Let's not forget that there are a lot of very good and brave Moslems fighting along side our men in Iraq and I suspect more friendly Moslem lives are being lost in this war than are American lives.
As in Vietnam, while it was true our enemies were Vietnamese, so were our friends. This war and the world today are more complicated than World War 2 and the world of the 1930-40s. Today, political and religious beliefs cross national boundaries.
In our war against domestic terrorism, our best sources of information can come from patriotic and decent American Moslems; so let's not hate those who can be the most helpful to our nation.
If we fail to make the distinction between good and bad Moslems, we create the religious war the radical Moslems seek and we help our enemies unite the Moslem community in a way our enemies have been unable to do. Our nation and the world would become less secure and beyond our ability to secure. Our Bill of Rights is our greatest strength and the best tool we have to secure our nation and those rights, which include tolerance of religious beliefs along with other treasured rights enjoyed by us on this forum (right to keep and bear arms and freedom of speech). As we are all strong proponents of the right to keep and bear arms, we should be equally vigilant over the other protections.
We need not make this a religious war and we can think in traditional terms of national conflict. The war we are fighting now is one against the Islamic Republic of Iran, a nation that is the single greatest sponsor of terrorism and supporter of radical Islam and one that for over a quarter of a century has chanted "death to America." I believe that our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are tactical stepping-stones to taking down the Islamic Republic of Iran. To polarize all of Islam against the United States is the only way that Iran can defeat us. Let's not help them.
Doug
