Does Fighting Terrorism in the U.S target American Muslims - Research Paper Example

Does Fighting Terrorism in the U.S target American Muslims? Terrorism is a dreadful act and any person or party that participates in it is deemed to be evil. One of Americas mission is to protect its civilian against such atrocities, a recent research carried out claims that more Muslims Americans are joining terrorists groups to attack their own country. However such individuals should not be grouped together with American Muslims but dealt with individual. The fight against terrorism is not is not a target of American Muslim but for our own safety. For many years the United States of America (U.S.A) has been a target of many organized terrorist attacks. Al Qaeda and affiliated terrorist groups have devised ways of carrying out their activities on the American soil. However the attacks are not limited to the United States’ home soil but also U.S.A’s interests and citizens abroad. There has been claims recently that Al Qaeda is busy recruiting American Muslims and radicalizing them so as to enable them accomplish their mission of annihilating the U.S.A1. There has been an uproar concerning the involvement of radical American Muslims in the terrorist activities. Recently there has been a study by the New America Foundation and Syracuse University on incidences involving United States’ citizens who are affiliated to Islam with terrorism activities. This study shows that the number of cases of U.S. citizens or residents charged with or convicted of taking part in terrorist activities has escalated in recent years. There were 76 such cases in 2009 and 2010 -- nearly half the total since the terror attacks of September 11, 20012. Allegations of Muslim radicalism in the U.S.A and also that Al Qaeda is recruiting members in the United States are what prompted an investigation into the extent of radicalization in the Muslim community. There have been incidents over the past two years involving killings or attempted killings of Americans by American Muslims who are believed to be a product of the greater Al Qaeda plot3 Some recent high-profile cases involving radicalized American Muslims include Maj. Nidal Hassan. The American-born Army psychiatrist is accused of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others in a November 2009 attack at Fort Hood, Texas. Witnesses at a preliminary hearing identified Hassan as the man they heard shout "God is great" in Arabic before he opened fire with a handgun. Hassan fired more than 200 rounds, authorities allege, before he was shot by police. He is partially paralyzed, from the chest down, and uses a wheelchair. He faces a likely court-martial and the possibility of the death penalty. Najibullah Zazi-Zazi, an Afghan native who worked as an airport shuttle driver in Colorado, pleaded guilty in February 2010 to a plot to detonate explosives in New York's subway system. His father, Mohammed Zazi, has pleaded not guilty to seven charges related to the incident. Three others, including Zazi's uncle, were also charged in the case. Zerin Ahmedzay and Adis Medunjanin pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and other counts. Other examples of Al Qaeda American suspects are Colleen LaRose and Jamie Ramirez-A U.S. citizen and Pennsylvania resident who was born in Michigan, Faisal Shahzad-a naturalized U.S. citizen from Pakistan and a resident of Connecticut4. A controversial hearing got under way in Washington Thursday 10 March to examine the alleged radicalization of American Muslims - a hearing that many Muslim groups have criticized as unfair to the Muslim community. The hearing was entitled, “The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and that Community's Response”. The hearing is chaired by Peter King a member of the House of Representatives. Contrary to the societal expectations, this hearing has been opposed by the Muslim community in America who feel that this is unfairly targeting a minority community and not fighting the Al Qaeda. In defence of the hearing, Mr. King had said that it would focus on the influence of Al Qaeda. "We're talking about the affiliates of Al Qaeda, who have been radicalizing, and there's been self-radicalization going on within the Muslim community, within a very small minority, but it's there. And that's where the threat is coming from at this time,"5 It has been in the works for months. Mr. King had said that he would make the topic one of his priorities if he was assigned the Chair's position in the Committee after last November's election. King has focused on three incidents within the past two years which have been linked with Al Qaeda. The first one involves Army psychiatrist Major Nadal Hassan, who is accused of shooting 13 people at Fort Hood in Texas in November of 2009. In another Incident Ngibullah Zazi, a Colorado airport shuttle driver, pleaded guilty to a plotting to bomb the New York subway system6. The proponents of the investigations and hearing led by Peter King allege that it was Al Qaeda internationally attempting to recruit within the United States and people in America were being radicalized and identifying themselves in one way or another, with Al Qaida. So they claim it’s an international movement with elements in the United States. They contend that there is a real distinction and also argue that there is always going to be isolated interests, isolated fanatic, and isolated terrorists even, but an organized terrorist effort, to them, is different, which requires an investigation into that. U.S. Rep. Peter King is set to testify to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in Capitol Hill in Washington on May 5, 20117. Notwithstanding protests from the Muslim community both in terms of demonstrations and open criticism, a key Congressional committee kicked off a series of hearing Thursday 10th 2011 on radicalisation of Americans Muslims. Congressman Peter King, chairman of the powerful House Committee on Homeland Security has repeatedly said that the overwhelming majority of Muslim Americans are outstanding Americans and make enormous contributions to the country. But there are realities that the country can’t ignore and he adds that Al-Qaeda has realised that the measures they have put in place over the past nine and a half years have made it very difficult to launch a large-scale attack against their homeland from outside the country which is why they have altered their strategy and are using people living legally in the United States. King said the plotters include New York City subway bomber Najibullah Azazi, US Army Major Nidal Hassan, Colleen LaRose known as "Jihad Jane", Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad, Little Rock Recruiting Centre shooter, Carlos Bledsoe, whose father was a witness on Thursday; and dozens of individuals in Minneapolis associated with the Somali terrorist organisation Al-Shabaab, and the uncle of one of those young men who was radicalized in Minneapolis, sent to Somalia and eventually killed was also at the hearing 8 Ranking Democrat Bennie Thompson has said that the US is accused of engaging in a modern day crusade against Islam and that they cannot give this lie a place to live. He added that he could not help but wonder how propaganda about the hearing, focuses on American Muslim community, would be used by those who speak to inspire a new generation of suicide bombers. Another opponent Congressman Keith Ellison argued that ascribing evil acts of a few individuals to an entire community is wrong, ineffective and it risks making our country less safe9. He added that it’s true that specific individuals, including some who are Muslims, are violent extremists. However, these are individuals, not entire communities. Individuals like Anwar Al-Aulaqi, Faisel Shazad, and Nidal Hassan do not represent the Muslim community. He also said that it does make sense to talk with people in the Muslim community about how together they can meet the challenge of public security. However he added that it doesn't make sense to narrow in on a discreet insular group that has already been the target of a certain amount of discrimination. Testifying before the committee, Zuhdi Jasser, president and founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, said he believes there are small elements with significant elements of ideology within the American community that is radicalising based on the identification, the lack of identification and the separatism, and the disenfranchisement of certain Muslims from the society that makes them not bond, makes them not trust the government makes them distrust the FBI and creates a culture of a lack of cooperation. However, Muslim Americans have also played a role in stopping such plots. Studies more than 20% of post-9/11 terror investigations in the United States involving Islamic extremism began with tips from Muslim community members or involved cooperation from the family members of alleged plotters. Leading American Muslims have strongly criticized the congressional hearing into the alleged radicalization of members of their community, calling it an unfair attack on loyal citizens and a dangerous break from the traditional U.S. embrace of tolerance and pluralism. Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota - who is the first Muslim elected representative in the United States - also appeared on the program together with King and said he would challenge the basic premise of the hearing. Ellison said he would offer an alternative view and challenges the basic premise of the hearings and that he agreed that they should deal with radicalization and violent radicalization but that singling out one community is the wrong thing to do. Rep. Peter King, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has said Thursday's hearing was necessary to explore the extent to which al Qaeda is trying to influence and indoctrinate U.S. Muslims, among other10 things. But his plans have created uproar, with critics accusing Republican leaders of bigotry and comparing the hearings to Sen. Joseph McCarthy's allegations that Communist infiltration was taking place in the initial years of the Cold War. American Muslim leaders have also taken issue with King's assertion that they haven't sufficiently cooperated with law enforcement officials, and dismissed his claim that the overwhelming majority of mosques are run by extremist imams. They have argued that such claims are demonstrably false. The Muslim leaders have also argued that except for a tiny minority, extremists have found no fertile ground in America. They said that King is engaged in fear-mongering, and called the New York Republican "unfit" to head the Homeland Security Committee. They added that they are not in denial as a community that something is going on, and that there are bad actors in every community. Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, a member of the Council of Muslim Organizations also said that King is "onto something, but he is going in the wrong direction." In an interview with CNN, King shot back that was not his experience. He said that New York is the epicentre, and he is not aware of any tips that have been given in Nassau, Suffolk [counties] or New York City. Holder has not been called to testify in King's hearings, because he would contradict those complaints, King acknowledged. And he said top Obama administration officials also say al Qaeda is attempting to radicalize American Muslims, so "Where else would we look?"King added that he won’t demonize anyone and that they are going to show the threat is coming from certain elements and in many ways threatens Muslim Americans as much as it does the entire country. But Shahid Buttar, executive director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, said King is more interested in scoring cheap political points by vilifying vulnerable communities11 A national group, Muslim Advocate, has launched a website12 aimed at tracking what it calls anti-Muslim rhetoric, particularly among elected officials. To them this is an attempt to sow mistrust of the Muslim community and essentially an approval by the congress of the Muslim hatred. However, King has promised a thoughtful, meaningful, very fair hearing and insisted he was not condemning Islam as a religion or American Muslims as a group. He has stated that he would never question anyone's religious beliefs and argued that overwhelming majority of Muslims are outstanding patriots. He however added that there was a very small percentage who have allied themselves with al Qaeda and that Muslim leaders do not face up to that reality. The proponents of the hearing have argued that the current leadership of Muslim-American was doing a very poor job of representing the Muslim-American community and have even urged the Muslim community to be more aggressive in choosing their leaders13. Some critics have termed King's efforts against Islamic-American terrorism hypocritical. In the 1980s, King, an Irish-American, was an active supporter of the Irish Republican Army, an organization the State Department then deemed a terror group, and Gerry Adams, the leader of the IRA's political wing. The IRA was responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths in terror attacks. But King, however, has defended his efforts, calling the IRA a legitimate force for decades. The congressman has insisted he only got involved so heavily with Adams because he knew Adams would be willing to broker peace with the British government. The hearings with regard to the radicalization of American Muslims could not have come at a better time. The problem of terrorism keeps on changing and assuming different forms. This is with regard to the reasons which prompt people to engage in terrorism, the people involved in the attacks and also the targets14. It is thus paramount that pre-emptive measures are taken in order to forestall any future incidences of terrorism. The issues raised by those who are advocating for the hearings are weighty and if their contention is correct, then the United States is in grave danger. The recruitment of citizens would revolutionalize terrorism. Nothing is more dangerous than an attack from within. It is almost always likely to succeed and is more difficult to deal with. Al Qaeda has a reputation of being more of an ideology or something close to a religion and thus once these ideologies are imparted in the citizenry, it would be unimaginable the amount of harm that would result. This is a cancer which if left unchecked would lead to imminent collapse of the United States of America as we know it. Drawing lessons from countries which have domestic terrorist groups, and then it is paramount that a country takes measures to avoid such an eventuality15 Works Cited Goodstein, Laurie. Peter Kings Obsessions. New York: NY Times, Article on 7th march 2011 accessed from NewYorkTimes.com Ledewitz, Bruce American religious democracy: coming to terms with the end of secular politics New York: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007. Martin ,William What Liberals Believe: Thousands of Quotes on Why America Needs to Be Rescued from Greedy Corporations, Homophobes, Racists, Imperialists, Xenophobes, and Religious Extremists. NJ: Skyhorse Publishing Inc., 2008. Mathews, Karen. Crowd in NYC Rallies Against Hearing on US Muslims: ABC News Associated press 6th 2011 accessed from ABC News.com Oliphant, Jamer. US Politics. Washington: LA Times, Article collections 10th march 2011 Accessed from articles.latimes.com:american-muslim Read More