Terrorist label frustrates Muslim community in the woods
ISLAMBERG, N.Y. — If Islamberg truly is a hotbed of jihad, a heavily armed terrorist training ground hidden in the woods of upstate New York, it’s hard to see along the rutted dirt road winding through the Muslim community.
On a recent day, women in hijabs carried babies on their shoulders and two visiting state troopers passing through the front gate were greeted warmly. Teenage boys in brimless caps walked by modest homes, and stray chickens pecked at the grass. The scene is more country road than backwoods bunker.
But this enclave just west of the Catskill Mountains is dogged by terror accusations, many spread on right-wing websites. Bikers “against jihad” have rumbled by in protest, and one Tennessee man was imprisoned after plotting to burn down the mosque. Police and analysts dismiss the terror camp claims, but their persistence frustrates people in this insular community of several hundred residents 120 miles (193 kilometres) northwest of New York City.
“It’s a bunch of nonsense,” said Hussein Adams, chief executive of The Muslims of America, which operates this community and 21 others in North America. “For the last 30-plus years, we’ve been training for this jihad? So why hasn’t this jihad taken place?”