Iraq Press Roundup

The London-Based Azzaman Newspaper said Monday in its editorial that terrorism, extremism and close-mindedness are unrelated to only one place or one environment.

In its editorial titled "The young and terrorism," it said not all terrorists are poor, nor all poor are terrorists, nor all terrorists Middle Eastern, Arab or Islamic.

"The world, during the 1970s, witnessed emerging world terrorism that terrified Europe ... such as the German Bader Meinhoff organization, the Italian Red Brigade, the Irish Republican Army and the Spanish ETA organization," it said.

It said European terrorists began at the same time as groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

"By the time the European terrorism stopped, the Islamic terrorism became wild in the name of Islam, shedding the blood of thousand of people in Egypt, Yemen, Algiers, Morocco Saudi Arabia, the Gulf, and then it crossed the oceans to many countries making terrorism impossible to get rid of," the editorial said.

It added that terrorism will continue to persist as long as the reasons that caused it to emerge exist.

"Kofi Annan, the former secretary-general of the United Nations, demanded a clear definition of terrorism, and the United States adapted a one-eyed definition that ensures any action that threatens the U.S. interests is terrorism and must be fought," the paper said.

It also said Annan considers terrorism as a danger that threatens the world, yet fighting it shouldn't mean violations against human rights. It said Washington was opposed to Annan's statement as it keeps those arrested in Guantanamo Bay, plunders their rights and does not prosecute them.

"The United States created a Middle East version of Guantanamo that is represented by the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq," the paper said.

It also said terrorism circulated over the past 10 years as a danger whose definition differs depending on people's interests. It added that the East and the West, Muslims and non-Muslims have agreed that terrorism is a phenomenon based on destroying nations' interests.

"Terrorists actions are psychological through spreading their ideologies among the young, and materialistic by destroying and bombing the West's interests which affects the Arab countries," it said.

It said any action that aims to deform people's mindsets or to harm nations' interests is considered terrorism.

The editorial said unemployment is another face of terrorism that leads to the loss of the young.

"Loss of the young is as dangerous as, or maybe more dangerous than, bombing buildings," Azzaman said.