Guest View: Why we should not label terrorists 'radical Islam'
By Keith Peterson
Democratic candidates and the Obama administration have come under fire for their reluctance to use the term "radical Islam" to describe the brutal adversaries from the Islamic State and al-Qaida as well as the splinter groups that have formed in Libya, Sinai and elsewhere.
This failure, argue the critics, demonstrates a lack of seriousness of purpose in the fight against a threat that manifested itself so tragically and violently in Paris.
However, we should be cautious in our choice of words because we could so easily play into the hands of those adversaries as well as weaken some of the tenets that are so central to the American ideal.
The first problem with the term "radical Islam" is that the word "radical" is so easily lost and all that is left is that America and its allies around the world are involved in a struggle against Islam. This is exactly what ISIS wants.
ISIS and al-Qaida would like nothing more than to have this very idea fixed in the minds of people that this struggle is between a decadent, imperialist West and Islam and they are the true defenders of that faith and certainly not the feckless leaders of Muslim-majority countries.
This vilifies an entire religion and certainly we understand that the extremists of ISIS or al-Qaida do not represent all of Islam any more than the Branch Davidians represented all Christians.
We should remember that the young men and women who have answered ISIS's call swim in the sea of their own culture and coreligionists.
One of the most potent forces we have to combat this scourge is to convince Muslims to denounce the extremists who presume to speak for them and not allow them to appropriate one of the world's great religions for their vile and perverted purposes. The second reason is that the United States, like France, is a multicultural society. We have a growing number of Muslim citizens - it is the fastest growing religion in the U.S. - and the vast majority does not harbor extremist views.
Americans also conflate Muslim and Arab even though the majority of Arabs who have come to the United States are Christians - Copts from Egypt and Maronites, Orthodox and other sects from Lebanon. They are like other American citizens who just want a decent job and a good future for their kids.
In our sound-bite culture, our prospective political leaders too often reach for the kind of inflammatory rhetoric that will get them a few precious seconds on the evening news but provide more heat than light.
In a democracy, the greater our understanding of the challenges we face, the more coherent our strategy and the greater the support across the political spectrum.
The term chosen by the Obama administration - "violent extremism" - is not perfect, but it avoids the trap of giving the leaders of ISIS, al-Qaida, and other such groups exactly what they want. As for seriousness of purpose, that should be judged based on the actions of the United States and the international community.
Actions always speak louder than words, but words still matter.
• Keith Peterson was chief editorial writer for the Daily Herald in the 1980s before beginning a 29-year career as a foreign service officer. Now retired, he lives in Lake Barrington.