Bring Muslim Americans Deeper Into the Fold

PRESIDENT George W. Bush did something both kind and clever Monday. The kindness was visiting a mosque in Washington and extending his hand to all peace-loving Muslims. "The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam," he declared.

And that was the cleverness, too. By making it plain that the United States is anti-terrorist, not anti-Muslim, Bush put Arab Americans to the test: Whose side will they be on? If this is war, there's no middle ground. Yet a look back at history shows one profound way in which the commander in chief could help bring every willing American into the patriotic fold.

The 43rd president has always been eager to include Muslims in the family of America. In his inaugural address, he spoke warmly of "church and charity, synagogue and mosque"; a Muslim cleric spoke Friday at the memorial at Washington National Cathedral. And while Bush has had his moments of awkwardness - on Sunday, he referred to the fight against terror as a "crusade," summoning up memories of the Christian-Muslim religious wars of the Middle Ages - his evident sincerity has shone through.

But, if America is going to prevail, the burden can't fall upon Bush and the U.S. government to get every last nuance right. It's a simple fact, for example, that the 19 suicide bombers were all Arabs, presumably all Muslims. And here's a bet: Most, if not all, of the 75 persons arrested since the strikes on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are Arab Muslims. Indeed, courts of law have proved that the last strike on the World Trade Center, in 1993, was an Arab-based conspiracy.

Based on bloody experience, whom should newly created federal marshals scrutinize: elderly black women or young Arab-looking men? Is that racial profiling? Sure it is. And, if Arab Americans wish to expend their energy protesting such treatment, then their predicament will get worse. They will find allies in the American Civil Liberties Union, but not in the rest of America, because even freedom-loving Americans have always understood that wartime abridges civil liberties.

On the other hand, if Arab Americans take the lead in cleansing their own communities of the terror cells that in all probability are still lurking, they will be heroes and join the long list of immigrant groups that put patriotism ahead of ethnicity and thereby earned their place at the national table. Other ethnic groups have faced this same loyalty squeeze. During World War I, for example, a wave of sabotage swept over the East Coast near clusters of German Americans. The biggest blow was struck on July 30, 1916, when some 2,000 tons of ammunition detonated at Black Tom pier in Jersey City. Miraculously, only two people were killed, but the blast blew out windows in Manhattan and was heard as far away as Philadelphia. Germans and German Americans were fingered, and the result was a campaign of anti-German suppression that certainly wasn't nice, but probably necessary.

Yet, at the same time that he wielded the stick, President Woodrow Wilson offered the carrot. The U.S. commander of the American Expeditionary Force that went to France was a German American, John Pershing (original family name: Pfoersching). By rank, Pershing was not the automatic choice; among the generals placing higher were men surnamed Scott and Wood. But, in choosing Pershing, Wilson offered German Americans a stark choice: They could side with the kaiser or follow a fellow German American in the fight against the Kaiser. And, in World War II, the supreme Allied commander in Europe was another talented German American, Dwight Eisenhower.

In serving loyally during those two wars, German Americans insulated themselves against any accusation of dual loyalty. And so now to the parallel to the present. The vast majority of Arab Americans are loyal patriots; now let's make it a full 100 percent.

To seal the deal, Bush, the commander in chief, needs still more kindness and cleverness. Somewhere in the ranks of the U.S. military are Arab and Muslim officers who can assume visible leadership positions in the fight ahead. These could be our next Pershings and Eisenhowers - soldiers who put their new country, and its civic faith, ahead of their ancestral country and their private faith. If such people were given the opportunity to do their part, in the course of bringing victory abroad, they would cement full equality at home.

I would have thought that if the Islamic community was serious about defending America, defending Islam, and doing what is right, they would have had a national meeting of all leading clerics and such, and make a national declaration condemning these act, and apply massive pressure on the Islamic community throughout the whole world to completely destroy radical, fundementalist Islamic terrorism.

However, all I hear is a deafening silence.

The attacks, shootings, stares etc that the Islamic community is feeling in the US will only get worse unless they act quickly.

Eventhough, I believe, these attacks were mainly in retaliation for America's interventionist policies, Islam does present a grave danger to the West, especially in its post-Christian state. It does not mean that we need to attack and destroy Muslims, it does mean we have to recognize the danger of Islam to our country and our Christian faith.

The only way to properly recognize this danger is by a reawakening of our own Christian faith. An Islamic cleric once told a Catholic archbishop at one of the UN meetings that they would take over Europe using our own democratic laws and take over being a conversion of the people.

Our Christianity has become 'namby-pamby' with Christian leaders not standing up for Christ and teaching his doctrines. Sects that do, as many of the fundamentalists show, have had an increase in membership. What type of spiritual force will Islam show when it is presented? It will show an austere, holy side to the non-believer and for anyone feed up with our materialistic culture it might prove attractive. Therein lies our danger, we must reawaken Christiandom and find our Faith once again.

Another interesting remark. Note how certain groups such as 'men', 'whites', 'Germans', etc. are expected to feel perpetual guilt for all the wrongs perpetrated by some of their ancestors or one or more individuals that were part of the same 'class'. They are also expected to compensate the aggrieved 'victims' groups or their offspring.

It doesn't seem to apply to 'the Muslims' who appear to be quite loud in claiming that they have no responsibility whatsoever for what other Muslims have done or are planning to do. In fact, the only thing that appears to keep their 'leaders' busy lately is keeping track of every little inconvenience their brethrens might be subjected to.

Why not Muslim guilt? After all, we are supposed to have white guilt, white man guilt, German guilt, etc., etc.

I believe the comparison to Japanese-Americans in World War II is probably more valid. German-Americans were not easily identified just by looking at them or reading their name, as names change when they move to America.

Nobody is advocating rounding up Arab-Americans and putting them in relocation camps . . . yet. But when it happened to Japanese-Americans, the vast majority of them willingly went, then formed their own regiment, the 142nd which was the most decorated of the war. One of the finest men I've ever known was a professor who worked day and night cracking the Imperial Japanese Navy Code while his family was held in a relocation camp in Utah. Now, that's loyalty.

Nobody is asking that Arab-Americans go that far . . . yet. But we are asking that they spare us the ACLU crapola about racial profiling, the lectures on "this happened because of U.S. foreign policy tilts toward Israel" and the shrugged shoulders, hostile stares and silence when asked to provide information which might help us weed out the terrorists hiding among them.

This isn't a bunch of boys from the 'hood covering up a drug deal from "whitey cop", this is our national survival. The onus is not on us to prove we're not racist, the onus is on them to prove they're loyal.

However, all I hear is a deafening silence.

The attacks, shootings, stares etc that the Islamic community is feeling in the US will only get worse unless they act quickly.

Funny. I've heard many Arabic and Moslem groups in this country decry these attacks and express solidarity with America. 4000 turned out in Dearborn Michigan (the largest Arab Moslem community in the US)to sing God Bless America. My Middle Eastern students sent out a letter expressing their outrage at the attacks. I'm sure the list goes on.

Anyone who attempts or advocates mindless violence against Arab Americans or innocent Moslems is a traitor.

The vast majority of Muslims who are not citizens are security risks and enemy aliens.

Period.

They need to be deported now...no more "student visas", green cards, etc.

Then we being checking the "Muslim Americans" for sleepers and moles.

Of course none of this will happen--and another, much worse, terror attack will occur.

--Boris

It will show an austere, holy side to the non-believer and for anyone feed up with our materialistic culture it might prove attractive.

Yes. A woman called into C-Span the other day, saying she was attracted to Islam because if its purity and the purity of the women. She feels it is correct to dress in a modest way. The guest on the show, Prof. Haddad said that some Christian and Jewish women do convert to Islam because of its purity.

I'm wondering why Christian and Jewish women who want to dress modestly and to counter the materialistic culture don't join the Amish or (ultra-?)Orthodox Judaism.

I believe the phrase is "Talk is cheap".

Have any Muslim clerics issued a fatwah against Osama bin Laden or any of these terrorists who, according to "moderate" Muslims are distorting Islam? Have any of them declared him an infidel?

Yeah, talk is cheap. Let their actions speak for themselves.

Apart from confusing Arab with Islamic, the author opens up with a severe misrepresentation of fact:

It is not up to "us" to bring Muslims deeper into the fold.
It is up to Muslims in the United States to join the fold.
Muslims and any othre sect demanding that their identity be hypenated (with American second in the link) must eventually learn that you either are one or you are not one.
Either American or something else.
Americans, those who actually, really, DO consider this their home and these their people, have the right to criicise. The right to protest and to vote for different positions.
Those who consider their ethnicity, religion, or left-handedness to trump their citizenship duties, are ceding their citizenship rights - in this case by crying foul when those they have failed to keep within their 'peace loving' religious boundaries cause them to be identified with the most evil act of war anyone has ever witnessed.

What we DO owe any of these groups is to react in a civilized and rational manner such as they seem incapable of doing themselves.
I suggest
"Thank you for your opinion, your presence here requires our consent and that consent is withdrawn."
Followed by "get your ass back where it came from by tomorrow."

"Funny. I've heard many Arabic and Moslem groups in this country decry these attacks and express solidarity with America. 4000 turned out in Dearborn Michigan (the largest Arab Moslem community in the US)to sing God Bless America. My Middle Eastern students sent out a letter expressing their outrage at the attacks. I'm sure the list goes on."

Singing and writing letters, well isn't that special.

Let me know when they start signing up by the thousands to lead the fight against terrorism with the blood of their young men. That is the price to be paid for the freedoms they enjoy as Americans. Time for them to pay their debt.

- soldiers who put their new country, and its civic faith, ahead of their ancestral country and their private faith. If such people were given the opportunity to do their part, in the course of bringing victory abroad, they would cement full equality at home.

Please provide reference to were this is happening.

The conflict between the West and Islam has been on the screen for several decades now, and yet the actions of the Islamic community are a collection of words,always after the fact.

There are only two sides in any conflict.

It is not necessary to become Amish or an orthodox Jew to dress modestly for either men or women. It used to be a common occurrance but it isn't now. If you go to a Catholic Church that is more orthodox you will see that they have a dress code for both sexes.

It is the simple fact that the Christian West have lost their sense of the divine and their sense that the their bodies are gifts and temples of God. We need to respect Him by showing respect for ourselves. We do not need to turn to fundamentalism or fanaticism, we just need a return to our Christian Faith.

Again, this is a battle in the spiritual realm which first has to be won in the hearts and minds of the Christian West. We do not need to rail against the beliefs of Islam or their fanaticism or their apparent medieval nature. We need first to take care of our own relationship with God then we can deal with Islam. We must never forget that though the Muslims might be deceived about their religion they are still sons and daughters of God and we have to remember that in dealing with them.

"Anyone who attempts or advocates mindless violence against Arab Americans or innocent Moslems is a traitor."

Agreed! However, I am not advocating this and hopefully you are not implying that I am.

I will repeat my advise, ALL leading Islamic clerics need to meet, discuss, and formulate a strong stance against the cancer which carries the name of the faith that they adhere to, i.e., Islam. They need to launch a huge PR campaign regarding this. Like all other immigrants who came to America, Muslim Americans are far better off than any other Muslims throughout the world. It is through this greatness that their message would be the strongest Muslim voices on the planet.

It does not comfort me to see sparodic showing of support in communities that I don't live in. My survival instincts tell me to keep a sharp eye out for people who look like the terrorist. Until we can all be assured that they have been routed out, we can all go about our pre-9/11/01 lives if that is possible.

Who knows who the next ethnic terrorist may be. No thanks to the Klinton pardons, it could be Puerto Ricans.

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