May 10, 2007
Kosovo and the War on Terror
The arrest of the Ft. Dix Six has prompted a vigorous debate on America's Balkan policies, the war with Serbia over Kosovo independence, and the role of Albanians in global jihad. On one side, our contributor Patrick Poole, whose experiences in Albania have led him to stress the secular nature of most Albanians, and warn against the perils of broad-based hostility. On the other side, a host of commentators upset at the efforts of media and Bush administration officials to obscure the Albanian identity of most of the New Jersey terror plotters.
I don't think this issue is going away. It can be simultaneously true that most Albanians are secularized Muslims or even non-believers and that radical Islam has gained a foothold among the population sufficient to generate a serious threat. Radicals are almost always a small portion of any population on any issue, and it doesn't take that many people to plot major mischief.
Hat tip: Andrew Bostom