THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIII, Issue # 42, February 12, 2011
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
CAN AMERICAN VALUES RADICALIZE MUSLIMS?
By Raymond Ibrahim
DISLOYALTY, SUBVERSION, SEDITION, & TREASON: THE ISLAMIST FIFTH COLUMN IN THE U.S.A. -- THE INTERNAL
THREAT POSED BY RADICALIZED AMERICAN MUSLIMS -- THE NEED FOR AMERICA'S NATIONAL LEADERS TO BREAK DOWN
THE WALLS OF "CULTURAL SENSITIVITY," "POLITICAL CORRECTNESS," & SELF-CENSORSHIP & DRIVE THE PUBLIC DEBATE
ON ISLAMIC RADICALIZATION -- HOW FUNDAMENTAL VALUES OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION, SUCH AS PERSONAL
FREEDOM, RULE OF LAW & HUMAN DIGNITY, HAVE THE CAPACITY TO RADICALIZE MUSLIMS, WHEN THOSE VALUES ARE
ARTICULATED THROUGH AN ISLAMIST FRAMEWORK -- THE DOMESTIC & FOREIGN POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF THE FACT
THAT MANY AMERICAN MUSLIMS, THOUGH BORN, REARED, & EDUCATED IN THE U.S.A. & ENJOYING THE BENEFITS OF LIFE
IN AMERICA, ARE EMBRACING ISLAMISM, BECOMING JIHADISTS, & TAKING UP ARMS AGAINST THE U.S.A.
FULL STORY:
Recent comments by U.S. officials on the threat posed by "radicalized" American Muslims are troubling, both for their
domestic and international implications. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder states that "the threat has changed … to
worrying about people in the United States, American citizens — raised here, born here, and who for whatever reason,
have decided that they are going to become radicalized and take up arms against the nation in which they were born."
The situation is critical enough to compel incoming Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security
Peter King to do all he can "to break down the wall of political correctness and drive the public debate on Islamic
radicalization."
To be sure, radicalized American Muslims pose a far greater risk than foreign radicals. For example, it is much easier
for the former to get a job in the food industry and poison food — a recently revealed al-Qa'ida strategy. American
terrorists are also better positioned to exploit the Western mindset. After describing Anwar al-Awlaki as one of the
most dangerous terrorists alive, Holder added that he "is a person who — as an American citizen — is familiar with
this country and he brings a dimension, because of that American familiarity, that others do not." (Likewise, American
Adam Gadahn is al-Qa'ida's chief propagandist in English, no doubt due to his "American familiarity.")
Sue Myrick, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, wrote a
particularly candid letter on "radicalization" to President Obama:
"For many years, we lulled ourselves with the idea that
radicalization was not happening inside the United Sates.
We believed American Muslims were immune to
radicalization because, unlike the European counterparts,
they are socially and economically well-integrated into
society. There had been warnings that these assumptions
were false, but we paid them no mind. Today, there is no
doubt that radicalization is taking place inside America.
The strikingly accelerated rate of American Muslims
arrested for involvement in terrorist activities since May,
2009, makes this fact self-evident."
Myrick named several American Muslims as examples of those who, while "embodying the American dream, at least
socio-economically," still turned to radical Islam, astutely adding, "The truth is that, if grievances were the sole cause
of terrorism, we would see daily acts by Americans who have lost their jobs and homes in this economic downturn."
Quite so. Yet, though Myrick's observations are limited to the domestic scene, they beg the following, even more
"cosmic," question: If American Muslims, who enjoy Western benefits — including constitutional democracy,
liberty, economic prosperity, and freedom of expression — are still being radicalized, why then do we insist that the
importation of those same Western benefits to the Muslim world will eliminate its even more indigenous or authentic
form of "radicalization"?
After all, the mainstream position, the only one evoked by politicians, maintains that all American sacrifices in the
Muslim world (Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.) will pay off, once Muslims discover how wonderful Western ways are, and
happily slough off their Islamist veneer, which, as the theory goes, is a product of — you guessed it — a lack of
constitutional democracy, liberty, prosperity, and freedom of expression. Yet here are American Muslims, immersed in
the bounties of the West — and still do they turn to violent jihad. Why think their counterparts, who are born and
raised in the Muslim world, where Islam permeates every aspect of life, will respond differently?
In fact, far from eliminating radicalization, there is reason to believe that Western values can actually exacerbate
Islamist tendencies. It is already known that Western concessions to Islam — in the guise of multiculturalism,
"cultural sensitivity," political correctness, and self-censorship — only bring out the worst in Islamists. Yet, even
some of the most prized aspects of Western Civilization — personal freedom, rule of law, human dignity — when
articulated through an Islamist framework, have the capacity to "radicalize" Muslims.
Consider: the West's unique stress on the law as supreme arbitrator, translates into a stress to establish Sharia law,
Islam's supreme arbitrator of human affairs; the West's unwavering commitment to democracy and majoritarianism,
translates into an unwavering commitment to theocracy, including an anxious impulse to resurrect the caliphate;
Western notions of human dignity and pride, when articulated through an Islamist mindset (which sees fellow
Muslims as the ultimate, if not only, representatives of humanity) induces rage when fellow Muslims — Palestinians,
Afghanis, Iraqis, etc. — are seen under Western, infidel dominion; Western notions of autonomy and personal
freedom have even helped "Westernize" the notion of jihad into an individual duty, though it has traditionally been
held by Sharia as a communal duty.
Nor should any of this be surprising: a set of noble principles articulated through a Fascistic paradigm can produce
abominations. In this case, the better principles of Western Civilization are being devoured, absorbed, and
regurgitated into something equally potent, though from the other end of the spectrum. Put differently, just as a
stress on human freedom, human dignity, and universal justice produces good humans, rearticulating these same
concepts through an Islamist framework that qualifies them with the word "Muslim" — Muslim freedom, Muslim
dignity, and Muslim justice — leads to what is being called "radicalization."
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
The Islamist Fifth Column -- America's Internal Enemies:
Disloyalty, Subversion, Sedition, & Treason
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
Liberalism Versus Conservatism in American Politics
-------------------------
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY & POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES:
COMPETING SYSTEMS OF POLITICAL THOUGHT
Conservatism
Traditional Conservatism: Questions & Answers
Conservatism: Attitudes, Types, & Present Status
Constitutional Conservatism: American & British
Liberalism
Classical Liberalism: Intellectual Foundations
Classical Liberalism: Conservative Liberalism
Manchester Liberalism & Social Darwinism
Modern Social "Liberalism": Statist "Liberalism"
Radical & Totalitarian Ideologies
Radicalism, Utopianism, & Totalitarianism
CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY & OTHER POLITICAL REGIMES
Modern Constitutional Democracy:
Fundamental Character & Essential Ingredients
Constitutionalism: The First Essential Ingredient
of Modern Constitutional Democracy
Dictatorship: The Opposite of Constitutionalism
Representative Democracy: The Second Essential Ingredient
of Modern Constitutional Democracy
Direct Democracy & Representative Democracy
Political Culture & Modern Constitutional Democracy
Modern Constitutional Democracy:
Summary & Conclusion
Raymond Ibrahim, a historian of Islam, Islamism and the Middle East, is the Associate Director of the Middle East Forum,
a guest lecturer at the National Defense Intelligence College, and the editor of The Al-Qa'ida Reader, a collection
of tranlations of key texts and documents of the Islamist movement. Ibrahim's translations of the religious texts and
political propaganda comprising this collection help readers comprehend the origins, development, history, and serious
danger of the Islamist war doctrines of Usama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Founders of Al-Qa'ida and
implacable enemies of the U.S.A. and the West.
The foregoing article by Raymond Ibrahim was originally published in Pajamas Media, February 10, 2011, and
can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks to
define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam,
working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote
constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly
asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
(URL: http://www.meforum.org/2831/can-american-values-radicalize-muslims)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
February 12, 2011
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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