Islam in the U.S. – 2012

With major news events such as the re-election of President Barack Obama, mass shootings in Connecticut and Colorado and major destruction from Hurricane Sandy, radical Islam did not dominate the headlines of American news outlets in 2012. However the continuing efforts of radical Islamists to wage holy war did not diminish.

Since 9-11-2001, TheReligionofPeace.com has recorded Islamic attacks around the world. In 2012, there were 2,546 Islamic attacks resulting in 11,306 casualties and 20,210 wounded. Many of these attacks have been on Christians. Open Doors, a Christian ministry that supports and strengthens persecuted Christians around the world releases a Watch List each year of nations where Christians are persecuted for their faith. The list ranks the top 50 persecuting nations from extreme to sparse persecution. In the most recent listing, ten out of eleven nations listed as practicing extreme persecution of Christians are Islamic nations.

In the U.S., at least three Islamic terror plots planned for Tampa, Florida, the U.S. Capitol, and the New York Federal Reserve building were uncovered and prevented during 2012. Despite evidence that there are continuing threats to United States citizens from radical Islamists, both local and federal law enforcement agencies faced increasing criticism and censorship not only by Muslim groups such as the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR), but also by individuals within our own federal government.

For example, CAIR was reportedly the driving force behind two articles and an Op-Ed by the New York Times criticizing the use of the film, The Third Jihad: Radical Islam’s Vision for America, for counterterrorism training for the New York City Police Department. The articles called the documentary a “hate-filled film about Muslims” and quoted CAIR saying the film “defiled our faith and misrepresented everything we stood for.” The film, narrated by Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, a practicing Muslim boldly states at the beginning, “This is not a film about Islam. It is about the threat of radical Islam. Only a small percentage of the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims are radical.” The NY Times failed to mention that CAIR was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial, the largest terrorism financing trial in U.S. history. The NYPD no longer uses the film.

FBI Director, Robert Mueller met with a coalition of Muslim groups (which included the Islamic Society of North America – also an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation Trial) in February to reveal that the FBI had removed more than 700 documents and 300 presentations on Islam from FBI training materials that were deemed “offensive.” Some of the documents removed included articles and presentations that defined jihad as “holy war” and portrayed the Muslim Brotherhood as an organization that planned to take over the world. In order to purge the documents from the FBI training materials, the agency must ignore the words of Hasan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, which state, “It is the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet.” In addition, FBI agents reported FBI headquarters had banned offices from inviting counter-terrorism specialists who were considered “anti-Islam,” and in June this policy extended to the military at the National Defense University when they suspended Lt. Col Matthew A. Dooley, an instructor of a college course that suggested the U.S. was “at war with Islam.”

The State Department removed sections from its Country Reports on Human Rights that discussed the status of religious freedom, which meant the reports did not include any information about the status of Christians and other minorities in Muslim nations that were a part of the Arab Spring revolutions in countries such as Egypt and Libya.

Six Army officers received administrative punishments for burning Qur’ans used by detainees at the Parwan Detention Facility in Afghanistan to exchange messages. NBC reported the punishments would most likely result in the end of their military careers. The Qur’ans and other religious material were burned in February. It was reported that up to 75% of the material contained extremist inscriptions on them. The material including Qur’ans had been boxed for storage, but were accidently sent to an incinerator. When Afghan workers discovered the burned Qur’ans, violent protests erupted. After several days of protest, 30 people were killed including four Americans and over 200 were wounded. Following this incident, the U.S. military released an advisory on the proper way to dispose of Islamic religious material. The material states, “If in doubt about the religious significance of any material, assume it is SACRED!” and “Non-Muslims should not handle a Quran.” The training even goes so far to say, “Any copy of a Quranic verse containing the name of Allah is an equally sacred text and should be handled the same as a Quran.”

As the U.S. government continually capitulated to the demands of Islamist groups, five members of Congress, Representatives Michele Bachmann, Louie Gohmert, Trent Franks, Thomas Rooney and Lynn Westmoreland sent letters to the Inspectors General of the Department of Defense, Department of Justice, Department of State, Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence questioning the direct influence within the intelligence community of members of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Representatives requested that the offices conduct investigations into the extent of the Muslim Brotherhood involvement into their agencies. Rather than investigations beginning, the Representatives were met with vicious personal attacks.

Congressional investigations continue into the deaths of four Americans including U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens killed in a terrorist attack at the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya on 9-11-2012. Initially the Obama administration blamed the attack on a YouTube video that was critical of Islam rather than a pre-planned act of terror against the United States.

As 2012, came to a close the Washington Times reported about the draft of the U.S. Army’s new handbook to be given to U.S. troops heading to Afghanistan. The draft of the handbook, reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, blames recent deadly attacks by Afghan soldiers against American troops on Western ignorance of Afghan culture. The handbook gives soldiers a list of topics to avoid which include, “making derogatory comments about the Taliban,” “advocating women’s rights,” “any criticism of pedophilia,” directing any criticism toward Afghans,” “mentioning homosexuality and homosexual conduct,” and “anything related to Islam.”

Although it may not have been in the headlines, Islamists inflicted great damage on the security and freedoms of American citizens in 2012 through the efforts of those who ignorant of their agenda. We as citizens must continue to be watchmen, sounding the warning of the threat as we move into 2013.