January 08, 2008

Islam in American Courts: 2007 Year in Review

"Court cases are an undervalued source of strategic intelligence about the threats we face from radical Islam within the U.S." - Jeffrey Breinholt, IASC

From the International Assessment And Policy Center comes this lucid analysis by Jeffrey Breinholt, who suggests there is valuable intelligence to be gleaned from the details disclosed in court cases involving Islamic terrorism.

History is important. It gives us perspective into modern problems. We can gain immediate comfort seeing how so many " new" issues have been considered by courts in the past. As I have written, American court opinions explain that the threat of Islamic actions against out nationals is the very reason we have diplomatic assets overseas, and how al Qa�ida targeted the United States in part because of the economic sanctions we promoted against Iraq well before our 2003 military invasion. They also show that FBI wiretaps are hardly a new controversy, nor is the phenomenon of Muslims exploiting charities in hopes of achieving worldwide domination.

Legal history is particularly relevant to national security and counterrorism, and not merely because we are a country governed by the rule of law. Judicial opinions are interesting because of the facts they generate. Court cases are an undervalued source of strategic intelligence about the threats we face from radical Islam within the U.S. People is this category generally do not advertise that fact, and being parties in litigation forces them to disclose more about themselves than they otherwise would. Court opinions give us a vantage on the goals and methods of people who are not always willing to be transparent.

The history of Islam in the U.S. courts is not a long one, which is a good thing. It means this aspect of legal history is easily digestible. Most of it comes from the last 25 years. We now have another year under our belts. Which cases from 2007 will future historians and strategists use to glean trends relevant to American national security?
Read the entire article here.

Hat-Tip: CT Blog

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