"Individuals sympathetic to al-Qaeda and its affiliates, as well as those inspired by their ideology, are present in the U.S., and would like to attack the homeland or plot overseas attacks against our interests abroad."
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano
December 3, 2009
As Congress investigates and the Obama Administration prepares its report on what intelligence agencies did or did not know about Nidal Malik Hasan, and what could have prevented his alleged massacre at Fort Hood; America must face up to what Secretary Napolitano outlined - al-Qaeda the organization has long metastasized into al-Qaeda the movement resulting in an ever growing threat against the homeland from domestic Islamic radicals in addition to “corporate al-Qaeda” operatives with more direct ties to the group and its base in Afghanistan/Pakistan.
Numerous pundits, journalists, and politicians have bent over backwards in their hope that Nidal Malik Hasan is not a radical Islamist terrorist. As this hope rapidly fades, it should not be replaced with the even more dangerous hope that Hasan is a one-off aberration. Indeed, while America prepares to escalate its fight with such radicals overseas, we must also deal with the fact that America’s radicalization problem at home is getting worse, not better.
While it is true that the overwhelming majority of Muslims are not terrorists, but are instead peaceful, loyal and law abiding; it is equally true that the vast majority of the most dangerous terrorists confronting the U.S. are Muslim and commit terror in the name of Islam. We will never deal with this problem if we are unwilling to be honest about it. Political correctness is bad enough in the more mundane aspects of life; in the field of homeland security it can be deadly. That said, American Muslims do and must continue to play a vital role in our security whether they serve inside or out of government.
Most Americans got their first taste of home grown Islamic radicalism when they saw John Walker Lindh on television after he was captured by Northern Alliance forces in Afghanistan in November 2001 after fighting for the Taliban. Lindh came from a middle class family in northern California and had no known criminal history. He is now part of a growing list of Americans, including one Adam Gadahn of southern California, who have declared war on their own country in the name of their religion. Gadahn is the first person in over fifty years to be indicted for treason based on his ongoing service to al-Qaeda. Both Gadahn and Lindh are converts to Islam.
Many see this radicalization largely as the convergence of isolation, a grievance culture, rage, and fundamentalist religion merged with politics, capped by exploitation on the part of men like Usama bin Laden and his recruiters who seek to capitalize on it either through direct operational support or prodding propaganda. It has infected a wide swath of people in America from U.S. Army personnel, business men, college students and others.
In 2006, I sat on a Prisoner Radicalization Task Force sponsored by George Washington University and the University of Virginia, charged with looking into the issue of radicalization in correctional facilities inside the U.S. The Task Force report entitled “Out of the Shadows: Getting Ahead of Prisoner Radicalization” was submitted to Congress in September 2006 and had several important findings and recommendations. This included the fact that radicalization in prisons is not a new phenomenon nor is it unique to Islam; better information sharing among correctional agencies and law enforcement across the U.S. is needed; along with better tracking of released prisoners to ensure they are not recruited by radical groups posing as social service providers etc.
Beyond the prison walls, the radicalization trend has existed for some time and has been demonstrated not only in the cases of John Walker Lind and Adam Gadahn, but in numerous others as well. In 2003, Hasan Karim Akbar a U.S. Army sergeant detonated grenades at a base in Kuwait, killing two people and wounding 14 others. In 2008, three men from Toledo, Ohio were convicted of conspiracy to wage war against the U.S. in Iraq. In 2009, two men in Atlanta were convicted of providing material support to al-Qaeda and lying to federal investigators. In all cases the men were either U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
Other recent examples include the 2009 case of American Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, who shot two soldiers at a Little Rock, Arkansas recruiting station, killing one. Just this October, Tarek Mehanna, an American citizen, was arrested outside Boston on charges he conspired to attack a shopping mall, American soldiers overseas and two former members of the Bush Administration. In addition, FBI agents in Dearborn, Michigan recently shot and killed radical Islamic leader Luqman Ameen Abdullah after trying to arrest him on weapons charges when Abdullah resisted and opened fire. Abdullah was part of a group that allegedly sought to establish a separate Islamic State inside the United States.
Finally, a terrorist network broken-up by the FBI in Minneapolis last month involved numerous Somali American men who were recruited to fight in Somalia on behalf of al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabab. One of the American recruits, a 27 year old college student, allegedly blew himself up in Somalia in 2008 as part of an attack that killed over 20 U.N. workers. There are other examples but the list is simply too long to place here.
While security programs and investigations against potential radicals are a critical method of detecting and disrupting such a threat, they alone cannot defeat this scourge. Rather, a strategy whereby Muslims inside the U.S. and around the world discredit such radical thinking at its core, starting with outspoken and unapologetic denouncing of those who kill in the name of Islam, is essential. This happened in the Hasan case with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and others putting out a quick and strongly worded condemnation of the attack. This is welcome and important because these crimes are not simply committed by terrorists who happen to be Muslim, but are committed by Muslims in the name of Islam. This is a fight over the heart and soul of Islam and every Muslim has a stake in it.
As Muslims condemn acts of terrorism committed in the name of their faith, the reaction of many Muslims across the globe to mere insults regularly incurred by other religions, especially Christianity here in the U.S., must also be rebuked. For example, the show Curb Your Enthusiasm on Home Box Office recently had an episode where the show’s star and producer, Larry David, urinated on a picture of Jesus. While it was a vile and juvenile act, neither the Archbishop of Los Angeles nor any other Christian leader issued a death warrant against Mr. David.
Compare the Larry David situation with the cartoon of the prophet Mohammed with a bomb in his turban printed in a Danish newspaper, or comments from the Pope that included reading a quotation from ancient times that claimed that Islam was wrong to try and impose itself via the sword. These pictures and words draw mass criticism and deadly violence in the streets. In fact, American David Coleman Headley was one of two men charged just this October in Chicago with plotting to attack that very Danish newspaper because of those cartoons. Coleman was also charged yesterday with assisting the attack in Mumbai last November that killed 170 people. On the other hand, the bombings of mosques, including one in Pakistan just a few days ago, and the murder of innocent Muslim men, women and children by other Muslims, draws little or no reaction.
Secretary Napolitano’s acknowledgment is not a call to randomly profile or discriminate against Muslims. Instead, it should be viewed as a call for Muslim leaders, parents, teachers and others to teach tolerance to their children as a general principal that underlies what it means to be an American and to engage and combat the people, culture and rhetoric that would seek to radicalize their children. Non-Muslims are not “infidels” and as evidenced by attacks and repression around the world, those who murder in the name of Islam are as much a threat to Muslims as to anyone.
While there is much to disdain about modern American culture, total isolation from the larger American melting pot is unwise, and killing in the name of opposition to it is never acceptable. Nor are profound disagreements with U.S. foreign policy a basis for attacking the U.S. at home or abroad. This is where Muslims, and all American citizens and immigrants for that matter, have to make a fundamental choice – is America our home or simply an address at which we currently reside with no allegiance towards this country and its core values, or worse, violent hostility aimed at it. This latter choice is one that Nidal Malik Hasan and many others before him allegedly made. They saw themselves as strangers in a strange land. From here, let us do more than hope that others don’t follow suit.
December 3, 2009
As Congress investigates and the Obama Administration prepares its report on what intelligence agencies did or did not know about Nidal Malik Hasan, and what could have prevented his alleged massacre at Fort Hood; America must face up to what Secretary Napolitano outlined - al-Qaeda the organization has long metastasized into al-Qaeda the movement resulting in an ever growing threat against the homeland from domestic Islamic radicals in addition to “corporate al-Qaeda” operatives with more direct ties to the group and its base in Afghanistan/Pakistan.
Numerous pundits, journalists, and politicians have bent over backwards in their hope that Nidal Malik Hasan is not a radical Islamist terrorist. As this hope rapidly fades, it should not be replaced with the even more dangerous hope that Hasan is a one-off aberration. Indeed, while America prepares to escalate its fight with such radicals overseas, we must also deal with the fact that America’s radicalization problem at home is getting worse, not better.
While it is true that the overwhelming majority of Muslims are not terrorists, but are instead peaceful, loyal and law abiding; it is equally true that the vast majority of the most dangerous terrorists confronting the U.S. are Muslim and commit terror in the name of Islam. We will never deal with this problem if we are unwilling to be honest about it. Political correctness is bad enough in the more mundane aspects of life; in the field of homeland security it can be deadly. That said, American Muslims do and must continue to play a vital role in our security whether they serve inside or out of government.
Most Americans got their first taste of home grown Islamic radicalism when they saw John Walker Lindh on television after he was captured by Northern Alliance forces in Afghanistan in November 2001 after fighting for the Taliban. Lindh came from a middle class family in northern California and had no known criminal history. He is now part of a growing list of Americans, including one Adam Gadahn of southern California, who have declared war on their own country in the name of their religion. Gadahn is the first person in over fifty years to be indicted for treason based on his ongoing service to al-Qaeda. Both Gadahn and Lindh are converts to Islam.
Many see this radicalization largely as the convergence of isolation, a grievance culture, rage, and fundamentalist religion merged with politics, capped by exploitation on the part of men like Usama bin Laden and his recruiters who seek to capitalize on it either through direct operational support or prodding propaganda. It has infected a wide swath of people in America from U.S. Army personnel, business men, college students and others.
In 2006, I sat on a Prisoner Radicalization Task Force sponsored by George Washington University and the University of Virginia, charged with looking into the issue of radicalization in correctional facilities inside the U.S. The Task Force report entitled “Out of the Shadows: Getting Ahead of Prisoner Radicalization” was submitted to Congress in September 2006 and had several important findings and recommendations. This included the fact that radicalization in prisons is not a new phenomenon nor is it unique to Islam; better information sharing among correctional agencies and law enforcement across the U.S. is needed; along with better tracking of released prisoners to ensure they are not recruited by radical groups posing as social service providers etc.
Beyond the prison walls, the radicalization trend has existed for some time and has been demonstrated not only in the cases of John Walker Lind and Adam Gadahn, but in numerous others as well. In 2003, Hasan Karim Akbar a U.S. Army sergeant detonated grenades at a base in Kuwait, killing two people and wounding 14 others. In 2008, three men from Toledo, Ohio were convicted of conspiracy to wage war against the U.S. in Iraq. In 2009, two men in Atlanta were convicted of providing material support to al-Qaeda and lying to federal investigators. In all cases the men were either U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
Other recent examples include the 2009 case of American Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, who shot two soldiers at a Little Rock, Arkansas recruiting station, killing one. Just this October, Tarek Mehanna, an American citizen, was arrested outside Boston on charges he conspired to attack a shopping mall, American soldiers overseas and two former members of the Bush Administration. In addition, FBI agents in Dearborn, Michigan recently shot and killed radical Islamic leader Luqman Ameen Abdullah after trying to arrest him on weapons charges when Abdullah resisted and opened fire. Abdullah was part of a group that allegedly sought to establish a separate Islamic State inside the United States.
Finally, a terrorist network broken-up by the FBI in Minneapolis last month involved numerous Somali American men who were recruited to fight in Somalia on behalf of al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabab. One of the American recruits, a 27 year old college student, allegedly blew himself up in Somalia in 2008 as part of an attack that killed over 20 U.N. workers. There are other examples but the list is simply too long to place here.
While security programs and investigations against potential radicals are a critical method of detecting and disrupting such a threat, they alone cannot defeat this scourge. Rather, a strategy whereby Muslims inside the U.S. and around the world discredit such radical thinking at its core, starting with outspoken and unapologetic denouncing of those who kill in the name of Islam, is essential. This happened in the Hasan case with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and others putting out a quick and strongly worded condemnation of the attack. This is welcome and important because these crimes are not simply committed by terrorists who happen to be Muslim, but are committed by Muslims in the name of Islam. This is a fight over the heart and soul of Islam and every Muslim has a stake in it.
As Muslims condemn acts of terrorism committed in the name of their faith, the reaction of many Muslims across the globe to mere insults regularly incurred by other religions, especially Christianity here in the U.S., must also be rebuked. For example, the show Curb Your Enthusiasm on Home Box Office recently had an episode where the show’s star and producer, Larry David, urinated on a picture of Jesus. While it was a vile and juvenile act, neither the Archbishop of Los Angeles nor any other Christian leader issued a death warrant against Mr. David.
Compare the Larry David situation with the cartoon of the prophet Mohammed with a bomb in his turban printed in a Danish newspaper, or comments from the Pope that included reading a quotation from ancient times that claimed that Islam was wrong to try and impose itself via the sword. These pictures and words draw mass criticism and deadly violence in the streets. In fact, American David Coleman Headley was one of two men charged just this October in Chicago with plotting to attack that very Danish newspaper because of those cartoons. Coleman was also charged yesterday with assisting the attack in Mumbai last November that killed 170 people. On the other hand, the bombings of mosques, including one in Pakistan just a few days ago, and the murder of innocent Muslim men, women and children by other Muslims, draws little or no reaction.
Secretary Napolitano’s acknowledgment is not a call to randomly profile or discriminate against Muslims. Instead, it should be viewed as a call for Muslim leaders, parents, teachers and others to teach tolerance to their children as a general principal that underlies what it means to be an American and to engage and combat the people, culture and rhetoric that would seek to radicalize their children. Non-Muslims are not “infidels” and as evidenced by attacks and repression around the world, those who murder in the name of Islam are as much a threat to Muslims as to anyone.
While there is much to disdain about modern American culture, total isolation from the larger American melting pot is unwise, and killing in the name of opposition to it is never acceptable. Nor are profound disagreements with U.S. foreign policy a basis for attacking the U.S. at home or abroad. This is where Muslims, and all American citizens and immigrants for that matter, have to make a fundamental choice – is America our home or simply an address at which we currently reside with no allegiance towards this country and its core values, or worse, violent hostility aimed at it. This latter choice is one that Nidal Malik Hasan and many others before him allegedly made. They saw themselves as strangers in a strange land. From here, let us do more than hope that others don’t follow suit.
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