reviewsWar

A Double Dose of Reality on Homegrown Terrorism

One assumes the authors did not coordinate the writing of these two books, but they complement each other in remarkable fashion. Together they provide a mass of illuminating detail on the phenomenon of radicalized American Muslims who in one way or another step into the world of violent jihad. In Objective Troy, Scott Shane focuses on Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born cleric who became the most effective recruiter of other American jihadis (he was killed in a targeted U.S. drone strike in 2011, but his writings and videos still send the extremist message). Peter Bergens The United States of Jihad focuses on the other end of the recruitment process, profiling a diverse set of Americans who were enticed by Awlaki or other extremists to join the holy war against their own country.

The two books combine to challenge some significant myths that have gained currency in Americas fevered debate on the Islamist terror threat – for example, the claim that keeping out refugees from Syria and Iraq and immigrants from other Muslim countries is necessary to protect against terrorist attacks. In fact, as these books and other studies make clear, homegrown terrorists overwhelmingly have not been recent immigrants. With a single exception (the wife involved in the shooting late last year in San Bernardino, California), none of Bergens profile subjects falls into this category. A large majority, including the Chicago-born husband in the San Bernardino case, were American citizens, most of them born in the United States – as was Anwar al-Awlaki, by any measure the most dangerous of the American jihadis. As for refugees, Bergens research shows that no one with refugee status has been involved in any jihadist attack in the United States since 9/11.

The two authors findings also demolish the notion that militant Muslims are plotting to Islamize America, a standard allegation among anti-Muslim activists. Except for a single comment musing about a ban on alcohol consumption, nothing said by any of Bergen’s subjects mentions bringing the United States under Muslim domination or sharia law. Their reason for their holy war is to retaliate for U.S. violence in Afghanistan and Iraq and its support for Israel, not a fantasy of converting America to Islam. As is clear from Shanes exhaustive examination, the same is true of Awlaki.

In the years since 9/11white supremacists, antiabortion extremists, and militants of other domestic right-wing causes