Why I am disappointed in Trump's Muslim Ban

Make no mistake: I think a Muslim ban is needed for several countries in the Middle-East to the United States.

However for Trump, choosing Iraq and not Pakistan was a grave mistake and potential injury to real allies on the ground. Having met Muslim extremists myself, I have never found a western-born Iraqi who supports terrorism as I have met western-born Somalis and Pakistanis. It is good that Somalia was selected - it was grievous that Pakistan was not.

Iraq's Sunni Muslim population was largely secular before the Iraq War. This suggests that the majority of Iraqi Sunnis only ally with ISIS because they feel they have no choice - though the minority, such as in the case of Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, benefit more from supporting terrorism than emigrating to America and returning to their secular roots.

Iraq has the potential to replace Saudi Arabia as America's top oil and Arab ally. But adding Iraq to the list of banned Muslim-majority countries threatens to undo that and throw Iraq more forcefully into the arms of Iran.

Far better would have been for Trump to choose Pakistan over Iraq. I agree with not adding Afghanistan to the list, as many Afghanis support American intervention against the Taliban. But adding Iraq to the list threatens to undermine peace and stability returning to the Middle-East. Trump needs to tread more carefully.