ACLU Corrects Citation To Non-Islamophobic Essay

State Department counterterrorism adviser Will McCants

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


The ACLU, which has been challenging the federal government’s use of anti-Muslim materials in counterterrorism training, acknowledged on Thursday that one of the sentences in an essay the group had cited as Islamophobic earlier this week was taken out of context. 

“We stand by the broader points we make in our analysis, including that the textbook contains deeply problematic materials, but we shouldn’t have cited to this specific essay in support of those broader points,” ACLU Policy Counsel on National Security, Immigration and Privacy Mike German wrote. “The citation focused on a portion of the conclusion, without properly taking into account the content that came before it. We are removing the citation of this essay from our earlier analysis and are updating our blog to reflect that change. We regret the error.”

The essay in question was written by former State Department counterterrorism adviser Will McCants in a training textbook produced by the FBI and the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. The ACLU had described the essay as an example of training materials that “falsely portray American Muslim and Arab communities as monolithic, violent and supporters of terrorism.” McCants’ essay had actually been making the opposite point.

That textbook, Terrorism & Political Islam: Origins, Ideologies, and Methods did contain some questionable material, such as the suggestion that opposition to the war in Iraq could be a sign of Islamic militancy. Good on the ACLU for correcting the record, which is something the fearmongers they’re criticizing will probably never do. 

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate