We Americans are not a people, we are a political idea. The disservice that has been done to that idea by the current residents of the seats of government causes an ache in my heart. Ed Husain grew up in England and became radicalized. He traveled to Saudia Arabia and became militant. He broke with that and returned to England.
Do you think the radical Muslim experience in Britain is similar to that in America?
No. Americans are lucky in that they have a very strong national identity. I have met hundreds of Muslims who are very proud Americans. Here in Britain, native Brits squirm about Britishness, no one can define what it means. When natives can’t define it, for the children of immigrants it becomes extremely difficult to enter into mainstream Britain. Also, Americans were also very blunt post 9/11. There are very few centers now in the States that will openly call for an Islamist state or a jihad or openly distribute [extremist] Wahhabi literature. They have clamped down heavily, maybe too much, but they have kept the lid on the problem. Here we are too sensitive, we are too liberal, we are too politically correct, and that’s our weakness.
I don’t know if it is a weakness or not. Husain speaks out of fear. We can not go further in establishing this idea if we are afraid for it. Either we have the right ideas or we don’t. If we have the right ideas, we must trust them to prevail.