Trump’s Muslim ban: Where do America's ‘terrorists’ come from?

President Trump’s ban on seven Muslim-majority countries does not include a single nation which sourced the September 11 attackers

On January 27, United States President Donald Trump, issued an executive order banning entry from seven Muslim majority countries - Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia. Interestingly, although the executive order cites the September 11 attacks three times, not one of the nations banned therein include the countries that most of the attackers came from.

Statistics reveal that all the 9/11 attackers hailed from Saudi Arabia, Egypt or Pakistan. The 9/11 attacks were carried out by 19 men, 15 of whom were from Saudi Arabia, two belonged to the United Arab Emirates, one hailed from Egypt and another one from Lebanon.

There have been 13 major attacks in the United States of America, including the September 11 attacks. Amongst the terrorists who struck the US post-9/11, three were African-American, three belonged to families that originally hailed from Pakistan, one came from Palestine, two more from Russia, one from Egypt and one each from Afghanistan and Kuwait.

The other route

Trump's order clearly was targeting the Islamic State and the al-Qaeda. The IS is strong in Iraq and where as the al-Qaeda still holds fort in Yemen. If one looks at the pattern, the IS and the al-Qeda has never sent out terrorists from their strongholds into other countries.

The IS fighters in Iraq and Syria have typically come from Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Tunisia, Russia and Egypt. These countries are not on the ban list and there is a good chance that the IS may send fighters directly into the US from these nations.

Security experts also feel that the focus must be laid on these nations as well. The other issue that the Trump administration must watch out for is the growth of home grown terrorism. There is a good chance that lone wolves could get aggressive, experts point out. There is also a possibility of local modules within the US activating themselves to spread the menace of home grown terrorism.

OneIndia News