Three important lessons from the Norway terrorist attack

Image from the attack in Oslo, Norway

My heart is filled with sorrow for the innocent people who recently fell victim to hatred and anger in Norway. I pray for them and their families.

The terrorist attack by Anders Behring Breivik provide us with three important lessons -- lessons that can help us prevent many future tragedies.


The lessons are:

Anders Behring Breivik

1- Terrorism has no religion or religious identity. Terrorists come in all colors, religions, nationalities, and ideologies. Terrorists and criminals commit crimes despite their religious teachings and not because of those teachings.


2- Unchecked hate speech can easily lead to violence. Islamophobes, anti-Semites, anti-immigrants, and all types of bigots should be challenged and exposed. Hate mongers such as Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer and Walid Shoebat -- all cited approvingly by Breivik in his manifesto -- are very dangerous because their ideas inspire and incubate right-wing terrorism. It is crucial that government agencies such as the FBI and DHS stop employing these discredited, agenda-driven individuals to train our nation's law enforcement and security agents.

Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer whose writings were favored by Breivik

3- Law enforcement should use behavioral profiling and not religious or racial profiling. Racial or religious profiling would fail to prevent terrorists like Breivik because law enforcement agencies are not profiling all White, Christian, blond-haired and blue-eyed males, and rightly so.