"Enemy Within" FRONTLINE

[NNguyenMD]

On the FBI's investigation of American Muslims in alleged terror plots, that overwhelmingly end up being much less serious/credible than originally though.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/enemywithin/view/

Most interesting point in the piece that I heard, made by Salam Al-Marayati (Director of Muslim Public Affairs Council)

From Lowell Bergman's interview transcript with the gentleman:

Is there any danger of Al Qaeda creating a branch here in the United States, in California?

No, I don't think so. I don't think that there is a danger. There's definitely not an imminent danger of Al Qaeda growing in the United States. There's a strong condemnation of Al Qaeda throughout the Muslim-American community. If Al Qaeda is going to get any attraction, it's usually with a lunatic, if anything, or with people who have already had criminal behavior in the past. Let's face it: A terrorist is a criminal, and they have to be a criminal to commit acts of terrorism. They may use religion to justify terrorist activity, but it's the criminal segment of our society that we need to look at in terms of dealing with all crimes. ...

But is there an Al Qaeda network in mosques and Muslim schools and Muslim institutions? No, it's not there. We don't see it happening any time soon, and we are working diligently to prevent that from ever happening. That's why we're so concerned about the alienation and the ghettoization of the Muslim-American community. Right now the ghettoization does not exist, but we should work very hard and double our efforts in preventing the ghettoization of the Muslim-American community.

Because?

Because ghettoization is also a factor, like we see in Europe, for disenfranchisement and anger and frustration, and we do not want to replicate the situation in Europe vis-à-vis the Muslim-American community here in America. Right now, America is very different from Europe. There is integration. There is an acceptance of Muslim Americans throughout the American public. The American public is very compassionate and wants to understand the Muslim-American community. But as we see more hostility toward Muslim Americans by these self-styled experts on terrorism, by the counterterrorism industry, then there's going to be more alienation and frustration that may create this sense of the Muslim-American ghetto, which has a number of social harms -- not necessarily terrorism, but might lead to further radicalization in the community, and that's one thing that we want to prevent. ...


My personal comment (Not from the interview):
American is a great nation with so many generous accepting people, but not for long if we don't protect our American Muslim friends from racism and alienation.

[GrumpyGreg]

1. I have not seen any antagonism towards American Muslims

so why did you feel it was necessary to comment on that subject?

[BuyingThyme]

2. Maybe because our lying Puke government told us that

there were ten-thousand al Qaida cells in our country when, in reality, there were none.

[Ms. Clio]

3. well, that's odd, because hate crimes against them

have increased nearly two thousand fold since 9/11/01.

http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/11/usahate.htm

[NNguyenMD]

4. ahem, if you watch the video you'll see that the FBI apprehended an ice cream truck driver from CA

who's only crime was traveling to Pakistan, and making up a story to please his FBI interrogators who questioned him for 15 hours straight.

My comment was to emphasize that American Muslims should receive the same treatment as any other loyal american citizen, unlike in Europe where they are alienated and excluded from any significant social mobility. It is important that we take an active role in protecting them from unfair treatment and hate crimes, otherwise we will breed homegrown terrorist such as the ones who committed the London and Madrid bombings.

American Muslims are our greatest partners in the war on terror, they should not be treated as suspects.

[Jack Rabbit]

5. We know who the enemy is