The war on terror is not a war on Islam

Two weeks ago I was airlifted out of a flood zone in a Pakistani military cargo plane. I went to Pakistan to attend a friend’s wedding and ended up in what has now been declared the worst natural disaster in Pakistan’s history – 20 million people have been displaced and millions more are without food, shelter and clean water.

I cannot begin to express the kindness and compassion I was shown for the week I spent trying to make my way out of the water.

Admittedly, there isn’t a lot of love for the American government in Pakistan right now; the drone missiles we’ve sent in haven’t won us a lot of friends, and the millions of dollars America has sent in economic aid has been largely unfelt across the country, much of it eaten up in salaries paid to U.S. bureaucrats sent to disperse the aid, and the rest probably ended up in the pockets of the corrupt Pakistani political elite (a situation that should irritate the American taxpayer far more than the Pakistani citizenry).

But I felt nothing but kindness as an American citizen. Everywhere I was treated as a welcome guest, and everyone I met seemed very comfortable with me as an American. The Pakistanis I encountered simply understood the difference between disliking a government policy and disliking an American citizen.

This nuance of distinction is lacking in the “Mosque at Ground Zero” debate here at home.

Amazingly kind

People in Pakistan weren’t just kind, they were amazingly kind. I can’t even begin to express the compassion and help that I felt while there.

A joyful man named “Salim” played music to ease my nerves as we outraced the Himalayas, our jeep speeding along in the rain with boulders raining down on us (an hour after reaching the Karakorum Highway, the road we had taken was reclaimed by the mountain in an enormous landslide).

At one point, we must have had 20 people team up to help us tow our jeep – water up to the windows – out of a swollen river. And when, in the middle of the night, I had to wade across an area where a newly burst damn had just rendered the road impassible, I had friends whose names I will never know light up my murky path with their cell phones. Willing hands everywhere helping an American woman to escape the flood.

So when I was handed and asked about the front-page story “A proposed mosque tests the limits of American tolerance” I was embarrassed. And I really didn’t know what to say. The objection to building an Islamic center near Ground Zero implies that Islam and terrorism are one and the same, which is absurd. And those feeding the debate are simply alienating American Muslims from the incredible values of our country, the most uniquely American of which respects and values religious freedom of expression.

Even here in New Mexico, Steve Pearce has made it an aggressive point to politicize the issue.

Support the efforts of peaceful, religious Muslims

Pakistan is in a gloomy place right now – poverty, political misrule, insurgency, terrorism and sectarian violence. A state with 180 million people, a nuclear arsenal, and al-Qaeda’s global headquarters now has flooding covering nearly one-third of the country’s landmass, from one of the most far-reaching natural disasters the world has seen in decades. It is going to be a long and painful journey for Pakistan, and militant Islam will use the desperation to build a stronger base.

If anything we should be embracing the construction of the Islamic cultural center to illustrate to Muslims at home and abroad that the war on terror is not a war on Islam. We should support the efforts of peaceful, religious Muslims like the ones building the community center, who are our allies in keeping the hearts and minds of young Muslims out of fundamentalist sects.

To imply that we can’t handle a Muslim facility near Ground Zero is wading through dangerous water indeed.

Elisa Cundiff is the blogger behind NMPolitics.net’s Balder and Dash. E-mail her at elisa@nmpolitics.net.