Senate committee warns that "domestic terror threat" is growing

And it is growing in no small part because of the abject failure of government and law enforcement to deal with the Islamic doctrines and beliefs that provide the justification for "terrorism." Instead, most policymakers and law enforcement officials have decided a priori, without a shred of evidence, that those doctrines either do not exist or have no influence on American Muslims. "Domestic terror threat growing, Senate committee warns," from CNN, March 12 (thanks to Undaunted):

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- There is an increasing threat of homegrown terror stemming from segments of a deeply isolated and alienated Somali-American community, a U.S. Senate committee hearing concluded Wednesday.

Why are they "isolated and alienated"? Entrenched American xenophobia and racism? Despite the strenuous efforts of American immigration and welfare agencies to make them feel at home? Come on. Has any official in Washington even considered the possibility that they might be "isolated and alienated" for reasons of their own, stemming from their own core beliefs?

The hearing, conducted by the Senate Homeland and Governmental Affairs Committee, focused on the attempted recruitment of young Somali-American men by al-Shabaab, "a violent and brutal extremist (Somali) group" with significant ties to al Qaeda, according to the U.S. State Department.

"Over the last two years, individuals from the Somali community in the United States, including American citizens, have left for Somalia to support and in some cases fight on behalf of al-Shabaab," noted the committee's chairman, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Connecticut.

Al-Shabaab -- also known as the Mujahedeen Youth Movement -- was officially designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government in March 2008.

The hearing highlighted the case of Shirwa Ahmed, a 27-year-old Somali-American who had been radicalized by al-Shabaab in his adopted home state of Minnesota before traveling to Somalia and blowing up himself and 29 others in October.

The idea that Ahmed was radicalized in the United States raised red flags throughout the U.S. intelligence community. The incident -- the first suicide bombing by a naturalized U.S. citizen -- was the "most significant case of homegrown American terrorism recruiting based on violent Islamist ideology," Lieberman said.

"The dangers brought to light by these revelations is clear: radicalized individuals trained in terrorist tactics and in possession of American passports can clearly pose a threat to the security of our country," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine....

Yes. And so eventually attention will have to be paid to the ways in which that "radicalization" proceeds. And until that is done, there will be more and more Shirwa Ahmeds.