VERSE OF THE DAY: FEAR AND HOPE - TOP
"Surely God's mercy is always close to those who do good to others."
The Holy Quran, 7:56
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AMERICAN MUSLIMS POSE LITTLE TERROR THREAT, STUDY SAYS - TOP
Scott Shane, New York Times, 2/8/12
WASHINGTON -- A feared wave of homegrown terrorism by radicalized Muslim Americans has not materialized, with plots and arrests dropping sharply over the two years since an unusual peak in 2009, according to a new study by a North Carolina research group.
The study, to be released on Wednesday, found that 20 Muslim Americans were charged in violent plots or attacks in 2011, down from 26 in 2010 and a spike of 47 in 2009.
Charles Kurzman, the author of the report for the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security, called terrorism by Muslim Americans "a minuscule threat to public safety." Of about 14,000 murders in the United States last year, not a single one resulted from Islamic extremism, said Mr. Kurzman, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina.
The report also found that no single ethnic group predominated among Muslims charged in terrorism cases last year -- six were of Arab ancestry, five were white, three were African-American and two were Iranian, Mr. Kurzman said. That pattern of ethnic diversity has held for those arrested since Sept. 11, 2001, he said.
Forty percent of those charged in 2011 were converts to Islam, Mr. Kurzman found, slightly higher than the 35 percent of those charged since the 2001 attacks. His new report is based on the continuation of research he conducted for a book he published last year, "The Missing Martyrs: Why There Are So Few Muslim Terrorists." (More)
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STUDY: HOMEGROWN TERRORISM DOWN FOR SECOND YEAR IN A ROW - TOP
A new study released today (Feb. 8) by the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security documents that concerns of counterterrorism officials about a potential wave of homegrown violent extremism have not materialized over the past two years. The study, "Muslim-American Terrorism in the Decade Since 9/11," reports that 20 Muslim-Americans committed or were arrested for terrorist crimes in 2011, down from 26 in 2010 and 49 in 2009.
The full report is available on the center's website. The center is a consortium of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University and RTI International.
Since 9/11, 193 Muslim-Americans have been arrested or convicted of violent terrorism offenses, making 2011 about an average year for such offenses.
"Muslim-American terrorism continued to be a miniscule threat to public safety last year. None of America's 14,000 murders in 2011 were due to Islamic extremism," said Charles Kurzman, author of the study and professor of sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences at UNC. "The challenge is for Americans to be vigilant about potential violence while keeping these threats in perspective." (More)
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MUSLIM-AMERICAN TERRORISM IN THE DECADE SINCE 9/11 - TOP
Duke University and University of North Carolina, 2/8/12
Muslim-American Terrorism Down in 2011
Twenty Muslim-Americans were indicted for violent terrorist plots in 2011, down from 26 the year before, bringing the total since 9/11 to 193, or just under 20 per year (see Figure 1). This number is not negligible – small numbers of Muslim-Americans continue to radicalize each year and plot violence. However, the rate of radicalization is far less than many feared in the aftermath of 9/11. In early 2003, for example, Robert Mueller, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, told Congress that "FBI investigations have revealed militant Islamics [sic] in the US. We strongly suspect that several hundred of these extremists are linked to al-Qaeda."1 Fortunately, we have not seen violence on this scale. (More)
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CAIR ASKS FOR FEDERAL PROBE OF PORTLAND FBI OVER DETENTION OF MUSLIM MEN - TOP
Helen Jung, The Oregonian, 2/8/12
A Muslim civil rights organization has asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the Portland office of the FBI for coercion and intimidation against Muslims trying to fly home to Oregon from abroad.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said the FBI blocked Mustafa Elogbi and Jamal Tarhuni from flying back to the Portland area last month from Libya. The two men, both naturalized U.S. citizens and Oregon residents for more than 30 years, had visited Libya after the ouster of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
The group had asked last week for U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to intervene in Tarhuni's case, but got no response.
Both men have done nothing wrong, said Gadeir Abbas, an attorney with the Washington, D.C.-based council. But at the FBI's behest, authorities in the United Kingdom questioned Elogbi and kept him in solitary confinement for two days when his Jan. 8 return flight stopped there on a layover. He was not allowed to continue home and was sent back to Tunisia.
"British customs officials have been enlisted to do what the FBI would not be allowed to do in the United States -- to detain Mr. Elogbi without due process and to intimidate him into giving up his constitutional right to silence," Abbas wrote. (More)
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CAIR SEEKS PROBE OF PORTLAND FBI AFTER 2 MEN BARRED FROM RETURN TO US -TOP
Associated Press, 2/8/12
CAIR attorney Gadeir Abbas, who has represented dozens of Muslims who have had their travel to the U.S. restricted, said the tactics used by the Portland FBI have been especially brazen. Elogbi's case is particularly troublesome because it appears he was detained by British authorities at U.S. request. (More)
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VIDEO: CAIR SAYS PORTLAND FBI IS COERCING MUSLIMS TO GIVE UP RIGHTS - TOP
Watch the video here.
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CAIR-LA CONGRATULATES 43RD NAACP IMAGE AWARDS NOMINEES MOOZ-LUM & ALL-AMERICAN MUSLIM - TOP
(LOS ANGELES, CA, 2/8/12) – The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) today congratulated the 43rd NAACP Image Awards nominees, AMC Independent film Mooz-lum, and TLC reality show All-American Muslim.
Mooz-lum was nominated in the ‘Outstanding Independent Motion Picture’ category and All-American Muslim was nominated in the ‘Outstanding Reality Series’ category.
"We congratulate the makers of Mooz-lum and All-American Muslim on these well-deserved nominations," said CAIR-LA Communications Manager Munira Syeda. "Both the film and the TV show seek to shine light on American Muslims' experiences, a rarity in the entertainment industry. We hope these recognitions will further encourage Hollywood writers and directors to be more inclusive of the American Muslim narrative."
Mooz-lum follows the story of a young Muslim man as he enters college. New relationships with Muslims as well as those of other faiths challenge his ideals. All-American Muslim follows the life of five religiously diverse Muslim families in Dearborn.
The annual NAACP Image Awards show celebrates the accomplishments of people of color in the arts and those who use creative means to promote social justice. The two-hour awards show will air live on February 17 at 5 p.m. PST. More information about the NAACP Image Awards and a full list of nominees and categories is available here.
CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
CONTACT: CAIR-LA Communications Manager Munira Syeda, 714-776-1847, E-mail: info@losangeles.cair.com
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CAIR-MI: SIKH TEMPLE VANDALIZED -- BUT WERE MUSLIMS THE TARGET? - TOP
Sarah Cwiek, Michigan Radio, 2/8/12
Vandals targeted a Sikh house of worship in suburban Detroit this week. But there are signs they intended to target Muslims.
According to the Sikh Society of Michigan, the Sikh temple (known as a Gurdwara) in Sterling Heights has been under construction for several years, without any incidents or controversy.
That changed when someone vandalized the building sometime on Sunday night.
The vandals spray painted "don't builed" [sic] on an outside wall. They also left images of a cross, a gun, and a misspelled version of the name "Mohammed."
Muslims revere Mohammed as a prophet, but it has nothing to do with the Sikh religion. The word leads many to believe to believe the vandals thought they were targeting Muslims.
Dawud Walid, executive director for the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), calls the vandalism a hate crime.
"We joined the Sikh community in calling for local and federal law enforcement to use their full resources to investigate this recent hate crime," Walid said. (More)
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ARK-LA-TEX MOSQUE STIRRING CONTROVERSY - TOP
Gary Cooper, KTBS, 2/8/12
"What I'm concerned about is someone [who] disliked that and show them that they are not wanted and put a bomb there and could blow that building up and my home as well,” adds Hall. (More)
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ANTI-MUSLIM N.C. REP. MYRICK WILL NOT SEEK ANOTHER TERM IN CONGRESS - TOP
Tim Funk and Jim Morrill, Charlotte Observer, 2/7/12
U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick's surprise announcement Tuesday that she'll leave Washington after nine terms sparked a scramble by would-be successors that reached halfway around the world -- literally. ...
Myrick also had her share of foes, including Charlotte area Muslims and Hispanics who often criticized her outspokenness on issues relating to national security and immigration.
"We lost someone who worked tirelessly to fuel the flames of fear against the Muslim community and worked to make it hard for us to practice our faith openly," said Jibril Hough, spokesman for the Islamic Center of Charlotte, who welcomed the news that Myrick was retiring.
Local Muslims criticized her for writing the foreword to a book - "Muslim Mafia" - whose researcher called Islam a disease. And in 2003, during remarks about domestic security threats, Myrick upset U.S. Arabs and Muslims by saying: "Look at who runs all the convenience stores across the country." (More)
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ISLAMOPHOBIC FILMMAKERS PROMOTE COMMENT LEGITIMATIZING NORWAY TERRORIST - TOP
Eli Clifton and Ali Gharib, Think Progress, 2/7/12
The Clarion Fund, an organization which produces Islamophobic documentaries, came under renewed scrutiny last month when news broke that their film "The Third Jihad" was screened at an NYPD conference. Facing calls for his resignation, NYPD commissioner Raymond Kelly, after some dissembling, admitted he was interviewed for the project and apologized for his role, calling the film "inflammatory." Clarion, however, bragged about the attention.
Now, Clarion appears to be throwing caution to the wind -- along with any plausible defense that the group is not Islamophobic -- by promoting a comment from a reader seeking to redeem the views of the anti-Muslim right-wing extremist who terrorized Norway this summer, killing 77, including 69 people at a youth camp. In an e-mail newsletter to supporters, Clarion Fund quoted the reader suggesting that a recent report that militant Islamic extremism posed the top threat to Norway redeemed the unheralded warnings of Anders Breivik, the anti-Muslim killer.
The newsletter, published by the organization's radicalislam.org website, promoted the comment from a "reader in Norway." It read:
What a hot current topic this is! Just today the news came out in Norway, "officially" and in spite of all the PC-ness of this government, that according to the national security forces, the threat of Islamist terrorism is the foremost threat against Norway. You probably remember the July 22 shootings. One of Breivik's arguments was that the authorities were not taking this threat seriously because you musn't offend a Muslim. Interesting development. (More)
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