WASHINGTON, August 31, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The US Muslim minority is sidelined by the Bush administration in the fight against extremism, Muslim leaders have said, pressing for a more robust role in policy discussions on combating the phenomenon.

"For some reason, it's very difficult to get the high-level officials to come down to the community at this point," Salam Marayati, head of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, was quoted as saying by Reuters Tuesday, August 30.

Marayati said the Bush administration must embrace the US Muslim mainstream in order to help isolate home-grown "radicals".

"I think a decision has to be made: are we going to be partners or are we going to be suspects?"

Many American Muslim leaders praised President Bush's initial outreach to the Muslim minority after the 9/11 attacks.

But they said that such high-profile efforts had waned in the years that followed the deadly attacks.

They say cooperation between local law enforcement and other Muslim groups is good, but visible engagement from top-level leaders is needed to counter the "terrorist" threat.

US Muslims complain the mainstream is not being engaged properly.

Concerns of suspicions and alienation have been enhanced among American Muslims following the terrorist London attacks, which left at least 56 people killed and more than 700 injured.

"It's the position of just about every Muslim leader in the United States that the way you isolate extremists is to engage the mainstream. Unfortunately we haven't seen much of that occurring in this administration," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Many US Muslim groups say the terror-combat efforts would bear fruits if the American Muslims feel they are not alienated and sidelined in the high-profile efforts to combat the threat.

Sayyid Muhammad Syeed, secretary general of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), said Muslim Americans had a unique infrastructure in place through mosques, community programs and conferences to counter terrorist threats.

"Within the community, people who may have doubts, who may have some kind of tendencies towards extremism, get diluted, and they are confronted with the right arguments and teachings," he said.

US officials agree they must do more to involve the Muslim minority in the fight against terrorism.

However, they argue that the administration is already actively cooperating with Muslim groups, stressing that they enjoy greater access to the government than ever before.

"The momentum will accelerate. I think that over the upcoming year, or two or five, you will see the connections between the Arab American and Muslim American communities and the government really deepen," Dan Sutherland, who heads the Department of Homeland Security's civil rights and civil liberties office, told Reuters.

"We are at the beginning stages. We're like in the third inning of the (nine-inning) game, but we're in the game."

Veteran terrorism expert Dennis Pluchinsky, agreed, according to Reuters.

He maintained that US Muslim leaders are best placed to fight domestic extremists because only insiders can hope to challenge their radical ideologies or spot budding militants.