In the Name of God and Country

In February of this year Joseph Andrew Stack, a 53-year-old software engineer, flew a single-engine plane into an office building in Texas. To the shock of many in the Middle East, the White House released a statement in reaction to the attack that said the attack was not terrorism, but an isolated act. The declaration that this was not a terrorist incident left many in this region bitterly wondering if the White House would have released the same statement if Stack was an Arab and/or a Muslim. That terrorism is perpetrated by “others,” or often specifically Arabs and Muslims, is an idea commonly held in the West. In America — the leader of the ‘War on Terror’ for the past nine years — this is especially true. As Michael Fellman, professor of history emeritus at Simon Fraser University, argues in his new book ‘In the Name of God and Country’