The War on Terrorism

Reuters has a report today that sheds some light on the dangers of implicitly targeting Muslims. A group of 'rebels' attacked a city in Southern Russia, Nalchik, in the province of Kabardino-Balkario, in a province close to Chechnya. The Reuters article points out how the hostility towards the Russian government developed despite the government's frequent assertions that it was conducting a war on terrorists, not a war on Islam. Despite the public pronouncements, many Mulims saw actions that belied these statements. Reuters writes:

Officials have repeatedly emphasized that the Chechen war, which has ground on for 11 years with tens of thousands of casualties, and operations in neighboring regions like Kabardino-Balkaria are not aimed at Muslims, but at terrorists.

But analysts said oppression and harassment of Muslims, and the closure of mosques -- Nalchik has only one official mosque after the others were shut -- had sparked the revolt.

The U.S. repeatedly tries to claim that it is conducting the War on Terror(ism) against the "terrorists and evildoers". However, invading two Muslim countries, torturing Muslim detainees and in essence, painting a stereotypical terrorist as a young Muslim man provides a powerful spark in igniting a vision of a war on Islam. Combined with George W. Bush's evangelical Christianity and a few inopportune comments on the war on Terrorism as a 'crusade and many Muslims could easily get the idea that the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan were part of a Global War on Islam. I'm not saying anything like Nalchik will happen in the U.S., but not matching words with deeds is a recipe for trouble. It is particularly worrying in a region like the Middle East, where conspiracy theories are extremely common.