Keith Ellison Quotes

Extremism and terrorism are based on lack of hope and an ideology that takes advantage of that.

You have to be realistic about terrorism. Certain groups of people, certain groups, Muslim fundamentalists, Christian fundamentalists, Jewish fundamentalists, and just plain guys from Montana, are going to continue to make life in this country very interesting for a long, long time.

Well, we can't afford blindness anymore. There are tens of thousands of thugs who loathe liberty and love death, and want to annihilate Western civilization.

Fundamentalist governments and organizations endanger stability in the world.

Our enemy is not Islam. Islam is not the enemy of America; Americans are not the enemy of Islam. Our real enemy is extremism and radicalism.

Well, you got to remember, bin Laden killed 3,000 Americans and, in some ways, he and his ideology killed tens of thousands of his fellow Muslims, including Pakistanis. I understand that that was provocative and complicated for Pakistan, but only if you accept the idea that he was an acceptable member of Pakistani society.

I think what Osama bin Laden does is to take the fact that some peoples lack hope and lack opportunity, and twist it to his own ends.

America and its allies are engaged in a war against a terrorist movement that spans all corners of the globe. It is sparked by radical ideologues that breed hatred, oppression, and violence against all of their declared enemies.

I'm opposed to fundamentalism in any form.

Wherever you have weakening states and turmoil, you will have a fertile petri dish for terrorism.

Not to mention the fact that of course terrorists hate freedom. I think they do hate. But believe me, I don't think they sit there abstractly hating freedom.

For both faith and want of faith have destroyed men alike.

The terrorists hide behind Allah.

The truth is our country, our people, our liberties, and our way of life are under attack by radical Islamic terrorists who kill and destroy in the name of religion.

We're never going to be able to get rid of terrorism, because there is always going to be evil in the world.

Senseless violence is, almost by definition, hard to understand. Not that I can understand terrorists who kill from hate, but at least we can identify a reason - a terrifying one, to be sure, grounded in a violent belief system - for what they do. Two gangs go to war. Extremists kill in the name of belief.

From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step.

I had been fascinated with Islam since college - particularly how it could inspire such fervor in our modern age and move a significant number of its followers to horrific acts of violence. That invisible hand moved me to study more and more about Islam.

We must find out where the roots of terrorism lie.

Mr. Speaker, I agree with those who say that the Global War on Terrorism is actually a Global War of Ideas and that terrorism is one of the tactics used in that War.

Jewish extremism and Islamic fanaticism fed each other.

Terrorists

It is wrong to claim, as some do, that the motivation of al-Qaeda and its allies is some desire to seek justice in the Middle East ... Al-Qaeda and its allies have no clear demands for the Middle East. The only common thread in their approach is a violent and destructive opposition to democracy in any form. They find democracy in Palestine abhorrent and seek to destroy it

It’s the confrontation with modernity that produces terrorism.

Terror … is often the result of giving politics a sacred, absolute dimension.