...Rep. Peter King (R-NY) gavelled into order hearings today as chair of the House Homeland Security Committee to address the subject of “The extent of radicalization in the American Muslim community and that community’s response”. A variety of witnesses came before the committee to explore the various facets of the premise behind Rep. King's hearings, which is that the American Muslim community is not taking appropriate steps to prevent the radicalization of certain members of its community in order to forestall the risk of 'home-grown terrorism.
Witnesses offered a range of opinions. The father of one person charged with an attack on an Army recruiting center in Little Rock, Arkansas, said he
"...was captured by people best described as hunters" after he converted to Islam...He was manipulated and lied to..."
Rep. Keith Ellison (D - Mn), one of two Muslims in Congress, struggled - on the other hand - to control his emotions when talking about an American Muslim who died on 9/11 and
expressed his serious objections about the focus of these hearings:
"I am concerned that the focus of today's hearing may increase suspicion of the Muslim American community, ultimately making us all a little less safe."
The one law enforcement voice in today's conversation who could bring a real live ground-level Homeland Security perspective to this discussion and demonstrate that the American Muslim community refuses to cooperate with law enforcement, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca,
had this to say:
“The Muslim community in Los Angeles is a very active participant in the securing of our homeland...These relationships are critical to mitigate a threat or, more importantly, recognize the threat at a stage that a person, or a group, on a wrong path can be righted.”
Undeterred by criticism,
Rep. King insists that
“I remain convinced that these hearings must go forward, and they will,...To back down would be a craven surrender to political correctness and an abdication of what I believe to be the main responsibility of this committee: to protect America from a terrorist attack.”
...in other news, a radicalized Neo-Nazi supporter has been arrested on charges of setting a deadly backpack bomb along the route of the scheduled Martin Luther King Day parade route in Spokane, Washington earlier this year.
The bomb, discovered only due to the observant curiosity of three (probably unionized) city workers in the hour before the parade start time, has been said by "informed sources" to be a functional device that would have likely caused numerous deaths and many more injuries if it had been detonated amongst the crowds gathered to watch the parade.
There is no word from the offices of either Rep. King or the House Homeland Security Committee on the prospects of any future hearings concerning the radicalization of extremely conservative white males or the irony of failing to do so...