Humanism Amidst Our Machines   /   Summer 2011   /    Essays And Short Takes

Homegrown Jihadists

Nearly a decade after the attacks of  9/11,  the possible radicalization of Muslims living in the united  States remains  an ongoing  concern.  Just as the media coverage of the killing  of Osama Bin Laden in early May was subsiding, several cases of Muslim-American terrorism suspects were in  the press. New York  police arrested two men accused of plotting to attack a synagogue. In Chicago, the trial  opened of  a businessman  accused of being an accomplice in the deadly 2008 terrorist attacks in  Mumbai, India. In South Florida, an imam and two of  his  sons, one of  whom was also an imam, were arrested and charged with providing some $50,000 to the Pakistani Taliban.

Cases like these  draw a lot  of  attention and raise  the question  of whether Muslim-Americans are increasingly turning to terrorism. To address this question, The Triangle Center on Terrorism and  Homeland Security released  a  report  in February—“Muslim-American Terrorism Since 9/11: An  Accounting”—that aimed to document  every Muslim-American terrorism  suspect  or perpe- trator in the period after 9/11  to the end of  2010 (the study did  not include  terrorist  financing  or non-violent cases). The annual totals by year are shown in the chart to the right.

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