From Europe News:
Radical Islam in Prison: Made in the USA
Huffington Post 22 June 2011
By SpearIt
In March, when Rep. Peter King held hearings on "The Radicalization of Muslim Americans," there were many reasons to be moved to tears. For some, laughter at King's hypocrisy inspired the sentiment -- for his support of the IRA in its zenith of terror -- now chastising Muslims for supporting terrorists; for others, tears of anger streamed since the focus was on Muslims only, as opposed to neo-nazis or Christian militia movements; still for others it was regret that the hearing would further alienate American Muslims. Rep. Keith Ellison's tears, however, flowed for none of these reasons. The first Muslim ever elected to the U.S. Congress wept as he recounted the moving story of Mohammed Salman Hamdani, a Muslim American who died trying to save his fellow Americans on 9/11. The message was clear -- Muslims are a part of America, and their vilification is neither useful nor just. Last week, when the hearings shifted the lens to Muslims in prison, the overarching message seemed to be that radicalization of inmates, to whatever extent it occurs, is largely an American manufacture.
This message sits in diametric opposition to some who have been warning that Wahhabists and other foreign radicals are infiltrating American prisons for recruitment into international terrorist rings. This alarmist position has thrived in the post-9/11 world, yet empirical evidence reveals it a house of cards built on anecdotal evidence. Still, these ideas are the bedrock of U.S. counterterrorism policy in prisons, and the urging of such thinkers has resulted in a de facto hiring freeze on Muslim chaplains in the Bureau of Prisons. The crown jewel of the alarmist argument is an Al-Qaeda text that cites Western prisoners as ripe for recruitment. While there is an obvious difference between identifying a population for recruitment and successful recruiting, much significance has been attached to this manual. (...)
Posted June 22nd, 2011 by pk
Radical Islam in Prison: Made in the USA
Huffington Post 22 June 2011
By SpearIt
In March, when Rep. Peter King held hearings on "The Radicalization of Muslim Americans," there were many reasons to be moved to tears. For some, laughter at King's hypocrisy inspired the sentiment -- for his support of the IRA in its zenith of terror -- now chastising Muslims for supporting terrorists; for others, tears of anger streamed since the focus was on Muslims only, as opposed to neo-nazis or Christian militia movements; still for others it was regret that the hearing would further alienate American Muslims. Rep. Keith Ellison's tears, however, flowed for none of these reasons. The first Muslim ever elected to the U.S. Congress wept as he recounted the moving story of Mohammed Salman Hamdani, a Muslim American who died trying to save his fellow Americans on 9/11. The message was clear -- Muslims are a part of America, and their vilification is neither useful nor just. Last week, when the hearings shifted the lens to Muslims in prison, the overarching message seemed to be that radicalization of inmates, to whatever extent it occurs, is largely an American manufacture.
This message sits in diametric opposition to some who have been warning that Wahhabists and other foreign radicals are infiltrating American prisons for recruitment into international terrorist rings. This alarmist position has thrived in the post-9/11 world, yet empirical evidence reveals it a house of cards built on anecdotal evidence. Still, these ideas are the bedrock of U.S. counterterrorism policy in prisons, and the urging of such thinkers has resulted in a de facto hiring freeze on Muslim chaplains in the Bureau of Prisons. The crown jewel of the alarmist argument is an Al-Qaeda text that cites Western prisoners as ripe for recruitment. While there is an obvious difference between identifying a population for recruitment and successful recruiting, much significance has been attached to this manual. (...)
Posted June 22nd, 2011 by pk
No comments:
Post a Comment