Cracking Down on Muslims

The German government has worked diligently the last four months to crack down on one of its biggest domestic security problems: an international terrorist support network. Not only were the perpetrators of 9/11 and the 2004 Madrid bombing linked to Germany, but according to security experts, radical Muslims in Germany are using increasingly sophisticated methods to fund, recruit and prepare for attacks in foreign countries—unacceptably linking Germany to global terrorism.

Security authorities predict that close to 4,000 Islamists living in Germany are ready to fight (among 30,000 Muslim fundamentalists total), including some 400 terrorists with military training. Currently, about 100 Islamists from Germany fight as “warriors of God” in Iraq, according to German zdf tv (February 6).

In order to fight the threat, Berlin established an anti-terrorism command headquarters last December, consolidating the efforts of the nation’s security offices, including the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation and the German Border Police. In addition, effective January 1, a new law made it possible to detain people suspected of belonging to foreign terrorist organizations. Hundreds of alleged Islamists are expected to be deported.

Authorities have already conducted several successful raids and arrests, preventing at least one assassination attempt and thwarting bombing plans and an enriched uranium purchase. “We have now set up a dense web against the terrorist network, and we were successful with it,” stated an intelligence service official (bbc News, January 31).

Germany is being presented with a solid reason to discriminate against foreigners, particularly Muslims. Germany’s reaction shows that it is prepared for drastic measures. Watch for this situation to develop into a much more hostile confrontation with Islam in the future.