A tough week in America

   It's been a tough week in America. On Monday, for the first time in more than a decade, the spectre of terrorism raised its ugly head when two bombs made from ordinary, everyday pressure cookers exploded at the annual running of the Boston Marathon, killing three and injuring 170, many seriously. A day after that tragedy, it was reported that two letters laced with the toxin ricin had been sent to Mississippi Congressman Roger Wicker and President Barack Obama. And on Wednesday, an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, near Waco killed 14 and devastated the town. It's been a tough week, indeed.
   Fortunately, by the end of the week, two of the cases had been resolved. On Wednesday, authorities arrested a Mississippi man, Paul Kevin Curtis, in the ricin case. And on Friday, after Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick ordered an area wide lockdown in Boston and surrounding suburbs, authorities cornered bombing suspects Tameralan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Tamerlan was killed in the resulting firefight with authorities, but as of Friday night, Dzhokhar was in custody. As for the tragedy in West, at least two people remain missing.
   It's unfortunate, but not surprising, that in the wake of Monday terrorist attack -- and that's undoubtedly what it was -- the tragedy in Texas has been pushed to the back burner of the nation's consciousness. For many Americans, Monday's attack brought back unwelcome memories of Sept.11, 2001. It was a stark reminder that no matter how much time passes and how much we want to believe differently, our nation is still vulnerable to terrorist attack. It was a reminder that we can no longer take comfort in believing that terrorism is something that happens to other people in other parts of the world. As Monday's tragedy showed, it can, and does happen here. And it was a reminder that our world has permanently changed. As much as we would like to go back to the world as it existed on Sept. 10, 2001, that world is gone, and it's not coming back.
   In the hours and days following the Boston bombings, President Obama sounded all the right notes. He reached out to a shocked and grieving nation offering what scant comfort he could. He promised that a reason would be found for the attacks and that those responsible would be brought to justice. And, just as his predecessor did following Sept. 11, he urged Americans to be more vigilant and to act if they see something suspicious. That's good advice. My hope is that in heeding it, we don't make the same mistakes we made following Sept. 11.
   I hope we don't see innocent American Muslims or American Arabs unfairly singled out in airports, bus or train stations for "extra security" strictly because of their religion or because they choose to speak Arabic among themselves. I hope we don't see neighbor turning on neighbor, as we did in those first days after the Sept 11 attacks. And most of all, I hope we don't see terrified Americans willingly giving up their freedoms in return for a false security. As Benjamin Franklin once wisely observed: "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
   Here are some facts that I hope don't get lost in the coming days. First, Islam is not a violent religion. Fact is, less than 1 percent of Muslims could be considered "radical." The vast majority of Muslims are peace-loving people who abhor the violence committed in the name of their religion. If you want to talk about violent religions, what about Christianity? Have we forgotten the Inquisition? Have we forgotten the Crusades? Millions have been killed in the name of Christian orthodoxy. As a religion, Christianity is just as blood-soaked as Islam. And we have our share of radicals (Westboro Baptist Church, anyone?). Yet no one would consider Christianity a violent religion just because a tiny minority take Jesus' teachings and misapply them. Why is it fair, then, to assume that Islam is a violent religion because a few followers are misguided? Put simply, it's not.
   Second, we cannot protect ourselves from terrorism by willingly giving up our freedoms. In the days following Sept. 11, the Bush administration quickly passed the PATRIOT Act giving the government unprecedented power to interrogate suspects and monitor Americans through things such as civilian wiretaps. While a heightened awareness of terrorism has resulted in many plots being discovered before they could be executed, Monday's attack proved the folly of giving up those freedoms. The truth is, if someone wants to attack us, they can always find a way to succeed. And no amount of  illicit monitoring or "enhanced interrogation" can prevent it. As the old saying goes, "We have to be right 100 percent of the time. They only have to be right once."
   Finally, the "War on Terror" declared by President George W. Bush following Sept. 11 is a farce. Terrorism is a philosophy, not a flesh and blood enemy as in traditional wars. For every terrorist we kill, there will always be 10 more ready to step forward and take their place. It is an endless war that we cannot hope to win. If we hope to stop terrorism, we have to start by taking away their moral imperative to fight. And we do that by taking an honest look at our country and the impact of our foreign policy. The truth is, our unabashed, unwavering support of Israel over the past 65 years, no matter what they do,  has earned us hatred throughout the Middle East and in many other parts of the world.
   In a nutshell, that's why we were attacked on Sept. 11. And even that may not be enough to explain every attack. The Boston bombers hardly fit the profile of your average terrorist. Yes, they were Muslim, but they weren't Arab. They were Chechen immigrants who, by all accounts, had fully acclimated to America and were your typical, All-American kids. We don't yet know their motive for the bombings, and if the surviving bomber dies, we may never know. But if we are to have any hope of finding out, we cannot afford to allow our anger and grief to push us into making the same mistakes we made after Sept. 11. If we react in fear and start lashing out at Arabs and Muslims, if we allow our freedoms to be abrogated in pursuit of a false security, then we will have learned nothing and those who died will have done so in vain.