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Updated Friday, September 10, 2010 0:11 am TWN, By Jim Mannion, AFP

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Anti-Muslim attacks raise fears in US

Alarmed by the turn of events, a group of Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders pressed Attorney General Eric Holder Tuesday to send a clear message that anti-Muslim attacks will be aggressively pursued.

“I have heard many Muslim Americans say they have never felt this anxious or this insecure in America since directly after Sept. 11,” said Ingrid Mattson, head of the Islamic Society of North America.

“They're nervous about their children as they head back to school this week,” she said.

Oddly, the cluster of anti-Muslim incidents comes after years in which few such incidents were reported.

FBI statistics show a spurt in 2001 when 481 incidents against Muslims were reported by U.S. law enforcement agencies, but then they dropped sharply and remained at a low level through 2008, the last year on record.

Some observers credit former president George W. Bush who came out immediately after Sept. 11 and declared that Muslims were not the enemy.

Many analysts even considered the United States' seeming success in shielding its Muslim communities while at war at a time when deep inter-communal divisions were opening in Europe.

“Anti-Muslim hate crime had really dropped off our radar. The situation seemed vastly better in the years since 9/11 and it just did not seem like a major trend,” said Potok.

And then, seemingly out of nowhere, came the controversy over the Islamic center in lower Manhattan. Polls showed Americans were seeing their Muslim neighbors in a more negative light. Time magazine asked: “Is America Islamophobic?”

Sensing opportunity or trouble, politicians either plunged in or steered clear of the debate. Newt Gingrich, a prominent Republican, compared the New York mosque to a Nazi sign next to the Holocaust Museum.

President Barack Obama first affirmed Muslims' freedom to build the mosque, then said he was not commenting on the “wisdom” of building it.

“Political leadership is really important at these moments, and we have seen essentially the failure of the political class,” said Potok.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg predicted the storm would be over after the Nov. 3 elections.

“I think a lot of people are just using this as a political rallying point,” he was quoted as saying Tuesday. “I find it disgraceful.”

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