PROFILE
FROM Hedieh Mirahmadi
Prosecuting the Boston Bombing Suspect Lying in a hospital bed, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was charged today with using weapons of mass destruction in last week's Boston Marathon bombing. Some politicians have demanded that he not be tried in federal court but that he be designated an enemy combat, which would deprive him of his rights as an American citizen. At the White House today, spokesman Jay Carney announced , "He will not be prosecuted as an enemy combatant. We prosecute this terrorist through our civil system of justice under US law" in federal criminal court. There's still debate about that, and about whether the FBI "dropped the ball" when Russia asked about Tamerlan, Tsarnaev's now-deceased older brother. We update those controversies and hear what's at stake for American Muslims.
Policing Domestic Muslim Radicalism Since September 11 — most recently in Baltimore, Portland and Washington, DC -- suspects have been arrested before the terrorist acts they were planning ever occurred. Young Muslim Americans have been tricked into thinking that undercover FBI informants were their accomplices. Some critics claim that, in those and other cases, agents engaged in entrapment.
Are Muslim-Americans Living Dangerously? While Muslim-American groups give the Obama Administration high marks for combating bigotry, they are divided over "sting" operations by the FBI. Since September 11 — most recently in Baltimore, Portland and Washington, DC -- suspects have been arrested before the terrorist acts they were planning ever occurred. Young bombing suspects have been arrested before they could do any harm, but after FBI agents acted as false accomplices. Anti-terrorist agents routinely appear uninvited at mosques, workplaces and homes. Are the Feds just "getting to know the community" or spying? Do agents inadvertently help to radicalize young men? Are they stepping on American rights to privacy, freedom of speech and religion?
'Home-based Terrorism:' Politics and Reality A series of recent incidents led Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to warn that “home-based terrorism” is a threat the US “must confront.” American citizens -- including Muslims born in the US — are accused of planning some terrorist actions and actually being involved in others. How serious is the threat and how should it be confronted? Are American Muslims being radicalized? Is any substantial number likely to go overseas for training and then return to commit terrorist actions on American soil? Do Muslims have a special responsibility to combat it? What does it have to do with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Does the Obama Administration exaggerate to gain support for military action?
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Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.