America has witnessed some dark days in its history — days when blood was spilled, tears were shed and flags flew at half-mast to honor the dead. When Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire on his fellow soldiers at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, it was one of those days. Twelve unsuspecting servicemen and women and one civilian were killed, and 42 others were wounded.

This would probably be recognized as a simple tragedy were it not for the fact that the shooter is a Muslim.

This event is a cause for national mourning, but it has become something else: an occasion to unleash anti-Muslim hatred against those practicing the Islamic faith in the United States and abroad.

The rhetoric is similar, if less pervasive, to the talk about Muslims we heard in this country after the 9/11 attacks. Even the Senate jumped on the bandwagon; Sen. Joe Lieberman announced his intention to launch a congressional investigation to determine if the shooting could be classified as a terrorist attack.

The term “terrorist” conjures up images of suicide bombers and RPG-wielding insurgents hiding out in the mountains of Afghanistan.

It also serves as a convenient way to marginalize and demonize a whole group of people the American public sees as supporting terrorism. This is the same kind of misguided, racist thinking that led to the internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans during WWII.

I won’t speculate on Major Hasan’s motives — that’s for the investigators to determine, not for the public or the media to make up. It is too early to classify this incident as anything other than a tragic loss of life. To start throwing around intolerant Bush-era rhetoric is ignorant.

There might be as many as 2.5 million Muslims in the United States today. Of that group, only a small handful sought to do any harm to the citizens of this nation.

But the majority still view Muslim Americans with distrust and assume all of them are ticking time bombs, just waiting to perpetrate unthinkable acts of violence. There are also thousands of Muslims enlisted in the U.S. military, all doing honorable service to this country.

Why can’t we grow up? As well-informed, thinking citizens, do we really buy into this idea that Muslims are all closet terrorists? Are we really so naïve that we can’t believe a single man with a gun can perpetrate such thoughtless violence?