Mohamed Mohamud, 21, Somali-American guilty of bomb plot in Oregon / AP
American citizens are participating in terrorist activities as members of al Qaeda and are likely to continue to do so in the future, according to a new study by the Henry Jackson Society.
“Future attacks against the American homeland will be less organized, less complex—they’re just going to be more numerous, and more likely to be conducted by citizens and long-term residents of the United States,” former CIA and National Security Agency director Ret. Gen. Michael Hayden said during an event launching the study at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Tuesday.
The study, “Al-Qaeda in the United States,” examined “171 individuals who were convicted for al-Qaeda related offenses (AQROs) or committed suicide attacks between 1997 and 2011,” according to its summary.
Al Qaeda related offenses were broken into 10 categories, including “Material Support,” “Kill, Kidnap, Maim or Injure,” and “False Information.”
“The majority of the threat was from the U.S.,” said study author Robin Simcox. “Fifty-four percent were U.S. citizens.”
Thirty-six percent were born in the United States.
This study above stated that over half (57%) of the Al-Queda related offenses were committed by men under the age of 30 years old and one third were committed by those between 20 and 24 years old.
This report just confirms a past Pew Research Poll which told us 25 percent of younger American Muslims feel that suicide bombings are justified sometimes in the defense of Islam. And how does our media treat that figure? They basically ignore it, because this reality calls into question one of the basic dogmas of multiculturalism, which is that all religions are the same.
While it is hard to arrive at a good estimate of the number of American Muslims, the Pew poll estimated there are 2.35 million Muslims in America (other estimates double or triple that number). Of that number, younger Muslims 18 to 30 years old comprise about 30 percent of the Muslim American population. So you do the math.
Are you reassured that something close to 180,000 American Muslims approve of self-detonation within our borders to defend Islam? Should we resign ourselves to this tool of religious violence in our political discourse or demand the Muslim American community bring that number closer to zero percent?