Your comment projects a significant lack of understanding as to what "America is all about" in the eyes of Muslims (or any non-American).
Our history is littered with misdeeds that are very widely known within the societies in which they occurred. For example, the CIA deposed Iran's democratically elected leader in the early 1950s and inserted the Shah. The Shah was every bit the butcher that saddam was. You have to look reasonably hard to find out about these and many other misadventures in this country. But 'foreigners' who lived through it are very keenly aware and are, therefore, reasonably mistrusting of the US. Not so much of the American PEOPLE - but of our elected officials and corporations.
So, yes, our problems with extreme Muslims didn't start with bush or 911. We've been giving non-extreme Muslims plenty of reasons to upgrade to extremists for many years.
The "war on terror" phrase wasn't so much an euphemism for 'we're gonna git you Muslims' as it was an acknowledgment that our former president and his people are at best, adolescent or prepubescent in their thinking and communication. Declaring an on-going crusade against a technique like terrorism is embarrassing - because it's logically a recursive admission that we are terrorized. It told the world's sentient citizens that the US was being run by a bunch of chest-thumping flunkies.
Communicating as an adult won't pacify extremists, but it will start to help prevent more people from gravitating toward or supporting extremists.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
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