"Islamism" and American Muslims

A recent paper by three terrorism experts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) - Daniel Benjamin, Aidan Kirby and Julianne Smith, Currents and Crosscurrents of Radical Islamism (April 2006), has some important observations about American Muslims. Like most reality-based descriptions these days, it doesn't fit our Republican zealots' notion of Patriotically Correct. They write about some important distinctions between the situations in the EU and the US:

From a transatlantic perspective, it seems clear that Europe faces the more profound integration challenge. This is true for a number of reasons: First, Europe has a much larger Muslim minority than the United States. Second, in contrast to the European experience, Muslim immigrants in the United States have historically been better educated than the norm, and, in fact, Muslims in the United States typically earn more than the average American. Third, there is the issue of political culture and identity formation. The United States, a nation of immigrants, has made it easier for Muslims to forge a hybrid identity ("Muslim-American"), something that is far more challenging for Muslims living on European soil. (This is not to say that the United States does not face its own problems with Muslim discontent, as we shall see below. However, thus far, it is fair to say that the Muslim community has been a bulwark against the spread of radicalism in the United States.) (my emphasis)

This is something to keep in mind when hearing Christian extremists say that all Muslims are to blame for the acts of The Terrorists because they don't protest against The Terrorists enough.


This part is also informative:

One of the challenges in assessing the success of integration of American Muslims is the diversity of the community. There is a much greater ethnic heterogeneity among American Muslims than is found in the communities of individual Europe[an] states. However, according to journalist Paul Barrett, who has also done extensive research into the Muslim communities in the United States, a handful of consistent themes seem to animate many of the debates. First and foremost, there is concern over American policy towards Israel, especially in the context of American policy toward the rest of the Middle East. There is a sense that Israel and Jewish interests play an outsize role in shaping American foreign policy. And there is an acute sense of victimization based not so much on direct experience but the plight of Muslims elsewhere in the world. (my emphasis)

Saying that such grievances are strongly felt is not the same as saying they are all realistic or rational. But "they hate us for our values" is pretty much a mindless slogan that doesn't lead to much understanding of what's going on.

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