American Muslim Extremists a Growing Threat

In the past two years, more than 30 American Muslim extremists have been arrested in U. S. on various terror-related charges including providing material support to terrorists and plotting to plant bombs in the U.S., the Anti-Defamation League reports. Since 9-11 there have been a reported 139 such incidents involving foreign and domestic Muslims and one third of those in the past year.

The organization’s magazine, ADL on the Frontline, warns in its Winter 2010 issue that these extremists, “who have domestic addresses and U.S. passports, constitute a growing terrorist threat in the United States.”

That threat came into focus in November when authorities say Virginia-born Muslim Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire at Fort Hood, Texas, leaving 13 dead and 29 wounded.

Two months earlier, American Muslim convert Michael Finton was charged with attempting to bomb the federal courthouse in Springfield, Ill.

That same month, Najibullah Zazi, a U.S. permanent resident, was charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction in the U.S. Officials believe he was plotting to blow up commuter trains.

“An alarming number of recent plots and conspiracies have involved, or been led by, American Muslim extremists,” said ADL National Director Abraham Foxman.

“It is a troubling reminder of the broad problem of increased radicalization among a small subset of the domestic Muslim population. Many of these extremists are fueled by hatred of Jews, Israel, and America, and have been influenced, to some degree, by the ideologies of extreme intolerance propagated by terrorist movements overseas,” he added. 

Most Muslim extremists in the U.S. are American-born converts to Islam, first-generation Americans, or naturalized U.S. citizens or permanent residents, according to the ADL.

They share the belief that they are fighting against a Western enemy that victimizes Muslims around the world.

One factor fueling the threat is the increased availability on the Internet of extremist propaganda in English. This material, previously available largely in Arabic, might include instructions for carrying out suicide bombings.

Al-Qaida has an American spokesman, Adam Yahiye Gadahn, who converted to Islam and creates English-language videos inviting others to join the movement. One of his videos called America and Israel “forces of evil.”

Terrorist organizations also publish online magazines in English, the ADL noted. Last year the Al Mosul Islamic Network released what it called an “English jihad magazine,” which called for Allah to “destroy the enemies of Islam . . . the Jews, Christians, atheists, and the betraying criminals.”

Oren Segal, the ADL’s director of Islamic affairs, said ominously: “There are several Muslim extremist groups trying to raise their profile in America. The more support these groups get, the more influential they can become.

“We’ve got a serious problem that’s growing, and promises to keep growing.”

Critics of the Jewish organization points to its defiant clenched fist logo saying it is adamantly anti-Islam, and is raising false alarms or at least exaggerating the threat. Supporters say Obama has a pro-Islam tilt is dangerous and such claims come from anti-JDL groups are from the southern end of a north bound horse.