Islam and the American Public

by J. R. Dunn

"...A common premise here is that Americans are filled with hair-trigger anti-Muslim feelings that can only be controlled by wise and constant intervention from their betters, intervention that, by its very nature, must extend into every last corner of American life. This premise was derived wholly from the doctrine of political correctness -- that all whites are oppressors, all nonwhites victims, no matter what the circumstances. The victims were not all white by any means, the perpetrators not exactly nonwhite, but that didn't matter. Institutional attitudes were driven by the most divisive, meretricious, and worthless doctrine of the late 20^th century. That remains the case to this day.

The touchstone was the Nisei relocation of WW II, in which 100,000 Japanese immigrants were shepherded into internment camps for the duration of the war. What was forgotten was that the crime against the Nisei was carried out solely by government, with the concurrence of FDR, California governor Earl Warren, and Interior secretary Harold Ickes. There was no public demand for such an action and no need for it. It was April 1942 before the relocation occurred, five full months after Pearl Harbor. If an anti-Japanese pogrom was in the works, it would have occurred months before.

Muslim authorities also failed in the post-9/11 period. Not a single expression of regret or sympathy was heard from a Muslim organization for several years after 9/11. (I believe the first occurred three years later, but I'm willing to be corrected.) Muslim notables evidently thought they could lie low until things cooled down, which might well have worked but for a spate of foolish lawsuits claiming "discrimination" and attempting to force American companies and organizations to adapt to Muslim legal and social norms. The Muslim-American elite, instead of encouraging assimilation, consciously adapted the PC model, opting for confrontation when confrontation was not called for. In doing so, they rendered a disservice both to their own people and the nation as a whole.

It goes without saying that things got worse when the Great Conciliator entered office. Obama injected a sense of pure weirdness into proceedings. The bowing to a Saudi potentate -- a first in the history of the presidency -- has been overshadowed by the public uncertainty about precisely what Obama's actual religious identity might be. Obama has been unable to clarify effectively what would seem to be a straightforward fact. His own rhetoric and behavior -- the repeated public invocations of the Muslim catchphrase "peace be unto him", his refusal to attend a church since leaving Trinity United in Chicago -- are in large part responsible. As a result, up to one-fifth of all Americans, that is to say, up to 60 million people, believe Obama to be Muslim.

It is apparent from Obama's books, published under his name and approved by him, that he was for all practical purposes raised as a Muslim and became a Christian in adulthood, when he was baptized in Jeremiah Wright's church. A simple statement of this fact could have saved him a lot of trouble -- but simple statements and Barack Obama don't seem capable of coexisting under the physical laws governing this universe. Again we see dissimulation creating problems where none need exist. (I myself don't think he's a Muslim. I don't think he's a Christian either. I think he's a prime example of the standard-issue secular that the higher-educational system turns out in ton lots.)

Add the question of Obama's Twilight Zone religiosity to such things as Eric Holder's asinine attempts to duck an admission to Congress that Islamist terrorism exists, John Brennan's incessant repetition of the "religion of peace" line, the Cairo speech, and the metamorphosis of NASA's mission from exploration and research to "Muslim outreach", and it's no challenge to see how public concern and confusion arose.

At the same time, domestic terror attacks resumed after a lengthy hiatus under the Bush administration. Failed attacks occurred over Detroit, in Dallas, and at Times Square. At last, the inevitable occurred with a successful attack at Fort Hood by Major Nidal Hasan, an unstable Army officer who had closely consulted with overseas Jihadi elements. Each case gave rise to serious official dissimulation. Plausible eyewitness evidence of conspiracy involving Detroit bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was ignored. In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg (who simply can't be as dense as he seems -- he's a billionaire), publicly speculated that the would-be bomber was likely to be a "right-winger" angered by ObamaCare.

But it was Hasan who proved to be the watershed. Investigation revealed that he had been spouting Jihadi propaganda and displaying sympathy for terrorist aims for years with no official notice being taken. After the attack, all connections between Hasan and terrorism were deliberately downplayed by the military, government, and media, which instead attempted to portray the attack as a run-of-the-mill mass shooting, although Hasan had repeatedly shouted, "Allahu akhbar!" as he mowed down his victims. The official Army report failed to mention Islam or Jihadi terrorism at any point.

So as 2010 opened, we had an absurd government policy involving Islam, a president denying his obvious and well-attested Islamic background, a rising level of terrorist violence overwhelming a dormant counterterror effort, serious irresponsibility among the American Muslim hierarchy, and the American people as a whole being treated as a combination of children and crazed backwoodsmen. A more deeply strained situation would be difficult to imagine.

Into this seething pool of gasoline pranced Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, juggling a half-dozen blazing flares while wearing a blindfold. Shady as a tropical rain forest, Rauf was a slumlord with a number of substandard properties dotting the North Jersey area and unexplained connections with terror-related organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood (his own father had been a member). To top it off, he was employed in some murky fashion by the U.S. government.

What Rauf actually thinks he's doing is anybody's guess. He cannot conceivably believe what he says, or that he could have gotten away with his mosque project without public opposition. His organization is broke (with about $18,000 available) and has as much business planning a hundred million dollar mosque as it does a mission to the Andromeda galaxy. It's difficult to avoid the conclusion that Rauf deliberately courted controversy for his own purposes, perhaps in hopes of generating funding from sources such as the U.S. government, overseas Muslims, and the inevitable liberal guilt donations. The entire business having blown up in his face, it does not appear that such funding is in the cards. (Except possibly from Michael Moore, who has offered to assist him in fundraising). At this point it is unlikely that the mosque will ever be built.

J.R. Dunn is consulting editor of American Thinker, and will edit the forthcoming Military Thinker.

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