Here we go again: Muslims attempt to mass-murder non-Muslims — think of the jihad terror mass murder in Fort Hood; jihad mass-murder plots thwarted in Portland; Baltimore; Lubbock, Texas; North Carolina; Times Square; on an airplane over Detroit; and more — and that’s just the last few months. And in the mainstream media, Muslims turn out to be the victims. In a sane world, Laura Yuen would be writing about how the Muslim community in Minneapolis was working hard to prove its loyalty to American Constitutional values, and instituting programs to teach against the understanding of Islam manifested by Islamic jihadists. Instead, they’re the victims, as always.
Mainstream media journalists are drearily predictable in their readiness to retail this line. It is remarkable how it never seems to occur to any of them to ask even the most basic probing questions about what these poor victims actually intend to do on their side to try to prevent future jihad attacks, and thereby head off this frightening “backlash.”
“Minnesota Muslim leaders skeptical and disappointed after radicalization hearing,” by Laura Yuen for Minnesota Public Radio, March 11:
Minneapolis “” Muslim leaders in Minnesota worry that a congressional hearing Thursday on homegrown Islamic radicalization will further divide them from the broader community and lead to a possible backlash.
Somali-Americans say they’re again in the uncomfortable position of being defined by the case of the two dozen young men accused of returning to their homeland to fight with the terrorist group al-Shabab.
Some activists and religious leaders also take umbrage with the Twin Cities Somali man who provided testimony about how he thinks his teen nephew was indoctrinated.
The hearing, convened by U.S. Rep. Peter King, R-New York, brought a dreadful sense of deja vu for some Somali Minnesotans.
Exactly two years ago, another congressional committee explored the disturbing phenomenon of young Minnesota men radicalized to fight in their native Somalia.
Minneapolis activist Abdirizak Bihi related their story Thursday to members of Congress — and to a national audience watching on C-SPAN.
Bihi’s teenage nephew who was among roughly two dozen Twin Cities men who left Minnesota to fight alongside al-Shabaab. He’s now believed dead. Bihi repeated criticisms against a Minneapolis mosque where his nephew and friends studied.
“What I ask you is to open an investigation as to what is happening in my community,” he said. “We are isolated by Islamic organizations and leaders who support them.”
Bihi also said that when families like his wanted to report their sons missing to authorities, leaders of the Abubakar As-Saddique mosque tried to bully the relatives into keeping quiet, saying they would end up in Guantanamo. He told U.S. Rep. Dan Lungren, R-California, that the mosque officials also warned the families of another consequence:
“If you do that, you’re gonna be responsible for the eradication of all mosques and all Islamic society in North America,” Bihi recalled being told. “And you will have eternal fire and hell.”
Lungren asked Bihi if he thought he and his family were targets of intimidation to stop him from cooperating with law enforcement.
“Yes, intimidation in its purest form,” Bihi replied.
But officials at the Abubakar mosque deny ever trying to silence the families. It’s true that back in 2008, many Somalis in Minnesota were skeptical that the missing men could have been recruited for jihad. Some were angered about Bihi’s accusations, which they considered reckless….
Zuhur Ahmed of Minneapolis watched as her representative wept, and paused to dab away her own tears. Ahmed, who hosts a Twin Cities Somali-language radio show, said violent extremism must be addressed. But she said it feels like Muslims are the only ones being singled out.
“As I was wiping my tears, she said, “I was thinking what is it about my faith that is not being accepted as an American? My faith? My scarf? My ethnicity?”…
None of the above, Ms. Ahmed. It’s the annoying tendency of your coreligionists to keep trying to blow things up and commit mass murder, and to assert the primacy of your oppressive legal system over American Constitutional freedoms.