ISLAM IS NOT THE THREAT NATO MAKES IT OUT TO BE

20708445 19950212 ISLAM IS NOT THE THREAT NATO MAKES IT OUT TO BE [CHICAGOLAND FINAL Edition] Chicago Tribune (pre-1997 Fulltext) Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission. Chicago, Ill. 1

PERSPECTIVE

1177 Ray Moseley, the Tribune's chief European correspondent. Now that we no longer have the communist bogyman with which to frighten the children, some Western political and military leaders have fixed upon Islamic fundamentalism as the new Big Threat in the world. At the conference, Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio) wondered whether Islamic fundamentalists might become more dangerous than Russian Communists, adding: "Looking at the Muslim world, I feel we might be heading for a fight to protect our basic political order." In the wake of such statements, NATO announced in Brussels last week that it was opening a dialogue with Egypt, Israel, Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritania because of concerns about Islamic fundamentalism and missile proliferation.