Those individuals who calculatingly and cold-bloodedly planned to murder men, women and children engaged in breaking their Ramadan fast, in hopes of killing a few Western diplomats, US Marines and CIA agents along with them, are not Muslims.
They are ignorant dregs of humanity, who operate political agendas by distorting religion to suit their own ends.
I don't believe there is a true Muslim on Earth who would condone this act of barbarity that robbed so many innocents of their lives.
As a member of the human race possessed with an average capacity for compassion, I very occasionally allow my mind to wander to a dark place where I attempt to get inside the murderers' minds and ask: How do they do it?
What manner of man (or woman) can look upon a happy family scene involving gurgling babies or smiling toddlers being doted upon by parents or grandparents and choose to incinerate them? Are they sociopaths, monsters without conscience akin to serial killers, robots incapable of emotion or have the pod people invaded after all?
Were they the sort of children who sliced the tails of cats or pulled wings off butterflies? Have they ever cried during a sad movie? Have they any conception of what it means to love? Who are they and why have they invited hatred to dwell in every cell of their being?
For me, the most frightening answer would be: ordinary folk who have allowed their lives to be consumed by grudges and a desire for revenge or their minds to be brainwashed by purveyors of a warped ideology.
Whatever their religious beliefs or political views decent people everywhere should condemn last Saturday's attack on Islamabad's Marriott Hotel. Not only does it stand as a symbol for man's inhumanity to man it provides the US with yet another excuse to invade Pakistan's sovereignty in order to "hunt down Al Qaida and Taliban terrorists".
Indeed, George W. Bush has wasted no time in offering his country's "help" to locate the perpetrators. Help is one thing, but many Pakistanis feel in this case it is a euphemism for something more sinister.
Recent revelations indicating Bush has signed a secret executive order allowing US forces to cross from Afghanistan into Pakistan without having to seek Islamabad's permission have further fuelled anger and mistrust.
Since, American commandos have made illegal incursions into Pakistan leaving a trail of blood behind them, which they insist belonged to insurgents even as the Pakistani authorities prove civilians bore the brunt of the attacks just as they did on that fateful day at the Marriott.
America's allies within Nato disapprove of US aggression fearing it could lead to the downfall of yet another Pakistani government and possibly ignite a conflict that could end with regional war.
Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently made it crystal clear that he opposes such US operations and believes the US and Pakistan will reach agreement on the right way forward.
Cross-border raids
The Pakistan government has officially demanded an end to unauthorised American cross-border raids, saying they not only infringe Pakistan's sovereignty but also incite tit-for-tat attacks.
Elements within the Pakistani military and ISI intelligence agency are said to be seething at such blatant violation of their nation's sovereignty. Nationwide polls indicate that most Pakistanis would like US counter-terrorism operations within their borders to cease due to the unacceptable level of civilian casualties in their wake.
Pakistan's new pro-Western President Asif Ali Zardari, who knows what it's like to lose a loved one to terrorism, is in an unenviable position.
He has to satisfy concerns held by Pakistan's US ally, which wants him to crack down on extremists within tribal areas, and, at the same time, prove to his own people that he is not Washington's puppet in the way that many suspect his predecessor was.
Unlike America's, his own solution rightly takes into account hearts and minds. It consists of negotiating truces, investing in the development of tribal areas and using force only when all else fails.
During an address following the Marriott blasts, Zardari told his nation that he and his government are committed to stand undeterred against terrorism.
In that case, he must cultivate the goodwill of his political rivals, garner his people's trust, and work to integrate the tribal areas into the country as a whole by investing in infrastructure and alleviating poverty.
He would also do well to improve relations between Islamabad and Kabul, which is also suffering from trigger-happy US pilots whose respect for non-American life is questionable.
US strategy simply hasn't worked. For all its bombs and drones, the consensus is that the Taliban in Afghanistan are winning while Zardari last month told the BBC that the "Pakistani Taliban have the upper hand, and both the world and Pakistan are losing the 'war on terror'."
If that's true, then the US and Nato must back off to allow the region to solve its own problems and heal its own wounds. Every day they are in country they prove over and over again that violence only breeds violence.
It's time that Zardari and his Afghan counterpart President Hamid Karzai told them "Time's up. Get packing". It's more than likely that once the red rag stops waving the extremist bulls will quit snorting.
Linda S. Heard is a specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She can be contacted at lheard@gulfnews.com Some of the comments may be considered for publication.
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