War on Terrorism and the Effect on Muslim Americans Essay Example for Free

War on Terrorism and the Effect on Muslim Americans Essay The American led war on terrorism has brought numerous concerns among human rights activists across the globe. This is because the war has been perceived as a tool for victimizing and discriminating individuals of the Islamic religion and nationality. Such have been closely attributed to the fact that the American nation blames Al-Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist groups of responsibility in many terror attacks in the world. Due to this reason, members of the Muslim American community are living in constant fear of discrimination, racial profiling and harassment by law enforcement since the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers (Elaasar 93). In addition, increased publicity of organized crime group affiliated to the Islamic religion being involved in terrorism has evident discriminative attitude of Muslim Americans by other members of the society. This attitude is worsened by the provisions of the Patriotic Act of 2001 giving the government more power to identify and mitigate terrorism, most of which contradict the constitutional provisions on civil rights in America (Elaasar 93). This has denied Muslim Americans their rights to freedom of movement, privacy and free association. Despite the fact that the American government owes its citizens a duty to security against the disastrous social and economic effects of terrorism, such should not be taken as an excuse for victimizing members of the community simply due to their religion and nationality of origin. This paper identifies and discusses the effects brought by the war on terrorism to members of the Muslim American community. War on terrorism War on terrorism is a concerted effort by nations led by the United States to identify and eliminate members of organized crime groups which are engaged in executing terrorist activities across the globe (Sides and Gross). Although terrorism has for long been a major threat to security in countries particularly the US, the new struggle to combat was triggered by the bloody terrorist attack of the New York-based World Trade Center on September 11th 2001. True from available literature, the war on terrorism involves almost all aspects of sustainable social, security, political, and economic development strategies (Sides and Gross). Such are evident from the American led invasion in both Iraq and Afghanistan which witnessed the overthrowing of leaderships purported to promoting terrorist activities. On the other hand, numerous intelligence efforts have been engaged by respective law enforcement agents across the globe to identify terrorist group cycles and eliminate them. This also serves in enhancing the process of detecting, possible terrorism threats, target, and time of a planed attack to ensure adequate preparedness of the force in preventing and responding to such incidences. In addition, corporation among governments on the fight against terrorism has been on the increase. This has been closely attributed to the fact that terrorism threats are increasingly spreading to unexpected regions. As an emphasis to this claim, numerous attacks have been perpetuated by terrorists groups against their own members. Available information linking terrorist activities to Muslims claim of declaration of western civilization as the number one enemy to the Muslim community by Osama led Al-Qaeda terrorist group. thus, the numerous reported incidences of terrorist attacks in Muslim dominated nations is an indicator of the changing approach of terrorist, thus making every nation potentially vulnerable to terrorist attacks (Sides and Gross). On the other hand, the war on terrorism has taken a new approach as terrorist groups shifts attacks to cyber terrorism. This is one of the mainly purpose of the 2001 Patriotic Act which allows for increased government surveillance over the internet to help identify terror suspects executing crime activities online. The war on terrorism also covers the economic dimensions of the groups across the global society (Maira, and Jamal 12). Just to appreciate is the fact that executing a terrorist attack is highly involving financially. On the other side, available information from intelligence agencies has established that most individuals engaged in implementing terrorist attacks are funded by sponsors of terrorist groups. This has the implication that mitigating free flow of financial support to terrorism group serves an instrumental role in compromising their capacity to threaten security in the security. It is due to this reason why the American government has put in place checks and balances for qualifying the authenticity of transferring huge amount of money to individual (s) across the border. In addition, criminal activities like money laundering are perceived as a potential factor to the success of terrorist groups in the globe. Moreover, reports from the FBI has indicated a close link between organized crime groups in the nation and potential collaboration with terrorist groups to execute terrorists attacks in the US (Maira, and Jamal 27). This report claims that currently the American nation has an estimated over 31,000 organized crime groups spread across its numerous states. It is due to this reason why the American government is strongly involving its resource on the war on drug cartels and other violent organized crime groups. ? Effects of War on Terrorism on Muslim Americans The war on terrorism has many negative implications on the social and economic sustainability of the Muslim American community members. True to the letter, it is no doubt clear that terrorism activities in the western world are closely associated with members of Islamic religion or nationality of origin (Elaasar 20). This can be evident from historical claims which shown a longstanding conflict between Christianity and its western civilization and the Arabic world civilization. This is further complicated by the fact that all major terrorist attacks which have occurred in the world find claims of perpetuation by Islamic oriented terrorist groups. Muslim Americans have become victims of denied constitutional rights following the intensification of the war on terrorism since late 2001. According to available information, law enforcement agents have been granted legal authority to conduct unwarranted search and seizure on based on reasonable suspicion under the anti-terrorist war platform (Malkin 67). It is worthy noting that due to racial profiling by the law enforcement, most victims of terrorism suspicion are from the Islamic community. This has the indication that the war on terrorism has compromised the ability of the Muslim American community members to enjoy their constitutional rights to privacy and warranted search and seizure (Al-Marayati). In addition, the existing laws on terrorism find much contradiction to the provisions of the due process clause of the constitution. Unlike suspects of other crimes who enjoy their right to a legal counsel as well as speedy trail, victims of terrorism suspicion do not. Anti-terrorism laws allow for the putting terrorists suspects in custody for long period before taking them to court (Pew Research Center 35). In addition, the laws allows for deporting of terrorism suspect without giving them opportunity for a court trail. All these contradictions of the constitutional rights against the defendants of terrorism are inhuman, a factor which significantly affect the Muslim Americans for being the main victims of terrorist suspects in the nation. Another effect of the war on terrorism on Muslim Americans is increased social stigmatization and discrimination in the local community. Terrorism threats remain one of the most feared security threats among citizens of the United States. On the other hand, the population has been overwhelmed by the claim that Muslims are the major perpetuators of these dangerous activities. Due to this perception Muslim Americans find limited appreciation by other members in the social and economic fronts of the community (Pew Research Center 49). Such are no doubt a negation of their constitutional right to equal opportunity in the US. This can also be seen as a source of violence and hatred against this minority group. Some opponents of the war on terrorism claim of its effects in compromising commitment of the Muslim believer to effectively practice their religion. The enforcement of anti-terrorism laws in American has limited the ability of the Muslim Americans to engage in charitable works; a crucial religious requirement in the Islamic faith. According to the laws, transferring large sums of money to other nations by Muslims should involve verification from the law enforcement (Shah). Still, these members find much government resistance to engage in organized group contributions to help fellow Muslims in poor nations. It is worth noting that the threat posed on Muslim Americans by the war on terrorism is to be blamed for the reluctance by some members to fully commit to the faith to avoid harassment. Muslim Americans before/after 9/11 vs. Japanese Americans after WWI The relationship between the western and the Middle East has never been without conflict. However, such were not evidently affecting the social and economic aspects of Muslim American until the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks in the US (Maira, and Jamal 26). This was due to the perception brought to the local against the Islamic community given the damage that was caused by the attack. On the other hand, the engagement of the government in intensive efforts to combat terrorism across the global is also to be blamed for worsening the lives of Muslim Americans (Menchik, and Payam). It is worthy appreciating that the war on terrorism has so far only identified members of Islamic community as the cause of threat to the community. Indeed, this relationship current problem facing Muslim Americans can be related to that of Japanese Americans during the WWI. According to historical information, Japan was perceived as a major enemy of the United States following their attack of an American submarine in the peril harbor (Arat 67). The information indicates that this attack was the driving force to America’s entering into the Second World War. Such enmity is no doubt evident from the later use of atomic bombs against the Japanese nation by the Americans during the WWII. Conclusion It has been established that the war on terrorism has negatively affected the Muslim American community. This is because it has led to the formulation and enforcement of laws which are discriminative to suspected or perceived members of terrorist groups. In addition, these laws have led to racial profiling and encouraged arrest of individual based of the principles of guilty by association. All these contradict the fundamental constitutional and universal human rights of terrorist suspects; most of who are Muslims.