Domestic Terrorism in the United States - Research Paper Example

and Number of the Teacher’s Domestic Terrorism: United s Introduction Through the ages, Muslims have followed the pattern of hijra or emigration and jihad or struggle to carry out their beliefs. They integrated these with ummah or the emphasis on world-wide inter-Islamic unity (Esposito, 2003, 5). Terrorist attacks of religious extremism all over the world by Jihadists, in the form of mindless killing of “unbelievers” reduce Islam to an international crusade threatening global stability and security (Esposito, 1996,131). Erick Stakelbeck, an investigative journalist argues that there is a great increase in the numbers of Muslims in the United States, in their establishment of numerous mosques and religious schools across the country, and in their extremist attacks against Americans. However, the United States’ government refuses to acknowledge or accept the growing threat of terrorism despite the increasing onslaught of Islamic extremism after their attacks on September 11, 2001 (Stakelbeck 6). Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate domestic Islamic terrorism in the United States, and determine whether the government is deceiving the American people on the increasing danger posed by Islamic militant groups. The Threat of Terrorism in America There appears to be a general impression among the public that the American security system worked efficiently in thwarting recent terrorist attacks such as the bombing plots at Times Square, in a flight over Detroit, and during a Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Portland, Oregon (Stakelbeck 106). However, these were isolated plots that failed anyway, and were not saved by the intervention of security agencies. Similar to Stakelbeck’s views in his book The Terrorist Next Door: How the Government is Deceiving You About the Islamist Threat, 2011, Catherine Herridge, a television journalist, writes in her book The Next Wave: On the Hunt for Al Qaeda’s American Recruits, 2012, of the increasing possibilities of having Islamic terrorists for neighbours. She adds that the lax attitude of the American government towards recruiting Islamist sympathizers in the work forces has resulted in several attacks from within organizations. For example, an U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan gunned down forty-five people including 12 soldiers, and an airport shuttlebus driver plotted a subway slaughter. Home-grown terrorists born and raised in the United States have posed a great threat in the recent past, and will continue to be an ominous, concealed danger in the future. They cannot be identified because they appear American in every way, have clean records, American passports, “and mass murder in their hearts” (Herridge, 2012). The Pew Research Center Report, (PRC, 2011), forecasts that America’s Muslim population will triple in number, from 2.6 million to 6.2 million in 2030. For ensuring the spread of Islam, American Muslims are engaged in a campaign of mosque-building across the country, “including in the very heart of the Bible belt” (Stakelbeck 6). Today there are over 2000 mosques and innumerable Islamic schools, where the teaching of extremist Islamic ideologies are carried out. For gradually achieving Islamization over the entire nation, “mosque-building is a crucial component of the strategy” states Stakelbeck (22). A 2005 Freedom House Investigative Report on Saudi Publications found in U.S. mosques revealed literature that spread hatred for non-Muslims, endorsed the murder of converts from Islam, advocated the subjugation of women, and condemned America for being un-Islamic. These teachings based on a totalitarian ideology of hatred can ignite violence, and necessitate urgent attention from the American government (Stakelbeck 22). Besides mosques and schools, Islamic radicals have established exclusive compounds and Jihadist training camps in several locations in rural America, where the enclave’s residents undertake firearms training (Stakelbeck 5). There are two important concerns related to the ideology of radical Islamists and its threatening features. First, it is radically separatist; Al Qaeda “seeks to preserve a puritanical, strictly fundamentalist Islam by isolating it from the destructive influences of modern, and especially Western culture” (Biddle 8). This is because western ideas are believed to be a profound threat to the proper practice of the faith. Radical Islamists see in western concepts a permissive self-indulgence that disrespects God and corrupts humanity. Hence, the conviction is that only through removing the temptation of western ideas and culture can the community of the believers in Allah serve Him properly. The second significant feature of Al Qaeda’s ideology is its commitment to violence in its quest for political empowerment. Terrorist organizations such as Hamas or Hezbollah though violent, have far more limited political aims to install fundamentalist Islamic governments in specific states (Biddle 9). The Muslim Brotherhood or Ikhwan, is a Jihadist organization whose goal is integrate the entire Muslim world into a unified Islamic state governed by Sharia law. There are two critical facts associated with the Brotherhood’s impact on the West. However, Western governments have deliberately ignored these facts, embracing the Brotherhood as “outreach partners” (Stakelbeck 37). The first significant fact is that the Brotherhood is the founder of all contemporary Islamic terrorist groups, providing “ideological inspiration and blueprint for Al Qaeda, Hamas, and many of today’s most violent Jihadist outfits” (Stakelbeck 37). A special section of the Brotherhood had links with Nazi Germany. Although the leaders of the Ikhwan claim non-violence, it is evident that the organization was created as a terrorist organization, and it has carried out various terror campaigns. The second critical fact is that, the motto or creed by which the Brotherhood lives is “an undisquised call to establish global Islamic domination through violence” (Stakelbeck 38). In Egypt, in September 2010, Mohammad Badi, the current supreme leader of the Brotherhood, endorsed Jihad against American ‘arrogance and tyranny’, in a weekly sermon. Despite the extensive human toll and damages caused by the events of 11th September, 2001, and the adverse consequences of open borders facilitating the entry of illegal aliens, the Bush administration at all levels refused to screen out those who were sympathetic to Jihadis’ cause “in our military, at the FBI, in prisons, and even in city fire departments” (Stakelbeck xii). A sympathetic media were willing to present the Muslim Jihadist as victim. Under President Obama’s leadership, homeland security weakened even further, because of the chief executive’s approach that empathy and education were the cure for Islamic imperialism. Since 9/11, the Fort Hood massacre is the most distinct example of the dangers of the American government’s use of political correctness in implementing measures against terrorism. Thus, it is evident that: America’s counter-terrorism policy both at home and abroad is being fatally undermined by the Obama administration’s stubborn refusal to acknowledge the deep theological roots of violent Jihad (Stakelbeck 197). Conclusion This paper has highlighted domestic Islamic terrorism in the United States. The evidence indicates that the earlier Bush government, followed by the present Obama government have been exceedingly lax in eliminating Jihadist forces from the country, particularly necessitated after the events of September 11th, 2001. There have been several further attacks by Islamic terrorists, some brutally successful and some failed attempts. The Muslims, most of whom are born and raised in the United States, are proving to be concealed dangers waiting to destroy the American people, to fullfill the dictates of their ideologies against the West. They are rapidly establishing militancy training camps, as well as mosques and schools for teaching their violent ideologies against non-Muslims, across rural America. However, the Obama government refuses to acknowledge the extensive threats, and continues to perceive Islamic radicals as people whose destructive approach can be corrected with the right guidance and empathy in relation to their problems. Thus, it is concluded that Obama’s counter-terrorism policies only serve to increase further threats from Islamic extremists. Works Cited Biddle, Stephen. “War Aims and War Termination”. Defeating terrorism: Strategic Issue Analyses Ed. John R. Martin. Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania: Strategic Studies Institute, 2002. 7-12. Esposito, John L. Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Esposito, John L. . “Jihad: the Struggle for Islam”. The Religion Factor: An Introduction to how Religion Matters. Eds. William S. Green and Jacob Neusner. Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996. 130-148. Herridge, Catherine. The Next Wave: On the Hunt for Al Qaeda’s American Recruits. New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2012. PRC (Pew Research Center) Report. The Future of the Global Muslim Population: Projections for 2010-2030. Pew Research Center, 2011. Retrieved from: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1872/muslim-population-projections-worldwide-fast-growth Stakelbeck, Erick. The Terrorist Next Door: How the Government is Deceiving you about the Islamic Threat. Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2011. Read More