posted on January 24, 2011 19:30
A new 9/11 Commission report: American Jihadist Terrorism: Combating a Complex Threat
Posted in America by hossamaljabri on September 22, 2010
A new report by the commissioners of the 9/11 Commission says that terrorism is increasingly taking on an American cast, reflected in the growth of homegrown threats and the movement of terrorists recruited from the United States to areas like the horn of Africa and Yemen.
The report highlights efforts done by American Muslim organizations, in particular MAS and MPAC to combat homegrown terrorism. Along with MPAC’s effort, the MAS Straight Path campaign, was also featured this PBS video segment, and highlighted in the Congressional report as an example of the American Muslim community effort to combat terrorism. Below is an excerpt from the report (page 57):
As Attorney General Eric Holder has stated publicly, “Members of the American Muslim community have been—and continue to be—strong partners in fighting this emerging threat [of terrorism]. They have regularly denounced terrorist acts and those who carry them out. And they have provided critical assistance to law enforcement in helping to disrupt terrorist plots and combat radicalization.”245 “One of the most important benefits of trusted partnerships,” says Alejandro Beutel of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, “is the ability of community members to feel comfortable enough to step forward and provide critical information to prevent any crime, including terrorism,”246 In a May 2010 background paper, he documents 16 terrorist plots disrupted with Muslim community assistance, nine of which involved homegrown jihadist cases.
The report highlights a couple of offers from the Muslim community :
The Straight Path Initiative. Founded by The Muslim American Society, the initiative seeks to engage all components of the Muslim American community, with a special focus on youth ages 15-30. It seeks to pinpoint the roots of extremism, the ways in which individuals are radicalized, and the tools needed to address these challenges, including an honest and open dialogue about radicalization and extremism in Muslim American communities; research to pinpoint the root causes of radicalization and extremism among Muslim American youth in particular; engagement with the Muslim American community in monitoring and detecting extremist trends and their impact on vulnerable members of the community.
National Grassroots Campaign to Fight Terrorism. An initiative of The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), it seeks to: (1) [raise] religious awareness and education to create a strong Islamic environment that does not allow terrorism to be considered as a form of struggle in Islam; (2) control the inter-mosque environment and activities to prevent intruders and unauthorized, unknown persons from exploiting the open environment of [mosques]; and (3) acquire skills to detect any potential criminal activity to be able to thwart them.
It is important for the American Muslim community to stand firmly against any elements that may call for violence or terrorism in our country or abroad. This is not what Islam is about, and it is critical that Muslims are the first to firmly stand for this.