Since the immigration of the first Turks after World War II, Western Europe sought to eliminate the radical Muslim minority.  France led the charge beginning in 2010 with the banning of burkas, the Muslim female head-to-toe cloth covering. Britain stood up to terrorist threats with the restrictions on pro-ISIS preachers in London. The United States now faces radical infiltration similar to that of Western European countries — the government’s response remains to be seen.

American military focus since 9/11 remains in the pursuit of terrorism.  The fight against terrorism centers in the Middle East and North Africa. Americans believe Islamic extremist terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) attract members solely from the Middle East (Egypt, Iraq, Iran) and North Africa (Syria) because of American involvement in these regions.

“When I think of ISIS I think of Syria and North Africa, never the United States,” sophomore Ethan Perez said. “The idea of recruitment going on right under our noses is not only scary, but unbelievable.”

The distribution of membership in these groups expands far beyond what most assume.  In a recent poll by Pew Research Center, a center of demographic studies, 21 percent of Muslim-Americans said they believed violence to be necessary to protect the Muslim faith. The men and women that support this extremism and violence find themselves susceptible to the recruiting efforts of ISIS and other terrorist groups’ leaders.  These American jihadists, or holy warriors, bring back radical Islam to the United States with American passports, making them especially dangerous.  As American citizens, border and passport control officers are less likely to raise the alarm in suspicious circumstances.

Perhaps the most well-known example of an American jihadist is Douglas McCain.  A thirty-three year-old Midwesterner, Kurdish forces in Turkey killed McCain in battle– the first recorded instance of an American casualty among ISIS fighters.  Many American fighters follow Douglas’ path to the heartland of ISIS through Turkey, causing great concern within the American government.

“American jihadists pose a great threat to our nation,” Advanced Placement American History teacher David Dainer-Best said. “In order to protect ourselves against these fighters we should do in depth interviews with Americans returning from certain nations [Iraq and Syria] and decide whether their intentions have the interest of the United States in mind.”

American psychological studies done by the American Psychological Institute believe that Americans gravitate towards terrorist organizations associated with Islam because of its clear doctrinal division between right and wrong.  Radical Islam eliminates the gray area in moral issues for potential fighters.  Many recruits do not ever realize the true atrocities of this radicalism until they reach ISIS training camps.  One of the most controversial crimes committed by ISIS is the treatment of women.

In Kurdish Peshmerga, the largest ISIS opposition region in the Middle East, ISIS fighters recorded and raped two women tied to posts naked.  In Syria, ISIS recorded a woman accused of adultery begging for mercy before being executed by two uniformed ISIS fighters.  Stories such as these receive little news coverage and rarely reach the ears of American extremists.  The crimes committed by ISIS therefore are not a factor in the ever growing exodus of American Muslims to the hearth of extremism in the Middle East.

“We should publicize the harsh treatment of women by ISIS fighters so possible American extremists are discouraged,” freshman Emily Lamas said.