The "Changing Face" of the Terrorist Threat?

The AP had an interesting article on a new security concern: "White Muslims."

Terrorists have been working to recruit non-Arab sympathizers - so-called "white Muslims" with Western features who theoretically could more easily blend into European cities and execute attacks - according to classified intelligence documents obtained by The Associated Press....

Bosnia has become a breeding ground for terrorists...

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, evidence has emerged that extremists have been trying to carve out a beachhead in the Balkans. The region is home to 8 million Muslims, roughly a third of Europe's Islamic faithful, and arms and explosives are easily obtained in what Dragan Lukac (deputy director of SIPA - Bosnia's equivalent of the FBI) calls "a kind of El Dorado" for criminals.

Several Islamic militants who fought in the former Yugoslavia went to Spain, bringing back new military skills and expertise as well as access to contacts throughout Europe...

This is interesting - the AP making a distinction between Muslims and "white Muslims."

I never thought of Muslims as Arabs. I've seen Muslims of all different races - after all, Islam is a religion, not a race of people. Very non-PC of the AP. But I guess it comes from the same kind of thinking that lumps anyone who is a Christian into the "white-male-redneck-oppress-women-and-all-minorities" stereotype during election season.

Back in my U of Michigan days, I knew several Muslim men quite well. One was from Sweden - a white guy. Many were from the Middle East and from different parts of Africa (both North Africa and from other spots on the continent). But most of the Muslim guys I knew were from Asia. I just find it interesting that there was a media perception that Muslims are Arabic. It isn't so.