According to the Christian Science Monitor, the United States has not been good for the radical Islam biz.
To put it another way, if it was entertainment, Variety would say radical Islam has not proven to be big B.O. (which stands for “box office,” by the way). The Monitor reports:
The Islamist radicalism that inspired young Muslims to attack their own countries – in London, Madrid, and Bali – has not yielded similar incidents in the United States, at least so far.
“Home-grown” terror cells remain a concern of US law officers, who cite several disrupted plots since 9/11. But the suspects’ unsophisticated planning and tiny numbers have led some security analysts to conclude that America, for all its imperfections, is not fertile ground for producing jihadist terrorists.
To understand why, experts point to people like Omar Jaber, an AmeriCorps volunteer; Tarek Radwan, a human rights advocate; and Hala Kotb, a consultant on Middle East affairs. They are the face of young Muslim-Americans today – educated, motivated, and integrated into society – and their voices help explain how the nation’s history of inclusion has helped to defuse sparks of Islamist extremism.
And, indeed, the fact that this is a large and important chunk of Muslims in the United States often gets lost among the dramatic reports, pundit pieces, talk radio rants that have become the norm since 911. And that’s understandable, given the American news/talk radio culture: attention is invariably focused on the most controversial or unusual elements (determining this is part of what goes into news decisions). And the context sometimes gets lost amid the alarm bells. MORE:
“American society is more into the whole assimilation aspect of it,” says New York-born Mr. Jaber. “In America, it’s a lot easier to practice our religion without complications.”
In a nation where mosques have sprung up alongside churches and synagogues, where Muslim women are free to wear the hijab (or not), and where education and job opportunities range from decent to good, the resentments that can breed extremism do not seem very evident in the Muslim community. Since 9/11, however, concern is rising among Muslim-Americans that they are becoming targets of bias and suspicion – by law enforcement as well as fellow citizens. It’s a disquieting trend, say the young Muslims – one that might eventually help radicalism to grow.
It’s impossible to pinpoint the factors that produce home-grown terrorists, analysts say. But it’s also impossible to ignore the stark contrast between the lives of Muslims in European countries where bombings have occurred and those of Muslims in America.
“What we have here among Muslim-Americans is a very conservative success ethic,” says John Zogby, president of Zogby International in Utica, N.Y., whose polling firm has surveyed the Muslim-American community. “People come to this country and they like it. They don’t view it as the belly of the beast. With very few exceptions, you don’t see the bitter enclaves that you have in Europe.”
The CMS goes into some detail, comparing and constrasting life in the United States and life in Europe. And then says reports this:
“The culture is qualitatively different [in the American Muslim community] from what we’ve seen from public information from Europe, and that actually says very positive things about our society,” says Jonathan Winer, a terrorism expert in Washington. “We don’t have large populations of immigrants with a generation sitting around semi-employed and deeply frustrated. That’s a gigantic difference.”
And then there’s another factor that is sure to be more controversial:
The young Muslims interviewed for this story chose their words carefully, but their inference is clear: They worry that suspicion toward Muslims has been building since 9/11, and they suggest that US intervention in Iraq and its support for Israel cause angst among many Arab-Americans.
…A newer concern for America’s Muslims is their standing in post-9/11 society. Many sense that the ground under their feet is shifting – and young people like Florida-born Radwan, in particular, feel it. A 2001 graduate of Texas A&M University, Radwan wanted to become a doctor and began working as a medical researcher. One month after the 9/11 attacks, he was let go – at the end of a three-month probationary period. Afterward, he says, he couldn’t get even an interview for a job that used his biochemistry degree or research skills. Eventually he abandoned his hopes of a medical career and shifted to human rights work.
That experience leads him to suggest another reason the US hasn’t seen European-style homegrown terror cells: the intense scrutiny the FBI has focused on Muslim-Americans. “That is good in the short term, but bad in the long term,” he says. “The Bush administration policies feed resentment that … will stay in the Arab- American psyche for a long time.”
The FBI tells the Monitor that no one is targeted: its agents follow whatever leads they have. And, indeed it stands to reason that if the problem is radical Islam leads might take the FBI to look into areas involving Muslims in America.
The Monitor’s report is a reassuring one and although just gives a few individuals in any community (including bloggers…) to give an entire community a black eye, the CSM report puts it all into perspective.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.