Algerian ambassador: U.S.
has warped view of terrorism

By Sean Weaver
The Metropolitan

People in the United States have distorted perceptions about terrorism in Algeria and other Islamic countries, said the Algerian ambassador to the United States.

Ambassador Ramtane Lamamra told 39 Metro students at a lecture, sponsored by Metroâs Political Science and Economic departments, that media coverage of terrorist attacks is misleading.

ãAs fundamentalist terrorism continues to claim innocent human lives in various places in the Arab and Muslim  worlds, there should be no room for attempts to confuse the issues or put forward murky mitigating circumstances to downplay the stakes of what is going on,ä he said.

ãWrong perceptions, deriving from misrepresentations, tend to mislead people into equating Islam with Islamism, while the spiritual values of the religion are clearly at odds with the violent drive of fundamentalist groups against their own societies and people.ä

Lamamra criticized the media in the United States and Western Europe for limiting coverage to ãcomfortable clichés such as military-backed government versus Islamic insurgents, thus contributing to shape a distorted picture of the situation and, above all, failing to enlighten people on the stakes of what is going on.ä

He said the situation in Algeria is getting better despite the misleading media coverage.

Algerian terrorists have links with terror groups around the globe, but new laws giving clemency to terrorists who surrender have been a boon to combating terrorism, Lamamra said.
 

ãTotal elimination of terrorism is made easier by the legislative framework of the amended Penal Code, which includes provisions offering clemency to repenting terrorists,ä he said.

About 1,600 armed terrorists surrendered to judicial authorities in 1995 and 1996 to take advantage of the clemency policy.

Lamamra said political life in Algeria is not heavily swayed by terrorist groups.

A high turnout of voters in the presidential election and referendums on the constitution show a strong resistance to terrorism and support for democracy, he said.

Lamamra said neutral observers acknowledge the Algerian president is the only head of state in the Arab world who was elected in a free and fair direct election by the people.

Norman Provizer, chairman of the Political Science department, said Lamamraâs lecture raises challenging questions about the context in which terrorists are labeled.

Provizer said he does not condone the current terrorist activity, but he is reminded that the French labeled Algerian ãfreedom fightersä as terrorists in the revolutionary struggle with France in the 1950s and 1960s.