Social Climbers

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Islam is not our enemy.

But Islam has a problem, nonetheless, with the taint of terrorism that permeates it.

Consider that Abdulmutallab, the Christmas Day bomber, was a depressed and lonely man. Even if you can't blame Islam for making him a terrorist, Islam as it is widely seen by Moslems today surely does offer a violent path that is defined as honorable and which can redeem a worthless life with martyrdom.

Lots of people get depressed or even upset at the treatment of their religion (justifying even an attack on an old man for drawing a cartoon about Mohammed), but in the modern world, it is pretty much only Islam that sanctifies mass and even gruesome murder as a saving action that will give your life a purpose and meaning.

Hey, don't believe a knuckle dragger like me? Try Thomas Friedman who actually recognizes the struggle within Islam for the soul of that religion.

Until all-too-common admiration for terrorists is replaced by revulsion in the majority of Islam for mayhem and murder inflicted in Islam's name, we'll have to keep killing jihadis and holding our bladders for that final hour of a flight.