FOR MONTHS, ARAB- AND MUSLIM-AMERICAN lobby groups have passionately spoken out against war with Iraq, citing the potential for everything from the mass murder of Iraqi babies to the creation of tens of thousands of baby bin Ladens. Warnings of dire consequences have flooded underground Internet chat rooms frequented by the most vitriolic voices in these groups.

Rarely did any of these activists cite the destruction Saddam Hussein has wrought on the Iraqi people or condemn his terror-enabling Baathist regime. Rarer still was there condemnation of the extremist rhetoric emanating from Islam’s lunatic fringe, including the ethereal ruminations of public enemy number one, Osama bin Laden.