I just don’t get it! On 9/11, a handful of bad Muslims attacked the homeland.

But in 1991, we and some good Muslims kicked out some bad Iraqi Muslims who had occupied Kuwait. Instead of toppling the Iraq regime at that time, we left the bad Muslims in power because they were enemies of some other bad Muslims in Iran.

After 9/11, we joined forces with good Muslims in Afghanistan to overthrow some bad Muslims who had taken control of that country. While there, we also launched an attack on the bad Muslims we had allowed to remain in power in Iraq because at the time we believed the Iran Muslims were worse.

After overthrowing the bad Muslims in Iraq, we aligned ourselves with good Iraqi Muslims in an effort to establish a democracy in that country. In so doing, we joined with good Muslims, many of whom gave their lives fighting the bad Muslims.

Hopefully leaving the good Muslims in control of Iraq, we began to withdraw despite the continuing efforts of some bad Muslims in Iraq and Iran to undermine efforts to establish a democracy.

Having “saved” Iraq for the good Muslims, we again turned our attention to Afghanistan and, with the help of good Muslims there and in Pakistan, have been trying to eliminate the bad Muslims in that country.

Our job was made all the more difficult because we discovered that many who we thought were good Muslims in the Afghan government are not so good.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, many good Muslims have died fighting as our allies and we are training and supplying thousands of good Muslims to continue the fight against the bad Muslims so that some day we can leave both countries.

In the meantime, some good Muslims in New York want to build a community center and mosque a couple of blocks from the site of the 9/11 attack, but some people, who apparently believe there are no good Muslims, are protesting the location.

This confuses the good Muslims, particularly those who have fought alongside us against the bad insurgent Muslims and the families of those good Muslims who have died in that ongoing struggle.
The good Muslims cannot understand how their faith has become an insult to those who died on 9/11, including about 300 good Muslims. Nor can they understand how, after invading their countries and asking them to sacrifice their sons and daughters in our effort to eliminate the bad Muslims, we can blame their religion.

Some people want the good Muslims to be sensitive to the feelings of the survivors of those who died on 9/11 apparently without regard to the sensitivities of the thousands of good Muslims who have died on our behalf to eliminate those responsible for that attack.

How sensitive some of us are when we believe we have been wronged and how insensitive some of us are when we wrong somebody else. To insult and offend the many for the sins of a few is stupid and undermines national security

The war on terror will not be won without the support and active participation of Muslims. The bad Muslims will have achieved a significant psychological victory if they persuade the majority of Americans that the Muslim religion is their enemy and not just a few radical adherents. Not unlike the Koran-burning Florida pastor, who distorts the tenets of the Muslim faith and Christianity for his own bizarre purposes.

There was a time when some thought the only good Indian was a dead Indian. It’s a shame that there apparently is still a little of that attitude around.

The constitution protects our right to freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Implicit, but not mentioned in that document, is the freedom to be stupid.

James W. Dolan is a retired Dorchester District Court judge who now practices law. E-mail: jdolan@dolanconnly.com.