Opinion

Put same yardstick to all terrorists

Posted September 17, 2009 11:00 pm

On Sept. 9, when 44-year-old Jose Flores acted on a "divine revelation" and hijacked an Aeromexico Flight 576, he was described as a "religious fanatic" and a "bible-carrying hijacker." When a man hijacked a Canadian Airliner in Jamaica, he was described as a "troubled gunman."

Neither of these men were Muslim. Neither were considered a terrorist. And yet would anyone describe their acts as anything short of terrorism? That is unless, of course, being Muslim is a prerequisite for participating in terrorism.

Had Jose Flores been carrying a Quran instead of a Bible, he would have had a front-page story headlining his "Islamic" and terrorist motivations. Rather since Christianity was his driving motivation, he was described as a "drug addict" instead of a terrorist.

It's about time the media uses the same yardstick to measure terrorist acts, rather than saving a special yardstick for Muslims.

Mohammad Abdeljalil

Naperville

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