Only 6 Percent Of Terrorists Are Muslim

By SABRINA PARK
Published: September 13, 2010
Courtesy Of "The Daily Titan"

Okay, let’s get one thing straight: not all terrorists are Muslim. Yes, I said it and it’s completely true. Why people continue to generalize all terrorists as being Muslim is beyond me- perhaps it has to do with their lack of knowledge on the topic and laziness to find out the legitimacy of the claim. It is also possible that since people are so quick to believe what they are told, they are able to easily adopt someone else’s views as their own. I wouldn’t doubt it- I mean; we all know hardly anyone can think for themselves these days anyway.

A frequent saying goes: “Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslim.” This was recently said by Reverend Flip Benham on Aug. 11 during Anderson Cooper’s 360 show on CNN.

Benham argued, “Anderson, I understand exactly what you’re saying. You need to ask yourself the question why are all terrorists Muslim? Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslim, and that’s just pretty-” Benham is quickly interrupted by Cooper who says, “Well, that’s just not completely true because, in fact, the guy who blew up the Oklahoma City-” Only to be interrupted again by the all-too-confident Benham who claims that, “Islam is a lie from the pit of hell.” Talk about being ignorant and close-minded.

What an unfortunate and pessimistic attitude for one to have on the subject, especially if one does not have all their facts straight. For some reason, this quote remains attached to the people of Islamic faith and continues to label them at such a low standard- it is utterly nauseating.

So, that being said, let’s think for ourselves and do some research: exactly what percent of Muslims are terrorists? Well, according to FBI files, which can be accessed through fbi.gov, only 6 percent of terrorists are Muslim. The remaining percentage of terrorist attacks on U.S. territory includes: Latinos at 42 percent, extreme Left Wing groups at 24 percent, Jewish extremists at 7 percent, Communists at 5 percent, and other terrorist organizations at 16 percent.

If only 6 percent of terrorists are Muslim, then why does the media only cover the attacks by Islamic extremists? It doesn’t make sense and the way it is being portrayed is entirely deceptive and misleading.

This leaves me perplexed beyond explanation. How is it that FBI files have record that Latinos are responsible for the highest percentage of terrorism toward the U.S., yet we still live in constant fear of being attacked by Muslims?

Also, why is it that they continue to get racially profiled for being terrorists? I’m pretty sure that no one stops Latinos or Jews at the airport for suspicion of intentions to hijack a plane. Let’s be clear though, I am in no way saying that they should be stopped- I don’t think anyone should be stopped just because they “look” skeptical. Latinos and Jews certainly have had their fair share of being discriminated against and that, in itself, is another unjust situation we can talk about some other time.

But the point here is, Muslims are being targeted unfairly for terrorism when Islamic extremists carried out only 6 percent of the attacks. According to SFGate.com, “if only 10 percent of Muslim Americans were sympathetic toward Islamic extremism, they would constitute a force greater in number than the Coalition forces used to invade Iraq. I submit that if a force that large was in the United States, New York would look a lot more like Baghdad. It doesn’t, because the number of Islamic extremists is actually only a tiny percentage of the Muslim-American population.”

Granted, 9/11 certainly produced a greater number of casualties than other terrorist attacks, but they are still not grounds for picking out Muslims and blaming them for all the attacks on the U.S.- not to mention, accusing them of all being terrorists.

A study completed by Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said, “The terrorist threat posed by radicalized Muslim-Americans has been exaggerated.”

Obviously. After seeing the actual percentage of terrorist attacks executed by Islamic extremists, it could not be more transparent- not all terrorists are Muslim and not all Muslims are terrorists!