BANDUNG: A “crusade” against Islam by US President George W Bush and his allies is doomed to fail, Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir said on Friday, two weeks after finishing a jail term for links to bombings in Bali. But the man Indonesian and Western officials describe as the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah, a militant group linked to Al Qaeda, also said violence should be reserved for defending Islam in “conflict zones” like Iraq and Palestinian territories. Civilians should not be deliberately targeted, he said. Asked why officials so frequently said he was tied to violence, Bashir, barefoot and wearing his traditional white skullcap, shirt and a blue and green sarong, told Reuters: “I am a cleric. I do not understand bombs”. “Even if I see one, I do not understand it. But I explain the right Islam and the Westerners are afraid of my tongue, not my hands.” The white-bearded and bespectacled Bashir has consistently denied any connection to Bali or other attacks blamed on Jemaah Islamiah, which he has said does not exist, and is still appealing against his conviction. Speaking in an interview in Indonesia’s hill country city of Bandung, 140 km (85 miles) southeast of Jakarta, Bashir also contended Bush and others created the terrorism issue as an excuse to attack Islam.