What's Behind the Accusation of "Islamophobia"?

Edmund Standing (on the Butterflies and Wheels site) explains:

Those on the far-left who promote the notion of widespread 'Islamophobia' are arguably racially obsessed, and the idea of the West being at heart a corrupt, racist, and imperialist phenomenon is central to their worldview. As a result, they have formed a strange coalition with Islamist groups who they have tried to enlist as part of their Trotskyist plan for 'revolution'.[2] In recent years, the anti-war movement has been central to this marriage of revolutionary left-wing politics with the Islamist far-right. In Britain, the Stop the War Coalition has seen groups such as the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and George Galloway's 'Respect' party making common cause with supporters of Islamism and terrorist groups such as Hamas.

For the far-left, racism in the guise of 'Islamophobia' is central to a Western conspiracy which has sought to delegitimise Islam and whip up hatred of Muslims in order to gain support for its 'imperialist' projects in Afghanistan and Iraq. Consequently, the far-leftists at the heart of the anti-war movement present any kind of criticism of Islam as being either a deliberate contribution to the promotion of the West's 'racist' ambitions or as the work of people who are unwittingly being used as 'useful idiots' by this conspiracy. Promote freedom for the Afghan people? - You're a tool of the racist imperialist plan. Criticise Islam's treatment of women? - You're an arrogant cultural imperialist who is assisting the racist plot to subjugate Muslim nations.