"THE short, crude anti-Muslim video that sparked a wave of violent
protests across the Middle East did not emerge from an obscure pocket of
extremism; it is the latest in a string of anti-Muslim outbursts in the
United States. In August, a mosque was burned down in Missouri and an
acid bomb was thrown at an Islamic school in Illinois. The video’s
backers are part of a movement that has used the insecurity of the
post-9/11 years to sow unfounded fears of a Muslim plot to take over the
West. ...During the Republican primaries, Muslims were accused of harboring plans
for “stealth Shariah.” A group of five Republican House members, led by
Michele Bachmann, groundlessly accused two prominent Muslim federal
officials of loyalty to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. Another Republican
representative, Joe Walsh of Illinois, used a campaign rally to suggest
that Muslims in the Chicago suburbs were plotting to commit terrorist
attacks. In New York City, the police spied on thousands of Muslims for
six years without producing any evidence that could lead to an investigation...."