Regarding the spread of terrorism in the U.S., Muslim and peace activist Seifeldin Ashmawy said, in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 19, 1996: ” ‘…what I have discovered is that the heart, if not the soul, of the extremists is in fact largely in the United States, where these radicals have set up many of their fund-raising and political headquarters. These groups have literally hijacked the mainstream Islamic organizations here in the United States. They are the engines that drive the radical groups in the Middle East. Besides [providing] millions of dollars of funds as well as propaganda, these groups do something far more dangerous: they provide legitimacy to the radicals.’ ”
– Steven Emerson, American Jihad, Page 168