Extreme Islamic Terrorism – “The Underbelly Of Society”

First of all, our sentiments go out the victims of the Orlando nightclub terrorist attack yesterday.  This event is now the biggest terrorist mass killing since 9/11. Remember how you felt then?  Shocked, saddened, outraged.  Yes, those emotions and more. The pride of America rose to an all time high after 9/11.  We went out and hunted down and killed as many of those responsible for the horrific act as we could. Personally speaking, hearing that we had killed Osama Bin Laden gave me some sort of tainted satisfaction that our mighty country had enacted vengeance on the man who's face became synonymous with the newly born phrase "Extreme Islamic Terrorism". Killing Bin Laden only slowed down the acts of violence against westerners for a very brief time. Where Al Qaeda had raised the bar of fear in the world, a new evil, ISIS right from the start took it off the charts. More brutal, more organized than their predecessors, ISIS has become able to inspire acts of Extreme Islamic Terrorism within citizens of the U.S. Savvy enough to recruit new sympathizers via electronic media like Twitter and Facebook, ISIS had reached it's deadly influence out to those who were willing to accept it.

We've seen several "ISIS Inspired Killings" several times before, including the terror act in San Bernadino and this weekend's massacre in Orlando. These murderers picked what the government calls 'soft targets', places with little to no security and easy to access.  We must not ever believe that this kind of incident cannot happen around here.  I can guarantee within the tri-state area that there are people who hate America an sympathize with ISIS efforts to create an Islamic state. The Muslim religion cannot be help accountable for the acts of those who twist religion to suit their needs. Radical Islamists have certainly done that, as has happened with many other religions in our history. Even in America, a sect of Christianity once used to burn alive members of the community that were deemed to be witches and sorcerers. Point is, the current religion based terrorism is the climate of the world today and this will never stop. We simply cannot wipe out ISIS, Al Qaeda and the like. The influence of those groups is too far reaching into the the minds of those who are weak willed and buy into this twisted form of Islam.

What can you do?  Live your life, but be vigilant. That's what our government;s message is to us Americans, and it makes sense. I would find it hard to believe that friends, co-workers and neighbors of Omar Saddiqi Mateen, the Orlando shooter, hadn't seen signs of him being a time bomb. In high School Mateen told a fellow student that Osama Bin Laden was his father. Not true, but you get the sentiment.  Point is, if you see something that alerts your senses to a dangerous person, or a potential dangerous situation, report it to authorities.  It's a new time, a new world and while we cannot stop the evil completely, we have to recognize it where we see it and use our best judgement as a preventative measure. While we will never all completely agree on how to handle religious extremists, we can agree upon the fact that we need to do everything we can to keep each other safe.