Following the playbook made by terrorists
These are wonderful days for the barbarians of ISIS.
A small group of murderous hoodlums was able to execute a coordinated, well-planned, wide-scale attack on the great and major city of Paris, causing President Obama to look foolish as he had stated just before the assault that ISIS is “contained.” Additionally, the backlash that the killers hoped to spawn against all Muslims is well underway, taking place precisely according to plan.
An initiative to bring to the United States a tiny number of the refugees our military escapades have helped create is likely to be reversed due to Republican opposition, and hatred for all Muslims has escalated throughout our nation, including threats against mosques. The irrational knee-jerk reaction will surely serve as a great recruiting tool for the terrorists.
As one whose paternal grandparents were slaughtered in a concentration camp in 1944, I am particularly sensitive to the fact that we are a nation of immigrants and that we exist on the basis of extending a hand to the downtrodden and those in need of refuge.
Certainly some type of coordinated military strategy involving the United States and other countries will be necessary to diminish the terrorist threat posed by a relatively small number of deviants, but even Donald Trump’s plan to “bomb the hell out of them” will not be enough. If we continue to stereotype and to act against and discriminate against all Muslims out of fear and ignorance, long-term gains in the battle against terrorism will be minimized.
I feel for the many peace-loving Muslims in our country, who now must live in fear.
Oren M. Spiegler
Upper St. Clair