Editor's Letter

Homegrown Terror Pulsates

I

slamic terrorism has woven itself into the fabric of
American life in the form of radical Islam. The phe-
nomenon is dangerous and growing. The organization-
al enablers of this murderous ideology portray America and
the West as well as Christians and Jews as the enemies of
Islam. Clearly, not all Muslims are terrorists; only a fraction
are. But when you are talking about
1.6 billion people, even a fraction is a
scary number.
I draw these disturbing conclusions
from no less an authority on terror
and its roots than Steve Emerson,
the courageous executive director of
the Washington-based Investigative
Project on Terrorism.
In an Aug. 2 online piece he wrote
for The Daily Beast (thedailybeast.
com ), Emerson describes how the
arrest of seven North Carolinians
on charges of supporting terror and conspiracy to commit
murder abroad (jihad in Israel) illustrates how America is
beginning to mimic Europe, where homegrown terror plots
surface seemingly weekly. The suspects include Daniel Boyd
and his two sons.
"The problem," Emerson wrote,"is far more rampant than
the news media or the public is aware of."
That's for sure.

Telling ADL Numbers
The Anti-Defamation League bolsters this point in its white
paper 'American Muslim Extremists: A Growing Threat to
Jews." The New York-based ADL concludes: "While Muslim
extremists motivated by hatred of Jews and Israel have tar-
geted Jews in the U.S. for many years, an alarming number of
post 9-11 plots and conspiracies have involved or been led by
American Muslim extremists. Approximately 100 American
Muslim extremists have been arrested on various terror-relat-
ed charges since 9-11, ranging from bomb plots to providing
material support to terrorists. More than half of them are U.S.
born and about a third are converts to Islam."
Most strikingly, the ADL found that most of these new
homegrown terrorists are not part of a recognized terror-
ist group, but rather loners driven to violence by their own
radical interpretation of Islam.
Emerson's latest book is Jihad Incorporated: A Guide
to Militant Islam. He already commands the respect of
Americans in the know. I wish his insight could penetrate
more of us. When he says terror is not limited to the Middle
East, Asia or Europe — and that 9-11 should not be consid-
ered an aberration — it would behoove America to listen.
By way of example, he says radical Islamic ideology, as much
as we collectively deny it, transcends economic class prob-
lems.
"The Boyd family," Emerson wrote, "was white, had a
middle-class existence and had the economic opportunities
afforded all Americans and yet chose to engage in jihad to
the point that Daniel Boyd was willing to send his two kids
on suicide missions to Israel"
Emerson cited seven other instances of homegrown
Islamic terror gone awry, including 1) a Long Island convert
who joined Al Qaida and gave the organization information
about Long Island trains and New York City subways and 2)

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a Muslim converts' plot to blow up synagogues and National
Guard airplanes in upstate New York.

Be Alert, Always
Emerson shook the timbers of our government's investiga-
tive infrastructure when he declared, "That the FBI stopped
all these plots is amazing, but they will never continue to bat
a thousand. One of these days, the jihadists will succeed."
And as a nation, we must be ready.
Backed by meticulous research, Emerson argues that
mainstream Islamic groups fronting as civil rights organiza-
tions are actually radical organizations that teach and imbue
their followers with a hatred of America and Israel.
Absorb this telling thought from Emerson: "Once that
message takes hold — and after all, these groups control
the mosques, the Islamic newspapers, the Islamic schools
and the Islamic leadership from which American Muslims
and converts get their ideas about the world — it is not a
huge leap for some of them to become committed to violent
jihad."
The U.S. government, including both the Bush and Obama
administrations, has backed off from using the term radical
Islam because Islamic groups seemingly brand as racist any-
one who claims radical Islam has run roughshod over the
American Muslim community.
I was struck by the certainty of Emerson's argument that
America is becoming more like Europe, where some home-
grown Islamic terrorist plots obviously have succeeded.
Behind those despicable events were Islamic religious lead-
ers who loathed the West as well as its Christian and Jewish
supporters. The logical result of such dark Islamic teachings
is unsettling: Many young Muslims, including converts, now
hate the West.
And among those who hate the West, Emerson wrote, a
smaller percentage, which includes the Boyds, is willing to
take matters personally and carry out jihad.

Defining Our Enemy
Steve Emerson is right: Islamic leaders must admit that
Islam has been hijacked if its image as a tolerant religion
is to be restored. This admission must acknowledge that
Sharia, the code of Islamic law as interpreted by Islamists, is
a political tinderbox, and that Islamic radicalism is real and
not the handiwork of Islamophobics.
"In the end," Emerson wrote in his revealing Aug. 2 blog,
"homegrown Islamic terrorism is not going to stop. It is
manifestly going to be abetted by a demonstrably counter-
productive campaign of prohibiting the term Islamic terror-
ism from being uttered.
"If we cannot describe who our enemy is in the hopes of
discrediting them, how are we ever going to defeat them?"
Let that question soak into the depths of your soul wheth-
er you are Jewish, Christian or a civilized Muslim seeking
separation from the hijacked radical wing of Islam. r!

0 : Do Americans diminish the
•
CC
La homegrown terror threat?
Hp
Z z Can our government do more
3 o to
decrease the danger?
0_ 0-

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