Terrorism in America

I lived in the US when 9/11 happened. Like so many others I watched in shock and horror as the planes hit the twin towers and they came down. I blamed Al-Queda, but I never blamed Islam.
Now, however, it seems that Bin Laden and his people have got exactly what they wanted as so many on the right in America seek to demonise Muslims. They wanted to create division and war, never mind how they did it. They’ve apparently succeeded. Those who claim to be looking for America’s honour have actually become the terrorists, albeit unwittingly in some cases. They’re setting the scene for jihad.
Terrorists seek to rip a societal structure apart with fear and hatred. They have their goals and they’ll achieve them at any cost, including lies and gross distortions of the truth. And this is exactly what’s happening in the United States today. Those at the top, like Newt Gingrich, are manipulating people who don’t want to think for themselves into a spirit of hatred and intolerance. All it serves is their own ideals. Except it doesn’t. All it does it serve the divisive cause of Al-Queda. Gingrich, and all those raising their voices in protest against Islam, those stabbing Muslims and setting fire to mosques, are nothing more than terrorists themselves.
The curious thing is that no one seems to have said it. They call it patriotism, but all too often that’s a distorted lens, one with blinkers, and the last refuge of a scoundrel.
The invasion of Iraq by troops from the US gave Al-Queda a bonanza of recruits. It was a horribly botched job that’s cost many, many thousands of lives, and still does as terrorists set off bombs with alarming regularity. In Afghanistan, as history has proven, there will be no victory.
But there is already one victory for Al-Queda, in the US. Whenever anyone wants to brun Q’rans or prevent the perfectly legal building of an Islamic cultural centre in New York, terrorism wins another small victory. The problem is that the people don’t see it, that they’re allowing terrorism to fester on their own doorsteps, cloaked in the name of patriotism.
Ultimately there’s no difference between a Terry McVeigh or a Pastor Jones or a Gingrich. They all seek to rend the fabric of American society. They and all their followers are nothing more than terrorists.
For those who don't know me, I lived in american for 30 years, from 1976-2005. I'm not a Muslim, my son is American, and one of the reasons I left to return to the UK was that I was very disturbed by the direction American was taking while Bush was President.