Rep. Peter King: We Need ‘All-Out’ Muslim Surveillance, Despite ‘Moron’ Civil Liberties Activists
Oh look, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) is at it again with the scare mongering:
In response to this week’s deadly shootings at Canadian Parliament, perpetrated by a now-deceased Muslim convert, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) believes the United States should go “all out” in its surveilling of the Muslim community, placing blame on media “morons” for the currently limited amount of spying conducted. […]
The New York Republican suggested the media is to blame for limiting his precious surveillance efforts:
What the NYPD used to until those moron at the New York Times editorial board, and Associated Press, the American Civil Liberties Union went after them, the fact is we have to find what people are thinking. We have to find out who the radicals are, we have to find out what’s going on in the mosques which are often incubators of this type of terrorism. […]
Never mind that the Canadian shooter was “estranged from his B.C. mosque over its tolerant views”. Never mind that the internet has become an increasingly effective method for radicalization, particularly for lone wolf types. Never mind that during the years the NYPD spied on Muslims not a single lead was ever generated.
From the Ottowa Citizen (a center-right newspaper, according to Wikipedia):
Shooter Zehaf-Bibeau was staying at Ottawa Mission before rampage: witnesses (with video)
For a time, it likely appeared to the outside world that Michael Zehaf-Bibeau was a just petty criminal — a troubled man with no place to live and a drug problem.
But somewhere along the way, the Montreal-born man, who this week gunned down a soldier at the National War Memorial and attacked Parliament Hill, started to show signs that seem, now, to point to the more sinister things that were to come. He became estranged from his B.C. mosque over its tolerant views, connected to an accused terrorist and bent on going to Syria. […]
Zehaf-Bibeau had caused several disruptions at the Masjid al-Salaam mosque in Burnaby, B.C., near Vancouver, in 2011, according to Aasim Rashid, the director of religion for the place of worship. He was apparently unhappy with the mosque’s efforts to reach out to other religious groups, said Rashid.
Rashid said the man known simply as Michael had “drifted in and out” of the Sunni mosque over a period of several months but eventually became upset about efforts to build ties to the non-Muslim community.
The mosque ran interfaith programs and regularly featured panels and speaking events with members of other faiths.
“He didn’t like that,” Rashid said. “He objected to it.”
The leadership of the mosque told Zehaf-Bibeau he should consider somewhere else to pray if he didn’t like the community outreach, Rashid said.
“The chairman of the mosque committee sat him and down and said ‘Look, this is how we operate.’”
After that, Zehaf-Bibeau didn’t raise further objections, then eventually left for Quebec, Rashid said.
People recalled Zehaf-Bibeau as “a little bit rude. He was the kind of person you feel a little uncomfortable around,” Rashid said. […]
From the 2012 deposition of NYPD Assistant Chief, Thomas Galati:
NYPD Testimony on Muslim Surveillance Operation Highlights Futility of Spying on Innocent People
“I never made a lead from rhetoric that came from a Demographics report, and I’m here since 2006,” Galati testified on June 28. “I don’t recall other ones prior to my arrival.” […]
aclu.org (full deposition available at link, the above is from page 124)
From a December 2012 report by the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Homeland Security Project, Countering Online Radicalization in America:
Letter from the Co-Chairs
In BPC’s 2011 report Preventing Violent Radicalization in America, we examined this alarming trend and asked who inside our government was in charge of monitoring and preventing violent radicalization. It became clear to us that a growing number of individuals find radical materials and mentors online, whether through direct searches or by chance. Through repeated online interactions with extremist materials, these people become more and more radicalized, develop violent beliefs in their own living rooms, and completely isolate themselves from contact with more moderate, non-violent influences. […]
From the White House blog on February 5, 2013:
Working to Counter Online Radicalization to Violence in the United States
Violent extremist groups — like al-Qa’ida and its affiliates and adherents, violent supremacist groups, and violent “sovereign citizens” — are leveraging online tools and resources to propagate messages of violence and division. These groups use the Internet to disseminate propaganda, identify and groom potential recruits, and supplement their real-world recruitment efforts. Some members and supporters of these groups visit mainstream fora to see whether individuals might be recruited or encouraged to commit acts of violence, look for opportunities to draw targets into private exchanges, and exploit popular media like music videos and online video games. Although the Internet offers countless opportunities for Americans to connect, it has also provided violent extremists with access to new audiences and instruments for radicalization. […]
So, yeah, let’s disregard all that and make the entire American Muslim community terrorism scapegoats—surely trampling all over their civil liberties will make everyone safer, right? Let’s also disregard Peter King’s Terrorism Problem.
Since we’re on the subject, I wonder if Rep. King thinks the we should start surveilling Catholic churches in Italian American neighborhoods as well because, y’know, the Mafia? Do you suppose he’d also agree that we should have done the same with Irish Americans back during The Troubles, just in case?
What an idiot.