Bigotry's High Price

[Tom Trail <ttrail@moscow.com>]

Visionaries:   The following article, "Bigotry's High Price," appeared in
today's USA today.  It was
written by Anthony Lake, National Security Advisor, during President
Clinton's first term.   The
article sets a reasoned and rationale approach in which to view the turmoil
following the terrorist attack

  "In Laramie, Wyo. a Muslim woman and her children were chased from a
Wal-Mart by angry shoppers, and a Pakistani woman was nearly run over in a
shopping mall parking lot by an enraged
75-year-old man.  In Mesa, Ariz. a gas station owner who moved here from
India 0 years ago was
shot to death.  Across the country, mosques and Muslim schools have been
threatened, vandalized or
fire-bombed.

   This is about the Americans who are Muslim or of Arab descent-and those
who simply look like them.  Americans who may fear going out on the street
in their traditional clothes, or practicing their
faith in public, or going about their normal business in shops ans stores
across the country.  And it is about the Americans who thin k they are
patriotic when they call them at home with threats, or give them the finger
on the road, or abuse them on radio talk shows--or even actuall assault
them.

   On Monday, President Bush stodd against this growing anti-Muslim
sentiment by visiting an Islamic Center.  We should heed his words.

    We are at war.  It could and should last for weeks, months or years.
Here at home, Arab-Americans will be of a particular object of attention by
our law enforcement officials because the threat is coming primarily from
the Arab world.  Overseas, any future actions by us will be met by
anti-American demonstrations, especially among some Muslim groups.  Muslim
extremists will spew their venom.  All of this is almost inevitable.  But
it is not inevitable that this bad situation be made worse.

   To those who are harassing our fellow Americans because of their
national origins or belief in Islam, this question must be addressed.
Whose side in this war are you actually on?

    To win this war against an enemy that may be cowardly and cruel, yet is
cunning and highly competent, we need the help of other governments and the
Muslim peoples.  Remember that our war is not against Islam or the Arab
world.  Terrorism contradicts the tenets of Islam, as the imam of the
Islamic Society of North America made clear at the Washington National
Cathedral last Friday.  If we act as though islam and the Arab nations in
the Middle East are our natural enemies because of the actions of Muslim
extremists, we will damage our national interests.

   Remember also that most Arab governments have as much to fear from
terroism as we do.  Those governments are usually better equipped to track
the terrorists in their own countries than we can be.  A numbers of our
successes against terrorists in the past few years have depended on the
cooperation of other governments.

   Every time some American makes life harder for a fellow citizen who
happens to be Muslim or Arab American, somewhere Osama bin Laden applauds,
because it makes his job of spreading hatred of America easier.  It makes
it harder for other governments to work with us in tracking him down, to
deny him santuary anywhere, to put him and his ilk out of
business-Premanently.

   There's another way to lose this war, and that is to lose sight of what
we are fighting for.  If we are fighting for freedom--and we are--then we
need to respect the freeom of all Americans to believe and live as they
wish.  As we are fighting for our civilized values, we need to be civil to
all of our
citizens.  If we are fighting against those who live and act on their
hatred and we become like them--
then we are losing the war.

   As he was arrested, the man who shot the Indian gas station owner in
Arizona shouted, "I stand
for America all the way."  He doesn't.  In fact, he and other like him are
aiding America's enemies.

   In the extended period ahead of us, a time in which we inflict
casualties abroad and very likely suffer more at home, we must support the
president in his fight against terrorists.  Let's show
it in our discipline and courage, not by posturing and simple hate.  that's
how you fight a war.
That's real patriotism."

Dr. Tom Trail
International Trails
1375 Mt. View Rd.
Moscow, Id. 83843
Tel:  (208) 882-6077
Fax:  (208) 882-0896
e mail ttrail@moscow.com