: Terrorists Under the Bed

Steven Emerson, the self-styled terrorism expert, has enjoyed quite a rebound since Sept. 11. Best known for his 1994 Frontline film “Jihad in America,” which painted an ominous picture of Muslim terrorists and terrorist sympathizers lurking in the United States, Emerson has always been highly controversial. His defenders see him as a voice crying in the wilderness; critics accuse him of being a propagandistic crank. After he went on TV to suggest, immediately after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings, that Muslim terrorists were responsible, many mainstream news organizations shunned him. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, all that lack of attention has changed with a new book, “American Jihad: The Terrorists Among Us.” Unfortunately, his hysteria and demonization hasn’t.

Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com.  He is based in London, England.