A focus on facts ought to dispel mistrust of US Muslims

Notably, the 9/11 commission itself found no evidence of a domestic social base knowingly aiding the hijackers prior to their attack. Some of the 19 conspirators received minor assistance from an individual or two, but those individuals haven't been identified, described, or prosecuted; if they existed, they were very likely not rooted in local communities, and indeed the hijackers stayed clear of such attachments as well.

If Al Qaeda didn't have such a support base in the US prior to the attacks, it's even less likely they have one now. That doesn't mean there are no operatives here; they could, like the 9/11 cabal, sneak into the country and keep to themselves. Yet the supposition of many in the US government is that American Muslim communities are likely to harbor, support, or perhaps even initiate terrorism.

This suspicion is rocking those communities in ways that not only challenge their civil liberties but also seem counterproductive.

One of the first victims of the post-9/11 climate of fear in Muslim and Arab-American communities is charitable giving. Support for both Palestinians and victims of the US occupation of Iraq is now considered precarious. Donating to charities is especially hazardous because so many of these institutions have been targeted by law enforcement as terrorist-related.

Speech is constrained - self-censored, but also restricted by Washington's actions. The denial last fall of a work visa for Muslim philosopher Tariq Ramadan, an inspirational professor who was to teach at Notre Dame, signals that moderate voices will be excluded. In surveys, interviews, and meetings Muslims and Arab-Americans describe strong feelings of isolation and alienation from the American mainstream, disrespect for their views on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the Palestinian question, and a sense of hopelessness about finding a place for Islam in American society. At a gathering of national and local leaders of Muslim and Arab-American communities at the Social Science Research Council in Washington this fall, a few voiced concern about internment should another act of terrorism befall America.

So it can scarcely come as a surprise that in surveys in the Muslim world, even in friendly places like Turkey and Jordan, the US is viewed as a menace, at war with Islam. The great danger here is that with years of suspicion, innuendo, and harassment, buttressed by a new culture of internal security, Muslims in America will feel increasing isolation and hostility, beyond even what they sense today. This could even result in a strain of radicalism among their youth.

Thus, for this new national security state, a new security dilemma - its creation of the forces it fears, certainly abroad and possibly now even at home, where no such force existed. But even the less alarming consequences, the palpable sense of fear and exclusion from American society, are a travesty of justice and fair play. We need in all our institutions - law enforcement, news media, education, businesses, and others - a commitment to holding innocent what is not proven guilty and welcoming these communities as a growing part of America's dreamland of rich diversity.

• John Tirman is executive director of the Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is coauthor and editor of the book 'The Maze of Fear: Security and Migration After 9/11.' This article is excerpted from a longer commentary that ran in the National Catholic Reporter.

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