September 9, 2011: A recent opinion poll of American Moslems indicated they are getting less enthusiastic about Islamic terrorism. In a recent poll, five percent of American Moslems had a favorable attitude towards Islamic terrorism. Four years ago, it was seven percent. Currently, 81 percent are hostile to Islamic terrorism, versus 68 percent four years ago. Of those favorable to Islamic terrorism, 40 percent of them (two percent of all U.S. Moslems) were very favorable. That’s nearly 50,000 people. But less than one percent of those were found involved, to one degree or another, in Islamic terrorism. That’s under 500 people, and only about a quarter of those have been arrested, or identified as going overseas to engage in Islamic terrorism. Currently, eight percent of American Moslems believe suicide bombing, and similar violence against civilians can sometimes be justified to defend Islam. Worse yet, 21 percent of American Moslems have witnessed other Moslems expressing, or calling for, support of Islamic radicalism. Some 60 percent of American Moslems (and 67 percent of Americans in general) are concerned about the rise of Islamic radicalism among American Moslems.

Moslems often stress that attacks that are "justified" tend to be those against Israel. Moslem media and politicians have been preaching virulent anti-Semitism for over a century now, and it only got worse when Israel was established sixty years ago. This is pretty nasty stuff, and you can pick it up on al Jazeera or the Internet, although the worst of it is only available on Arab language sites. Al Qaeda, which originally did not see Israel as a primary target, has since changed its mind, and found that Moslems conditioned to hate Israel, can be converted into general purpose Islamic terrorists. This anti-Semitism often expresses itself in the form of physical assaults on Jews or damage to Jewish religious or educational buildings.

These polls are useful for other reasons. One poll four years ago finally answered the question of how many Moslem there are in the United States. There were no reliable statistics on this before, as the government did not collect data on religion, and there was no Moslem organization doing an accurate count. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life poll found there were 2.35 million Moslems in the United States, and 36 percent of them were children. Moreover, two thirds of the adult Moslems were born in another country. African-Americans made up twenty percent of Moslems, and tend to be more radical than the foreign born. Many of these are men who converted while in prison, and have long been seen as a major threat because of their criminal background and history of impulsive and violent behavior.

Similar surveys in Europe revealed that there were about 15 million Moslems there. Previous estimates of five (in the U.S.) and twenty million (in Europe), were provided by Moslem organizations eager to hype their influence via a bit of puffery. But in terms of terrorist activity, Europe has 10-20 times as much as the United States.

According to the Pew poll, American Moslems are much more successful economically, and optimistic about living in a non-Moslem culture, than their more numerous European counterparts. The European Moslems are about twice as likely to justify terrorist acts. European Moslems are much less optimistic about their prospects in a non-Moslem culture. For that reason, Islamic leaders who back an Islamic takeover of Europe are quite popular over there.

Countries with higher percentages of Moslems also tend to have a higher proportion of people in favor of Islamic terrorism. There, the main reason for such violence is the "defense of Islam." Despite the fact that Moslems are attacking non-Moslems all over the world, Moslem media and politicians get away with proclaiming that Islam is "under attack." This item is hardly recognized in the West, which is supposed to be the chief aggressor. But in the Moslem media, there are endless screeds calling on Moslems to help defend Islam. How can this be? A lot of it has to do with cultural attitudes towards logic and fantasy. Even in the United States, you have a lot of people who believe in conspiracy theories, including ones about the 911 attacks being a plot by the U.S. government to get the nation into a war. This is believed by a majority of people in some Moslem majority nations, and a quarter of U.S. Moslems, do not believe that Arabs were responsible for the 911 attacks, despite forensic evidence, and al Qaeda leaders bragging about it on videos.

While many Europeans believed Islamic terrorism in their midst was caused by the American invasion of Iraq, the local police knew better. Islamic terrorism has been a problem in Europe for over three decades, and in the 1990s it was getting worse. After September 11, 2001, and especially after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, it was fashionable for more Moslems, especially young ones, to declare America an "enemy of Islam."

More thoughtful Moslems realized that the Islamic terrorists were screwing up things for everyone. All Moslems were now tainted. Sure enough, the Islamic terrorists soon began killing Moslems in Moslem countries. This was nothing new for most Moslems, because this kind of terrorism had been going on for over a decade before 2001. Egypt, Algeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan were all suffering from Moslem-on-Moslem violence in the 1990s. All in the name of religion.

Europe has about six times as many Moslems as the United States, and the ones in Europe are rather more into Islamic terrorism than their brethren across the Atlantic. This is because of the widespread prejudice in Europe, and isolation from the terrorism back in the old country. Islamic terrorism is easier to admire if it is far away. Moreover, American police came down hard on Islamic radicals after September 11, 2001. That, plus the patriotism of most U.S. Moslems, led to lots of imprisonments and deportations (many U.S. Moslems were illegal aliens).

In Europe, the Moslem populations were often allowed to exist as a very foreign presence. Sort of ethnic enclaves, and within these areas Islamic radicalism flourished. There were only a few terrorist attacks, and it was only because the security forces hustled that there weren't more. While (most of) the politicians continued to preach ethnic diversity, they were told by their security people that over one percent of their Moslems were willing to get involved in terrorist activities, and that there were thousands of European Moslems that needed to be watched. These included Islamic radicals who had fled the United States, or the Middle East. Europe was a convenient place for Islamic radicals to hide out. The social welfare benefits were excellent. If an Islamic radical could afford it, his wife (or wives) and kids could be brought in, and the European governments would take care of them. However, after September 11, 2001, it was no longer easy to get in as a political refugee. But there were professional people-smugglers who, for a fee, could get just about anyone into Europe.

Since 2001, it's become more difficult to stay in Europe. More of these refugees are getting deported back to the old country. And those wanted by the United States are getting extradited, although only after the Americans promise not to send the accused to Guantanamo, or to execute them. Other than that, it's good riddance. The Europeans need all the jail cells they can get, because more and more of their own Moslems are crossing the line, and getting locked up.