Iowa View: Terrorists are driven by hate, not Islam

By Amir Busnov

I consider myself many things. I am a husband, a father and a son. I am a patriot, proud to have served overseas as a member of the National Guard and multiple back-to-back tours in Iraq and Afghanistan as an intelligence analyst for the Department of Defense. And I am a Muslim.

Yet in a country where politicians fall over themselves reminding us freedom of religion is to be held sacred and the rights of the individual are central to who we are as a people, I am too often made to feel I should hide who I am or, worse, apologize for an insane lot who pervert religion to justify barbaric acts.

Like most people of faith, my religion guides me to be the best husband, father, son and patriot I can be. I am not responsible for, nor can I defend, lunatics bent on bringing destruction and death 10,000 miles away, any more than can my Christian neighbor be responsible for or required to defend the white supremacist who bombed a Colorado NAACP office late last year. It is hard to comprehend a racist, twisted mind convincing the perpetrator it is his religious duty to set a bomb. It is even more difficult to understand what causes terrorists to act with such brutality.

Radicals who murder and destroy are dangerous regardless of the brand they create to recruit others to their demented cause. Nutbags such as these are a threat and should be stopped in their tracks by the majority of people in this world who are committed to peace. However, those who use the pulpit of Fox News, talk radio and political campaign gatherings to blame "radical Islam" for trouble in the world are sowing the seeds of something vile right here at home.

There is no radical Islam any more than there is radical Christiandom. The murderers in Paris and the ISIS psychopaths kidnapping, torturing and killing in the Middle East are not following religious teachings — they are using and perverting parts of a religion in the pursuit of evil.

According to the most recent Iowa Poll, two out of five likely Republican caucus participants are inclined to view Islam as an inherently violent religion that inspires brutality by its followers. This is not a belief that took root overnight. Since 9/11, talking heads have taken to the airwaves and spoken to political gatherings painting with a broad brush of rhetoric, using hateful hues to malign and misinform. These rabble-rousers have used fear to build a political platform on which they hope to falsely stand as the defenders of liberty. According to the Iowa Poll, it appears a growing number of people self-identified as politically conservative have come to embrace what these demagogues have been spewing.

Americans need to reject the wrongheaded notion Islam is inherently evil and send a message to those who preach it that we expect more in this country. Evil was not spawned by this peaceful religion. We are wise to remember history is littered with examples of evil finding footing amidst the chaos created when people turn on one another. Hitler was not a Christian zealot. He was a madman who came to power when too many otherwise good people turned the other way and did not stand up to challenge him.

As a young Bosnian, I stood witness as extremists with weapons blessed by Christian priests killed some 8,000 boys and men. These extremists and the agents of the Holocaust were driven by hate, not by their religion. Americans must unite to eradicate those committing terror atrocities. We will only be able to so if we reject simpleminded bigotry and hatred first.

I am a husband, a father, a son, a patriot and a Muslim. I am proud to be each of these things, and there is nothing radical about that.

###

AMIR BUSNOV of Windsor Heights is adjunct instructor of international relations and politics of terrorism at Des Moines Area Community College. Contact: a.busnov@mchsi.com