The “Human Rights Warriors” and the Myth of the Islamic Enemy

Gaza children …

Steigen.No. November 3, 2025

«Menneskerettskrigerne» og myten om den islamske fienden

The “Human Rights Warriors” and the Myth of the Islamic Enemy

For two decades, the West has waged what are called “human rights wars.” Wars that are supposedly to defend freedom, democracy, and human dignity. But behind the slogans lies another reality—a brutal, cynical policy disguised as morality. In the name of humanity, the West has bombed cities, overthrown governments, and left millions of people in ruins. And every time it happens, the same story follows: the enemy is Islam. The faith that represents peace, justice, and spirituality for billions of people is portrayed as the very threat to civilization.

This narrative is not accidental. It is the result of decades of propaganda, power plays, and geopolitical strategy. After September 11, 2001, Islam was made the world’s common enemy, and war was made a moral project. The United States and NATO launched the so-called “war on terror,” and the media loyally followed suit. Words like “Allahu Akbar” and “jihad” were filled with the power of fear. This was how public opinion in Europe and North America could be made to accept war as a necessary act to “save the world.”

But who was saved? Not the people of Iraq, where over a million people lost their lives to a lie about weapons of mass destruction. Not the women of Afghanistan, where two decades of “liberation” ended in ruins and a country abandoned to poverty and despair. Not the civilians of Libya, who had their country destroyed under NATO bombs, while Western leaders patted each other on the back and called it a victory for human rights.

This is the true face of human rights wars: those who claim to fight for human dignity destroy the very foundation of humanity. Those who say they defend freedom introduce chaos and suffering. And those who point to Islam as the cause of the violence refuse to see their own role in creating it.

An industry of moral rhetoric has grown up in the West. Politicians talk about universal values, but the values only apply as long as they do not threaten their own interests. We see it time and time again: A state in the Middle East or Africa is demonized, the leader is called a dictator, and religion is blamed for all oppression. Then bombs, sanctions, and destruction follow – always accompanied by beautiful words about democracy and human rights. This is not peace work. This is colonialism in a new guise.

At the same time, Islam is given the role of scapegoat. Any act of violence committed by a person with an Arabic name becomes proof that Islam is dangerous. But when the West drops bombs on civilians, it is never Christianity that is blamed. We don’t say “Christians are bombing Muslim children.” We call it “military operations.” It’s a double standard so grotesque that it should make us all blush.

Islam has never been the enemy of Christianity. The two religions have lived side by side for over 1,400 years. They share much more in common than they divide. But the West has used religion as a tool for fear, to create an enemy that justifies violence. It’s easy to sell war when you claim to be fighting evil. And evil always has to have a face—preferably one that looks different from your own.

I have personally met both Muslims and Christians in conflict zones. I have seen their faith, their humanity, and their pain. Those who live in the midst of the wars the West claims to “save” them from know better. They know that it is not Islam that is destroying their countries, but bombs and economic sanctions. They know that extremism grows where hope disappears, and that hope disappears when foreign powers invade and dictate.

Arab Christians, who often live side by side with their Muslim neighbors, know that the real conflict is not about faith but about power. They know that the human rights wars have turned their countries into battlegrounds for the interests of others. And they watch with sorrow as the West uses their own religion—Christianity—as a political club. For what kind of Christian values is it to spread death in the name of God while claiming to be fighting for freedom?

The West’s greatest betrayal is not just the wars, but the lies that accompany them. The lie that Islam is the cause of the world’s violence. The lie that we can bomb a country into democracy. The lie that our civilization stands for morality, while others stand for barbarity. These lies are the very foundation of the human rights wars—they give war an ethical veneer. But in reality, there is no ethics in killing for peace. There is no human right that justifies destruction.

It is also hypocritical to think that the West, which has historically been responsible for colonization, slave trade, genocide, and economic exploitation, should now suddenly be the world’s moral guardian. The same system that created the world’s inequality and environmental crises, today talks about justice and human rights while continuing to consume and dominate. When you look behind the language, you see a system that has not changed – only disguised.

The most worrying thing is how this ideological war has been internalized in our own societies. Muslim children grow up in Europe and are taught that they must prove that they are not dangerous. Western media constantly show images that link Islam to violence, while failing to show the millions of Muslims who live in peace, work, create, and love. The result is a society where trust is broken and fear rules.

At the same time, human rights are used as a selective weapon. When a country follows Western interests, it remains silent about violations of freedom. When the opposite happens, public opinion is mobilized. No bombs fall on Saudi Arabia, even though it beheads its opponents and oppresses women. But Libya was destroyed because the West needed a pretext to intervene. This is not about justice. This is about control.

As a veteran, I know what reality looks like when moral words meet the dust of explosions. I have seen how war destroys people, not liberates them. I have seen how young men and women return home without answers, and how those who survive carry a silence that no medal can cover. There is no honor in killing for a lie. And there is no human right in taking life for money, oil, or geopolitics.

Islam, as a religion, is at its core a teaching of peace – “salam” – and of justice. It speaks of mercy, of the duty to help the weak, of respect for the human person. This should not be so foreign to Christian values. But the West has chosen to overlook this. It is easier to see Islam as a dark threat than to admit that our own violence has created much of the world’s chaos.

We like to think that extremism is something foreign, but we carry it ourselves. Extremism is found in all religions, in all societies, in all ideologies. It is found in political elites who are willing to sacrifice thousands for strategic advantages. It is found in the belief that our own culture is worth more than others. It is found in indifference to the suffering of others. It is found in the belief that might makes right.

The West’s so-called human rights wars have revealed something deeply uncomfortable about ourselves. We have used the highest ideals as a cover for the basest motives. We have made the word “justice” a tool for oppression. And we have used the religion of Islam as a scapegoat for a world we ourselves have made unjust.

When history one day judges us, it may look back on these decades as a time when the West talked about freedom while killing for power. As a time when “human rights” became a brand name for war. As a time when faith was used to divide, rather than unite.

Islam is not the enemy. The enemy is the lies, greed, and the hatred of humanity that hides behind morality. The real battle is not between Christians and Muslims, but between those who believe in human dignity—and those who abuse it as a slogan.

Human rights were created to protect life, not to justify destruction. When the West once again takes up arms in the name of “justice,” we should ask: whose rights are really being defended? For those who die under the bombs never get to answer.