Muslim-American terrorism since 9/11: an accounting.

• Author: Abrahamson, James L.

Title: Muslim-American Terrorism Since 9/11: An Accounting

Author: James L. Abrahamson

Text:

MUSLIM-AMERICAN TERRORISM SINCE 9/11: AN ACCOUNTING By Professor Charles Kurzman, University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill http://sanford.duke.edu/centers/tcths/about/documents/Kurzman_Muslim-American_Terrorism_Since_911_An_Accounting.pdf

Reviewed by James L. Abrahamson, contributing editor

In this report published by the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security, Dr. Kurzman, author of The Missing Martyrs: Why There Are So Few Muslim Terrorists, assesses the significance of the 2009 "spike" in Muslim-American terrorism. Attributing much of the spike to the 17 Somali-Americans who joined al-Shabaab in that year and calling attention to the fall of incidents to 20 in 2010, the author describes the 47 incidents in 2009 figures as an aberration not worthy of increased security measures and placing restrictions on the freedom of Muslim-Americans.

Kurzman supports that recommendation by noting that only [?] five of the 2010 terrorists sought to carry out their plots and, as in the years since 9/11, intelligence and law enforcement authorities continue to detect most of the terrorists and perpetrators (102 of 161) early in their preparation. Moreover thirty-five of those discovered late were linked to overseas terrorists rather than Muslim-Americans.

Even so, 33 Americans have died at the hands of terrorists since 2001. Comparing that figure with an annual U.S. average of 150,000 murders or...