Terrorism in USA and radical Islam

Omar Mateen was on the FBI terror watch list. He was the subject of one FBI investigation and was questioned twice. Yet, thanks to the National Rifles Association (NRA) and the Republican-dominated Congress, he was able to buy the assault weapon and the guns he used to kill 49 innocent people in the nightclub in Orlando like he was buying consumer items off the shelf! 

The case of Omar Mateen revealed a great deal more in the days since the massacre. It is now known that he was a Muslim in name only. He had no known ties to any terrorist groups such as ISIS that use radical Islam for terrorism. In fact, he even did not know the differences between Hezbollah, al-Qaeda and ISIS and offered unilateral allegiance to these organisations blissfully ignorant that these terror groups are on one another's throat. In the beginning, he was portrayed as a gay-hater to link him to ISIS that kills gays and encourages its supporters to do so. It was later revealed that he himself was gay and frequented the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) bar where he carried out his massacre.

His wife helped establish that he was mentally unstable that was acknowledged by the media. Thus, in the United States, it has been established for the first tine that a Muslim killing in the name of radical Islam could also be of unsound mind. In all previous cases, terrorists who happened to be Muslims were automatically considered to be mentally sound who had carried out their acts of terror in cold blood inspired by radical Islam. This, of course, was not true at all because such an assumption was made on the belief that Muslims always commit acts of terror in sound mind whereas people of other religions often commit their acts of terror on grounds of mental instability.

Omar Mateen's terrorist attack very quickly established a few important facts regarding the link between terrorism in the USA and radical Islam. First, radical Islam or ISIS had very little to do in his act of terror. He was a deeply disturbed young man who killed because of his personal problems. Second, since 9/11, there have been 15 acts of terror, including the one in Orlando, where Muslims were involved. These acts have killed 94. Third, no overseas terrorists, either from ISIS or any another terrorist group linked to radical Islam, have set foot on US soil. This underlines that the country has more or less secured itself against attacks by overseas radical Islamic terrorist groups. Fourth, since 9/11, there have been more terrorist attacks by Christian American groups belonging to extreme right. Some of them like those who target abortion clinics committed their terror acts based on Christianity and the Bible. 

These developments have not cleared American Muslims from links with radical Islam. However, the right-wing terrorists who are influenced by the Bible and Christianity also commit acts of terror using Christianity more or less in the same frequency as those who use radical Islam.  Nevertheless, the post-Orlando developments have exposed that the phobia built in the country by the authorities and the media that ISIS and other Islamic terrorist groups could any time send their own cadres to commit terrorist acts on US soil, like 9/11, is grossly over-exaggerated. 

The military capability of ISIS is now shrinking due to US-led actions against them in their own territory. ISIS is not in any position to consider sending its own fighters to carry out acts of terror outside its own territory. In a recent video released on the Internet, it has asked its supporters in Europe and America to carry out acts of terror on their own using whatever was available to them and not to expect either technical or material support for it. The ISIS video alluded to the US gun laws are so friendly for the ISIS that it feels complacent that with propaganda alone it could achieve its objectives in the USA without visiting US soil to carry out its terrorism.

Post-Orlando developments have thus underlined that the fear of ISIS terrorists from Middle East launching acts of terror on US soil has to a large extent diminished. These developments   have further underlined that terrorism by radical Islam elements based in the country that is still a danger could be very easily diminished dramatically by amending the terrorist-friendly US gun laws.  To start with, if the "no buy, no fly" law that bans people on the FBI terrorist watch list from buying airline tickets was imposed on individuals on the same watch list wanting to buy guns and assault weapons, domestic-based radical Islam based terrorism would also diminish to a very large extent. In fact, had such a law been in place at the time of the San Bernardino terrorist attack, that one and the one in Orlando would not have occurred!

Further, the eight million-strong Muslim Community in the United States is at present one of the most prosperous and affluent communities in the country. It has a great deal to lose if some of its members were to involve in terrorism in the name of radical Islam. Thus the logical and the easiest way for Homeland Security and police to track those who are radical elements in the Muslim community would be to reach out to the leaders of the community who would be more than willing to cooperate for its own welfare and are already doing so. 

Thus Omar Mateen's act of terror ironically has shown the United States the way to not just deal with domestic-based terrorists who are influenced by radical Islam but also similar terrorists who use Christianity for their terrorist attacks. In fact, the Orlando massacre and developments since have also forced the country to focus on the absurd gun laws that not just help the terrorists but also criminals and people of unsound mind kill 33,000 Americans a year using guns and assault weapons. While the extension of the "no-fly, no buy" law to gun purchases to those on the FBI terrorist list would bring down dramatically the acts of terror, universal background checks for all gun purchases would help bring down dramatically the 33,000 yearly gun-related deaths. 

The Republican presumptive candidate Donald Trump, unfortunately, has chosen not to see these positives. Instead, he has used Omar Mateen to justify his earlier claim that Islam and terrorism are linked; a contention going by the facts revealed about the killer is ridiculous because he was a Muslim in name only. Trump reiterated his earlier demand to ban Muslims. He supported the NRA and the Republicans in Congress against the demand for the "no buy, no fly" law to be introduced to gun purchases and to extend the universal background checks for all gun purchases. 

Therefore, the Orlando massacre has established that the US gun laws have been more responsible than radical Islam for the 15 acts of terror in the United States since 9/11.  Further, that the phobia of ISIS attacking the US from their location in the Middle East has now greatly diminished.  Thus blaming Islam and holding all Muslims responsible for acts of terror by mentally unstable individuals like Omar Mateen and the San Bernardino terrorists with the gun laws unchanged and friendly towards the terrorists and individuals of unstable mind   would only encourage more mentally unstable Muslims like them to commit more acts of terror. President Obama has underlined this danger when he firmly refused again after the Orlando massacre to blame radical Islam for it. He simply identified the Orlando massacre as an act of terror.

POSTSCRIPT: At the time of filing this article, Donald Trump has done a 180-degree turn on his ban Muslim demand and has withdrawn it! His campaign has called this an act for pivoting towards the centre. It is, in fact, a sign that he has lost the plot and with the Orlando massacre, he finds himself deeper in the maze without knowing how to come out of it.  

The writer is a retired Ambassador. 

 ambserajulislam@gmail.com