The New York Post reports
on a new nationwide poll of Muslim beliefs about suicide bombings, Al Qaeda, and the U.S. led wars in the Middle East. The findings may scare you.It’s not a good sign when 26% of American Muslims under the age of 30 believe suicide bombings and other means of violence against innocent civilians can be justified on rare occasions “in order to defend Islam from its enemies.” Nor is it a good sign when 5% of American Muslims have a favorable view of Al Queda.
Given the fact that 60% of Muslims either deny or take no position that Arabs were involved in the September 11th attack, 75% oppose the war in Iraq, and 48% oppose the war in Afghanistan, it doesn’t take a leap to think some of these U.S. Muslims see the U.S. as an enemy. And given the fact that 5% of American Muslims (117,500 people) support Al Qaeda, and 1 out of 4 young American Muslims think suicide bombings against innocent civilians is justified to defend Islam from its enemies, we would be stupid beyond pale to close our eyes to the possibility of being attacked at home by U.S. Muslims because we don’t want to be politically incorrect.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying Muslims are our enemies. There are many good Muslims who are pro-America, and would never think of doing anything to harm us. But there is obviously a viable minority among us who think otherwise, and we can’t shut our eyes to that fact. To do so would only be to our own peril.
Thinking to Believe 
May 24, 2007 at 10:46 am
I suspect the reality is far worse than the polls indicate. The respondents knew that the poll would be published, and nobody wants to admit that they support those terrible kinds of acts. So I suspect the real numbers are much, much higher than the polls indicate.
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May 24, 2007 at 1:06 pm
I’ll say it. Muslims ARE our enemey. Of course not ALL Muslims are our enemy. But clearly there is something wrong and this is not about Arabs. Iranians are not Arabs. Pakistanis are not Arabs, yet they have one thing in common, the religion of Islam.
It’s not American foreign policy as the quote was they would see this as justifable against the enemies of Islam. Who ARE the enemies of Islam? They even kill each other over the same principles. They kill filipinos, their own country men, over Islamic principles. They killed Russians in the name of Allah, not for democracy, but so they can have a country where they can force Islamic law on everyone whether they wanted it or not.
I have been aware of this ticking time bomb in our own backyard for years. You don’t need this poll. Just look at Europe. Look at Great Britain. Look at Canada. Many muslims there want to live by Sharia law and NOT by the law of the land they immigrated to. That tells me that their goal is not or was not to change their national identity but rather to change the political/religious make up of the nations they move to.
Islam has taken over many other nations this way, not always by bloodshed and violance, but by political means, at least at first.
Look at Palestine. The percentage of Christians there is shrinking because of Islamic persecution even though the Christians there feel they too were victimized by the Israelis.
Look at Lebennon.
At the same time I really don’t think politically that Islam is our only threat and to be sure most of the Islamic threat is political. Most of the Iranian youth just want to live in peace
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May 24, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Arthur,
I was thinking the exact same thing. I wouldn’t be surprised if the adult population in particular (13% who said they supported suicide bombing) is not higher than reported, because they have more wisdom than the youth. They know it’s wiser to keep such beliefs to themselves for their own benefit.
Jason
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