Anti-Islam Protest in U.S. Bolsters Extremists, Experts Say - NYTimes.com
WASHINGTON — Some counterterrorism experts say the
anti-Muslim sentiment that has saturated the airwaves and blogs in the debate over plans for an Islamic center near ground zero in
Lower Manhattan is playing into the hands of extremists by bolstering their claims that the
United States is hostile to
Islam.
Opposition to the center by prominent politicians and other public figures in the United States has been covered extensively by the
news media in
Muslim countries. At a time of concern about radicalization of young Muslims in the West, it risks adding new fuel to
Al Qaeda’s claim that Islam is under attack by the West and must be defended with violence, some specialists on Islamic militancy say.
“I know people in this debate don’t intend it, but there are consequences for these kinds of remarks,” said Brian Fishman, who studies
terrorism for the New America Foundation here.
He said that
Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric hiding in Yemen who has been linked to several terrorist plots, has been arguing for months in Web speeches and in a new Qaeda magazine that American Muslims face a dark future of ever-worsening discrimination and vilification.
“When the rhetoric is so inflammatory that it serves the interests of a jihadi recruiter like Awlaki, politicians need to be called on it,” Mr. Fishman said.
