By Jonathan Kay | NationalPost | August 21, 2012 | [Original Article]
"In a recent Daily Beast article,
I criticized right-wing American activists who have become convinced
that a network of influential Washington insiders is secretly conspiring
to turn the United States into a Muslim theocracy governed by the laws
of Shariah. The launching off point for my article was the recent
letter-writing campaign by Michelle Bachmann, and four other GOP
congressional representatives, aimed at sniffing out alleged Muslim
Brotherhood operatives. But I also profiled American Center for Security
Policy president Frank Gaffney, who served as an assistant defense
secretary in the Reagan administration...
...In recent years, Gaffney has become an influential guru for Bachmann and
other anti-shariah activists, and I held up his claims as an example of
what I regard as paranoia. For example, his web site, muslimbrotherhoodinamerica,
suggests that America is under attack from “a stealthy and pre-violent
form of warfare aimed at destroying our constitutional form of
democratic government and free society,” and that this secret force is
the reason that America is “no closer to victory in the so-called ‘war
on terror’ than we were on 9/11.” I wrote that Gaffney’s overall
message, while well-intentioned, essentially amounts to a conspiracy
theory — with the Muslim Brotherhood cast as arch-villain...
...That 1991 memo exemplifies the truth that there always will be isolated
extremists within Western societies — whether Islamists, or white
supremicists (like the Milwaukee shooter) who spend their days dreaming
of revolutions that are never going to happen. When we discover them,
they should be investigated and prosecuted. But I’d urge Mr. Gaffney not
to puff up their revolutionary delusions to such a point that they
become fuel for witch hunts."
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