Ugly anti-Muslim rhetoric undermines the safety of all Americans

The images are becoming all too familiar. Blood literally flows in the streets as dazed survivors tell the story of the latest atrocity.

It might be a suicide bomber detonating his deadly vest in a peaceful, Pakistani park, a group of heavily armed men shooting up a concert in Paris or explosions at an airport in Brussels.

Americans view these images with horror, sadness and sympathy. And, of course, fear and wonder: Fear that such an attack will soon occur here and more than a little wonder that it hasn’t happened already.

Certainly, America has not gone totally unscathed since 9/11. There have been multiple high-profile terror attacks, such as the bombing of the Boston Marathon, the Fort Hood shootings and the San Bernardino, Calif., massacre.

What America hasn’t seen is the kind of large-scale, coordinated attacks by trained, heavily armed assailants that have taken place in Paris, London, Brussels, Jakarta, Mumbai and elsewhere.

The terror attacks that have occurred in America have mostly been by lone wolves — disaffected young men and women who have become radicalized by groups like the Islamic State but have little or no actual contact with the militants.

We’ve seen nothing, thankfully, like the attack in Paris, where eight well-trained gunmen launched coordinated attacks that killed 130 people.

Anti-terror experts are asking why America has so far been spared, and there seem to be two answers — beyond effective sharing of information among intelligence agencies and efforts to monitor the different electronic channels terrorists use to communicate.

Of these two answers, one we can do nothing about other than be grateful for. The other we can do something about, but, unfortunately, fear and dysfunctional politics heighten the risk that we will do the wrong thing.

The first factor working to protect the U.S. is geography. As Peter Bergen, a national security analyst for CNN, wrote in a recent article, “You can drive from Damascus to Paris. You cannot, of course, drive from Damascus to New York.”

The Paris attackers were all European nationals, all trained by ISIS in Syria. According to the most recent Worldwide Threat Assessment by the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, more than 6,900 fighters from Western countries have gone to Syria since 2012.

Far fewer Americans have joined that fight, and there’s been only one case of an American fighter trained in Syria and returning to allegedly plot an attack.

While part of the reason those numbers are low is geography, a bigger contributor is that second factor.

American Muslims have overwhelmingly rejected the poisonous ideology promoted by ISIS and other radical Islamic groups. They haven’t been sold on the idea that Muslims can live peacefully only in an Islamic nation.

That is why the xenophobia peddled by major Republican candidates is not only despicable but dangerous.

When Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump proposes a ban on all Muslims entering the United States or Sen. Ted Cruz suggests monitoring and patrolling “Muslim neighborhoods,” they are reacting exactly as ISIS would hope. ISIS wants American Muslims (and Muslims in every Western nation) to feel isolated and ostracized.

The more we feed hatred and bigotry, the easier it will be for ISIS propaganda to sway impressionable young men who can be convinced that strapping on a suicide vest is their best option.

If you find yourself doing exactly what your enemy would have you do, it is time to rethink. Americans should soundly reject these reactionary and unwise proposals.

This story was originally published April 3, 2016 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Ugly anti-Muslim rhetoric undermines the safety of all Americans."