I told you, this was coming.

I am just surprised it took this long.

I agree in principle that mainstream Muslims need to continue to work to eliminate extremism from their ranks, and to educate their youth on the evil of this philosophy. We need to do more to encourage them to do so. This type of push back, only serves to reinforce the arguments of those who would argue, "See, they hate you. Nothing you do is going to change their mind."

We need to start a dialogue with progressive Muslims. We need to encourage them to speak up, and support the efforts of those who do. The inflammatory rhetoric from some quarters about Islam only serves to push the young and impressionable, into the arms of the Terrorist.

When I was a young man, I remember the recruitment techniques of street gangs like the Crips and Bloods. What they offered was a rhetoric based on "Us vs. Them," and a sense of belonging. This is what we are fighting against, and until we offer young Muslims an alternative to that, a sense of belonging... Islamic Terrorism will continue to be attractive.

Think of the positive effect if more non Muslim Americans simply reached out to the Muslim Community, tried to include them, broke down some of the barriers which currently exist, and made them feel like Americans, instead of Muslim Americans.

As for the Right Wing Rhetoric, I will take it a bit more seriously when the Right spends as much energy condemning Right Wing hate groups, including those who bomb Abortion Clinics and disparage Gays and Lesbians. I will also be impressed with they tone down their rhetoric and match their rhetoric about caring for the people of Iraq, by demonstrating some compassion and soladarity with Muslims right here in the U.S., who are as much a victim of Islamic Terrorism as non Muslims are.

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