Terror probe highlights police-Muslim te…
Terror probe highlights police-Muslim tensions.
The arrest of a Queens imam who investigators had considered a trusted partner was a blow in more ways than one for law enforcement.
….Officers visit mosques, attend national Muslim conventions and very publicly celebrate Muslim holidays. Earlier this month, New York Police Department Commissioner Raymond Kelly led the annual NYPD Ramadan program for clerics and others at One Police Plaza.
Yet, in many cases, aggressive outreach hasn’t been enough to overcome deep Muslim mistrust of authorities — fears that have been exacerbated in cases in which law enforcement has placed informants inside mosques to build a case. Muslims widely fear that the innocent will be caught up in the net police have set for terrorists, and some struggle with just how forthcoming they should be.
And this:
There is also a persistent belief among some Muslims that no one of their faith could have carried out the Sept. 11 hijackings. Muslims who hold this view believe there is no threat of extremism in their community and therefore no need to work with law enforcement.
Several national Muslim groups have tried to counter this attitude. As just one example, the Muslim Public Affairs Council created a “National Grassroots Campaign to Fight Terrorism,” several years ago aimed largely at mosque leaders. Still, in a 2007 Pew Research Center survey, 60 percent of Muslim Americans said they did not believe that Arabs were behind the attacks.
Abu Noor Al-Irlandee are discussing.
razib, murtad fitri 12:26 pm on September 24, 2009 Permalink
wanted to check the pew survey. it’s here:
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/483/muslim-americans
do anyone here believe arabs were not behind the attacks?
razib, murtad fitri 12:31 pm on September 24, 2009 Permalink
28 % don’t believe arabs carried out 9/11. 32% don’t know or refused.
Abu Noor Al-Irlandee 12:53 pm on September 24, 2009 Permalink
Depending on what “mood” I’m in, I could see myself answering “Don’t Know” to that kind of question. Actually this leads me to something interesting that I think is not remarked upon enough when it comes to polls. I saw someone refer it to in light of all the recent polls showing how ‘extreme’ the political debate is in America by referencing the high numbers of “birthers” and “truthers” out there. Which is this, someone saying I think Obama is the antichrist, could just mean I really don’t like Obama, or I really want to show people that there’s people out here who don’t like Obama. What I’m getting at is that if I answer a survey, sometimes I start out thinking okay what is my honest answer to this question…but I usually move quickly to okay what results would I like to see come out on this poll. Now, my answer will often be the same since a lot of times I want people to accurately know what I believe…but not always…especially when the questions themselves seem perhaps not designed sincerely to get the answer to the question but to get at something else. So I play along. But someone (either the questioner or the answerer) could be outthinking someone else.
Now, I realize that I’m not the typical respondent to a survey. I’m much more politically engaged, informed of current events, and self aware than the average person…most people wouldn’t spend time thinking about this kind of thing..but I suspect there is something similar going on subconsciously.
I guess a simpler way to put all this is that people who say they don’t believe Arabs carried out 9/11 are trying to communicate something with their answer but that something could be only tangentially related to the question of whether they really really think Arabs carried out 9/11. They could be trying to say they don’t trust the media, they don’t trust the government, they’re against Iraq War, they’re against the Afghanistan war, they’re against Guantanamo, they don’t think a small group of Arabs could successfully carry out such a plan without someone more powerful wanting it to happen, etc. etc.
I mean this is not something about which the respondent as an American Muslim, has any specialized or personal knowledge.
razib, murtad fitri 1:16 pm on September 24, 2009 Permalink
sure. the same arguments can be made why ~1/2 of americans think saddam had something to do with 9/11.