Two weeks ago, FBI Director James Comey visited Detroit as part of a speaking tour he embarked upon to numerous field offices.  Our newspaper reported, “Comey said homegrown violent extremists and the emergence of Syria as a new ground for jihadi fighters make counterterrorism the top priority for the bureau throughout the country.”  

Comey also told us, “There are now thousands of foreign fighters in Syria who are gaining training, gaining new relationships, and they will flow back out of Syria at some point.”  He noted that counterintelligence and counterterrorism remain the top priorities of the FBI.  He even compared the current war in Syria, with its jihadist factions, to the war in Afghanistan in the late 1980s.  That war pitted Soviet forces against jihadist forces that eventually morphed into Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda.

It seems quite hypocritical that the FBI director would be worried about Americans getting “radicalized” and fighting in Syria, while the American government is supporting the very jihadist factions he is so fearful of.

Hasn’t our government learned from its mistakes?  In the Afghanistan war of the 1980s, our government groomed and supported the jihadist groups that were fighting against the Soviets.  Back then, we carried the old mantra of “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”  As it turns out, things were not so simple.  The factions that drove out the Russians, with our support, turned around to breed the ideology that spurred the attacks of September 11, 2001.  

One would hope that our government would not repeat the same mistake, but its support of the jihadist groups against the regime of Bashar al-Assad may mean it is doing just that.  In its efforts to topple Assad, the U.S. government is most likely grooming terrorists who, if given the opportunity, may quickly turn their rage and weapons against us.

Furthermore, constant drone attacks in Yemen, Pakistan, and elsewhere only hurt American security interests as well.  A drone may eliminate a dangerous individual, but it breeds anger and resentment among downtrodden populations.  And it is in these environments where terrorists gain influence and recruits.  Our drone policy is doing nothing to make Americans safer.  In fact, it may be quickly achieving the opposite.

We used al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, left them to their own devices, and then they attacked us.  And we are still paying for it.  And no one paid more than the American taxpayer, as defense budgets and military contracts rose year after year in the aftermath of 9/11.

The American policy on fighting terror must be reevaluated.  We cannot claim to fight terror while we support terrorist groups politically and breed them through our indiscriminate military action.

Almost thirteen years after 9/11, American political discourse still casts Islam as the enemy, marginalizing the vast majorities of both the American and international Muslim communities.  If the U.S. government is truly worried about counterterrorism and the safety of American citizens, it must put a halt to supporting jihadi groups abroad and making examples of misled Muslim teenagers here at home.

Our government needs to learn from the mistakes it has committed in the Arab and Muslim world over the past thirty years.  If we repeat our actions, we may be setting ourselves up for the same results.