Maryland Legislator Bashes Calling Terrorists "Islamic"

"Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. When you are ignorant of the enemy, but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril."-Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu is credited with writing those words 2,500 years ago, but they could have been written to counter the recent US government decision to make the terminology of the War on Terror more politically correct, by banning any Muslim related work such as Jihad. We didn't define the enemy, the enemy defined themselves.

Tawfik Hamid, onetime protégé of Ayman Zawahiri, writes the following:

The real way to strengthen moderate Muslims in their fight against the radicals is to spotlight radical teachings and flush out those who believe in them. ....This is especially true in war: define your enemy correctly, and you will rally legitimate allies to your side. Blur what a battle is about and, stuck in the muddle, you are bound to lose.... Calling angina a "common cold" does not change its nature. It only prevents us from taking the necessary steps in treating it, which will only lead to further sickness, and possibly death. Playing word games with jihadists is not only meaningless, but plays right into the hands of the radical Muslim terrorists-who, to be defeated, must first be called by their true name....

But Maryland Legislator Saqib Ali disagrees. He feels that when you identify the terrorist enemy as Islamic Terrorists you are being "Islamophobic" this is what he wrote in today's NY Times:

Giuliani and Muslims
To the Editor:

As a Muslim-American elected official, I am appalled that Rudolph W. Giuliani chose to equate all terrorists with members of the Islamic faith during his G.O.P. convention address.

He said: “For four days in Denver, the Democrats were afraid to use the term ‘Islamic terrorism.’ ” I imagine they believe it is politically incorrect to say it. I think they believe they will insult someone. Please tell me, who they are insulting if they say, ‘Islamic terrorism.’ They are insulting terrorists!”

Sorry, Rudy. That statement doesn’t insult terrorists; it insults all hard-working, loyal Muslim-Americans. Worse still, none of the convention pundits or commentators for any major paper or network called him on it.

Several Democratic speakers, including Barack Obama, did address the serious issue of the fight against terrorism, but they did it in a way that did not imply that all Muslim people are terrorists. Mr. Giuliani doesn’t seem to know better.

Every day, Muslim-Americans serve our country in the armed forces, help us create tighter security systems that protect all Americans, and create jobs for hundreds of thousands of Americans.

The fight against terrorism should be directed toward real terrorists and those who support them, not toward people trying to live the American dream but who follow a different faith.

Whatever happened to the principle of religious freedom upon which the United States was founded? Saqib Ali

Annapolis, Md., Sept. 5, 2008

The writer is a member of the Maryland House of Delegates.