Although I agreed with President Obama that trying terrorism suspects in civilian courts would be a symbol of America’s commitment to the rule of law, doing this isn’t possible as long as so many Americans remain fearful. But should they be?
The recent arrests of several Muslims here in Ireland – and one American woman – in a suspected plot to kill Swedish artist Lars Vilks is a case in point. In the absence of many ‘western’ deaths at the hands of Islamist terrorists as of late, the news media focus has now shifted to the threat posed by Muslims who have been living in America and Europe for a number of years, and homegrown terrorists with blond hair, blue eyes and fair skin. But do they really pose a threat?
Truth be known, the chance that any American will die at the hands of pseudo-religious political extremists is at best infinitesimal, and the same holds true for Muslim and non-Muslim people living in other ‘western’ countries. I say this because al-Qaeda has killed fewer than 300 Americans and Europeans over the past eight years since the 9/11 attacks – and none since the London bombings in 2005.
Mind you, I’m not saying that even one of those deaths was acceptable. But with a combined population of over 850 million people, spread over 29 countries and two continents, the odds of you or I being killed in such a terrorist attack are about one in 22 million. We’ve got a much better chance of winning the National Lottery.
The fact of the matter is, nearly all of al-Qaeda’s victims since the 9/11 attacks have actually been innocent Muslim civilians living in predominately Muslim countries like Pakistan and Indonesia, or the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones. This alone should put the lie to these extremists’ claims of being ‘defenders’ of Islam.
Yet in spite of this, barely a day goes by without the news media warning us about the threat of Islamic extremism to the security of people in the west, however small that threat may really be. Why is that?
I suspect there are four main culprits responsible for this: the news media, self-serving politicians, the Muslim community and ourselves.
I think the news media is at least partially to blame because they focus almost all of their attention on stories of lapses in security measures or the threat posed by homegrown Islamic extremists, rather than the reality – that these extremists rarely succeed in killing westerners. Why? Because bad news sells better than good news.
The role played by politicians is very similar to that of the news media. They stoke the fears of voters about the threat of terrorism because this draws attention to them. They know that a fearful public is easier to manipulate to their ends.
Regarding the Muslim community, I must ask, where is their outrage at the fact that these terrorists have hijacked their religion? Why haven’t more members of the Muslim community the world over condemned this blasphemy? While some Muslim clerics have spoken out against al-Qaeda’s misuse of the Muslim faith to justify their political aims, I don’t believe the wider Muslim community has done as much as it could.
As for ourselves, I blame us because we just seem to accept this. We don’t question the media’s focus on bad news, or condemn the politicians that stoke our fears. Instead, we only reinforce this behaviour.
To really make a dent in the terrorist threat, we should work more closely with the Muslim community – to reassure westerners that the threat of extremism is very remote, but at the same time costs the lives of countless innocent Muslims. I just wonder whether we’re ready to try this approach.
Charles Laffiteau is a US Republican from Dallas, Texas who is pursuing a PhD in International Relations and lectures on Contemporary US Business & Society at DCU
