What does a terrorist look like?

I remember, not long after the 9/11 attacks, when there was a general and fairly open distrust of middle -easterners, especially middle eastern males between the ages of 18 and 45. "He's probably a terrorist!" many of us said to ourselves or quietly whispered to a friend while waiting in line at the airport. We can only imagine what was going through the heads of those who fit the racial profile of a "terrorist" as they faced heavy suspicion no matter how innocent they really were. I have been in several "heated" debates with friends and family on this topic, which actually runs a bit deeper but for times sake I will leave that out for now. The facts speak for themselves and it is safe to say that an overwhelming percentage of terrorist attacks are committed by practioners of the Islamic faith. Just a few weeks ago Najibullah Zazi, an airport shuttle bus driver from Denver, was arrested by federal authorities for his involvement in a plot to attack the United States. Zazi is a 25 year old Afghan immigrant, fitting the "profile" I mentioned earlier. Overshadowed by the media frenzy surrounding Zazi were two similar arrests, both of Islamic extremists, who were also planning attack on the U.S. One in particular draws my attention.

The story was but a blip on the national news radar but not insignificant. An American born caucasian male who had converted to Islam while serving in prison was arrested by federal authorities after he parked a truck outside of a federal building which he believed to be full of explosives. He had purchased the explosives as part of an undercover sting operation being conducted by multiple law enforcement and intelligence agencies at both the federal and state level. So, what does an Islamic terrorist look like? Citing from an article which appeared in the Oct 8 2009 Denver Post I would like to bring something to the broader attention of those who would read this. The Denver Post article is based upon information released by The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The information is the result of a three year project conducted by PFRPL. There are 1.57 billion Muslims worldwide which makes up nearly 25% of the entire population of the planet. That is one person out of four! The article also pointed out that "Germany has more Muslims than Lebanon, China has more Muslims than Syria, Russia has more Muslims than Jordan and Libya combined and the Ethopia has nearly as many Muslims as Afghanistan." I recently bought as a gift for a friend "The Idiot's Guide to World Conflict." He loves to discuss the topic but has no real knowledge of why things are the way they are. The book covers 80 ongoing conflicts (wars) occurring around the globe and gives a brief synopsis of each. He was shocked to find that something like 87% were between Islamic and non-Islamic people. The number might even be higher, check the book out for yourself. I fought in Iraq. I am not going as far to say that it was a religious war but, when someone was yelling "Allahu Akbar!" as they were unloading an AK-47 on me or detonating an IED ten feet away, it became about religion to me. As for myself, I believe in a higher power, but don't fall under the yolk of any organized religion. (Ted Haggard or Jim Baker aren't going to tell ME how to live!). I have had a lot of time to study the history of Radical Islam and have even read most of the Koran (I had to see for myself and I am still working on it). I believe that organized religion is an instrument used to control the thoughts and behaviors of people. I attended a Catholic School as a child (maybe that's what did it) and never really felt comfortable with the thought that I would burn for eternity just for being myself. I had Christianisty shoved down my throat. I briefly and loosely educated myself on Buddaism while stationed in Asia. Buddists are about the most peaceful people I have ever met in my travels. I made it a point while traveling the world to educate myself on the local inhabitants, their customs, religion, language, etc. When I got to Iraq, I wondered what all the "Jihad" hub-bub was about so, finding an English copy of The Koran in the Chaplains office, I started reading. I do not disrespect any religion in my choice to follow none. In Iraq, we had taken over the house of a former Republican Guard Colonel, who had a huge weapon cache buried throughout his yard and the adjacent orchard. After we fought off the guys who came to "re-claim" their weapons we called in the engineers to bulldoze the house to the ground. As we went through the house looking for intelligence, I came across the Koran. It was a nice copy, decorated beautifully in middle-eastern design. I told our Iraqi interpretor to pick it up and to follow me. We went to a neighboring house and through the Iraqi soldier told the lady that we didn't want to destroy the Koran and asked her to safekeep it for the family. The propaganda that we American soldiers disrespected Islam was just that, propaganda. I will say that in my opinion and after reading the Koran with the mindset of of an undereducated, dirt poor goat herder from the mountains of Afghanistan in mind I can see how Islam can be interpereted as to cause one to take up the call to "jihad". As for those die hard Taliban who would wish to impose a thirteenth century caliphate theocracy upon the world and who would nuke any infidel who refused to convert to Islam or submit to sharia, they're just ignorant cave-monkies who would chop off your hand for taking a photo of your daughter's 13th birthday. Who the hell in their right mind would go for that? Nearly 25% of the world's population, that's who. It's not just middle-eastern men between 16-40 or whatever, it's Islam. It's an intolerant, violent and evil religion. There I said it. I suppose there will be a "jihad" put out on me now too...

I remember, not long after the 9/11 attacks, when there was a general and fairly open distrust of middle -easterners, especially middle eastern males between the ages of 18 and 45.

"He's probably a terrorist!" many of us said to ourselves or quietly whispered to a friend while waiting in line at the airport.

We can only imagine what was going through the heads of those who fit the racial profile of a "terrorist" as they faced heavy suspicion no matter how innocent they really were.

I have been in several "heated" debates with friends and family on this topic, which actually runs a bit deeper but for times sake I will leave that out for now.

The facts speak for themselves and it is safe to say that an overwhelming percentage of terrorist attacks are committed by practioners of the Islamic faith. Just a few weeks ago Najibullah Zazi, an airport shuttle bus driver from Denver, was arrested by federal authorities for his involvement in a plot to attack the United States. Zazi is a 25 year old Afghan immigrant, fitting the "profile" I mentioned earlier.

Overshadowed by the media frenzy surrounding Zazi were two similar arrests, both of Islamic extremists, who were also planning attack on the U.S. One in particular draws my attention.

He had purchased the explosives as part of an undercover sting operation being conducted by multiple law enforcement and intelligence agencies at both the federal and state level.

So, what does an Islamic terrorist look like? Citing from an article which appeared in the Oct 8 2009 Denver Post I would like to bring something to the broader attention of those who would read this. The Denver Post article is based upon information released by The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The information is the result of a three year project conducted by PFRPL.

There are 1.57 billion Muslims worldwide which makes up nearly 25% of the entire population of the planet. That is one person out of four! The article also pointed out that "Germany has more Muslims than Lebanon, China has more Muslims than Syria, Russia has more Muslims than Jordan and Libya combined and the Ethopia has nearly as many Muslims as Afghanistan."

I recently bought as a gift for a friend "The Idiot's Guide to World Conflict." He loves to discuss the topic but has no real knowledge of why things are the way they are. The book covers 80 ongoing conflicts (wars) occurring around the globe and gives a brief synopsis of each.

He was shocked to find that something like 87% were between Islamic and non-Islamic people. The number might even be higher, check the book out for yourself. I fought in Iraq. I am not going as far to say that it was a religious war but, when someone was yelling "Allahu Akbar!" as they were unloading an AK-47 on me or detonating an IED ten feet away, it became about religion to me.

As for myself, I believe in a higher power, but don't fall under the yolk of any organized religion. (Ted Haggard or Jim Baker aren't going to tell ME how to live!).

I have had a lot of time to study the history of Radical Islam and have even read most of the Koran (I had to see for myself and I am still working on it). I believe that organized religion is an instrument used to control the thoughts and behaviors of people. I attended a Catholic School as a child (maybe that's what did it) and never really felt comfortable with the thought that I would burn for eternity just for being myself.

I had Christianisty shoved down my throat. I briefly and loosely educated myself on Buddaism while stationed in Asia. Buddists are about the most peaceful people I have ever met in my travels.

I made it a point while traveling the world to educate myself on the local inhabitants, their customs, religion, language, etc. When I got to Iraq, I wondered what all the "Jihad" hub-bub was about so, finding an English copy of The Koran in the Chaplains office, I started reading.

I do not disrespect any religion in my choice to follow none. In Iraq, we had taken over the house of a former Republican Guard Colonel, who had a huge weapon cache buried throughout his yard and the adjacent orchard.

After we fought off the guys who came to "re-claim" their weapons we called in the engineers to bulldoze the house to the ground. As we went through the house looking for intelligence, I came across the Koran. It was a nice copy, decorated beautifully in middle-eastern design. I told our Iraqi interpretor to pick it up and to follow me.

We went to a neighboring house and through the Iraqi soldier told the lady that we didn't want to destroy the Koran and asked her to safekeep it for the family.

The propaganda that we American soldiers disrespected Islam was just that, propaganda. I will say that in my opinion and after reading the Koran with the mindset of of an undereducated, dirt poor goat herder from the mountains of Afghanistan in mind I can see how Islam can be interpereted as to cause one to take up the call to "jihad".

As for those die hard Taliban who would wish to impose a thirteenth century caliphate theocracy upon the world and who would nuke any infidel who refused to convert to Islam or submit to sharia, they're just ignorant cave-monkies who would chop off your hand for taking a photo of your daughter's 13th birthday.

Who the hell in their right mind would go for that? Nearly 25% of the world's population, that's who. It's not just middle-eastern men between 16-40 or whatever, it's Islam. It's an intolerant, violent and evil religion. There I said it. I suppose there will be a "jihad" put out on me now too...

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