Peter King’s Fourth Hearing Targets Muslims in the Military

by Sheila Musaji

Rep. Peter King’s first hearing “The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and that Community’s Response.” took place on March 10, 2011. 

This week we had the fourth in his series which once again focuses only on the perceived threat posed by Muslims, and totally ignores all other threats.  This one focused on the threat of homegrown terrorists to the U.S. military.  Others have expressed the real concern I have about the focus of these hearings and I will simply quote them and offer my gratitude for their decency.  I would like to comment specifically on only one statement made by Rep. King as I believe that statement exposes his bias.

The Hill blog reports that Rep. King said “There are a significant number of people who have enlisted in the military or are in the military who we believe have Islamic ties, who are tied to radical movements and who could be potential terrorists themselves.  It is a growing, growing concern.”

This is unbelievable to me.  A United States Congressman is making a statement that he knows about a significant number of enlisted military personnel who are tied to radical movements and pose a danger to other American’s.  And yet, even with this knowledge, there is nothing that can be done about this except to be concerned and to hold hearings.  It would seem that if there was evidence against someone that they could be charged, or they could be thrown out of the military, or something!  Has he reported their names to their commanding officers?  Has he reported them to military law enforcement?

I can’t believe that even when there is a known threat, the combined resources of the Federal Government, the Pentagon, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies are powerless to do anything about that threat.

There are only two possibilities.  Rep. King has information about credible threats and is doing nothing about those threats, or he is simply making baseless claims based on his obvious anti-Muslim bias.

Put this sort of accusation together with:
— the possible indefinite military detention of U.S. citizens,
— Halliburton’s push to outfitFEMA and U.S. Army camps or internment/detention centers around the United States,
— the fact that our law enforcement agencies and personnel have been fed a steady diet of anti-Muslim propaganda,
— the fact that many of our elected representatives have expressed anti-Muslim views including the possibility that Muslims are not protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution,
— and Rep. Rick Womick’s call to ban Muslims from the military. 

All of these developments taken together are particularly alarming as they might relate to the American Muslim community. 

I am not only concerned but frightened.  It is difficult to maintain any sense of humor with all of this going on, but my husband suggested to me that perhaps we don’t need to worry so much about our retirement as the government may be developing an “American Muslim retirement plan”. 

What others have said

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), again denounced King’s hearings, saying they are creating perceptions that are “not likely to be accurate, nuanced or subtle.”

Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA) wrote that

Based on King’s past hearings, however, the American people are justified to fear that King will rely on insidious discrimination targeting Muslim Americans.  If the hearing’s date (Pearl Harbor’s Anniversary) and its subject matter, the 2009 attack at Ft. Hood Texas, are any indication, today’s hearing will go too far by singling out Muslim-American service members as the danger to our military communities. Whatever happens today, let us be clear: Any blanket suggestion that all Muslim American soldiers are the threat is morally and strategically wrong.

The Anniversary of Pearl Harbor must not be used to suggest that 2011 America faces a religious “enemy within.”  Instead, the anniversary serves as a powerful rationale for an informed, precise and moral approach to combating homegrown terrorism, not hyped-up discrimination. 

...  We must not repeat the mistakes of the past. 

Yet, this past Veteran’s Day, Rick Womick, a Republican representative in the Tennessee Assembly, declared that Muslims should be purged from the military and that Muslims pray to a false God.  Rep. King has refused comment on the Womick situation.  Today’s hearing is the perfect venue for King to condemn Womick’s words as detrimental to homeland security and antithetical to the American values of religious freedom and regard for ethnic diversity.

Womick’s words, and King’s silence, ignore the expert service of over 4,000 Muslim Americans in today’s military – a record of service that traces back to World War I.  Muslim Americans add a huge value in today’s military.  Since that other day of infamy, September 11, 2001, the military has actively recruited Muslim-Americans - keen to find soldiers, sailors and Marines with linguistic skills and a cultural understanding of strategic communities. 

Womick’s words and King’s silence ignore the sacrifice of Kareem Khan, an Army soldier eulogized by General Colin Powell in 2008.  Kareem was 14 years old on September 11, 2001.  In a response to the terror of that day, Kareem enlisted after graduating high school in 2005.  After two years of decorated service in Iraq, Kareem gave the ultimate sacrifice in defense of his nation.

Kareem Khan’s story is a testament to the best our nation can produce.  It is a testament to how American diversity is a foremost strength, not a source of peril.  Rep. King’s previous hearings, however, did nothing to keep our homeland secure and did plenty to stoke prejudice, discrimination and hate. King’s previous hearings made millions of hard-working Muslim Americans the new enemy, with no cause and no crime.

I hope today’s hearing offers something different.  I hope it does not undermine the brave service of Muslim Americans in the military and convince a new generation of budding heroes not to enlist to protect their homeland.

I hope Rep. King understands the lessons of my community’s internment camp experience and of my father’s service in MIS.  I hope King understands the lesson of Kareem Khan’s sacrifice.  That’s how King can best display American leadership, honor American sacrifice, and promote American security.

The ACLU issued a statement that said

Today the Senate and House Homeland Security Committees will hold a hearing on “Homegrown Terrorism: The Threat to Military Communities Inside the United States.”  In their announcement of the hearing, Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.)  once again singled out Islam and American Muslim communities as the focus of their terrorism inquiry to the detriment of U.S. counterterrorism efforts and of American Muslims serving their country.

Rep. King and Sen. Lieberman continue to target a single religious community even though empirical studies show that violent threats cannot be identified by any religious, ideological,  ethnic or racial profile. Moreover, by singling out Muslims and Islam, they do a disservice to American Muslims serving our country and threaten to spread distrust amongst our troops. American Muslim service members already report how they are unfairly subjected to derogatory and racist terms in the course of their service, such as “towel head,” “raghead,” “camel jockey,” or “Haji,” as well as to other forms of discrimination.

We should also be mindful that American Muslim service members aren’t the only ones who will be negatively impacted by today’s hearing’s problematic framing of the terrorist threat. The ACLU submitted a statement for the hearing recognizing:

By singling out Islam and Muslim Americans in its reports and hearings on the terror threat, Congress increases the likelihood that U.S. law enforcement officials will misunderstand the scientific evidence surrounding risk factors for violence and focus their investigative efforts on innocent Americans because of their beliefs rather than on true threats to the community.

The ACLU recently obtained numerous documents  revealing how U.S. government has sponsored counterterrorism trainings that falsely and inappropriately portray Arab and Muslim communities as monolithic, alien,  backward, violent and supporters of terrorism. Such anti-Muslim bias can be found in U.S. government intelligence products as well as training materials, and the ACLU has called for the official withdrawal of all such biased documents.

Today is the 70th anniversary of attacks against Pearl Harbor. Congress should be especially mindful of the lessons our country learned about the high costs of unjustly targeting entire communities in the name of security from the targeting of Japanese American civilians during World War II. As the National Executive Director of the Japanese American Civilians League, Floyd Mori, noted in his hearing submission: “By focusing exclusively on one group—Muslims—as the source for homegrown terrorism … we harm the American values of equality, diversity, and religious freedom.”

Floyd Mori, National Executive Director, Japanese American Citizens wrote

At the National Japanese American Memorial, these words are carved in stone: “The lessons learned must remain as a grave reminder of what we must not allow to happen again to any group.”

I fear we have forgotten the lessons of that time.

Today’s hearing purports to look at homegrown terrorism.  But in reality, it will call the loyalties and beliefs of one community of Americans into question—based on nothing more than race and religion. Just like what occurred 70 years ago.

This very hearing is causing the harm it’s intended to stop.  By focusing exclusively on one group—Muslims—as the source for homegrown terrorism, we are threatening American communities. We perpetuate the discrimination and alienation experienced by Muslims.  We invite more and more harassment and hate crimes.  We provide excuses for biased law enforcement practices.  And above all, we harm the American values of equality, diversity and religious freedom.

The effects of this harm are already visible all around us.  Unfounded animosity and threats towards Muslims are on the rise.  A Brookings Institute poll found that 47 percent of Americans view Islam as at odds with American values.  Workplace discrimination against Muslim individuals has increased 150 percent, doubling over the past ten years, and there has been an increase in bullying against Muslim children.  The FBI has used its outreach to the Muslim community as a way to gather intelligence. This discomfort towards Muslims is being fueled by anti-Muslim rhetoric spread by military, religious, and political leaders which creates a fertile climate for discrimination.

Today is the seventieth anniversary of the “date which will live in infamy;” a date infamous not only for the lives that were lost, but also for the grave injustices that followed for the Japanese American community.  To see that, today, our government is unfairly targeting yet another community based only on race and religion is troubling and thoroughly disheartening.

We cannot and should not let hysteria, racism and poor political leadership take us down the same path we went down 70 years ago.  We must not act in ways that sacrifice our most basic American values.  We must not single out one community based on race or religion and deny them their civil rights. And we must not endanger the foundations of these communities—their families and houses of worship.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation MRFF submitted a statement for the record to this Hearing on Homegrown Terrorism Threat to Military Communities In the U.S.

SEE ALSO:

TAM has an article The American Muslim Community and Rep. Peter King’s “Islamic” Radicalization Hearings which has a great deal of background on Peter King and these hearings, and an extensive article collection.  We also have a series of articles breaking down various aspects of the hearings:
-  Answers to Peter King’s Claims About the American Muslim Community which lays out all of his claims and allegations and provides detailed answers to each.  (e.g. Do Muslims cooperate with law enforcement?  Do Muslims speak out against terrorism and extremism?  Are most Muslims terrorists?  Are 80 to 85% of mosques run by radicals?  Have American Muslim organizations responded to the issue of radicalization?  Are mosques the source of radicalization?  etc.)
-  Claim that all terrorists are Muslims ignores history
- Does Rep. King’s IRA/Terrorist Connection Matter?
-  Elected Representatives & Government Officials Who HAVE Questioned Islamophobia with quotes from elected representives and government officials attempting to counter the bias of this hearing both during and before the hearing. 
-  Existing reports and studies on radicalization in the American Muslim Community and Polls, Surveys, and Statistics Relating to Islam and Muslims  with actual hard evidence so lacking in the hearing.
-  Fort Hood Tragedy, Islam, and America 
-  Islamophobia no longer questioned - even by our elected representatives
- Zuhdi Jasser and AIFD - Identified by Rep. King as the Ideal American Muslim Leadership
-  Peter King’s Hearing: What Was the Point? discussing the content of the hearings, with a collection of articles written after the hearing ended. 
-  Peter King’s Civics Lesson for American Muslims which has a collection of anti-Muslim statements by elected representatives and government officials made during and before the hearings.
-  Peter King’s hearing: witness testimonies - allegations but no facts
-  Response of Civic Organizations and Interfaith Community to “Muslim Radicalization” Hearings  
-  The scope of Rep. Kings Hearings Creates Homeland “in"Security
-  Where is the U.S. Government Getting It’s Information on Islam and Muslims?