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Life & Times Transcript
10/16/06 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- Orange County is a center of Islamic life. How are local Muslims feeling five years after 9/11? Reza Aslan>> We American Muslims have not just an opportunity, but a responsibility to provide an ideological counter-weight to these ideologies of extremism. Val Zavala>> And then, there's been no major attack on United States soil since the Twin Towers. Why? We get some answers from a foremost authority on terrorism. These stories and more on tonight's Life and Times. Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Val Zavala>> It's been five years since 9/11 and polls show that nearly half of all Americans believe Muslims are not loyal to the United States. Muslims in turn believe their civil liberties are hanging by a thread. Orange County is one of the centers for Islamic life in the United States. Saul Gonzalez goes there to find out how the Muslim community is working to overcome these suspicions. Saul Gonzalez>> Orange County, California. It's a place best known for its surf and sun lifestyle, seemingly endless miles of suburban sprawl and for being the home of that happiest place on earth, Disneyland. However, Orange County is also a center of Islam. [Film Clip] Saul Gonzalez>> Home to over one hundred thirty thousand Muslim Americans, many of them immigrants from the Middle East and South Asia. It's a community which once felt largely secure and generally accepted. However, like other Muslim enclaves in the United States, that's changed in the five years since the September 11 attacks, says Muzzamil Siddiqi, an Imam and Director of the Islamic Society of Orange County. Muzzamil Siddiqi>> People say I've been here thirty, forty years. I was never afraid in America, but now I am. I'm afraid for my children's future. Yes, these concerns are there. Definite concerns. Saul Gonzalez>> Those concerns relate to Muslims' belief that they are still too often viewed with suspicion and even hostility by their fellow Americans. A recent Gallup poll reported that fewer than half of Americans, forty-nine percent, believe United States Muslims are loyal to the United States. Muslim Americans also continue to worry about possible government monitoring of their community from the surveillance of mosques to telephone taps. Sadullah Khan, a South African born Muslim scholar and Imam in Orange County, echoes other Muslim Americans when he says he feels his civil liberties could be snatched away from him at any moment. Sadullah Khan>> They could pick me up today for anything. They don't explain anything to you. If they pick you up, there's nothing anybody can do about it. No one can do anything about it. It's like -- Saul Gonzalez>> -- do you think that could happen to you? Sadullah Khan>> Oh, yes. No question about it. There is no doubt about it. Saul Gonzalez>> The knock at the door could come at three -- Sadullah Khan>> -- at five o'clock in the morning and there's nothing you can do about it. Saul Gonzalez>> Is that reality to you or is that paranoia? Sadullah Khan>> No, no, no, no. There are people who've been victims in our community like that. There are people who have been deported in our community like that. Saul Gonzalez>> Many of these fears can be traced back to the days and weeks immediately following the attacks of September 11 when the FBI started investigating possible links between the Muslim American community and suspected terrorists. Many of the 9/11 hijackers, after all, did attend American mosques and Islamic cultural centers as they made preparations for their attacks. Hussam Ayloush>> In 2001, when the American community wasn't used to the FBI was when we were being suspected as a whole community. Yes, Muslims were visited at three a.m. and Muslims were visited at their workplace and their schools. Saul Gonzalez>> Hussam Ayloush is the Executive Director of the Southern California Office of the Council on American Islamic Relations, a civil rights and advocacy group. Although Muslim Americans still have concerns about how the FBI investigates their community, Ayloush says much has improved through continued interaction and improved communication. Hussam Ayloush>> Things have changed and I have to admit to that. I mean, the positive attitude from the leadership of the FBI on a national level, but also on the local level, the openness, the agreement to offer the Muslim community as partners rather than suspects, has made a big difference. Even when someone is being questioned for something, there is a high level of respect that is being presented and reflected in the attitude of the FBI towards Muslims. Saul Gonzalez>> Ayloush credits the number of Town Hall meetings between Muslim Americans and the FBI for helping to improve the relationship. In this one held in June of this year and recorded by Muslim American activist groups, Stephen Tidwell, the agent in charge of the Los Angeles FBI office, assured local Muslims that his agency's investigations target only suspected radicals and are tightly controlled. Stephen Tidwell>> "There are rules and there is guidance for how we begin investigations, how we conduct investigations and how and why we keep investigating." Saul Gonzalez>> As Muslim Americans work to improve their relationship with federal investigators, they've also launched campaigns to enhance Islam's image in this country. Those efforts range from the creation of public service announcements -- Narrator>> "Islam is not about hatred and violence. It's about peace and justice." Saul Gonzalez>> -- to open house events offered by hundreds of United States mosques. >> "And then we go down to our knees." Saul Gonzalez>> In the open houses, non-Muslim visitors are offered tours of the mosques and given lessons about the fundamentals of Islamic history, culture and religious practices. >> "This is where your intellect is actually down and you're submitting truthfully to the will of God." Javed Chak>> What we are trying to do is to reach out to the local people here so that they can understand where we come from and what our beliefs are. Saul Gonzalez>> Javed Chak helped to organize a recent open house at a mosque in Orange County. It was one of several held by the house of worship since the September 11 attacks. Javed Chak>> The whole effort is an attempt to build bridges so that there is no misunderstanding and we think it is making some insights. It's not going to make it overnight. In fact, I think we are making good relations here to the various communities. Saul Gonzalez>> Even as Muslim Americans continue to struggle for acceptance and understanding in this country in the wake of September 11, some scholars say they enjoy certain advantages in the United States compared to Muslim communities in other parts of the western world. That's thanks, they say, to Americans' greater acceptance of religious faith in all of its forms. Reza Aslan>> In America, there is not the same struggle to reconcile the identity of being a Muslim in the west that you see in parts of Europe. Saul Gonzalez>> Reza Aslan, the author of "No God But God", is an expert on Islamic history and culture. He says that, because of the value the United States places on both religious faith and secularism, Muslims in this country are creating a uniquely American style of Islam. Reza Aslan>> There's this great debate taking place throughout the Muslim world about whether Islam can reconcile itself with the realities of the modern world, whether there can be such a thing as a reconciliation between Islamic values and, say, Democratic values or Islamic values in enlightenment principles or a Democracy, etc., etc. and yet here we are, a community in which that reconciliation has come incredibly easily. Saul Gonzalez>> Aslan argues that the very presence in the United States of a strong Muslim community creates a powerful alternative for voices of radical Islam in other parts of the world. Reza Aslan>> We American Muslims have not just an opportunity, but a responsibility to provide an ideological counter-weight to these ideologies of extremism and militantism, so what we have in the United States is a unique opportunity to not just refrain perceptions of Islam in this country, to not just counteract the voices of extremism and militantism that are coming out of parts of the Arab world, but to essentially create a new kind of Islam, an Islam for the twenty-first century. Saul Gonzalez>> For Life and Times, I'm Saul Gonzalez. Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times". Val Zavala>> Have you ever wondered why, after five years, the United States has not been hit by another major terrorist attack? Well, that question is perplexing experts as well and one of them is Brian Jenkins, Senior Adviser at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica. Jenkins founded the RAND's terrorism research program back in 1972. This UCLA grad, Fulbright scholar and Vietnam vet was among the first to warn Americans of the growing threats from terrorism. This was Jenkins back in the early 1970s. Brian Jenkins>> "There have been cases in the past in which hijacked airliners have been threatened with crashing into major buildings." Val Zavala>> I sat down for an interview with Jenkins, who's often called the Dean of Terrorism Research. Why do you think the United States has not been attacked again? Brian Jenkins>> We would like to say that perhaps it's because of our improved security and, no doubt, that does play a role. We have improved our intelligence, internationally and domestically, and we certainly have increased our security at home. But that doesn't provide an entirely satisfactory answer because, if we look at the targets they have successfully attacked abroad since 9/11, nightclubs, restaurants, hotels, train stations, trains, those are vulnerable targets too. It's not rings of security that have stopped them, so yet there must be some other set of reasons that contribute to it. There may be a smaller reservoir for fanaticism in this country than perhaps we see in some of the other countries, including some of our European allies. We as a nation are better at absorbing immigrants than a lot of other nations, so there may be fewer of these angry young men who are willing to turn themselves into weapons here than in some of the other countries. It also may be that, if you were a terrorist and you wanted to replicate something on the scale of 9/11, not necessarily the same scenario, but on the scale of 9/11, then you would not be interested in lesser attacks that will only energize our security. Val Zavala>> So you're saying that they want to lay low, wait and make a bigger impact? Brian Jenkins>> In their operational code, it is lie in wait. Attack the enemy when he is inattentive. Val Zavala>> You've been studying terrorism for thirty years. What has changed over that time? Brian Jenkins>> Terrorists in the 1970s were motivated primarily by political ideologies. That began to change. We began to see the engines of conflict increasingly become ethnic hatreds, the conflicts in the Balkans or Rwanda and other places in Africa, or based upon ideologies extracted from religions where the constituencies are not mortal beings on the planet, but where one believes that he or she is taking instructions from God. The operational consequence of that was an increase in the incidents of large-scale violence so that today's terrorists are interested in killing as many people as possible. We know that their planning horizons are much longer than ours. It took them five years to plan and perfect the 9/11 operation. They may just be working on a different time frame from us. After all, Osama bin Laden himself said, "This conflict began centuries ago and will continue until Judgment Day." Val Zavala>> Are we smart about the way we spend security dollars? Brian Jenkins>> Right after 9/11, understandably there was a tendency to just protect everything. We didn't know what was going to happen. We anticipated another attack. There was a deployment of resources without a lot of strategy. Protect everything. Airports, everything. Have National Guardsmen -- Val Zavala>> -- an hysterical response. Brian Jenkins>> Yeah. National Guardsmen standing in front of airports. You know, jeeps on top of bridges. We just did a lot of things. The problem with security against terrorist attacks is that the basic equation is unequal. Terrorists can attack anything, anywhere, anytime. We can't protect everything, everywhere, all the time. We lack the resources. Rather than trying to protect everything, which is not possible, we make investments on the basis of these principles and accept risk. Part of that process, however, means that we have to educate the American public. We have to become a lot more sophisticated about risk and security in this nation. Unfortunately, we've spent the last five years scaring the hell out of ourselves. To me, in some cases, it was the wrong message. The messages were curiously schizophrenic. We're moving up to orange alert, there's a serious terrorist threat, we're all going to die by Tuesday, be vigilant and keep shopping. I mean, that condemns us to being frightened passengers. Instead, there are strong American traditions of self-reliance, of resiliency. A mission of homeland security should be that every American knows how and is capable of taking care of themselves, their family and their neighbors, in that order. That instruction, that role, will be our defense against panic. Val Zavala>> Jenkins pointed out that a single individual's chance of dying in a terrorist attack is only one in half a million. Brian Jenkins>> Now, I buy lottery tickets. It's great fun. I don't plan my financial future on the presumption that I'm going to win. Neither should we plan our lifestyles on the presumption of being a victim of a terrorist attack. We're not going to spend the rest of our lives under the kitchen table. If we keep that in perspective, then we begin to understand, yes, we will take these measures, understand these measures, cooperate with these security measures to protect the community and to protect fellow citizens not because we personally feel in danger every day. And if, heaven forbid, a terrorist attack or a natural disaster occurs in my neighborhood, I know my role. I know what I am to do to take care of myself, my family and my neighbors. If we can make that the objective of homeland security, then I think we have made our nation unconquerable. Val Zavala>> Brian Jenkins' book is called "Unconquerable Nation" published by the RAND Corporation. Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address: Life and Times 4401 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90027 You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org. Val Zavala>> He went from fanatic to moderate. He's a UCLA professor raised in Kuwait and Egypt and he once embraced Islamic fundamentalism, but today he's a proponent of tolerance. What changed him and what price is he paying? Philip Bruce has the story of Khaled Abou El Fadl. Philip Bruce>> With books as his weapons, UCLA law professor Khaled Abou El Fadl is waging a battle against Islamic fanatics. Khaled Abou El Fadl>> I've been in the struggle for what Islam is going to stand for in the modern age. Philip Bruce>> His personal library lays the groundwork for his fight against so-called puritans, more than sixty-five hundred books he started collecting as a youngster growing up in Kuwait and Egypt. The topics range from law to culture, literature and politics, from all traditions, and he's read every one of them. Khaled Abou El Fadl>> From manuscripts dating from about eight hundred years ago or six hundred years ago or four hundred years ago. Philip Bruce>> Or like this one, written some twelve hundred years ago. But before Khaled was a scholar, he was, by his own admission, an Islamic radical, a teenage fanatic who hated the west and everything it represented. He says he beat up other kids who didn't share his views, called his parents infidels, and even destroyed his sister's Rod Stewart tape. But a challenge by his father to test his religious expertise turned him around by age fifteen. It turns out that he didn't know Islamic law as well as he thought. From then on, he devoted his life to learning the truth about Islam. Khaled Abou El Fadl>> As I grew older, I sort of mutated in a very different attitude and that is the wrongfulness of persecution and the wrongfulness of uncontrolled state power. Philip Bruce>> Lately his views as a law professor and human rights advocate have made him the target of death threats and those threats have increased after last year's release of four books in which Khaled challenged Islamic fanaticism. Khaled Abou El Fadl>> I was very vocal about what the Taliban did with the statues, blowing up the statues, and also about the Islam law that said Muslims must wear bands marking them. Philip Bruce>> But post-9/11, the danger has become much more real, forcing him to take extreme security measures even around his home. Khaled Abou El Fadl>> I still get a lot of hang-ups. Who knows what that's about? The police seem concerned about that. Philip Bruce>> But at the end of the day, the professor says it's worth it, making sure that his discoveries of the beauty of Islam are preserved for generations to come. For Life and Times, I'm Philip Bruce. Val Zavala>> Southern California is full of hidden gems and we found one of them in a cemetery in Burbank. It's a tribute to aviation pioneers. John Torres>> My name is John Torres. I'm the Director of the Portal of the Folded Wings here at Valhalla Memorial Park. Les Copeland>> My name is Les Copeland. I'm the President of the Burbank Aviation Museum. This is the Portal of the Folded Wings. It's designed and built by McDonald and Federico A. Giorgi, a famous Italian sculpture who has incorporated many wonderful facets of European craftsmanship in this building. The sculpting on the side of the building includes each four sides that are exactly the same and each four sides has twelve cupid faces, including what we believe are Joseph and Mary on each side with an angel at the top. In the middle below the angel is a torch of fire with hands grasping onto it. The arches are very delicately sculpted. This is pretty much the sculptor's dream, I believe, and that's why he's buried right in front of the building. John Torres>> As people were to come in, they'd have this grand entrance. Well, that was in 1924 when this structure was finally completed. A lot of people are drawn to the beauty of the building. Les Copeland>> They come up to the back gates and just can't believe that this building is right here in the middle of the city. People are very inquisitive about it because there's really nothing like it around here. John Torres>> It is a memorial to aviation pioneers, engineers, many people who were barnstormers, people who were involved in the advancement of aviation here, especially in southern California. Les Copeland>> We were first asked to become part of the Portal when it was being renovated about twelve years ago. At the time, they spent over a million dollars fixing up this building, renovating it to make it the beautiful specimen that it is today. John Torres>> In 1996, after laying dormant for many years, the Portal was revived and it was placed on the National Registry of Historic Places. Les Copeland>> The ashes that are interred inside the Portal are quite famous pioneers. John Torres>> One individual in particular is Charles Taylor. Charles Taylor was the engineer. He was the machinist who built the motor for the Wright Brothers' Flyer. Without him doing that motor, the Wright Brothers really would have never got off the ground. It was important for people to know about that third Wright Brother, as it were. Les Copeland>> Along with Charlie Taylor, we have Bert Kinner. The Kinners built airplanes right here in Glendale. In fact, Amelia Earhart's first airplane was a Kinner and we have a plaque here to Amelia Earhart. But there is a plaque here, along with many others including Billy Mitchell who, of course, was famous during World War II. John Torres>> This is a P-51 home-built Mustang. It's a midget Mustang built in Burbank by Hook Mason and it's FAA-certified to fly. This is a beautiful model. About a thousand yards from here is where Lockheed Corporation and the Skunk Works facilities were manufacturing many of the military aircraft, one of which is the infamous P-38 which was part of why the United States had achieved air superiority in World War II. Also, the SR-71 as well as the F-117 Stealth fighters. Those are some of many of the aircraft that were launched right here in Burbank in southern California. Currently, we're working on a project to commemorate the Challenger and Columbia disasters. We are currently working with NASA and Burbank Aviation Museum in restoring a model of the space shuttle that we have. It's important for the community to realize and remember that, when these tragedies occur, what these people are risking when they go out and try to advance, you know, aviation and going out into space and the different things that people are trying to discover, that they're actually risking their lives. Les Copeland>> People come by, they see the building from a distance, and they're just drawn to it because it's like a magnet. The beautiful dome on top of the building is very reflective now that it's been renovated and just the structure itself, people just want to go and see what that is. John Torres>> Being in a cemetery is also one of the strong points of this Portal and the aviation museum that it contains. It's preserved and its cemetery will remain here permanently. Les Copeland>> It is a shrine to aviation. I would say, on the west coast, it is the only shrine to aviation. It's not duplicated anywhere. Even the Smithsonian has a fabulous exhibit, but they don't have a building like this. This is something very special for this area. Val Zavala>> For more details on The Portal, you can go to their website at godickson.com/pfw.htm. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Sponsored in part by:  | |
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