On Conflating Jiahadists with Islam, (Comment in NY Times)

Full letter sent in response to a viral email listing all the Muslims in Obama's administration.  This is described in comment in the Public Editor's article of 10/30//14 .  It shows how individuals can help defuse irrational anger generated by the mass media.

Interesting.

I checked out the second person on the list, Mohammed Elibiary.  He's no longer involved with Homeland Security Agency as described here.  This article lays out an indictment of his being someone who should never have been part of the U.S. Government

I tried to check whether being on the HSA advisory board was only an honorary position, but even so, his promoting of the worse excesses of Islam would be unacceptable.  On the other hand, while the Koran does contain the seeds of violence against outsiders, so do the holy books of Christianity and Judaism.  This email is valuable since it points out that our principle of religious freedom must never be a cover for the most extreme aspects of religion. 

This presents a challenge to citizens and elected officials alike. We have to ask whether Mr. Elibiary is a mole who is infiltrating our government to promote terrorism or trying to build a bridge between moderate Muslims and our larger society.  First one has to believe the existence of such a thing as "moderate Muslims" and if this is not possible then we must respond by a type of "inquisition" to demand that all such people renounce this religion. This would mean a radical change, at the least repealing our first Amendment ensuring free expression of religion.  In my view this is dangerous, as this was imposed on my ethnic group over the centuries from 15th century Spain to more recently in Germany.

This official document describes Mr. Elibiary as attempting to build a bridge and promote moderate Islam, as described in this award from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, an organization that one may assume has a grasp on the background and activities of this individual.  These are difficult times, yet in my view ignoring the multifaceted nature of religious or secular ideologies may not provide the security that we all desire..

Al Rodbell