{"id":4090,"date":"2011-01-16T20:52:39","date_gmt":"2011-01-16T20:52:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com.108-166-28-151.mdgnetworks.com\/wordpress\/?p=4090"},"modified":"2013-04-02T20:54:53","modified_gmt":"2013-04-02T20:54:53","slug":"radical-muslims-in-america-all-the-benefits-and-still-turning-to-jihad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/radical-muslims-in-america-all-the-benefits-and-still-turning-to-jihad\/","title":{"rendered":"Radical Muslims in America: All the Benefits and Still Turning to Jihad"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Raymond Ibrahim<\/p>\n

Hudson New York<\/em><\/p>\n

Recent remarks by Attorney General\u00a0Eric Holder<\/a>\u00a0on the threat posed by “radicalized” American Muslims are revealing \u2014 not just because of what they say regarding the domestic situation, but for their international implications as well. According to Holder:<\/p>\n

\u201c[T]he threat is real, the threat is different, the threat is constant. The threat has changed \u2026 to worrying about people in the United States, American citizens \u2014 raised here, born here, and who for whatever reason, have decided that they are going to become radicalized and take up arms against the nation in which they were born. It is one of the things that keeps me up at night. You didn’t worry about this even two years ago \u2014 about individuals, about Americans, to the extent that we now do.\u201d Holder noted that while he was confident in the United States’ counter-terrorism efforts, Americans \u201chave to be prepared for potentially bad news\u2026. The terrorists only have to be successful once.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holder’s assertion that “the terrorists only have to be successful once” has important implications: aside from the obvious \u2014 that it only takes one strike to create devastation on US soil \u2014 it is also a reminder that when people argue that most American Muslims are moderate, and only a few are radical, it does not help our security. It took nineteen to commit 9\/11; and we have already seen that\u00a0some<\/em>\u00a0American Muslims are radical. According to Holder, in the last two years, 50 of the 126 people charged with terrorism were US citizens.<\/p>\n

Conversely, Holder’s point that “You didn’t worry about this even two years ago \u2014 about individuals, about Americans, to the extent that we now do,” is odd. Why should Americans not have been a worry two years ago? Anyone even moderately familiar with Islamist ideology knows that it allows for absolutely no national allegiance. The notion that some American Muslims could become radicalized should have been a concern since 9\/11 \u2014 nearly a decade ago, not two years ago. It should have been a concern when it became obvious that American Muslims \u2014 like\u00a0John Walker Lindh<\/a>,\u00a0Gregory Patterson, Levar Washington, Kevin James<\/a>,\u00a0Christopher Paul<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Jose Padilla<\/a>\u2014 were turning to violent jihad.<\/p>\n

More significantly, the fact that Americans are being radicalized not only bodes ill for US security; it also suggests that American efforts in the Muslim world are doomed to failure. Consider: if American Muslims, who enjoy Western benefits \u2014 including democracy, liberty, prosperity, and freedom of expression \u2014 are\u00a0still<\/em>\u00a0being radicalized, why then do we insist that importing these same benefits to the Muslim world will eliminate its even more ingrained form of “radicalization”?<\/p>\n

After all, the mainstream position, the only one evoked by politicians, both Democrat and Republican, is that all the sacrifices America makes in the Muslim world (Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.), will pay off once Muslims discover how wonderful Western ways are, and happily slough off their Islamist veneer, which, as the theory goes, is a product of \u2014 you guessed it \u2014 a lack of democracy, liberty, prosperity, and freedom of expression. Yet here are American Muslims, immersed in the bounties of the West \u2014 and\u00a0still<\/em>\u00a0do they turn to violent jihad.<\/p>\n

In short, America needs to rethink its strategy for the war on terrorism \u2014 both at home and abroad. Domestically, this means cracking down without compunction on anything that smacks of Islamist activity, without fear of being “politically incorrect;” it means better monitoring of jihadist websites which play a major role in radicalizing American Muslims, such as\u00a0Inspire<\/a><\/em>\u00a0(which was started by a North Carolina Muslim); and it means exercising prudence when granting visas to people from dubious backgrounds. Internationally, it means understanding that the one solution to war promoted by most Western politicians \u2014 spreading Western values and ways of governance \u2014 is no solution at all.<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a92011 Raymond Ibrahim<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Raymond Ibrahim Hudson New York Recent remarks by Attorney General\u00a0Eric Holder\u00a0on the threat posed by “radicalized” American Muslims are revealing \u2014 not just because of what they say regarding the domestic situation, but for their international implications as well. According to Holder:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[59,227],"tags":[1051,321,1017,30,1065,706,1060,162],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-13Y","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3818,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/can-american-values-radicalize-muslims\/","url_meta":{"origin":4090,"position":0},"title":"Can American Values Radicalize Muslims?","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim PJ Media Recent comments by US officials on the threat posed by \"radicalized\" American Muslims are troubling, both for their domestic and international implications. Attorney General\u00a0Eric Holder\u00a0states that \"the threat has changed \u2026 to worrying about people in the United States, American citizens \u2014 raised here, born\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/religion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":647,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/calls-for-hearings-on-radicalization-of-white-christian-women\/","url_meta":{"origin":4090,"position":1},"title":"Calls for Hearings on ‘Radicalization’ of White Christian Women","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim FrontPage Magazine During a Homeland Security committee hearing last month on the \"Radicalization of Muslim-Americans,\" Texas Congressman Al Green (D) criticized the hearings as biased and unfair to Muslims, suggesting that the only way to justify them is if Congress would also conduct a \"hearing on the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/religion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1179,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/far-from-the-madding-islamists-ignoble-strife\/","url_meta":{"origin":4090,"position":2},"title":"Far from the Madding Islamists’ Ignoble Strife","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Jihad Watch Review of\u00a0Militant Islamist Ideology: Understanding the Global Threat\u00a0by Youssef Aboul-Enein (Naval Institute Press, 2010. 288 pp.). Reading CDR Youssef Aboul-Enein's book,\u00a0Militant Islamist Ideology: Understanding the Global Threat, one can see why US leadership is far from \"understanding the global threat\"; why the Obama administration is\u00a0supportive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Reviews","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/opinion\/reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2532,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/al-qaedas-zawahiri-bigger-threat-than-osama\/","url_meta":{"origin":4090,"position":3},"title":"Al Qaeda’s Zawahiri, Bigger Threat Than Osama?","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 17, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Bloomberg Now that Ayman Zawahiri has assumed leadership of al Qaeda, it is important to end the widespread perception that he is a dour intellectual who is disconnected from young, would-be jihadists. The fact is, Zawahiri is a wily,dangerous\u00a0and imposing leader who should be considered no less\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egypt"","block_context":{"text":"Egypt","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/egypt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3402,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/weeping-and-other-hysterics-have-muslim-apologists-nothing-more-to-offer\/","url_meta":{"origin":4090,"position":4},"title":"Weeping and Other Hysterics: Have Muslim Apologists Nothing More to Offer?","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Hudson New York From Congressman\u00a0Keith Ellison's\u00a0emotional breakdown to CongresswomanJackie Speier's\u00a0accusations of \"racism,\" the hearings on Muslim radicalization have made it clear that those who oppose the hearings have little of substance to offer. Still, the tactics used by such apologists \u2014 namely, appeals to emotionalism and accusations\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raymond Ibrahim"","block_context":{"text":"Raymond Ibrahim","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/raymond-ibrahim\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1864,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/how-taqiyya-alters-islams-rules-of-war-defeating-jihadist-terrorism\/","url_meta":{"origin":4090,"position":5},"title":"How Taqiyya Alters Islam’s Rules of War: Defeating Jihadist Terrorism","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 31, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Middle East Quarterly\u00a0(Winter 2010) Islam must seem a paradoxical religion to non-Muslims. 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