With the protests surrounding the planned Islamic Community Center at the site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks reaching a fever pitch, an unforeseen but perhaps inevitable opportunity has arisen for Islamic extremists. Seizing on the vitriol and hate that is seemingly coming from the protest of a planned mosque near Ground Zero, jihadists are using the apparent "hatred of Islam" to recruit new terrorists in the fight against the U.S. and the West. One jihadist website notes, "By Allah, the wards are heated and you Americans are the ones who enflamed it. By Allah you will be the first to taste its flames."While U.S. anti-terrorist officials see no specific evidence that the protests are hurting U.S. efforts worldwide, information about the recruiting efforts is in short supply. A U.S. official recently noted that the chatter was being taken seriously, however, saying, "Terrorists like al-Qaeda and its violent allies are motivated already to try to attack the United States, but when it comes to propaganda, extremists are pure opportunists. They’ll use wh
atever they can."Of course, many who oppose the mosque and community center say they have no bias against Islam, but feel that putting such a building at the Ground Zero location would be extremely insensitive to those who lost loved ones on 9/11. Still, regardless of intent, Evan Kohlmann, an independent terrorism consultant, says, "We are handing al-Qaeda a propaganda coup, an absolute propaganda coup." Others, including no less a central figure than Newt Gingrich, disagree. Says Gingrich, "We will never win a war when we are afraid to even name our enemies."
