By CLIFFORD D. MAY, Scripps Howard News Service

M. Zuhdi Jasser is a physician, a Navy veteran, an American patriot and a Muslim who does not hold with those who preach that Islam commands its followers to take part in a war against unbelievers.

There's pain and then there's pain.

Getting stung by a bee hurts. Having a Doberman sink his teeth into your thigh is a more intense experience.

By the same token, there are sanctions and then there are sanctions.

For 65 years, Pakistanis have been conducting one of modern history's great experiments: Can a nation conceived as Islamic also be free and democratic -- the vision of Pakistan's founding father, Muhammad Ali Jinnah? Or will Pakistan's identity be defined by "forces that want us to live in fear -- fear of external and internal enemies"?

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has described the Muslim Brotherhood as "secular." Vice President Joseph Biden recently said the Taliban "is not our enemy." According to John Brennan, assistant to the president for counterterrorism, terrorists who proclaim they are motivated by religion should not be described using "religious terms."

It's funny in an Orwellian way that in Europe there are now militant groups with such cutesy names as Sharia4Belgium and Sharia4Holland. Less funny, but perhaps more Orwellian: Last month, the European Foundation for Democracy (EFD) held an event in Amsterdam featuring two speakers who favor liberalizing Islam.

JERUSALEM - Iran is not our enemy. The regime that enriches itself while murdering, oppressing and impoverishing ordinary Iranians, the regime that incites genocide against Israel, threatens its neighbors in the Persian Gulf and vows to bring about a "world without America" -- that is our enemy.

Late last week, the State Department announced a $10 million reward for information leading to the capture of Ezedin Abdel Aziz Khalil, aka Yasin al-Suri -- Yasin the Syrian. Serious students of terrorism and counterterrorism saw this as big news for two reasons.

The region we now call the Middle East is an elaborate mosaic. Among its peoples are the Arabs, desert denizens who became great conquerors and colonists. The Persians possessed a mighty empire in antiquity and will again if Iran's current rulers fulfill their ambitions.

Is there anything Islamic about Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps? On what basis does Ayman al-Zawahiri, now al-Qaida's leader, formerly the head of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, claim to be a jihadi -- an Islamic warrior? Do groups that justify terrorism on the basis of Islam have a doctrinal leg to stand on?

America is in economic distress. The crisis threatens our national security because a nation that is weak economically cannot be strong in other ways. If only we had an untapped source of wealth, a nest egg we could crack and use to grow the economy, create jobs, raise Americans' standard of living while providing the resources needed to defend the nation from its enemies.