Minnesota, Hotbed of Extremism?

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1:04 PM, Feb 24, 2009 • By MICHAEL GOLDFARB

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The Star-Tribune reports:

FBI Director Robert Mueller said Monday in Washington, D.C., that a Somali-American man from Minnesota who was one of several suicide bombers in a terrorist attack in Somalia had apparently been indoctrinated into his extremist beliefs while living in Minneapolis.

I just flew through Minneapolis, a city with a large Somali population. The Somali community there has something of a lock on jobs at the airport. There's been some coverage of the taxi drivers at the airport there, some three-quarters of whom are Somali, refusing to take passengers carrying alcohol or dogs. That kind of fundamentalism is an early warning sign that a community is being radicalized. One hopes that Eric Holder's Justice Department will find the courage to open up a frank and forthright dialogue on religious extremism with the Somali community of Minneapolis.