They went beyond accusing the Islamic movement to accusing Muslim governments of “tolerating” or sometimes even supporting these movements.

Doubtlessly, fair and good persons in America and throughout the world –even those who have gone beyond accusing Al-Qaeda to convicting them- will reject this false accusation against an international religious movement which possesses diverse forms, locations and means, and whose general aim is to return its community and the world to the light and justice of Islam: the same Islam which produced the first and greatest of humane civilizations in history: a civilization which reached from the Pacific Ocean in the East, to the Atlantic in the West, in which a level of human dignity and religious freedom was achieved whose light had not yet shined in the darkness of Europe which instead, turned toward revolutionary violence in order to achieve slogans which in Islamic civilization were universal rights like water and air –for all sons of man.

This is what we believed when we first saw the open letter, and now our suspicions have been confirmed by the release of a letter from 128 American intellectuals who oppose it, in which they accuse the war against terrorism and its supporters of racism.

For this reason, this letter of ours ought to be understood as a clarification of that of which these signatories are ignorant, or which they chose to ignore, and a reminder of that which they forgot. It is not meant to be either a refutation of the distortions against the modern Islamic movement, or a critique of American values–that would require a long and detailed presentation- it was written in the hope that they will reexamine and realize their error in the basic subject matter of the letter. That is, support for the so-called “war against terrorism” in the name of what they call: “universal values” -a campaign that targets the Islamic World because of its Islamic character, without equivocation.

We are encouraged in this hope because of glimpses of truth found in the letter which our ethics require us to assume to be from the sincerity of its writers.

In actuality, the tendency to racism of the sixty signatories (which is most unfortunate) goes beyond denying the status of Islamic values to dispute the values of the West itself:

“No other nation has forged its core identity –its constitution and other founding documents, as well as its basic self-understanding- so directly and explicitly on the basis of universal human values.”

When John Smith founded the Colony of Virginia in 1607 he said, “Heaven and Earth never agreed to better frame a place for human habitation.” Thus, have four centuries passed without changing this idea of superiority, as if the people of the West –at least- did not know that this nation was produced by a revolution against the most stable of Western democracies, arrogating to itself the slogans of those French intellectuals whose thought provided the foundation for the later French revolution, so as to found the most bloody and racist society in human history.

The modern American empire is not necessarily what was intended by its founding fathers, just as it is not fair to claim that the American people are fully satisfied with and supportful of the imperial military establishment in Washington. Rather, it is they who are the victims of a tremendous deception. Nevertheless, they are responsible (as is any free people) for what they believe and do. For this reason, it is their duty to judge the actions of this establishment according to ethics and values, not to believe those who would disguise them with false ethical and moral garments, and provoke their tendency toward discrimination and superiority to silence their conscience.