NPR Manufactures Latino Muslim Terrorist Story

NPR, while capable of some incredible journalism, did a half-assed job of trying to create a trend story this week that implied Latino Islam converts were somehow more dangerous or prone to terrorism than other Muslim extremists. First and foremost, it’s important to note that neither all Muslims, nor all Latino Muslim converts are terrorists; this is like implying that all Catholics are child molesters — the argument simply holds no water.

Secondly, NPR has extremely weak evidence for this “trend.” In its own words: “Latino converts to radical Islam have been connected to terrorism cases in this country with increasing frequency — and officials are trying to understand why.”

Apparently, “increasing frequency” means a handful of times in nearly 10 years. Really NPR? Give me a break. I know you practically make it a policy of excluding minority journalists from your staff, but you truly are better than this. Here’s NPR’s “evidence” for this supposedly growing trend:

• The FBI just arrested 21 year-old Antonio Martinez after charging him with plotting to blow up a military recruitment center.
• In 2002 Jose Padilla trained with al-Qaida.
• In 2007 Daniel Maldonado joined an affiliate al-Qaida group in Somalia.
• Bryant Neal Vinas was also involved with al-Qaida a few years ago.

That’s it. Do you see the trend? I can’t, can you help me find it?