Those words are meaningless. Every day, the anti-Muslim attitude in America grows. And, the only people speaking about the hatred are Muslims and a few concerned non-Muslim U.S. citizens. They are telling us that times are bad and are going to get worse, yet nothing is done.

Just a couple of days ago, the leading British Muslim spokesperson was disallowed entry to the U.S. No reason was given. And, he is not exactly a "militant," but a moderate voice for British Muslims for years.

I thought I had heard it all until I read an article published in USA Today on July 19. It began:

A Colorado Congressman told a radio talk show host that the U.S. could "take out" Islamic holy sites if Muslim fundamentalists attacked the country with nuclear weapons.

Pat Campbell, talk show host of WFLA-AM, Orlando, Colorado, asked Congressman Tony Tancredo how the U.S. should respond if terrorists struck several U.S. cities with nuclear weapons. Tancredo answered:

"Well, if you said something like, if this happens in the United States and we determine that it is the result of extremist, fundamentalist Muslims, you know, you could take out their holy sites."

Campbell then added, "You’re talking about Mecca," to which Tancredo responded, ‘Yeah."

My non-U.S. readers may have a hard time believing that conversations like this are commonplace in America, but they are. All over the country, people on the street talk abut the Muslim bogeyman. If one opposes this type of discussion, he/she is labeled "un-American" and dismissed as some kind of wacko.

Let’s look at the comments of the radio host and the Congressman. First of all, how would any group, or country for that matter, be able to hit the U.S. with nuclear weapons in several cities. There are about eight countries with an active nuclear weapon, and most of them took decades of work costing billions of dollars to perfect one. Even to talk of such a scenario is absurd and a waste of time.

Then, to bomb Mecca? Christian fundamentalists have perpetrated many violent acts in the U.S. — the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building; various bombings of abortion clinics; the bombing of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta; and other acts of violence that have killed human beings. Where is the outcry to demolish the Christian organizations to which these people belong?

It is so ludicrous to mention bombing Mecca if Muslims attack the U.S. In all probability, any act would be against the politics of the nation, not a religion. And, those who would commit such an act would do so, not in the name of Allah, but to show opposition to imperialism and violence against the Muslim world, or Arab countries with a Muslim population.

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article called "Why They Fight." In it, I cited a definitive study (the only one with complete data) published by Robert Pape. He recently released a book called Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism. In an interview with Al-Jazeera News, he stated:

Islamic fundamentalism is not the primary driver of suicide terrorism. Nearly all suicide terrorist attacks are committed for a secular strategic goal: to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from territory the terrorists view as their homeland.

Once you have a more complete picture you can see that the main cause of suicide terrorism is a response to foreign occupation, not Islamic fundamentalism, and the use of heavy combat forces to transform a Muslim society is only likely to increase the number of suicide terrorists, as now is happening.

Out of the thousands of people in the U.S. government, I would venture that fewer than a dozen, if any, have read Pape’s book or his 19-page summary posted online. If they did, they would not be talking like this nitwit from Colorado. Then again, if they did, it would break the big bubble of an excuse the U.S. uses to massacre Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Anti-Muslim attitudes are at an all-time high in the U.S. So-called normal people who have families, work for a living, and participate in community events, will quickly turn into bigots once the words "Islam" or "Muslim" are mentioned. I know because I have gotten into many a shouting match with individuals in banks, stores and on the street who make ludicrous remarks. I don’t start these arguments, but when my bank the teller makes an unsolicited anti-Muslim statement, I must object. Or the maintenance person for my copy machine. Or the clerk in the local 7-11. Then, when I use the word "bigot," they totally deny any prejudice. That is modern-day America.

I am waiting for the next abortion clinic bombing in the U.S. Not that I want to see it happen, but it is an inevitability. Then, I will ask why no American Congressman would advocate bombing the Vatican. After all, the Catholic Church is the leading anti-abortion organization on Earth.

When I went to the Google search engine to find a picture for my article, a few were included on the website www.globalsecurity.org. What captured my eye, however, is the menu in which they were placed: military. I can not conceive of how Mecca would be a military threat, but possibly Congressman Tancredo has spoken too soon and has let the cat out of the bag.