NEW YORK, Oct 19: A senior aide to US President George W. Bush on Tuesday linked the global campaign against terrorism to a war ‘for the soul of Islam’ in which moderate Muslims must help stamp out extremism.

“In this battle of ideas we must encourage Islamic moderates to dispute the distorted vision of Islam advanced by the terrorists,” White House National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said in a speech to be delivered here.

Hadley’s remarks to the Council on Foreign Relations think-tank came a day after Bush told US Muslim leaders and diplomats from nations with large Muslim populations that ‘all responsible Islamic leaders’ must denounce what he called the terrorists’ extremist ideology.

“A struggle is under way for the soul of Islam — an ideological struggle for the support and loyalty of the Muslim world. Winning this struggle will require a direct challenge to the extremist voices within Islam,” said Hadley.

“This is obviously not something the American government can do. It is Muslim voices from around the world that must take up this challenge,” the official said in remarks prepared for delivery and released by the White House.

“It is beginning to happen. Muslim clerics and legal scholars in the United States and elsewhere have issued statements condemning terrorism. We must champion these efforts and empower other moderate voices throughout the Muslim world that stand for peace and tolerance,” said Hadley. Hadley said that, “in addition to disputing the terrorists’ twisted version of Islam”, building democracies in Iraq and Afghanistan would provide an ‘antidote’ to the despair that fuels extremist violence.

And he warned against pulling out of Iraq before that country is a stable democracy.

“Retreat may appear tempting to some in the face of the savagery we witness on television. But withdrawal from the fight — like putting our heads in the sand —- will not make the threat go away,” he said.—AFP