Rep. Peter King Planning Hearings on Muslim "Radicalization"

AP

Republican Rep. Peter King of New York plans to hold hearings in Congress next year on the "radicalization" of Muslim communities, his office confirmed to the Hotsheet.

As first reported by the New York Times, King is planning to hold the hearings once he takes up the chairmanship of the House Homeland Security Committee. He says the hearings are planned in response to complaints from law enforcement officials that Muslim leaders have been uncooperative in terror investigations.

"When I meet with law enforcement, they are constantly telling me how little cooperation they get from Muslim leaders," King told the Times. "It is controversial. But to me, it is something that has to be discussed."

The hearings come at a time of increased concerns about "homegrown" Muslim terrorists - along with persistent fears that innocent Muslims have been unfairly targeted since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Muslim leaders told the Times they have strong concerns about King's proposed hearings.

"We are disturbed that this representative who is in a leadership position does not have the understanding and knowledge of what the realities are on the ground," said Abed A. Ayoub, the legal director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. He added that King's proposal "has bigoted intentions."

A CBS/ New York Times poll released in mid-September showed that as many as 20 percent of Americans said they have negative feelings toward Muslims because of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

In September, anger over the role of Muslims in the United States came to a head over the so-called "Ground Zero mosque," an Islamic community center that organizers wanted to construct a few blocks away from the site of the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York.

"We need to make sure that we stand for civil liberties, so we can deprive people like Osama bin Laden of the claim that Muslims are poorly treated in America," Rep.Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the first Muslim member of Congress, said on CBS' "Face the Nation" at the time. "The United States is not at war with Islam."

King was one of the leaders who opposed the building of the Islamic center, and he has been criticized before for what critics say amounts to inflating the risk Muslim leaders in the U.S. pose.

National Security experts do acknowledge that the risk of "homegrown" terrorists has increased.

"There is a risk of Americans seeing something in the al Qaeda worldview," National Counterterrorism Center director Michael Leiter said on CBSNews.com's webshow "Washington Unplugged." That risk has increased this year, he said, though he added, "I think it's still too early to say that we have a trend."

Leiter stressed that the Muslim American community is diverse and a part of every aspect of life in the United States.

"It has been only a tiny, tiny percentage of Americans -- increasingly more this year, but still a tiny percentage of Muslim Americans -- who have for a variety of reasons found appeal in this al Qaeda ideology," he said.

King told the New York Times he would invite Muslim leaders to his planned hearings.

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Stephanie Condon is a political reporter for CBSNews.com. You can read more of her posts here. Follow Hotsheet on Facebook and Twitter.

[JTWilliams81]

King is a paranoid psychopath. Can you imagine how insulting this investigation this is to American Muslims? We are talking about domestic intelligence operations- those are sure to end well. This government pretends to worry about the Muslims, but what they're really interested in are YOUR political views. I'm sure that will be King's next set of hearings. I'm against these hearings, I only hope our Democratic friends would be against sicking the feds on Americans for "extreme" political views.

[dagrandma]

It would probably help if we heard more from the Muslim community -- which would make the hearings unnecessary. There is a growing sentiment in this country that the Muslim community isn't speaking up enough to condemn the acts of the terrorists. Perhaps it would help if they did.

[brianfromtexas]

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Peter King is a well-known IRA sypathizer who was also a member of the Irish Northern Aid Committee, an organization of Irish-Americans who raised money and arms for Catholic terrorist groups in Northern Ireland. Now I'm all for certain suspicious elements in the Muslim community being investigated, but this hypocrite isn't the one to do it.

[YrWrongAgain]

Germany had sympathizers and spies within the US during WW2. I suppose it would be inherently wrong to investigate anyone, during any war, that is a potential threat to America?

[batazoidz]

Yes, it seems to me, the first question that Rep. King should place on his agenda is whether or not Islamic leaders in the community are or are not, in fact, cooperating with the local authorities.

ex animo
batazoid

[YrWrongAgain]

I hope most of you take your new found opportunity to enlist with pride.

[jayrh]

Liberals never cease to amaze me! The Muslim Brotherhood controls nearly every major Muslim Muslim group in this country... Wahhabis from Saudi Arabia started funding these groups, originally with the MSA, in the 1960s. Even the esteemed congressman Keith Ellison has ties to this radical group, which has the same ultimate goals of al Qaeda... This is so well documented now that it's hard to miss... From court cases, radical Islamic literature, statements from leaders of Muslim groups, etc...

Instead of wanting to know how deep radical roots run through this country, liberals would rather attack Republicans and actually help the radicals??? Wouldn't you liberals rather get to the bottom of the problem, rather than deflect criticism from a radical ideology???

[ChicoSmith]

Yeah...and if they don't tell us whatever we want to hear from them,regardless of the truth, maybe we should just drag them down into some basement and have our own little Abu Ghraib parties complete with water boards, german shepherds, and truck batteries. If you want to look at radical ideologies, check out the Republican filibuster record for the last two years. Like a bunch of fat little rich babies holding their breath 'til they turn blue about their tax kicks for the rich...or the anti-abortionists who figure it's ok to murder a few doctors, since their legal means to overturn Roe V Wade have all failed for over thirty years.The point is...there is plenty of terrorism going on in this country...in the name of God...in the name of Allah...all people in this country are supposed to be treated equally...I don't see how persecuting Muslims for 9/11 differs from persecuting Jews for the death of Christ. Time for the Boss Hogg days to move on.

[Calendular]

Representative King in my opinion is demonstrating good judgment. Hearings are the BEST way to elicit evidence for or against a specific issue. If there is no extremism in most Islamic communities (and no anti-Semitism) then there is no better way to demonstrate this situation than participation in a hearing.

I would like to add that I just read an account of a report concerning part-time Islamic schools in Great Britain during the past 30 years which suggested that many young Muslim children in Great Britain were being instructed using foreign text books which referred to Jews as "pigs" amongst other derogatory terms. This situation reportedly concerned the authorities in U.K. -- as it should. We do not need anti-Semitism or other forms of ethnic or racial prejudice in the United States!

[ChicoSmith]

you mean like anti-islamic prejudice? You can read an account of anything you want if you know how to Google. Try searching Holocaust Hoax...you can read hundreds of accounts, complete with "imperical evidence" that the Holocaust was invented by the Allies in order to recreate an Israel that had not existed for many centuries.

[ChicoSmith]

you mean like anti-islam rhetoric? Persecuting all muslims for 9/11 is no different from persecuting Jews for the murder of Christ. As for reading "reports"...you can read a report on just about anything if you can figure out how to Google. Try searching "Holocaust Hoax" sometime and you can read hundreds of reports filled with "imperical evidence" that the entire thing was concocted by the Allies in order to recreate an Israel that had not existed for many centuries by merely stealing it back from Muslims (Palestinians, for those of you who wonder what the fuss is all about). We better start concentrating on education in this country soon. As a people we are becoming incredibly gullible.

[babooph]

Just as much attention shouod be given the "Christian" covens,supporting idiotic wars,torture& whaco foreign policy,along with their un american home agenda-the Jewish groups ,funding Israels trashing of Islamics worldwide should be examined also-maybe Buddism is safer,but ....

[ouchitatom]

Not all islams are bad people and not all bad people are islams !AS long as they can express thier views in this country they get brave because thier homeland doesn't allow it . Thier new found freedom of speech comes in the form of explosives.If I sound predjudice against all islams Iam not. I am however against the islams being predjudice against all christians.They will claim they are not but then when they lie they have two GODS to forgive them so they can blow up twice as many people. Genocide in pakistan is what the world needs.