Jihad in Hadieth

Terrorists Among Us - Jihad in America

Terrorists Among Us - Jihad in America is a documentary by counter-terrorism expert Steven Emerson. It first aired in the United States in 1994 on the PBS series Frontline. The film has won numerous awards for journalism, including the George Polk Award.

According to Emerson, the impetus for the film came in 1992, when he happened to come across a conference of Arab youths in Oklahoma City. After gaining entrance by pretending to be Muslim, Emerson said that he found tables of pro-terrorism literature from groups such as Hamas and heard speeches calling for death to Americans.

The film features hidden camera footage of men publicly raising money for terrorism in U.S. hotel conference rooms. The men are often speaking in Arabic. Emerson also identifies Sami Al-Arian as the primary supporter of Islamic jihad in the United States.

After the film's release, American Muslim groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations accused Emerson of mischaracterizing speeches and taking innocuous language and activities out of context to make them appear more menacing.

In 1995, U.S. representatives Bill McCollum of Florida and Gary Ackerman of New York distributed the documentary to every member of the House of Representatives, accompanied by a letter urging them to watch the film before the House began debating anti-terrorism legislation that summer. The move was decried by Arab American and Muslim leaders for linking terrorism to Arabs and Muslims.

Attention to Emerson and his work were renewed following the September 11, 2001 attacks by terrorists on the United States; later in 2001, Representative Chris Smith of New Jersey credited Emerson's film with helping to pass a recent anti-terrorism bill in the House. Emerson has also given briefings to both chambers of Congress and to the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.