Iraqi Muslims welcome a Donald Trump presidency: 'Beginning of the end of extremist Islam

There has been mixed reaction over Donald Trump winning election to become the next U.S. president, but many Muslims in the Middle East have made their views about it very clear: they like the president-elect.

From the New York Times:

In Iraq, where modern history has been profoundly shaped by the decisions of American presidents, officials and citizens alike are weighing Mr. Trump’s harsh words against his promise to defeat terrorism.

Surprisingly, some Iraqis seemed less offended by Mr. Trump’s comments linking terrorism to Islam than American liberals.

For many Iraqis who have endured years of being slaughtered by radical Muslims, Trump's rhetoric against radical Islam is welcomed. According to the Times, many Shiite Muslims believe that Trump's tough positions on Saudi Arabia — an Islamic country ruled by the strict Wahhabanist class of Islam — will help curb its influence across the Middle East and on radical Islamist groups like the Islamic State.

"The victory of Trump is the beginning of the end of extremist Islam and Wahhabism," an Iraqi lawmaker, Mouwafak al-Rubaie, told the Times.

The Iraqi government has said they have no concerns about Trump's Middle East policy because the president-elect has been very vocal about his desire to squash the Islamic State and battle radical Islam, which has brutalized much of northern Iraq over the last handful of years.

"We have no concerns about the policy of Trump because he is against extremism,” the spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told the Times.

“We think we are facing one enemy, and that is fighting ISIS. Therefore, I do not think there are fears or concerns about a new American policy," he added.

Still, there is some concern that Trump's rhetoric against the Islamic State and radical Islam as a whole could embolden extremists, though there has been no proof of that yet.