Radical Islam in Europe, Understanding Islam, and Related News Articles

The article titled “Radical Islam in Europe” discusses the presence Islamists who commit terrorist attacks in European countries such as Great Britain, Germany, and Denmark. This intrigues me because I have never really thought about radical Islamic terrorist attacks that take place outside of the war in the Middle East, aside from September 11^th. Not only do we have to worry about a war on enemy territory, but we also must worry about wars that take place on our own soil or allies’ soil. I wonder what kind of measures are being taken today to welcome Islam in countries that are not accustomed to the religion. Even if we do welcome the religion, much like the article states, will we be able to stop the acts of extreme Islamists?

“Understanding Islam” talks about the kind of treatment Muslims face in western society today. There are many misconceptions that exist about Muslims, such as jumping to conclusions that if they practice their beliefs then they are terrorists. In England, there was the girl named Azmi who refused to take off her veil in class. School officials claimed that it was hindering the class but Muslims have thought differently as to why they made her take it off. Many Muslims agree that they take the heat for terrorist deeds and feel that western society should be educated more on Muslim beliefs. I wonder how citizens in the United States would react if it was a required curriculum for their children to learn about Muslim beliefs.

In regards to terrorist attack on our own soil, there was the recent attempted attack on Christmas by Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab. Somehow, he was able to get past security and onto an airplane where he attempted to hijack it. This goes right along with the terrorist attacks that were discussed in the “Radical Islam in Europe” article. What kind of precautions are being taken today to prevent terrorists from entering our country and boarding our planes? In a Fox News article, it was stated that studies done at Duke and UNC Chapel Hill discovered that most U.S. terror suspects are young men. This seems to be a reasonable conclusion by looking at similarities between those that committed the September 11^th attacks and the recent attempted airplane hijacking on Christmas.

-Joe Siler