Reaction to American Intifada
Reader comment on item: American Intifada

Submitted by Brian C. (United States), Jun 22, 2007 at 18:38

The scenario Dr. Pipes presents is plausible, but as a humble ordinary American, I don't think a long-term "intifada" is likely to occur.

Any attacks on the scale described by Dr. Pipes would almost certainly require logistical and financial support from outside of the U.S. While hardliners in Iran, or other countries and agents that support terrorism, might be tempted to underwrite such an endeavor, I do not believe they will; at least not until after the Bush administration leaves office. If they were to do so before Jan 2009, they would play right into the hands of the hawks and neocons who would then have the justification and public support to strike militarily at Iran, or any other country deemed to be responsible.

Even if the Democrats win the White House in 2008, the political and public pressure to retaliate after such large-scale attacks will be so white-hot that whoever is President after G.W. Bush will have to respond, or he or she's political career will be over.

I believe the demographics of our country preclude the possibility of a prolonged conflict. There are 300 million people here; depending on whose numbers you believe, there are anywhere between 1-3 million Muslims. Do the math – 297 million non-Muslims means any "intifada" would more than likely be quickly crushed.

Unlike Western Europe, America has a culture of firearms ownership and usage. If there any attempts at sustained terrorist attacks here the retaliatory violence directed at the Muslim community would be appalling. Mosques and Muslim owned businesses will burn.

The government will probably be able to quell criminal acts of retaliation, but they cannot control people's attitudes. Life for any openly Muslim person inside the U.S. would likely become intolerable. Physical and verbal harassment of Muslims in public would become commonplace. Stores, restaurants, and other businesses might refuse to serve Muslim patrons. Many businesses would probably stop hiring openly Muslim people.

But wait, don't we have laws to prevent this kind of discrimination, you ask? Yes, but while many big-businesses would not openly discriminate, for fear of being sued, most of America is made up of millions of small and medium-sized businesses and the ACLU, CAIR and the terrorists apologists can't sue them all.

I think in the short-term it is only likely that we may see sporadic acts of terrorism.

Thank you Dr. Pipes for your thought provoking article and providing a forum for those of us interested in the subject to express our opinions.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened for relevance, substance, and tone, and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome, but comments are rejected if scurrilous, off-topic, vulgar, ad hominem, or otherwise viewed as inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the Guidelines for Comments. For informational purposes, we identify countries from which comments are sent.