Temple Attack Shows Jihadis Aren’t the Only Terrorists
The fact that a white non-Muslim man pulled off a prospective act of terrorism is a reminder that terrorism is not limited to any race, color, religion or creed. Counterterrorism experts have long warned against racial, ethnic or religious profiling, since terror organizations recruit from non-Arab communities (British-Jamaican would-be shoe bomber Richard Reid; Nigerian would-be underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab); and because terrorists can be non-Muslims who have not attracted the suspicions of law enforcement. Carlson said that Page had “contact with law enforcement in the past” but not enough to warrant an investigation.
It’s worth remembering that U.S. history is filled with terrorist attacks from anarchists, Puerto Rican nationalists, left-wing militants like the Weather Underground, white supremacists like the Ku Klux Klan, U.S.-allied right wing governments; and more. Yet Muslims have come under a collective suspicion within the United States. The FBI keeps pattern-of-life “geomaps” of American Muslim communities unconnected to the commission of a crime. In New York City, police keep tabs on Muslims who change their names; surveil mosques; and examine Muslim students throughout the Northeast. The congresswoman and former GOP presidential contender Michele Bachmann has accused a senior aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton of having secret ties to the Muslim Brotherhood; last year, Rep. Allen West (R-Florida) sponsored a Hill briefing alleging that thousands of Muslims in the United States represent a subversive element.
Muslims may have been the primary target of collective terrorism suspicions since 9/11, but other groups have been quick to warn when they come under a similar shadow. American conservatives warned of precisely the same kind of collective persecution after the Department of Homeland Security assessed in 2009 that there was a terrorist threat from homegrown right-wing extremism. Page’s military background has set off alarm bells for veterans and servicemembers who already are understandably sensitive to media portrayals of themselves as ticking time bombs riddled with post-traumatic stress disorder.