Posted on 03/28/2016 8:16:23 AM PDT by Kaslin
LONG BEFORE Tuesday's terror attacks in Brussels, it was clear that Belgium had become a breeding ground for Islamist extremists. Hundreds of Belgian Muslims — as many as 500, according to one estimate — have gone to Syria and Iraq to fight for ISIS, making Belgium by far Europe's leading supplier of foreign jihadists. Last November's horrific slaughter in Paris was masterminded by a Belgian radical, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, and at least four of the men who carried out those attacks were from the Brussels district of Molenbeek. One of them was Salah Abdeslam, who was captured in Molenbeek, after an intense manhunt, on March 19.
For Islamist imams and terrorist ringleaders, such neighborhoods — heavily Muslim, densely populated, with high unemployment and crime rates — have proved fertile territory for recruiting violent jihadists. "There is almost always a link with Molenbeek. That's a gigantic problem, of course," Belgium's prime minister said after the Paris atrocities.
But it's only recently that the country's security officials began confronting that "gigantic problem" with an appropriate sense of urgency. The New York Times reported last fall that weeks before the Paris attacks, Molenbeek's mayor, Françoise Schepmans, was given a list of more than 80 Islamist terror suspects living in her district. She took no action and was unapologetic even after three of the men on the list took part in the Paris massacre.
"What was I supposed to do about them?" Schepmans told the Times. "It is not my job to track possible terrorists."
That jaw-dropping complacency helps explain how an ISIS fifth column has been able to operate with such brazenness in Western Europe. But incompetent policing doesn't explain why Muslims living in neighborhoods like Molenbeek, or in the banlieues outside Paris that have experienced violent riots, should be susceptible to Islamist radicalization in the first place.
Muslim communities, after all, are not inherently predisposed to violence. The presence of a sizable Muslim population in a non-Muslim-majority country does not inevitably presage jihadist bloodshed or demands for the imposition of sharia. It is true that some 650,000 Muslims live in Belgium, but five times as many — 3.3 million — live in the United States. Why hasn't America become a hotbed of Islamic extremism? Why aren't American Muslims by the thousands flocking to fight for ISIS, Al Qaeda, and other terrorist organizations? Why, despite the efforts of Islamist pressure groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) — a Muslim supremacist operation that masquerades as an advocate for civil rights — are most American Muslims intent on adopting America's customs and way of life?
The United States has been far more successful at assimilating and integrating Muslim immigrants into American society and culture than has Western Europe. There are no Muslim ghettoes here like those in Molenbeek or the Paris suburbs, where authorities turn a blind eye to antisocial behavior and aggressive incitement by radicals preaching jihad. Of course there have been some heinous exceptions, such as the Tsarnaev brothers, the Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hassan, or the killers in San Bernardino. And mosques in American cities have often been built with funding from Saudi Arabia, which promotes a harsh and puritanical version of Islam.
Nevertheless, at the grass-roots level, Muslims in the United States, like other cultural and religious minorities, have had no problem acclimating to mainstream norms. In a detailed 2011 survey, the Pew Research Center found that Muslim Americans are "highly assimilated into American society and . . . largely content with their lives." More than 80 percent of US Muslims expressed satisfaction with life in America, and 63 percent said they felt no conflict "between being a devout Muslim and living in a modern society." The rates at which they participate in various everyday American activities — from following local sports teams to watching entertainment TV — are similar to those of the American public generally. Half of all Muslim immigrants display the US flag at home, in the office, or on their car.
Given America's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the bloody battles with Islamic regimes and insurgents, and the threat to homeland security from "lone wolf" terror attacks, it might seem surprising that Muslims in Detroit or Brooklyn aren't at least as alienated as those in Molenbeek. But they aren't. For despite the rise of identity politics and the balkanizing pressures of multicultural correctness, America's melting pot still works. Generations of Muslim immigrants have come to America to escape repression, poverty, or war in their homelands. The life they have made for themselves here has been freer, safer, more prosperous, and more embracing than the existence they left behind. There are tensions, but not enough to keep most Muslims from fitting themselves comfortably into the American mosaic.
At a time when populist demagogues are doing so much damage to our social fabric, it is well to remember why Molenbeek is a European phenomenon, and not an American one. At the core of the American experience is a conviction that immigrants who come to America can and should become Americans. Patriotic assimilation turns profoundly dissimilar foreigners into proud and happy Americans. "Muslims in the United States," Pew found, "reject extremism by much larger margins than most Muslim publics" around the world.
I can take the writer of article to a Houston area neighborhood that has on one end of a street a Sunni mosque and on the other end a huge Shia mosque. In between is a neighborhood that is largely Muslim. Perhaps peaceful, but one that I was told was in a quite celebratory mood on 9/11.
There are, just because there aren’t any in your city yet, doesn’t mean the US doesn’t have them... go visit Michigan.
There’s a Muslim (mainly Yemeni) ghetto in Lackawanna NY. No doubt about it.
You can go and see girls in full Niqab and the long gowns, just like their mothers, playing soccer at public fields, with no men or boys around. You can find the Halal butchers where they kill goats by slitting their throats. It was the home to the “Lackawanna 6” right after 9-11, and was also the USA home of the first-ever Al Qaeda terrorist killed by a hellfire missile fired from a drone after he fled the USA.
DO NOT lie and say there are no Muslim ghettos. Its only a matter of concentration and numbers, that’s all. But the result will be EXACTLY the same as Brussels when we get to those numbers.
Tell me is it true that there are many mosques that continually broadcast the call to prayer all day long?
One big difference in Europe is that they are on their second or third generation of Muslims after the original immigrants from the Middle East move there. So the comparison with recent immigrants to the U.S. may not be valid.
“Amazing how so many “Conservatives” are pro Muslims immigration and are quick to call you a bigot if you say Islam isn’t peaceful.”
Saudi billions
“What was I supposed to do about them?” Schepmans told the Times. “It is not my job to track possible terrorists.”
Proactive is a dirty word in Western Europe. Passive inertia followed by a spurt of momentary reaction and then a return to passive inertia is the way they run things over there. Belgium will ultimately do nothing substantive about their terrorist problem.
If they follow the Koran and sharia as all muslims do, then they are predisposed to violence.
The first group were darker skinned and came mostly from the Christian and Animist south of the country. The ELCA congregations sponsored them and there were glowing (and mostly true) stories in the press about how these people who came with nothing were walking two, four or even more miles one way to get to work and back. Who couldn't like struggling neighbors like that?
Then the government sent the Muslim majority from the north of the country, lighter skinned and with a completely different work ethic. They learned how to milk the government programs to the max and spread the word that Minnesota and Maine were the most generous-- and with lots of lunkheaded white liberals who were so anxious to show how progressive and generous they were.
Because we still have a culture that manages to trump all other cultures. It’s the Scots-Irish culture. See Jim Webb’s book “Born Fighting” or another book “Seeds of Albion”. Go to Houston but other than the lesbians its is still hillbilly central. Even the Muslimsend up becoming hillbilly and take on a rough independent demeanor.
Not saying it’s a universal truth. But it takes government funds and policies to make a ghetto that radicalizes. We still have vast areas of old America.
Exactly! His stats are bogus. There are more Muslims in the US,but they are a much smaller percentage of our population. I noticed he didn’t mention how many Muslims are on welfare. It’s a large percentage.
As soon as Muslims have enough numbers, they band together in their own enclaves. We are starting to see that here in MN, MI, and even in Texas. Muslims built a huge Muslim community center and school in Katy, TX and have formed a Sharia council to mediate disputes among Muslims. Walmart and other companies are now selling Halal meat, even though the process for slaughtering animals for Halal is horribly cruel and barbaric.
With the growth in the Muslim population, estimates say there are 500,000 girls at risk of suffering FGM.
Saying most Muslims are this or that or think a certain way is irrelevant. The problem is Islam itself. It’s incompatible with free society and the Koran is the only religious text that calls for the murder of unbelievers. Islam should be banned in all civilized nations. When there are enough Muslims in an area, they take over and the violence begins. It’s inevitable.
total population of Belgium: 11.2 million or 5% Muslim
total population of USA: 318 million or 1% Muslim
that seems like one significant difference, on top of the other factors and weaknesses of this piece cited in other posts.
What about Dearbornistan, I was born and raised in Dearborn,MI after moving out in 02 I vowed never to go back after Mother passed away.
Wait, what? Houston isn’t that jihadi. Too big. You don’t really notice them but I know there are some major players here. Same with the country - we’re so big it’s all spread out, unlike Belgium, one of the smallest geographical countries in the world.
Policing is another factor, naturally. If they commit crimes here we actually try to catch them. But the biggest difference is, I think, that bearded punks waving weapons around tends not to intimidate people who have closets full of them.
Parts of Atlanta have them, too
Hey Jeff Jacoby, get with the reality.
Here’s how it works:
As long as the Muslim population remains around or under 2% in any given country, they will be for the most part be regarded as a peace-loving minority, and not as a threat to other citizens. This is the case in:
United States — Muslim 1.8%
Australia — Muslim 1.5%
Canada — Muslim 1.9%
China — Muslim 1.8%
Italy — Muslim 1.5%
Norway — Muslim 1.8%
At 2% to 5%, they begin to proselytize from other ethnic minorities and disaffected groups, often with major recruiting from the jails and among street gangs. This is happening in:
Denmark — Muslim 2%
Germany — Muslim 5.2%
United Kingdom — Muslim 2.7%
Spain — Muslim 4%
Thailand — Muslim 4.6%
From 5% on, they exercise an inordinate influence in proportion to their percentage of the population. For example, they will push for the introduction of halal (clean by Islamic standards) food, thereby securing food preparation jobs for Muslims. They will increase pressure on supermarket chains to feature halal on their shelves — along with threats for failure to comply. This is occurring in:
France — Muslim 8%
Philippines — Muslim 5%
Sweden — Muslim 5%
Switzerland — Muslim 4.3%
The Netherlands — Muslim 5.5%
Trinidad & Tobago — Muslim 5.8%
At this point, they will work to get the ruling government to allow them to rule themselves (within their ghettos) under Sharia, the Islamic Law. The ultimate goal of Islamists is to establish Sharia law over the entire world.
When Muslims approach 10% of the population, they tend to increase lawlessness as a means of complaint about their conditions. In Paris , we are already seeing car-burnings. Any non-Muslim action offends Islam and results in uprisings and threats, such as in Amsterdam, with opposition to Mohammed cartoons and films about Islam. Such tensions are seen daily, particularly in Muslim sections in:
Guyana — Muslim 10%
India — Muslim 13.4%
Israel — Muslim 16%
Kenya — Muslim 10%
Russia — Muslim 15%
After reaching 20%, nations can expect hair-trigger rioting, jihad militia formations, sporadic killings, and the burnings of Christian churches and Jewish synagogues, such as in:
Ethiopia — Muslim 32.8%
At 40%, nations experience widespread massacres, chronic terror attacks, and ongoing militia warfare, such as in:
Bosnia — Muslim 40%
Chad — Muslim 53.1%
Lebanon — Muslim 59.7%
From 60%, nations experience unfettered persecution of non-believers of all other religions (including non-conforming Muslims), sporadic ethnic cleansing (genocide), use of Sharia Law as a weapon, and Jizya, the tax placed on infidels, such as in:
Albania — Muslim 70%
Malaysia — Muslim 60.4%
Qatar — Muslim 77..5%
Sudan — Muslim 70%
After 80%, expect daily intimidation and violent jihad, some State-run ethnic cleansing, and even some genocide, as these nations drive out the infidels, and move toward 100% Muslim, such as has been experienced and in some ways is on-going in:
Bangladesh — Muslim 83%
Egypt — Muslim 90%
Gaza — Muslim 98.7%
Indonesia — Muslim 86.1%
Iran — Muslim 98%
Iraq — Muslim 97%
Jordan — Muslim 92%
Morocco — Muslim 98.7%
Pakistan — Muslim 97%
Palestine — Muslim 99%
Syria — Muslim 90%
Tajikistan — Muslim 90%
Turkey — Muslim 99.8%
United Arab Emirates — Muslim 96%
100% will usher in the peace of ‘Dar-es-Salaam’ — the Islamic House of Peace. Here there’s supposed to be peace, because everybody is a Muslim, the Madrasses are the only schools, and the Koran is the only word, such as in:
Afghanistan — Muslim 100%
Saudi Arabia — Muslim 100%
Somalia — Muslim 100%
Yemen — Muslim 100%
Unfortunately, peace is never achieved, as in these 100% states the most radical Muslims intimidate and spew hatred, and satisfy their blood lust by killing less radical Muslims, for a variety of reasons.
It is important to understand that in some countries, with well under 100% Muslim populations, such as France, the minority Muslim populations live in ghettos, within which they are 100% Muslim, and within which they live by Sharia Law. The national police do not even enter these ghettos. There are no national courts, nor schools, nor non-Muslim religious facilities. In such situations, Muslims do not integrate into the community at large. The children attend madrasses. They learn only the Koran. To even associate with an infidel is a crime punishable with death. Therefore, in some areas of certain nations, Muslim Imams and extremists exercise more power than the national average would indicate.
Today’s 1.5 billion Muslims make up 22% of the world’s population. But their birth rates dwarf the birth rates of Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, and all other believers. Muslims will exceed 50% of the world’s population by the end of this century.
Adapted from Dr. Peter Hammond’s book: Slavery, Terrorism and Islam: The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat.
Well, boys and girls, today we are letting the fox guard the henhouse. The wolves will be herding the sheep!
Obama appointed two devout Muslims to Homeland Security posts. Doesn’t this make you feel safer already? Arif Alikhan as Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Kareem Shora as ADC National Executive Director.
NOTE: Has anyone ever heard a new government official being identified as a devout Catholic, a devout Jew or a devout Protestant...? Just wondering.
Devout Muslims being appointed to critical Homeland Security positions? Doesn’t this make you feel safer already??
Was it not “Devout Muslims” who flew planes into U.S. buildings 8 years ago?
Was it not a Devout Muslim who killed 13 at Fort Hood?
https://www.clarionproject.org/news/american-muslims-stone-christians-dearborn-michigan
Should tell you all you want to know about enclaves of Muslims.
“The general population decline in Michigan from 2005-2009 was 121,000 (estimated population Michigan.gov) at -3% growth rate. The Muslim population continues to grow, on average Muslim families consist of 4 persons to a household of which 23% are under the age of 18.”
http://muslimobserver.com/demographic-makeup-of-muslims-in-michigan/
In Belgium that’s what, 5.8% Muslim with a huge birthrate compared to others. As was noted small country with growing %s of Muslim. Recipe for disaster and conflict.
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