Terrorists and mass shooters are evil peas from the same evil pod

The recent shootings Paris and now San Bernadino are horrific acts of terror. Equally so was the Planned Parenthood shooting in Colorado by Robert Dear Jr. Sympathy is being expressed for all these victims. The Muslim Community in San Bernardino and World has expressed their condolences. An interfaith conference was held Dec. 2 after the shooting in San Bernardino. The news conference was covered by the local media there but interestingly none of the major news networks reported it. The conference included religious leaders from San Bernardino's Muslim and Christian communities and the brother law of the suspect. All expressed their dismay, their sympathy for the victims and their families, and all condemned these heinous acts. Religious leaders there urged for peace and cooperation.

The cause of terrorism is no more because of Islam than Christianity was the motivation of the Planned Parenthood shooting in Colorado just last week, School shootings or the church shootings down South this past summer. Terrorism is about hatred, lust for power, greed, politics and war - not religion. From this caldron of hate, the agents of chaos prey on vulnerable minds.

All extremist groups pervert and twist religion to justify their evil deeds. However it is a historic fact the U.S., European allies, Israel, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia all have their hands dirty in enabling groups like ISIS. The thing that all terrorist, gangs, cults, hate groups have in common is they are all equally sinister. The same evil peas from the same evil pod.

But recent shooters like Dylan Roof and Robert Dear seem to be forgotten and not labeled 'terrorist,” unlike Syed Farooq who is already being declared a self-radicalized terrorist motivated by Islam. We need to examine this double standard and ask why that is.

Some political candidates and leaders will undoubtedly start sounding the trumpets of war; spitting vile messages of hate. This will only perpetrate fear and beget more violence.

Terrorism in the Middle East and these mass shootings in the U.S. are essentially separate problems but they can become a very toxic mixture; especially when political leaders pour bigotry and gasoline on the fire. Each year far more Americans die by gun violence at the hands of other Americans than are killed by Middle East terrorists. The U.S. accounts for 31 percent of mass shootings worldwide.

The solution to preventing terrorism is not war and suspicion of Muslims. We all have to get off the merry-go-round of hatred. Education, dialogue and healing is the only path to peace and security. Only through cooperation and dialogue will we combat the attraction to extremism. This must take place in the schools, Mosques, churches, universities and communities. The battlefield is the minds, souls and hearts of all our youth to keep them away from violence and extremism.

It is the duty of us all to promote peace and justice on earth. Those of us who stand for peace and reason must speak louder than the peddlers of fear, violence and intolerance.

The interfaith group in San Bernardino and CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) got it right. They all immediately came out in the news conference standing in solidarity, expressing sympathy for the victims; urging for calm, reason and peace. We must all 'be the change we wish to see in the world,” as Gandhi said. We must teach and remember that, as the Prophet Mohammed said, 'the ink of a scholar is holier than the blood of a martyr.”

' Hamza Sharif Omar, of Iowa City, is a member of the Muslim community, a former U.S. Airman and former corrections officer for the Iowa Department of Corrections.