington, calling for    


more dialog between the Islamic world, which has been severely        


targeted and discredited by the Western media machine for the recent  


assaults, and the West, as the only way to end the era of isolation,  


boycotts and gun boat diplomacy.                                      


    "Hurling accusations, acrimony and talking of hatred and          


vengeance" by the West will not do, warned the English-language paper,


advising the Muslim world and the West to do some deep soul-searching 


instead.                                                              


    Considering the present state of global affairs, the daily urged  


both the Islamic world and the West to "break the barriers of hatred  


and forge better understanding" between them.                         


    They must remember that "international relations for long have    


been conducted on the edifice of injustice, arrogance and corruption."


    Furthermore, "a cross-section of the world citizens feel that they


are being denied basic rights in their own countries and are victims  


of two laws (double-standards), decried the daily, adding that they   


see the dispatch of armies to "implement UN resolution while in other 


cases decades-old rulings by the world body are totally ignored."     


In some countries, even children and the elderly die in the thousands 


because of sanctions or poverty, but the world conscience remains     


unmoved, criticized the daily.                                        


    But the situation in the Muslim world looks beyond the realm of   


redemption, it stressed, adding that dictators and military regimes   


rob their peoples of their fundamental rights and leave them in the   


throes of ignorance and backwardness.                                 


    As such, "those living under oppression and suppression cannot be 


accused of producing angry, intolerant and violent minds." it said.   


    But this does not justify and cannot be attributed to last weeks' 


attacks in US, emphasized the daily.                                  


    "Such inhuman acts have no place in any religion, Islam in        


particular, whose followers greet with the salutation "peace be with  


you", reminded the article.                                           


    It is therefore the Western media which needs to revise its       


timeworn ways, stressed the daily.                                    


    "With speculations and wishful thinking aimed at discrediting     


Muslims, the West's media machine is largely responsible for filling  


the western mind with fallacies and misconceptions," it stressed.     


    Nevertheless, Muslims must in all earnest, asked themselves if    


they really represent the faith described in the Holy Quran as the    


"best Ummah (nation) which propagates virtue and prevents vice,"      


advised the daily.                                                    


    "One can perhaps comprehend the widespread desire for revenge in  


the US, but a lot will depend on America's response," it pointed out. 


    But all in all, the paper believed, there is only one effective   


way to avoid a replay of Tuesday's disaster in US, and that is "more  


dialog between the Islamic world and the West. A permanent end must   


be put to the era of isolation, boycotts and gun boat diplomacy," it  


concluded.                                                            


FH/HM                                                                 


End                                                                   


::irna    13:49