The Muslims Are Coming!

by Arun Kundnani

  16 Richard T. Cooper, “General Casts War in Religious Terms,” Los Angeles Times, October 16, 2003.

  17 Michael Hirsh, “Bernard Lewis Revisited,” Washington Monthly, November 2004.

  18 Tony Blair, Speech to World Affairs Council, Los Angeles, August 1, 2006.

  19 Liz Fekete, A Suitable Enemy: Racism, Migration and Islamophobia in Europe, London: Pluto Press, 2009.

  20 Christopher Caldwell, Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West, New York: Anchor Books, 2010, 116.

  21 Stephen Steinberg, “The Role of Race in the Devolution of the Left,” Logos, 10: 2, 2011.

  22 John Casey, “One Nation: The Politics of Race,” Salisbury Review 1, Autumn 1982.

  23 Quoted in Stolcke, “Talking Culture,” 3.

  24 Anthony Browne, “Britain Is Losing Britain,” The Times (London), August 7, 2002, 2.

  25 Office for National Statistics, Population Estimates by Ethnic Group 2002–2009, 2011, 6.

  26 Anthony Browne, “How the Government Endangers British Lives,” Spectator, January 25, 2003, 12.

  27 Anthony Browne, “Fundamentally, We’re Useful Idiots,” The Times, August 1, 2005. In 2008, Browne was appointed policy director of the London mayor, Boris Johnson.

  28 “Little-Known Lawyer Extends Anti-Islam Voice to Mainstream,” The Forward, July 22, 2011.

  29 David Yerushalmi, “On Race: A Tentative Discussion,” The McAdam Report, no. 585, May 12, 2006, 7, 8, 10.

  30 Hishaam D. Aidi, “Slavery, Genocide and the Politics of Outrage: Understanding the New Racial Olympics,” Middle East Report, no. 234, Spring 2005.

  31 Paddy Hillyard, Suspect Community: People’s Experience of the Prevention of Terrorism Acts in Britain, London: Pluto Press, 1993.

  32 Douglas Murray, What Are We to Do About Islam?, Pim Fortuyn Memorial Conference on Europe and Islam, The Hague, February 2006.

  33 Shubh Mathur, “Surviving the Dragnet: ‘Special Interest’ Detainees in the US after 9/11,” Race and Class, 47: 3, 2006.

  34 David Cole, Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional Freedoms in the War on Terrorism, New York: New Press, 2003, 26; Nancy Murray, “Profiled: Arabs, Muslims, and the Post-9/11 Hunt for the ‘Enemy Within,’ ” in Elaine C. Hagopian, ed., Civil Rights in Peril: The Targeting of Arabs and Muslims, Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2004, 31.

  35 Somini Sengupta, “Ill-Fated Path to America, Jail and Death,” New York Times, November 5, 2001, 1.

  36 Louise Cainkar, “The Impact of the September 11 Attacks on Arab and Muslim Communities in the United States,” in John Tirman, ed., The Maze of Fear: Security and Migration after 9/11, New York: New Press, 2004, 216–18.

  37 Ibid., 215.

  38 Moustafa Bayoumi, “Racing Religion,” New Centennial Review, 6: 2, Fall 2006, 275.

  39 Sahar Aziz, The Muslim “Veil” Post-9/11: Rethinking Women’s Rights and Leadership, Institute for Social Policy and Understanding and the British Council, 2012, 3.

  40 Ibid., 14–16.

  41 Cainkar, “The Impact of the September 11 Attacks,” 227–28.

  42 Ayaan Hirsi Ali, “Muslim Rage and the Last Gasp of Islamic Hate,” Newsweek, September 17, 2012.

  43 David Cohen, “Violence Is Inherent in Islam—It Is a Cult of Death,” Evening Standard, February 7, 2007.

  44 Ayaan Hirsi Ali, “The Problem of Muslim Leadership,” Wall Street Journal, May 27, 2013.

  45 Tony Karon, “Condi in Diplomatic Disneyland,” Time, July 26, 2006.

  46 Bernard Lewis, “Communism and Islam,” International Affairs, 30: 1, January 1954, 9.

  47 George W. Bush, Speech to the National Endowment for Democracy, October 6, 2005.

  48 Paul Berman, Terror and Liberalism, New York: Norton, 2004, 49–51.

  49 Ibid., 60.

  50 Peter Beinart, The Good Fight: Why Liberals—and Only Liberals—Can Win the War on Terror and Make America Great Again, New York: Harper Collins, 2006, xii.

  51 Ibid., 94.

  52 Nick Cohen, What’s Left? How Liberals Lost Their Way, London: Fourth Estate, 2007; Ed Husain, The Islamist: Why I Joined Radical Islam in Britain, What I Saw Inside and Why I Left, London: Penguin Books, 2007.

  53 Berman, Terror and Liberalism, 99.

  54 Ibid., 184, 191.

  55 Uwe Backes, Political Extremes: A Conceptual History from Antiquity to the Present, Abingdon: Routledge, 2010, 85–86.

  56 Ibid., 97–98.

  57 Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., The Vital Center: The Politics of Freedom, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1962, 40.

  58 Ibid., 104.

  59 Francis Fukuyama, “After Neoconservatism,” New York Times, February 19, 2006.

  60 Angel Rabasa, Cheryl Benard, Lowell H. Schwartz, and Peter Sickle, Building Moderate Muslim Networks, Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2007, iii.

  61 Marc Sageman, Leaderless Jihad: Terror Networks in the Twenty-First Century, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008, 94, 160.

  62 George Jones, “Terrorism Fight Is Our Cold War, Says Brown,” Telegraph, July 3, 2007; interview with Andrew Marr, Sunday AM, BBC1, July 1, 2007.

  63 Frances Stonor Saunders, The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters, New York: New Press, 2000.

  64 Interview with Home Office civil servant, London, May 24, 2011.

  65 Paul Dixon, “ ‘Hearts and Minds’? British Counter-Insurgency from Malaya to Iraq,” Journal of Strategic Studies, 32: 3, June 2009.

  66 John Mackinlay, “Counter-Insurgency in Global Perspective—An Introduction,” RUSI Journal, 152: 6, December 2007, 6.

  67 David J. Kilcullen, “Countering Global Insurgency,” Journal of Strategic Studies, 28: 4, August 2005, 610.

  68 Field Manual 3-24—Counterinsurgency, Washington, DC: US Army and Marine Corps, 2006, 1-1.

  69 David H. Petraeus, “Beyond the Cloister,” American Interest, July/August 2007.

  70 Ibid.

  71 Joe Klein: “David Petraeus’ Brilliant Career,” Time, August 22, 2011, 15; “The Return of the Good Soldier,” Time, July 5, 2010, 20–23; “Can Obama and Petraeus Work Together?” Time, June 24, 2010.

  72 Barton Gellman, “Spyfall,” Time, November 26, 2012, 26.

  73 Mahmood Mamdani, Define and Rule: Native as Political Identity, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012; Laleh Khalili, “The New (and Old) Classics of Counterinsurgency,” Middle East Report, no. 255, Summer 2010.

  74 George Packer, “Knowing the Enemy,” New Yorker, December 18, 2006.

  75 David H. Price, Weaponizing Anthropology: Social Science in Service of the Militarized State, Oakland, CA: AK Press, 2011, 105.

  76 Thomas Friedman: “Mideast Rules to Live By,” New York Times, December 20, 2006, A29; “Tribes with Flags,” New York Times, March 23, 2011, A27.

  77 Ryan Lizza, “The Consequentialist,” New Yorker, May 2, 2011.

  78 Walter Pincus, “Don’t Ignore Western Europe, Terrorism Expert Warns US,” Washington Post, September 8, 2005, A9.

  79 Francis Fukuyama, “Identity and Migration,” Prospect, no. 131, February 25, 2007.

  80 Robert S. Leiken, “Europe’s Angry Muslims,” Foreign Affairs, July/August 2005, 120, 122.

  81 Marc Sageman, “The Next Generation of Terror,” Foreign Policy, February 19, 2008.

  82 Timothy Garton Ash, “We Are Making a Fatal Mistake by Ignoring the Dissidents within Islam,” Guardian, March 14, 2007.

  83 Timothy Garton Ash, “Wake Up, the Invisible Front Line Runs Right through Your Back Yard,” Guardian, September 13, 2007, 37.

  84 Garton Ash, “We Are Making a Fatal Mistake.”

  85 Launch of Quilliam Foundation, London: British Museum, April 22, 2008.

  86 Saba Mahmood, “Secularism, Hermeneutics, and Empire: The Politics of Islamic Reformation,” Public Culture, 18: 2, 2006, 326–27.

  87 “Security Council Meeting of World Leaders Calls for Legal Prohibition of Terrorist Incitement, Enhanced Steps to Prevent
Armed Conflict,” United Nations Security Council, September 14, 2005, http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2005/sc8496.doc.htm, accessed October 1, 2006.

  88 Ben Hayes, “ ‘White Man’s Burden’: Criminalising Free Speech,” Statewatch, 18: 1, January—March 2008, 18–20.

  89 Home Office, Press Release on Tackling Terrorism—Behaviours Unacceptable in the UK, August 24, 2005.

  90 Gareth Peirce, “Was It Like This for the Irish?” London Review of Books, April 10, 2008, 6, 8.

  91 “Teen Charged Over Facebook Post on UK Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan,” Metro, March 12, 2012; “Facebook Rant Man Spared Jail,” Independent, October 10, 2012.

  92 Nick Cohen, “We Have to Deport Terrorist Suspects—Whatever Their Fate,” Observer, November 5, 2006.

  93 Husain, The Islamist.

  94 Michael Ignatieff, The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004.

  95 Gwyn Prins and Robert Salusbury, “Risk, Threat, and Security: The Case of the United Kingdom,” RUSI Journal, 153: 1, February 2008, 23.

  96 Timothy Garton Ash, “Divided Loyalties: Why Young British Muslims Are Angry,” Globe and Mail, August 10, 2006.

  97 Sageman, Leaderless Jihad, 160.

  98 Ibid., 102.

  99 US Department of Homeland Security, National Strategy for Homeland Security, October 2007, 22.

  100 Between September 2001 and March 2011, 421 persons were charged for terrorism-related offenses in the UK, mainly Muslims but also some others. There are no published figures on the proportion who were accused of what the government calls “al-Qaeda inspired” terrorism. However, since April 2005, 87 percent of those charged were classified as being involved in “international” terrorism, which is the term the intelligence services use to designate terrorism related to the Middle East and al-Qaeda. Assuming this proportion holds for the entire period, we can estimate that 366 people have been charged with offenses related to international terrorism over the ten years. The total Muslim population in Britain is approximately 2.4 million. The Center on Law and Security at the New York University School of Law counts 310 persons charged with jihadist terrorism-related offenses in the US over the ten-year period following 9/11. Other sources have different numbers, some higher and some lower. There is uncertainty over the size of the Muslim population in the US, with estimates varying from approximately 2.35 million to 6 million. Depending on the population estimate, it may be concluded that the number charged with international/jihadist terrorism as a proportion of the total Muslim population is approximately the same in the US and the UK. Operation of Police Powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 and Subsequent Legislation: Arrests, Outcomes, and Stops and Searches, Great Britain 2010/11, Home Office, October 13, 2011, 10, 23; Richard Kerbaj, “Muslim Population ‘Rising 10 Times Faster than Rest of Society,’ ” The Times (London), January 30, 2009); Terrorist Trial Report Card: September 11, 2001—September 11, 2011, New York: Center on Law and Security, New York University School of Law, 2011, 7; Muslim Americans: Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream, Pew Research Center, May 22, 2007.

  101 Garrett M. Graff, “Homegrown Terror,” 5280, November 2011.

  102 Maryclaire Dale, “ ‘Jihad Jane’ Admits to Conspiracy to Support Terrorists, Murder,” Christian Science Monitor, February 1, 2011.

  103 Alexandra Frean, “Unexploded Car Bomb in Times Square ‘Amateurish One-Off’ Terrorism Attempt,” The Times (London), May 2, 2010.

  104 Andrea Elliot, “Bombing Suspect’s Long Path to Times Square,” New York Times, May 16, 2010, A1.

  105 Peter Bergen and Bruce Hoffman, Assessing the Terrorist Threat: A Report of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s National Security Preparedness Group, Bipartisan Policy Center, September 2010, 4, 16, 29.

  106 Barak Ravid, “Dennis Ross’ ‘Red Line’ to the White House,” Ha’aretz, January 30, 2012.

  107 J. Scott Carpenter, Matthew Levitt, Steven Simon, and Juan Zarate, Fighting the Ideological Battle: The Missing Link in US Strategy to Counter Violent Extremism, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 2010, 10–11.

  108 Transcript of Secretary Napolitano’s Remarks to the America-Israel Friendship League, Washington, DC: US Department of Homeland Security, December 3, 2009, http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1259860196559.shtm, accessed March 6, 2010.

  109 Caroline Preston, “Homeland-Security Officials to Meet with Foundation Leaders,” Chronicle of Philanthropy, February 11, 2011.

  110 President Obama, Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States, August 2011, Washington, DC: White House.

  111 “McDonough Discusses White House’s Counterterrorism Plan,” NPR Radio, August 3, 2011, http://www.npr.org/2011/08/03/138962413/mcdonough-discusses-white-houses-counterterrorism-plan, accessed August 10, 2011.

  112 “Obama Envoy Claims Islam Is Answer to Violence,” World Net Daily, April 3, 2011, http://www.wnd.com/2011/04/282741/, accessed November 26, 2012.

  113 Rashad Hussain and al-Husein N. Madhany, Reformulating the Battle of Ideas: Understanding the Role of Islam in Counterterrorism Policy, Washington, DC: Saban Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings Institution, 2008, 2.

  114 John Brennan, Speech at New York University Law School, February 13, 2010.

  115 Anne Barrowclough, “ ‘Fedex Delivered’—How Secrets of Bin Laden Funeral Were Kept from Sailors,” The Times (London), November 23, 2012, 23.

  116 Terrorist Trial Report Card: September 11, 2001—September 11, 2011, New York: Center on Law and Security, New York University School of Law, 2011, 19.

  117 David Cole, “39 Ways to Limit Free Speech,” New York Review of Books blog, April 20, 2012, http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/apr/19/39-ways-limit-free-speech, accessed April 20, 2012.

  118 Samuel J. Rascoff, “Establishing Official Islam? The Law and Strategy of Counter-Radicalization,” Stanford Law Review, 64, February 2012.

  119 Lentin and Titley, The Crises of Multiculturalism, 192.

  120 Timothy Garton Ash, “Freedom and Diversity: A Liberal Pentagram for Living Together,” New York Review of Books, November 22, 2012.

  3. THE ROOTS OF LIBERAL RAGE

  1 Phone interview with Younes Abdullah Muhammad, March 30, 2011.

  2 Statement of Facts, USA vs. Jesse Curtis Morton, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, February 2, 2012.

  3 Phone interview with Younes Abdullah Muhammad, March 30, 2011.

  4 Younus Abdullah Muhammad, By All Means Necessary: In Pursuit of the Objectives Amidst Improving Odds—Assessing the Role and Responsibilities of Those Left Behind in the War on Islam (New York, December 2008), 27.

  5 Real Time with Bill Maher, HBO, April 30, 2010.

  6 “Clarifying the South Park Response and Calling on Others to Join in the Defense of the Prophet Muhammad,” revolutionmuslimdaily.blogspot.com, accessed April 22, 2010.

  7 Zachary Chesser: A Case Study in Online Islamist Radicalization and Its Meaning for the Threat of Homegrown Terrorism, US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, February 2012.

  8 Phone interview with Younes Abdullah Muhammad, March 30, 2011.

  9 “We Are All Osama bin Laden,” Islam Policy, islampolicy.com, May 8, 2011.

  10 Army of God, armyofgod.com, accessed December 19, 2012.

  11 Sentencing Factors, USA vs. Jesse Curtis Morton, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, June 14, 2012.

  12 Mark Steyn, America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It, Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2006, 123.

  13 Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., The Vital Center: The Politics of Freedom, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1962, xxiii–xxiv.

  14 Terry Eagleton, Ideology: An Introduction, London: Verso, 1991, 4.

  15 Domenico Losurdo, “Towards a Critique of the Category of Totalitarianism,” Historical Materialism, 12: 2, 2004, 50–51.

  16 Corey Robin, “Dragon-slayers,” London Review of Bo
oks, 29: 1, January 4, 2007.

  17 Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, New York: Meridian Books, 1958, 311.

  18 William Pietz, “The ‘Post-Colonialism’ of Cold War Discourse,” Social Text, no. 19/20, Autumn 1988, 69.

  19 Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 185–91.

  20 Samantha Power, “The Lesson of Hannah Arendt,” New York Review of Books, April 29, 2004.

  21 Losurdo, “Towards a Critique of the Category of Totalitarianism.”

  22 Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies, Vol. I: The Spell of Plato, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1966, 9.

  23 Ibid., 393.

  24 Ibid., 268–69.

  25 Ibid., 265.

  26 Giorgio Agamben, State of Exception, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005.

  27 Manfred Berg, “Black Civil Rights and Liberal Anticommunism: The NAACP in the Early Cold War,” Journal of American History, 94: 1, June 2007.

  28 Tarak Barkawi and Mark Laffey, “The Postcolonial Moment in Security Studies,” Review of International Studies, no. 32, 2006, 332.

  29 Gianfranco Sanguinetti, On Terrorism and the State: The Theory and Practice of Terrorism Divulged for the First Time, London: B. M. Chronos, 1982, 3.

  30 Donatella della Porta, Social Movement Studies and Political Violence, Centre for Studies in Islamism and Radicalisation, Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Denmark, September 2009, 9.

  31 According to Home Office figures, the number of people convicted of terrorism-related crimes in Britain more than doubled between 2003, when the Iraq war began, and 2006, before halving again by 2009. Operation of Police Powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 and Subsequent Legislation: Arrests, Outcomes, and Stops and Searches Great Britain, 2010/11, UK Home Office, October 13, 2011, 29–30.

  32 Jeroen Gunning and Richard Jackson, “What’s So ‘Religious’ about ‘Religious Terrorism’?” Critical Studies on Terrorism, 4: 3, December 2011, 381.

  33 Melanie Phillips, “To Defeat Islamic Terror, We Must First Acknowledge What It Is,” Daily Mail, May 27, 2013.

  34 Talal Asad, The Idea of an Anthropology of Islam, Occasional Paper, Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University, 1986, 13.