Our Muslim Allies
On 6 November, in the aftermath of the Fort Hood murders, FrumForum posted pictures of the headstones of decorated American soldiers killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, now buried under the symbol of their religious faith: the crescent of Islam.
I have served with US soldiers like these. They were immigrants to the United States. So am I. They were Muslims, and I trusted them with my life.
I have lived and served with Arab soldiers. I have eaten from the communal rice bowl; I have shared bowls of camel's milk straight from the mare, thus becoming brothers with them. Every day in Afghanistan, thousands of members of the ANA - Afghan National Army - fight alongside U.S. and Allied forces, and too often they are doing most of the dying. They are Muslims, and they are worthy too.
The enemy seeks to drive a wedge between our Muslim allies and us, to divide us, and to inspire all the Muslims to rise up against us. If we buy into it, they win.
Terrorism is a tactic, not an enemy in and of itself. Terrorism can be used by people of all creeds and backgrounds, in service of many ideologies.
Today, the people using this tactic are most often Muslim, and the ideology is Islamic extremism. We should not under-estimate the danger posed by these people. Beyond the men of violence is a larger universe of extremists, sympathetic to violent ideologies, even if they themselves prefer not to do the fighting themselves.
Yet we have to struggle to remember: The majority of Muslims are regular folk just like you and me, who want the same things we want: to be left alone, to prosper and provide for their families, to leave their children better off than themselves.