Photo by Bob Pitt
Come Thursday, Rep. Peter King will begin his hearings on
The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and that Community's Response. It would be a surprise if the hearings end without King proposing a targeted destruction of constitutional rights. But don't worry. If you're not a Muslim—or an Islamo-symp—you have nothing to worry about.
It's not yet known whether this bigoted chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee will start off the hearings with an "I have a list" introduction. But it wouldn't be out of character for King, who claimed in 2007 that "there are too many mosques in this country" and “There are too many people sympathetic to radical Islam. We should be looking at them more carefully and finding out how we can infiltrate them.” According to him, 85 percent of the mosques in the United States are controlled by "extremist leadership." Muslims, he told Sean Hannity, make up "an enemy living amongst us."
The hearings begin just as Political Research Associates has released an 80-page report documenting lax oversight of $1.67 million in funding for states' counterterrorism programs:
“America faces very real threats of violent terrorism, yet, trainers from the organizations in our study draw from a variety of anti-Islamic frames to teach public servants conspiracy theories about stealth infiltration of America that echo the shameful witch hunts of McCarthyism,” says Thom Cincotta, author of the report.
“In the process,” he adds, “they may put millions of Americans at risk both in terms of security and in terms of protecting their constitutional rights.”
What three groups that PRA investigated have been doing is pretty much King's line of attack: equating Islam with terrorism and arguing that the country is home to “stealth jihadists” who are insinuating themselves into U.S. institutions to destroy them so that they can implement Shariah law.
If Congressman King had really wanted to get to the bottom of what he considers a major concern, he might have taken the time to invite leaders from Muslim organizations. And since much of that concern, he claims, is lack of Muslim cooperation with authorities regarding potential terrorists, he might have invited someone from law enforcement. He did neither.
There's a good reason for that. King's claims have been repeatedly zapped by people who are in positions to know the real situation. For instance:
A report issued last week by an independent research group on national security found that 48 of the 120 Muslims suspected of plotting domestic terrorist attacks since Sept. 11, 2001, were turned in by fellow Muslims, including parents, mosque members and even a Facebook friend. The report was issued by the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security, which is affiliated with Duke and the University of North Carolina.
The report said, “In some communities, Muslim-Americans have been so concerned about extremists in their midst that they have turned in people who turned out to be undercover informants.”
And Dearborn, Mich., Mayor Jack O'Reilly calls King's assertions "just not true." His community is 30 percent Arab American and home to the largest mosque in the country. The most recent terrorist plot in Dearborn was that of a man who planned to blow up that mosque. Of King's hearings, O'Reilly says: "When someone goes into what is supposed to be fact finding but they’ve already determined the outcome, then that fact-finding process is flawed.” No kidding. Here's O'Reilly in an interview Tuesday with CNN's Kiran Chetry:
CHETRY: Is [King] exaggerating this threat?
O’REILLY: Yeah, I’m very concerned. Now you’ve heard from some good experts so I’m going to focus on our local community. You know, when someone goes into what is supposed to be fact-finding but they’ve already determined the outcome, then that fact-finding process is flawed. For us, we’ve lived for 80 years with Muslims as an active part of our community. We have direct experience — many of our young people are 4th and 5th generation Americans. Therefore, we have a pretty good perspective on what it is that Islam represents because we see it through the actions and behaviors of our neighbors. The thing it represents is that they want to be fully American, they believe in America, they want to be part of our community. I think that’s something that’s been misrepresented and misunderstood throughout the country by certain groups. [...]
You can find people who point out extreme conditions. But if we base decisions, if we base policy on extreme decisions, we’re going to make the same mistakes we’ve made over in the past where we’ve infringed on people’s constitutional rights because we’ve presupposed that their disposed to doing something wrong. Our experience and our community says that that’s just not true.
Anti-Muslim bigotry already gets amplified by extremists, of various sorts, vilifying and engaging in polarizing extremism. According to a Time magazine poll, 43 percent of Americans view Muslims negatively.
Rep. Keith Ellison, the only one of only two Muslims in Congress, agreed to testify at King's hearings because he wants to set the record straight. Perhaps King can start off with the same question Glenn Beck did when he interviewed the Congressman right after his election in 2006: "And I have to tell you, I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, "Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies."
That's the kind of statement that would no doubt be pleasing to critics of King who somehow have the impression the hearings will be a whitewash.
As Tanya Somanader writes at Think Progress:
By agitating racial and religious prejudice rather than focusing on dangers posed by behavior rather than ethnicity, King whole-heartedly rejects the wisdom garnered from a very vital — and very American — perspective.
But then our country has a long history of bigots and ideological thugs asserting that they represent "pure Americans."