STEREOTYPE WATCH : Muslim Encounter

In almost every aspect of its mission nowadays, the U.S. military is being asked to come to grips with a vastly changed world. Not only are the armed forces trying to redefine their proper role in the post-Cold War era, they are reckoning--not always comfortably--with the composition and even sexual orientation of their own personnel.

And as a flap over a counterterrorism training film at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station demonstrates, the military is now under scrutiny even for how it describes its theoretical enemies.

The dispute involved a training film painting a picture of Muslims as a main terrorist threat to Americans. A Muslim Marine sergeant took offense; the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee complained to the Marine commandant.

The committee pointed out that the film focused glaringly on Arabs or Muslims in the Middle East, but the State Department’s own report on terrorist patterns showed that only a handful of several hundred anti-U.S. incidents in 1990 were attributed to residents of Middle Eastern countries.

Interesting point.

The Marines responded commendably. While the base commander was criticized on the ground that he failed to adequately investigate anti-Muslim bias at the station, the base agreed to shelf the offending film pending a review for accuracy and bias.

That surprised some people--and ought to please the critics. Terrorists, like everybody else, come in all sizes, shapes, nationalities--and religions.