War in Iraq creates additional terror

Terrorism is the use of terror, violence or threats of violence to intimidate or frighten people into submission. Many countries are guilty of using it, including the United States. When the U.S. government launched its war on terrorism, it might as well have labeled the war for what it is, a war on Islam. I say this because all the countries on the list for invasion or those supposedly linked to terrorism are “Islamic” countries. These countries are inhabited mostly by Muslim people.

I am writing this in response to Unmesh Khadilkar’s opinion of the United States including Pakistan because “Pakistan is a nuclear capable state.” Well, for that reason alone, the United States should include India, Israel, North Korea and tons of other countries. These countries all have nuclear capabilities much more advanced than Pakistan’s. What I am getting at here is to stop blaming others and don’t take in everything the media feed you. Question it, and then come to your own conclusions after doing your own research.

To demolish terror, we need to do it in such a way where innocent people won’t be killed, children won’t be blown up, houses demolished and families won’t be broken up. We don’t need to end terror in an inhumane and barbaric manner because our vision has been clouded by ignorance, discrimination and hate. To end terror will require open-mindedness, objectivity and strategic planning where innocent people aren’t threatened.

The problem with many today is that we love to blame others and won’t uphold our own responsibilities. The problem lies in the fact that so many of us discriminate against others intentionally or unintentionally. We let our hate, ignorance and arrogance cloud our vision to see true Islam, to see true Judaism, to see real human beings like yourself and me being killed in brutal, unjustified, inhumane and barbaric ways all for what — trying to find one man and demolishing his homeland. How would we like it if the same thing happened to us? All we can do is imagine this unreal picture, yet this unreal picture for many is reality. Our vision is clouded to see people being killed, murdered, raped, molested, burnt, blown to smithereens, diseased or poverty stricken. We have become immune to these images. What are we all waiting for? For us to be next, this may just happen. This war is only adding millions to the death toll and is justifying killing others because it is a war on terror. It is ironic that, to end terror, we employ terror.

I would like to end by quoting a holocaust survivor who came and spoke to Hillel. “What’s the worst disease that has killed so many people? … discrimination.”

Ameena Zia is a sophomore majoring in religious studies.