Reign of Terror

by Spencer Ackerman

  Stop Islamization of America: Michelle Boorstein, “In Flap over Mosque Near Ground Zero, Conservative Bloggers Gaining Influence,” Washington Post, August 19, 2010.

  New York Post ran columns: Andrea Peyser, “Mosque Madness at Ground Zero,” New York Post, May 13, 2010.

  El-Gamal described the: Javier C. Hernandez, “Vote Endorses Muslim Center Near Ground Zero,” New York Times, May 26, 2010. “The Man Behind the Mosque,” Frontline, PBS, September 27, 2011.

  Rudy Giuliani told a radio host: Maggie Haberman, “Rudy: GZ Mosque Is a ‘Desecration,’ ‘Decent’ Muslims Won’t Be Offended,” Politico, August 2, 2010. Javier C. Hernandez, “Giuliani Says Mosque Near Ground Zero Is Offensive,” New York Times, August 19, 2010.

  A Republican candidate: Ben Smith, “Hedge Fund Figure Financed Mosque Campaign,” Politico, January 18, 2011.

  a shakedown artist: Sumathi Reddy and Tarek El-Ghobashy, “Trump Offers to Buy Out Islamic Center Investor,” Wall Street Journal, September 9, 2010.

  signs reading sharia: Michael M. Grynbaum, “Proposed Muslim Center Draws Opposing Protests,” New York Times, August 22, 2010.

  twenty-five-year-old nephew: Erik Badia, Kate Nocera, and Simone Weichselbaum, “Anti-‘Ground Zero Mosque’ Protesters Descend on Downtown Park51 Site,” New York Daily News, August 22, 2010.

  cabbie named Ahmed Sharif: N. R. Kleinfield, “Rider Asks If Cabby Is Muslim, Then Stabs Him,” New York Times, August 25, 2010. Jonathan Allen, “Student Pleads Guilty to Stabbing Muslim Cabbie in New York,” Reuters, June 11, 2013. “Violence against Muslims,” Human Rights First, March 2011, available at https://silo.tips/download/violence-against-muslims.

  Islam’s premier persecutor: Wilders’s September 11, 2010, remarks are posted at www.geertwilders.nl/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=1712, accessed August 14, 2019.

  a CBS poll: Ishaan Tharoor, “Mosque Protests Add Note of Discord to 9/11 Remembrances,” Time, September 11, 2010. “Poll: Most Americans Oppose Ground Zero Mosque,” CBS News, August 26, 2010. Josh Marshall, “Brings It All into Focus,” Talking Points Memo, September 11, 2010. Pamela Geller, “America Speaks! Historic 9/11 Rally Draws 40,000,” Atlas Shrugged, September 11, 2010. Amber Sutherland, Douglas Montero, and Sabrina Ford, “Rallies Rage in Downtown Duel; Cops Keep Order amid a Raucous Mosque Battle,” New York Post, September 12, 2010. Contra Geller, the Post tallied the attendees at fewer than six thousand, with counterprotesters slightly outnumbering the protesters.

  Three Democratic congressmen: Russell Goldman, “Sen. Harry Reid Breaks with Obama over ‘Ground Zero Mosque,’ ” ABC News, August 16, 2010. Maggie Haberman, “NY Members in Swing Districts Coming Out against Mosque,” Politico, August 17, 2010.

  Rauf’s project reflected: Sue Fishoff and Ami Eden, “Will the Real Imam Rauf Please Stand Up?” Jewish Telegraph Agency, August 24, 2010. Paul Vitello, “For High Holy Days, Rabbis Weigh Their Words on Proposed Islamic Center,” New York Times, September 8, 2010.

  El-Gamal deemphasized and: Rosemary R. Corbett, Making Moderate Islam: Sufism, Service and the ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ Controversy (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2016), 183–209. David Jeans, “Behind a $10M Construction Showdown at Sharif El-Gamal’s 45 Park,” The Real Deal, April 30, 2019.

  “promote fear and antagonism”: Daniel Burke, “Q&A with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf,” Religion News Service, August 29, 2012, reprinted at www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/qanda-with-imam-feisal-abdul-rauf/2012/08/29/1c1c701c-f21f-11e1-b74c-84ed55e0300b_story.html, accessed August 9, 2019.

  was “accommodating sharia”: Robert Spencer in his video The Ground Zero Mosque: Second Wave of the 9/11 Attacks, directed by Pamela Geller (Goldfish Pictures, 2011).

  anxiety among local non-Muslims: Diane Macedo, “Plans to Build Massive Islamic Centers Raise Concerns in Tennessee,” Fox News, August 9, 2010.

  assailants poured gas: CBS/Associated Press, “Fire at Tenn. Mosque Building Site Ruled Arson,” CBS News, August 28, 2010.

  CNN filmed a segment: Robbie Brown, “Incidents at Mosque in Tenn. Spread Fear,” New York Times, August 30, 2010.

  To bolster their case: Travis Loller, “Mosque Hearing Puts Islam on Trial,” Associated Press, November 12, 2010. “An Uncivil Action: Middle Tennessee Puts Islam on Trial,” The Economist, November 18, 2010. Christian Grantham, “Murfreesboro Mosque Opponents Appear in Chancery Court,” Murfreesboro Post, September 27, 2010.

  menace came from powerful figures: Islamic Center of Murfreesboro and Dr. Ossama Bahloul, Plaintiffs’ Memorandum of Law in Support of Plaintiffs’ Application for a Temporary Restraining Order or Preliminary Injunction, U.S. District Court, Middle Tennessee District, July 17, 2012. Soledad O’Brien, “Unwelcome: The Muslims Next Door,” CNN Presents, CNN, August 18, 2012. Tim Murphy, “The Craziest GOP House Race of the Year,” Mother Jones, July 30, 2012.

  the target of suspicion: Bob Smietana/Religion News Service, “Murfreesboro Mosque Fight Laid to Rest after Supreme Court Ruling,” Washington Post, June 3, 2014. Nancy DeGennaro, “Islamic Center of Murfreesboro Tells Vandals, ‘We Forgive You,’ ” Daily News Journal (Tenn.), March 9, 2018.

  Tennessee Republican lawmaker: Resolution of the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association, August 8–9, 2011. Beenish Ahmed, “Intimidating Muslims One Sharia Ban at a Time,” The American Prospect, March 3, 2011.

  reduced civic space for Muslims: Mark Olalde and Dustin Gardiner, “The Network Behind State Bills ‘Countering’ Sharia Law and Terrorism,” Center for Public Integrity, July 18, 2019.

  infamous 2008 Washington Times column: Frank Gaffney, “The Jihadist Vote,” Washington Times, October 14, 2008.

  It referenced Muslim: Center for Security Policy, “Shariah: The Threat to America, An Exercise in Competitive Analysis—Report of Team B II,” 2010, esp. 8, 18–22. Available at www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Shariah-The-Threat-to-America-Team-B-Report-Web-09292010.pdf.

  Adlouni’s memo implored: Bridge Initiative Team, “ ‘Civilization Jihad’: Debunking the Conspiracy Theory,” February 2, 2016.

  Islamophobic FBI training: Frank Gaffney, “Remarks to the Western Conservative Summit,” June 30, 2012.

  received $40 million: Suzanne Goldenberg, “Secret Funding Helped Build Vast Network of Climate Denial Think Tanks,” Guardian, February 14, 2013.

  the Bradleys’ largesse: This is a conservative calculation. It does not include fifty thousand dollars the documents record the Bradleys giving the Center for Security Policy on November 13, 2001, on the assumption that the donation was solicited before 9/11. Internal Bradley Foundation grant request documents acquired by the author.

  The Scaife foundations: Wajahat Ali, Eli Clifton, Matthew Duss, Lee Fang, Scott Keyes, and Faiz Shakir, “Fear, Inc.,” Center for American Progress, August 2011.

  Leitner’s warning against: Spencer Ackerman, “After Oslo, Group Accuses Thousands of Being Homegrown Terrorists,” Wired, July 25, 2011. Tim Murphy, “Rep. Allen West’s (Very, Very) Stealth Jihad,” Mother Jones, July 26, 2011.

  Southern Poverty Law Center reported: Mark Potok, “Rage on the Right,” Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report, March 2, 2010.

  “an orchestrated effort”: Andy Barr, “Ariz. Targets ‘Anchor Baby’ Citizenship,” Politico, June 14, 2010.

  al-Qaeda wives would travel: Joe Tacopino, “Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert Warns of Baby-Making Terrorists Coming to U.S.,” New York Daily News, June 27, 2010.

  Gohmert was eviscerated: Anderson Cooper, “Interview with Rep. Louie Gohmert,” Anderson Cooper 360, August 12, 2010.

  Anwar al-Awlaki, the center claimed: “W. D. Reasoner” (a pseudonym), “Birthright Citizenship for the Children of Visitors: A National Security Problem in the Making?” Center for Immigration Studies, March 9, 2011. Available at https://cis.org/Report/Birthright-Citizenship-Children-V
isitors.

  Corruption within CBP: Nina Bernstein, “Border Sweeps in North Reach Miles into U.S.,” New York Times, August 29, 2010. Neena Satija, “Feds Tight-Lipped on Weeding Out Corrupt Border Agents,” Texas Tribune, July 10, 2016.

  1 million deportations: DHS counts deportations, not people deported. Since the same person might be deported more than once, a certain imprecision exists when discussing deportations in terms of people. Molly O’Toole, “Analysis: Obama Deportations Raise Immigration Policy Questions,” Reuters, September 18, 2011.

  For much of his first term: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “ICE Enforcement and Removals Operations Report, Fiscal Year 2015,” Homeland Security Digital Library, December 22, 2015, 8, www.hsdl.org/?abstract&did=789209.

  DHS considered misdemeanor offenses: Laura Meckler, “5 Things to Know about Obama’s Record on Deportations,” Wall Street Journal, May 2, 2014.

  Separating the family: Ken McLaughlin, “San Mateo Family Struggles to Stay Together as U.S. Deports Dad, Tries to Deport Mom,” San Jose Mercury News, September 10, 2010.

  children languished in foster care: Seth Freed Wessler, “U.S. Deports 46K Parents of Citizen Kids in Just Six Months,” Colorlines, November 3, 2011. Robert Mackey, “Worried Girl Asks Michelle Obama If Her Mother Will Be Deported,” New York Times, May 19, 2010.

  the task force held: Homeland Security Advisory Council, “Report of the Task Force on Secure Communities: Findings and Recommendations,” U.S. Department of Homeland Security, September 2011. Available at www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/hsac-task-force-on-secure-communities-findings-and-recommendations-report.pdf.

  Ashcroft’s immigration crackdown: Scott Wong and Sheila Toelitz, “DREAM Act Dies in Senate,” Politico, December 18, 2010. Kris W. Kobach, “Why Arizona Drew a Line,” New York Times, April 28, 2010.

  Tea Party congressman Joe Walsh: Joe Walsh YouTube channel via CNSNews YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRYqYJhyVVI, accessed August 29, 2019.

  his accelerated deportations: “Obama’s Remarks on Immigration,” New York Times, May 10, 2011.

  Representative Peter King: House Homeland Security Committee, “Visa Overstays: Can They Be Eliminated?” March 25, 2010.

  Texas Representative Lamar Smith: House Judiciary Committee hearing with Attorney General Eric Holder, May 13, 2010.

  tougher on undocumented people: Anderson Cooper, “Battle on the Border,” Anderson Cooper 360, CNN, August 6, 2010.

  Frank Gaffney’s radio show: Daniel W. Reilly, “Rep. Peter King: There Are ‘Too Many Mosques in This Country,’ ” Politico, September 19, 2007. Scott Keyes, “Rep. Peter King: ‘80 Percent of Mosques in This Country Are Controlled by Radical Imams,’ ” ThinkProgress, January 25, 2011. Lee Fang, “Rep. Peter King Says Muslims Aren’t ‘American’ When It Comes to War,” ThinkProgress, January 11, 2011. Raymond Hernandez, “Muslim ‘Radicalization’ Is Focus of Planned Inquiry,” New York Times, December 16, 2010.

  “political correctness at its worst”: “Interfaith Alliance and Colleagues Raise Concerns about Rep. Peter King’s Planned Hearings on ‘Radicalization of the American Muslim Community,’ ” press release and accompanying open letter, February 1, 2011, available at https://interfaithalliance.org/interfaith-alliance-and-colleagues-raise-concerns-about-rep-peter-kings-planned-hearings-on-radicalization-of-the-american-muslim-community. Laurie Goodmartin, “Muslims to Be Congressional Hearings’ Main Focus,” New York Times, February 7, 2011.

  Mississippi’s Bennie Thompson: Thomas Clouse, “Suspect in MLK Bomb Tied to Racist Movement,” Spokane Spokesman-Review, March 9, 2011. Unbylined, “Neo-Nazi Pleads Guilty in Attempted MLK Bombing,” Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report, November 2011.

  Both warned of a disaster: Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, “U.S. Policy Toward Iraq,” February 3, 2011. Transcript available at www.congress.gov/event/112th-congress/senate-event/LC2860/text?s=1&r=1948.

  surge architect Jack Keane: Rowan Scarborough, “Key General: Iraq Pullout Plan a ‘Disaster,’ ” Washington Times, October 23, 2011.

  “clash of civilization theory”: Maggie Haberman, “Burlingame on Symbol and Reality,” Politico, August 15, 2010.

  Keep America Safe ran: Peter Baker, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House (New York: Anchor, 2014), 641–42. Justin Elliott, “ABA Blasts Liz Cheney Ad as ‘Divisive and Diversionary,’ ” Talking Points Memo, March 4, 2010. Scott Horton, “Keep America Safe,” Harper’s, October 14, 2009. Josh Rogin, “Graham Blasts Cheney on ‘al-Qaeda Seven’ Ad,” Foreign Policy, March 9, 2010. Spencer Ackerman, “Latest Conservative Smear Calls Justice Dept. Lawyers Terror-Sympathizers,” Washington Independent, February 26, 2010.

  “bringing bin Laden to justice”: Catalina Camia, “Reacting to the Death of Osama bin Laden,” USA Today, May 2, 2011.

  Mark Boal and Kathryn Bigelow: Spencer Ackerman, “Surveillance, Not Torture, Led to bin Laden,” Wired, May 3, 2011. Greg Sargent, “John McCain to Bush Apologists: Stop Lying about Bin Laden and Torture,” Washington Post, May 12, 2011. Daniel Halper, “Keep America Safe: ‘Justice Has Been Done,’ ” Washington Examiner, May 2, 2011. Jason Burke and Paul Harris, “Osama bin Laden Death ‘Justifies’ Torture of Terror Suspects, Former Bush Aides Claim,” Guardian, May 3, 2011.

  Mubarak was not a dictator: Jim Lehrer, “Exclusive: Biden: Mubarak Not a Dictator, but People Have a Right to Protest,” PBS NewsHour, January 27, 2011.

  “a lot of differences”: Devin Dwyer, “Republican Presidential Hopefuls Critique Obama on Egypt,” ABC News, February 2, 2011.

  Hannity cried, “They’re voting”: Fox News All-Stars, December 5, 2011. Sean Hannity, “Interview with Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf,” Hannity, May 24, 2012.

  the brotherhood’s penetration: Stephanie Samuel, “Gingrich Says ‘Arab Spring’ Is Really ‘Anti-Christian Spring,’ ” Christian Post, October 31, 2011. For a contrary view, Erich Bridges reported for the Baptist Press a feeling of freedom among North African Christians now that secular regimes that repressed Christianity had fallen. Erich Bridges,”Whatever Happened to the ‘Arab Spring’?” Baptist Press, June 13, 2012. Sean Hannity, “Interview with Ron Paul,” Hannity, October 25, 2011. Mark Landler, “Obama Ordered Secret Report on Unrest in the Arab World,” New York Times, February 16, 2011. Frank Gaffney, “Remarks to the Western Conservative Summit,” June 30, 2012.

  Libyan jihadist targets: Spencer Ackerman, “While Libya War Grows, Obama Team Denies It’s a War,” Wired, March 24, 2011. Ackerman, “GatesFAIL: How Hope Became Military’s Plan in Libya,” Wired, March 30, 2011. Caroline D. Krass, “Authority to Use Military Force in Libya,” Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel Memorandum, April 1, 2011, available at https://fas.org/irp/agency/doj/olc/libya.pdf. Ackerman, Chris Stephen, and Ewen MacAskill, “U.S. Launches Airstrikes Against ISIS in Libya,” Guardian, August 1, 2016.

  “Who’s going to own Libya”: Hugh Hewitt, “Mitt Romney’s Analysis of Barack Obama’s Libyan Policy,” Hughhewitt.com, March 21, 2011. Mitt Romney, “Mission Muddle in Libya,” National Review, April 21, 2011. Jake Tapper, “Where Is Mitt Romney on Libya?” ABC News, October 20, 2011.

  his ambition and his decency: Scott Shane, “In Islamic Law, Gingrich Sees a Mortal Threat to U.S.,” New York Times, December 21, 2011.

  to “self-deport”: Lucy Madison, “Romney on Immigration: I’m for ‘Self-Deportation,’ ” CBS News, January 24, 2012. Felicia Sonmez, “Russell Pearce, Arizona Immigration Law Author, Says Romney’s Policy Is ‘Identical to Mine,’ ” Washington Post, April 5, 2012.

  straddling the respectable balance: Bill Kristol, “A Real War & a Phony War,” Weekly Standard, September 10, 2012. Spencer Ackerman, “What Obama Won’t Say in Charlotte: War on Terror Is Done,” Wired, September 4, 2012.

  His first statement: David Weigel, “The Accidental Tourist,�
� Slate, September 12, 2012.

  moderator Candy Crowley: Dylan Byers, “Crowley Fact-Checks Mitt,” Politico, October 17, 2012.

  Romney’s advisers, Gabriel Schoenfeld: Zeke J. Miller, “Campaign Insider Book Argues Mitt Romney Lost Because of Benghazi,” Time, May 8, 2013.

  mainstream members of the party: Garance Franke-Ruta, “What You Need to Read in the GOP Autopsy Report,” The Atlantic, March 13, 2013.

  “It looked so false”: Greta Van Susteren, “Donald Trump, CEO, Trump Organization Is Interviewed on Fox News,” transcript via Financial Markets Regulatory Wire, August 20, 2013.

  shot twelve times: Associated Press, “Stories of the Six Killed in Sunday’s Sikh Temple Shooting; Sikh Temple President Tried to Stab Gunman with Butter Knife,” August 7, 2012. Stephen Yaccino, Michael Schwirtz, and Marc Santora, “Gunman Kills 6 at Sikh Temple Near Milwaukee,” New York Times, August 5, 2012. Sara Sidner and Traci Tamura, “Terror in Wisconsin: How One Cop Survived 15 Gunshots,” CNN, April 6, 2017.

  turned his gun: Chris McGreal/wire services, “Wisconsin Temple Gunman Died of Self-Inflicted Wound after Shot by Police,” Guardian, August 8, 2012.

  “the American Anders Breivik”: Marilyn Elias, “Sikh Temple Killer Wade Michael Page Radicalized in Army,” Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report, November 11, 2012. Aziz Haniffa, “ ‘Page Almost Certainly Mistook Sikhs for Muslims,’ ” India Abroad, August 17, 2012. Spencer Ackerman, “DHS Crushed This Analyst for Warning about Far-Right Terror,” Wired, August 7, 2012.

  acquire the chemicals: Asne Seierstad, One of Us: The Story of a Massacre in Norway—and Its Aftermath (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015), 151–53, 190–208, 237, 246.

  After killing seventy-seven people: Ibid., 375. My account of Breivik owes a debt to Seierstad’s authoritative, emotionally wrenching book.

  The manifesto quoted Spencer: Scott Shane, “Killings in Norway Spotlight Anti-Muslim Thought in U.S.,” New York Times, July 24, 2011. Eli Clifton, “CHART: Oslo Terrorist’s Manifesto Cited Many Islamophobic Pundits and Bloggers,” ThinkProgress, July 25, 2011.