American Inquisition with Rep. Pete King as Torquemada?
Rep. Peter King (R-NY), who will become the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee in the upcoming 112th U.S. Congress beginning on January 3, 2011, proudly announced today via Twitter that he’s planning to open a Congressional inquiry into the radicalization of the Muslim community.
Well, now we know to to expect for the next two years.
The link led to an article originally published yesterday by the NY Times, which he has reproduced in full on his official web site. (See original article here.)
At the beginning of the article Rep. King is said to have described “frequent concerns raised by law enforcement officials that Muslim leaders have been uncooperative in terror investigations”, and then two paragraphs later he ratchets up the rhetoric a notch by claiming that law enforcement is “constantly” telling him “how little cooperation they get from Muslim leaders.”
Muslim ‘Radicalization’ Is Focus of Planned Inquiry
By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ
New York Times
December 17, 2010
WASHINGTON — The Republican who will head the House committee that oversees domestic security is planning to open a Congressional inquiry into what he calls “the radicalization” of the Muslim community when his party takes over the House next year.
Representative Peter T. King of New York, who will become the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he is responding to what he has described as frequent concerns raised by law enforcement officials that Muslim leaders have been uncooperative in terror investigations.
He cited the case of Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan man and a legal resident of the United States, who was arrested last year for plotting to bomb the New York subway system. Mr. King said that Ahmad Wais Afzali, an imam in Queens who had been a police informant, had warned Mr. Zazi before his arrest that he was the target of a terror investigation.
“When I meet with law enforcement, they are constantly telling me how little cooperation they get from Muslim leaders,” Mr. King said.
The move by Mr. King, who said he was planning to open a hearing on the matter beginning early next year, is the latest example of the new direction that the House will take under the incoming Republican majority.
[…]
Oddly, aside from the instance of the imam in the Najibullah Zazi case tipping him off, I haven’t heard or read about this purportedly constant uncooperativeness in the mainstream media. If what he says is true and not just fearmongering, then it would be very troubling indeed and we should be hearing about it all the time. Why aren’t we?
Perhaps the Congressman would like to cite factual reports of these instances? Let’s start with exactly how many “Muslim leaders” he’s talking about, specifically which ones (by name & location, please), and in precisely what manner they’ve been “uncooperative”.
Show us the facts above, Rep. King and we (Muslims) will make sure that our leaders understand that we want them to cooperate. Otherwise, kindly stop pandering to your base, because driving a wedge of fear & suspicion between between American Muslims and non-Muslims is not the way to keep America safe. As a matter of fact, you’ll only make it harder for law enforcement to keep everyone safe from the fanatics who would just as soon murder Muslims who disagree with them as non-Muslims. If you don’t believe me, pick up a newspaper.
I’d like to point out that Rep. King states at the end of the article that he wants to seek comment from “mainstream Muslim leaders” so that the hearings he planning won’t be “one-sided, with only people critical of Muslims.” That sounded fair…until I read the very next (and last) paragraph in which he implies that Muslim leaders are fudging. The article ends on that note of suspicion, which I’ve highlighted in bold text below.
Mr. King, who has conveyed his intentions to Republican leaders in the House, said he would seek comment from mainstream Muslim leaders so that the hearings he was planning to hold were not one-sided, with only people critical of Muslims.
But Mr. King suggested that Muslim leaders had minimized the extent of the problem he said he had identified. “They try to tell me that it is not as bad as it seems,” he said.
Next thing you know we’ll be hearing politicians babbling inanely about taqiyyah on the floor of Congress.
If any Congressional aides or interns are tasked with scanning the internet for articles about their bosses—and I’m sure every politician has at least one—then hear this:
Enough is enough. I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit idly by while disingenuous politicians try to make me into an enemy in my own country, the country my father, brother, uncles, and relatives going back 200 years fought to protect for everyone, including me, a proud member of the American Muslim community.
All lies & innuendo designed to cast blanket suspicion on American Muslims are being cataloged and will be entered into a database that will be made publicly available well in advance of the 2012 elections. Count on it.
Oh, one last thing: Jewish Americans are well aware of how easily increased anti-Semitism might follow in the footsteps Islamophobia, so I’ll be keeping track of that as well.
UPDATE: More on Rep. King’s disingenuousness at ThinkProgress