It's jihad that we fear

On these days following the day we commemorate the ninth anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, I am reminded that many Americans, including me, are accused of being Islamaphobic. I wish to set the record straight!

While I am not Islamaphobic, I am now and have been for some time jihadistaphobic. President Bush, following the attack on 9-11 said it correctly when he said we are not at war with Islam. He could have added that we are and will respond to the holy war - jihad - being waged against us.

The men who perpetrated the atrocity at the World Trade Center were jihadists. The men who beheaded Daniel Pearl for doing his job as a journalist were jihadists. The same can be said about the Army major who murdered the soldiers at Fort Hood, the man who bombed the recruiting office in Oklahoma City, the shoe bomber, the men who attempted to blow up the airliner on Christmas, the men who set the bombs in the London subway, the men who blew up the Madrid train and the Bali nightclub, and on and on.

This worldwide jihadist movement is now and has been waging war against the West in general and the United States in particular. Their written and verbally stated goal is the replacing of all established governments with Islamic theocracies answerable to a single caliphate. I note with appreciation that members of the Muslim community in the United States are serving in the Armed Forces.

They serve not only to protect our freedoms, but also to make them available to those around the world that want to have them. I look forward to the day when the rest of the Muslim community, led by their imams and leaders of national organizations such as CAIR, will be less interested in claiming their rights under the Constitution and more with exercising their responsibilities implied in same document.

Richard H. Giering

Libertyville