[Los Angeles Times] Borzou Daragahi - Lebanon's Salafists, often equated with terrorists in much of the Arab world, have teamed with Saad Hariri and his mainstream Future Movement, with ties to the Bush administration. "They used to be very marginal," Benedetta Berti, a terrorism specialist at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts, said of the Salafists. "Now, they have to be taken into account by any political movement. They have become a significant political force. Not by number, but in terms of the political impact they could have." The curious experiment could have implications for the rest of the region. "One of the main reasons Salafists join the jihadist...and terrorist groups is because of alienation and marginalization," said Mustafa Allouch, a Future Movement lawmaker from Tripoli. But some wonder whether the Salafists are gaming the system to expand their reach and achieve their extreme goals, which include the radicalization of Sunni Muslims throughout the Middle East.
2008-11-18 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive