Rep. Peter King’s Muslim Phobia

Revised, updated, and re-organized 2/9/11

by Sheila Musaji

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

REP. KING’S BACKGROUND
— GENERAL POLITICAL VIEWS
— HOW DOES REP. KING ENVISION THE FORMAT & FUNCTION OF THIS HEARING
— VIEWS ON ISLAM AND MUSLIMS
— KING’S INFORMATION SOURCES & COLLEAGUES
— THE LINKAGE WITH THE ANTI-SHARIA MOVEMENT

ANALYZING KING’S CLAIMS
— CLAIM THAT MUSLIMS DON’T SPEAK OUT AGAINST TERRORISM AND EXTREMISM IS A LIE
— CLAIM THAT MOST TERRORISTS ARE MUSLIMS IS A LIE
— Claim that AMERICAN MUSLIM’S HAVE NOT RESPONDED TO RADICALIZATION IS A LIE
— PERCENTAGE OF RADICAL MOSQUES CLAIM IS A LIE
— CLAIM ABOUT MEANING OF POLL IS A LIE

REACTION TO REP. KING’S PROPOSED HEARINGS
REP. KING’S RESPONSE TO CRITICISM
WHAT YOU CAN DO
CONCLUSION

SEE ALSO:  articles on this issue

[INTRODUCTION

Rep. Peter King plans to hold a Congressional inquiry into American Muslim “radicalization” in his new position as Chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

This has been seen as a flashback to McCarthy’s witchhunt, and a witch trial, and even political violence.  Whether or not this inquiry would benefit anyone   has been debated by the right and the left.

As an American Muslim, when I look at Rep. King’s background and previous statements, it seems to me that Rep. King is an Islamophobe, and that what he is proposing is not an attack on radicals (of whatever persuasion) but an attack on American Muslims in general.  I am very concerned about where this might take us as a nation, and will follow this developing story and provide updates. 

What makes this all the more concerning is a recent Washington Post article “Top Secret America” which includes the information that “‘Top Secret America’ includes hundreds of federal departments and agencies operating out of 1300 facilities around this country. Thirty-three new building complexes have been built for intelligence bureaucracies alone, occupying 17 million square feet-the equivalent of 22 U.S. Capitols or three Pentagons.  Five miles southeast of the White House, the largest government site in 50 years is being built-at a cost of $3.4 billion-to house the largest bureaucracy after the Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs; the Department of Homeland Security, which has a workforce of 230,000 people.  With nearly 2,000 private companies that are sub contracted in all, there are now 850,000 Americans with top secret clearance.”  The Department of Homeland Security to the extent that it is influenced by people like Rep. King may limit our civil rights.  As Javeed Akhter has pointed out:  Few are aware of the magnitude of this secret intel. It is legitimate worry that parts of an operation this large and diverse and secret may get out of hand and start affecting civil liberties of all Americans.  I am not aware of any congressional hearings on it.  Also no moral authority in or out of office has taken on the media for their reckless stereotyping of Muslim Americans.

Also of concern is the fact that the hearings according to a page on the Homeland Security Committee website, are to be called Hearings on Islamic Radicalization.  The title makes it clear that this is not a question of how to prevent some Muslims from becoming radicalized, but rather what it is about Islam itself that leads to radicalization. 

What the hearings are called and the language used really do matter.  The U.S. Government recently issued a statement asking that government officials be cautious in their use of language as it may actually be against the interests of the U.S. to use terms that connect the religion of Islam with the acts of criminals.  The governments suggests the use of more accurate and non-inflammatory language.  A recent Homeland Security Report even sharply rebuked John McCain’s ‘Islamic Extremism’ rhetoric. 

In 2008, the U.S. State Department approved new counterterrorism lexicon for diplomats.  The report, “Words that Work and Words that Don’t: A Guide for Counterterrorism Communication,” offers specific directives, such as: don’t use terms such as “jihadist” or “holy warrior” because it legitimizes bin Laden’s followers, but also don’t use terms such as “Islamo-fascism,” which offends everyone else by associating Islam with fascism.  You can view the full report here.  UPI reports “Urging officials not to use the word Islam in conjunction with terrorism, the guide notes that, “Although the al-Qaida network exploits religious sentiments and tries to use religion to justify its actions, we should treat it as an illegitimate political organization, both terrorist and criminal.”    Instead of calling terror groups Muslim or Islamic, the guide suggests using words like totalitarian, terrorist or violent extremist—“widely understood terms that define our enemies appropriately and simultaneously deny them any level of legitimacy.” 

A report entitled TERMINOLOGY TO DEFINE THE TERRORISTS: RECOMMENDATIONS FROM AMERICAN MUSLIMS was considered by the State Department in preparing their report.  The PDF of this document can be read here.  From the conclusion of this report:  “Words matter. The terminology the USG uses should convey the magnitude of the threat we face, but also avoid inflating the religious bases and glamorous appeal of the extremists’ ideology. Instead, USG terminology should depict the terrorists as the dangerous cult leaders they are. They have no honor, they have no dignity, and they offer no answers. While acknowledging that they have the capacity to destroy, we should constantly emphasize that they cannot build societies, and do not provide solutions to the problems people across the globe face.”

As Salam al-Marayati of MPAC has said Dropping religious labels] denies Al-Qaeda and its affiliates the religious legitimacy they severely lack and so desperately seek. For years, Muslim public opinion has decisively turned against Bin Ladin, Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups because of the immoral, unethical and gruesome tactics they employ and because the vast majority of their victims have been other Muslims.  ...  one of our strategic goals should be to empower the authentic and mainstream Muslim voices that are working on a daily basis to counter the cult of death, which groups such as Al-Qaeda call to. By removing religious labels from describing the terrorists, we empower and embolden those mainstream voices and deny the terrorists from making a religious claim. This is precisely why in 2008 a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) internal memo circulated amongst government agencies directed government officials and diplomatic staff to consider the implications of using “Islamic” language when discussing terrorism-related issues.

Originally, these hearings were slated to begin in February, but the date now being mentioned is March 7th.

REP. KING’S BACKGROUND

GENERAL POLITICAL VIEWS

In the past, Rep. King openly supported the IRA.  As Justin Elliott notes in his article The Republican congressman who supported terrorism:  “If “IRA” were replaced with “Hamas,” the sort of fundraising King did would these days earn you a lengthy prison sentence for material support for terrorism.”  Alex Massie points out  ”... King presents himself as a hawk on security issues who, like so many so-called conservatives, is an enthusiastic supporter of torture and, should it prove necessary, nuclear weapons. Listening to King talk about al Qaeda, you could be forgiven for thinking that he’s the terrorists’ most implacable enemy.    Which would be funny if it weren’t such a sour joke. For years, King, who represents a chunk of New York’s Long Island, was in fact the terrorists’ best friend. King wasn’t merely an apologist for terrorism, he was an enthusiastic supporter of terrorism.    Of course it was Irish, not Islamic terrorism that King championed. So that’s different. Right? For decades, King was one of the keenest, most reliable American voices supporting the Irish Republican Army during its long and murderous campaign.  According to King, the terrorist movement was “the legitimate voice of occupied Ireland.”    In Northern Ireland, the conflict was drily referred to as “The Troubles.” But that understatement hides the brutal nature of an ugly, squalid conflict during which more than 3,600 people were killed. Republican terrorists were responsible for more than 2,000 of these deaths. The scale of the carnage was such that, on a per-capita basis, a comparable conflict in the United States would kill 700,000 Americans.    And King was at the heart of it: In the 1980s, he was a prominent fundraiser for Noraid, the Irish-American organization that raised money for the IRA and was suspected of running guns to Ulster.  Indeed, King’s rise to prominence within the Irish-American movement was predicated upon his support for the IRA at a time when New Yorkers were softer on terrorism than they are now. Noraid helped win King his seat in Congress, making him, in some respects, the terrorists’ Man in Washington.   King is not the only government representative who appears to be unaware of who is and is not a terrorist, and who has had questionable connections with terrorist groups.  Tim Murphy reports: King isn’t the only conservative who says one thing and does another when it comes to material support. Last month, a panel of Bush-era luminaries—Rudy Giuliani, former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey—traveled to Paris to speak at a conference in support of Mujahideen-e-Khalq, an Iranian Marxist group that’s opposed to the Ahmadinejad regime but has landed on the State Department terror list (the designation cannot be challenged in court). Because the event’s organizer, the French Committee for a Democratic Iran, was formed to build support for the MEK, Cole says the trio’s advocacy constituted a clear breach of federal law.

(Note:  as Robert Wright has pointed out “Representative King, who shares the Weekly Standard’s grave suspicions about Rauf, supported the Irish Republican Army back when it was killing lots of innocent civilians. He raised money for the I.R.A. and said it was “the legitimate voice of occupied Ireland” and praised the “brave men and women who this very moment are carrying forth the struggle against British imperialism in the streets of Belfast and Derry” and in various other ways backed this terrorist group. If Rauf’s past looked like King’s past, there would indeed be cause for concern.”) 

King’s IRA connections were of enough concern that as M.J. Rosenberg has reported In 1984, “the Secret Service listed him as a threat when President Reagan made a trip to Nassau County to watch a Special Olympics event.”

Rep. King wrote a novel “Vale of Tears” in which he seems to grasp the concept that terrorism might be a problem, no matter its source, as the product description on Amazon reads:  “In King’s fictional two track style of creating a fictional future and flashing back to actual events in history, he places Congressman Sean Cross at the center of international terrorism, this time coming from the (sic) radical Islam in cahoots with the Irish Republican Army.”

King wants Wikileaks designated as a terrorist organization.

King supports torture of Guantanamo detainees.

On the Laura Ingraham radio program, King was asked what would have happened if Jared Loughner had been a Muslim, and he responded:  “The first statement [from the left after past instances of Islamic terror] was we have no right to judge an entire community by one person. This is a deranged gunman who in no way reflects what Islam stands for, and it would be terrible if Americans tried to even look at Islam as being responsible for this. It would have been a total defense of Islam, a total isolation of this person as an individual acting by himself, and an implied attack on anyone that would even question whether or not his religious beliefs were involved.”  Perhaps he needs to speak with Sarah Palin about her attack on anyone that would even question whether or not inflammatory rhetoric might encourage violence, and why only the deranged gunman is responsible.

King wants to eliminate the Dept. of Education.  He wants to privatize Social Security.  He wants to consider ending birthright citizenship.  He wants to repeal Health Care reform.  He did not support the balanced budget amendment.  He voted NO on prohibiting job discrimination based on sexual orientation, and YES on making Patriot Act permanent.  You can see his Congressional voting record here.  You can see his record on civil rights here.

HOW DOES REP. KING ENVISION THE FORMAT & FUNCTION OF THIS HEARING

On the function of the Department of Homeland Security, King said: “The department was set up primarily to protect us from another terrorist attack from Islamic terrorists, and yet they talk about everything but that.” 

I am sorry Rep. King, but I expect the Dept. of Homeland Security to attempt to protect us from terrorist attacks from all sources, and since the overwhelming majority of terrorists are not Muslims, this statement gives me no peace of mind.”

There is not yet much information about who King will be calling as “expert witnesses”, however it has now been reported that Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Zuhdi Jasser are on the list.  Politico has reported that King told POLITICO that he’s not planning to call as witnesses such Muslim community critics as the Investigative Project on Terrorism’s Steve Emerson and Jihad Watch’s Robert Spencer, who have large followings among conservatives but are viewed as antagonists by many Muslims.    King aims, he said, to call retired law enforcement officials and people with “the real life experience of coming from the Muslim community.” Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim to serve in the House and a critic of the hearings, will likely be a minority witness, according to both King and the Minnesota Democrat. Ben Smith on Politico also has this Peter King quote “I determined early on that to make the most meaningful impact, the lead witnesses would be Muslims who believe their community is being radicalized and that Muslim leaders are not sufficiently cooperating with law enforcement.” 

Read that a few times.  He is saying that the Muslims that he will be calling as witnesses are those who agree with him.  (

Information on Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Zuhdi Jasser here)

VIEWS ON ISLAM AND MUSLIMS

In our TAM article collection Islamophobia no longer questioned - even by our elected representatives, Rep. King is only of those quoted as saying alarming things about Islam and Muslims.  However, his current position makes his statements much more of a concern.

King said that there are “Too Many Mosques” in the U.S.”

King said  “The enemy is Islamic terrorism. It’s not an amorphous extremism….It’s Islamic terrorism which opposes the very fiber of what we stand for”

King made comments suggesting that American Muslims don’t cooperate with authorities.  He said “85 percent of American Muslim community leaders are an enemy living amongst us” and that “no (American) Muslims cooperate in the war on terror”.  Back in 2004 King said on the Sean Hannity program “I would say, you could say that 80-85 percent of mosques in this country are controlled by Islamic fundamentalists…Those who are in control. lThe average Muslim, no, they are loyal, but they don’t work, they don’t come forward, they don’t tell the police.”  In 2006 King, sent two letters to several thousand, mainly Jewish, constituents in New York’s 3rd Congressional District. The letters condemn American Muslim leaders, including those at ICLI, for “failing to unequivocally denounce Islamic terrorism.”  The letters also point out that leaders of ICLI, a Westbury-based mosque founded in 1985, are supporting King’s Democratic opponent in the upcoming election.

He has been a vocal opponent of the Cordoba House.  King said regarding Cordoba House “It’s a house of worship, but we are at war with Al Qaeda.” 

Unless you believe that all Muslims are somehow supportive of or connected with Al Qaeda, that is one colossal non sequitur.  Most Muslims are at war with Al Qaeda.

In 2004, King said:  “The fact is while the overwhelming majority of Muslims are outstanding people, on the other hand 100% of the Islamic terrorists are Muslims, and that is our main enemy today.”  King used this inane comment to back his support of profiling of Muslims. 

This is a meanlingless comment.  Of course 100% of Muslim terrorists are Muslims.  The question is, what does King plan to do about the majority of terrorists - who are not Muslims?

King made questionable comments about the Islamic Center of Long Island.

Rep. King said On Frank Gaffney’s radio program on January 11th that Muslims Aren’t ‘American’ When It Comes To War.  King’s willingness to appear on Gaffney’s program may say something about King’s biases.    As Sarah Posner notes:  “Gaffney has been peddling the bogus claim that shari’ah law represents a real threat to the Constitution, and has called on Congress to “investigate” that as well. He employs someone who believes being Muslim should be criminalized. He brought that dog and pony show to Capitol Hill late last year for the benefit of House staffers, and spoke to a room of about 50 people. It surely is a deeply troubling development that King is cavorting with Gaffney and pontificating about the “Americanism” of American Muslims, in light of Gaffney’s agitation about fifth columns of shari’ah proponents bent on undermining the Constitution.”

(

More on Gaffney and his Center for Security Policy Sharia report here, here, here.

  Lee Fang at ThinkProgress has noted that even the Conservative Political Action Conference has frozen out King’s interviewer, Frank Gaffney, for being a “crazy bigot.”  Gaffney Still Fearmongering About Sharia In U.S. here

KING’S INFORMATION SOURCES & COLLEAGUES

When asked where he gets his information about Muslims King mentions doubtful sources:  “Hannity asked King to confirm he was saying 85 percent of mosques in America are “ruled by the extremists.”  “Yes,” he replied, “and I can get you the documentation on that from experts in the field. Talk to a Steve Emerson, talk to a [Daniel] Pipes, talk to any of those. They will tell you. It’s a real issue … . I’ll stand by that number of 85 percent. This is an enemy living amongst us.”

(More on Emerson here and here and a number of responses to Emerson here.  Numerous responses to Daniel Pipes’ claims here)

Rep. King defended Pamela Geller and called her a “credible spokesperson”.  (

More on Geller here, here, and here)

According to ACT for America’s Orlando site:  “The many Senators and Congressman & Women who support Act for America (e.g. Michelle Bachman, Peter King, Sue Myrick, Bozeman, Franks who spoke to us at our National Convention in D.C. this past month.”

More on Sue Myrick and ACT here.  More on the The Anti-Muslim Congressional Mafia here.  More on Brigitte Gabrielle, the head of ACT here.  Many have questioned whether ACT is educating or fear mongering.

Regarding the Iraq War King said:  “We went into Iraq because Saddam Hussein refused to account for his weapons of mass destruction, consistently violated UN resolutions and in a post-9/11 world no American president could afford to give Saddam Hussein the benefit of the doubt.”

It has been announced that Rep. Peter King will be the first guest on Brigitte Gabriel’s Act for America’s new television program. 

I don’t believe that it is possible for King to send a clearer message about his intentions for the upcoming inquiry.  Every American Muslim should get ready for that “Are you now, or have you ever been, a Muslim” question.  Let’s just hope that those Halliburton Internment Camps aren’t being refurbished.

Here’s a little background on Act for America and it’s founder, Brigitte Gabriel who said “If a Muslim who has—who is—a practicing Muslim who believes the word of the Koran to be the word of Allah, who abides by Islam, who goes to mosque and prays every Friday, who prays five times a day—this practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Koran, cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America.”  Brigitte Gabriel has also stated: “America and the West are doomed to failure in this war unless they stand up and identify the real enemy: Islam.”  She also said “between Israel and the Arab world is the difference between civilization and barbarism and also said of the “Arabic world,” that they “have no soul.”   She said “a practising Muslim who goes to mosque every Friday, prays five times a day, and who believes that the Koran is the word of God, and who believes that Mohammed is the perfect man and (four inaudible words) is a radical Muslim.”  She said If you want to understand the nature of the enemy we face, visualize a tapestry of snakes. They slither and they hiss, and they would eat each other alive, but they will unite in a hideous mass to achieve their common goal of imposing Islam on the world. This is the ugly face of the enemy we are fighting.”  More on Gabriel here, here, here, here, and here.

THE LINKAGE WITH THE ANTI-SHARIA MOVEMENT

It looks as if more of our elected representatives are jumping on the anti-Muslim bandwagon.  This week, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) joined the growing chorus of Republicans clamoring for hearings to look into the threat of “creeping Sharia law.” Appearing on Frank Gaffney’s radio show (Gaffney is of course the chief architect of the “creeping Sharia” threat), Gohmert told the host he hoped they would “have some hearings” and that he would “be pushing for them”.  (Rep. Gohmert previously warned of a plot to breed terrorist babies who will one day attack America.  This goes right along with the Muslim demographics conspiracy theory which I call the dumbest Muslim plot ever.  Gaffney appears to have a lot of influence among the Republicans in Congress.  Back in September, Gaffney, Rep. Pete Hoekstra, (R-MI), the ranking Republican on the Intelligence Committee, and others held a news conference on Capitol Hill to release a report on Muslim religious law entitled “Shariah: The Threat to America.” That document alleges that Muslim adherents to Shariah law are categorically “making a determined, sustained, and well-financed effort to impose it on all Muslims and non-Muslims, alike.”  State Rep. Leo Berman (author of his state’s birther bill) has introduced legislation to ban Sharia law from being used in Texas courts.  Rep. Rex Duncan (R-OK), Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA), State Rep. Gerald Gay (R-WY), Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), State Rep. Wendy Nanney (R-SC),  Sen. Mike Fair(R-SC), State Rep. Bruce Borders (R-IN), Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO), Ernest Wooten (R-LA), State Rep. Bruce Borders (R-IN)  are among those who have supported anti-Sharia legislation. 

Many States are considering anti-Sharia legislation.  Although Oklahoma’s law is the first to come under court scrutiny, legislators in at least thirteen states, including Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah, have proposed similar laws, the National Conference of State Legislatures says. Tennessee and Louisiana have enacted versions of the law banning use of foreign law under certain circumstances.    Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the U.S. House, is pushing for a federal law that “clearly and unequivocally states that we’re not going to tolerate any imported law.”  (South Carolina, Indiana, Texas, Wyoming, Alaska, Georgia, Nebraska, Utah, and other states have individuals pushing to bring this issue to a vote.  Wyoming judges wouldn’t be allowed to consider Islamic law or international law when making rulings, under a proposed state constitutional amendment introduced in Jan 2011.)  Wyoming has fewer than 300 Muslims living within its borders which makes their concern with this non-issue laughable. 

Halal food is the focus of another anti-Sharia movement.  Stephen Colbert highlights the “dangers” of eating “Muslim food”.  As Loonwatch reports, Pat Robertson is once again at the forefront of this non-issue along with Pamela Geller.  Bryan Fisher of the American Family Association wrote an article calling Campbell’s halal soups Sharia in a can and saying: “Sharia law is no longer creeping up on us. It’s bearing down on us at full gallop. It’s time for Christian civilization to grab the reins of this runaway horse and stop it dead in its tracks. No Sharia law in America, period.”

ANALYZING KING’S CLAIMS

Claim that MUSLIMS DON’T SPEAK OUT AGAINST EXTREMISM AND TERRORISM is a lie

Actually many individuals who have been arrested for terrorist plots and activities were turned in by members of the Muslim community.  These include:  Craig Monteilh, Abdel Hameed Shehadeh, Times Square bomber, the Oregon jihadist, Lackawanna six, Paintball 11 in VA, Matin Siraj plot in NY , Daniel Boyd in NC, 5 Muslim men who went to Pakistan from VA, Farooque Ahmed subway plotter.  Muslims have also helped by infiltrating al Qaeda.  There are many American Muslims promoting non-violent solutions including people like John Muhammed Butt working with Taliban.

A cursory look at our TAM article collection on Responses to Islamophobia, Arabophobia, and Extremism will provide anyone who is interested with hundreds of articles and statements countering the claims of individuals or groups attempting to justify extremism in the name of Islam. 

A cursory look at our many article collections under the heading MUSLIMS DENOUNCE TERRORISM which is readily avaible by simply clicking on this logo on the TAM homepage and which will take you to a lengthy collection of Muslim denunciations of terrorism, extremism, and violence will show that Muslims have spoken out often and loudly.  - Qur’an & Hadith against extremism  (see also power point presentations)  - Part I Fatwas - Part II Statements by Organizations - Part III Statements and Articles by Individuals (see also power point presentations)  - Part IV A Few Quotes A-K, and A Few Quotes L-Z  - Part V The Muslim Majority Who Don’t Get Publicity (see also power point presentation)  - Muslims and Arabs in the U.S. Military - Selective Hearing of Muslim Voices Against Extremism  - Sunni Shia Unity Resource - collection of articles  - Muslim Voices Promoting Islamic Non Violent Solutions

American Muslims have spoken out loudly and frequently, but are mostly ignored.  It seems that we are invisible as far as the mainstream press is concerned.

King said that he did not expect to call any of the local law enforcement or counterintelligence experts who he said had told him repeatedly that noncooperation by American Muslims is a “significant issue.” He says they will say these things privately, but not in public.” 

What he is saying is that we have to trust him that there is any law enforcement expert that holds this view.  And, what this means is that there are law enforcement experts or officials who know about cases of non-cooperation that might put Americans in danger, but they are not willing to say this in public.  I believe that should call for a separate hearing.

CLAIM THAT MOST TERRORISTS ARE MUSLIMS IS A LIE

TAM has a lengthy article collection Claim that all terrorists are Muslims ignores history  This article lists studies, government reports, and other documentation, and incidents from the 1970’s to the present time.  Since 2000 alone here are some of the terrorist incidents involving non-Muslims

Former leader of the Texas Militia plot to attack the Federal Building in Houston, a Catholic priest drove his car into the Northern Illinois Health Clinic and pulled out an ax before being shot at by a security guard, JDL plot by Irv Rubin and Earl Krugel to blow up the King Fahd Mosque and the office of Congressman Darrell Issa in CA foiled, Anthrax attacks by Bruce Ivins kill five across the U.S. with politicians and media officials as the apparent targets, Clayton Waagner mailed hoax letters containing a white powder to 554 clinics, Robert Pickett discharged a number of shots from a weapon in the direction of the White House, Lucas John Helder rigged pipe bombs in private mailboxes to explode when the boxes were opened, white supremacists planned to bomb a series of institutions associated with the black and Jewish communities including the U.S.  Holocaust Memorial Museum, Two members of Project 7 are arrested plotting to kill judges and law enforcement officials in order to kick off a revolution, An Idaho Mountain Militia Boys plot to kill a judge an a police officer and break a friend out of jail is uncovered, William Krar is charged for his part in the Tyler poison gas plot, a white supremacist related plan, Jeffrey Weise killed his grandfather and his grandfather’s girlfriend on the Red Lake, MN Chippewa reservation, then went to Red Lake H.S. where he killed 7 people and wounded 5 others before committing suicide, Patricia Hughes and Jeremy Dunahoe threw a Molotov cocktail at a clinic in Shreveport, LA, Two officers were killed at Forward Operating Base Danger in Tikrit, Iraq by a deliberately placed mine,  Staff Sergeant Alberto B. Martinez was charged, but was acquitted in a court martial trial at Fort Bragg, NC, The Animal Liberation Front targets a UCLA professor with a firebomb due to her research on animals, Charles Carl Roberts IV went into an Amish school in Lancaster County, PA and killed 5 girls before committing suicide,  Dennis & Daniel Mahon send mail bombs to a diversity office in Scottsdale AZ that injure three, Demetrius Van Crocker a white supremacist from rural TN attempted to acquire Sarin nerve gas and C-4 explosives that he planned to use to destroy government buildings, A man rammed his car into a women’s clinic that he thought was an abortion clinic and set it ablaze in Davenport, Iowa, Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and wounded many others at Virginia Tech before committing suicide, Five members of a Birmingham, Alabama area anti-immigration militia were arrested for planning a machine gun attack on Mexicans, A bomb was left in a women’s clinic in Austin but failed to explode,  Jim D. Adkisson opened fire in the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville TN killing two and injuring seven (a note found in his SUV indicated this was intended as a suicide attack and said the church was apparently targeted because of its support of liberal social policies), UC-Santa Cruz molecular biologist David Feldheim’s home was firebombed. A car belonging to another researcher from that University was destroyed by a firebomb in what is presumed to be related. FBI is investigating incidents as domestic terrorism related to animal rights groups, plot by two white power skinheads to target an African American High School and kill 88 blacks and decapitate 14 more (the numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic to white supremacists) and although expecting to fail try to assassinate Barack Obama, Jomar Falu Vives a Fort Carson, CO soldier and Iraq war veteran accused of killing 2 people and wounding another in drive-by shootings, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting by James Wenneker von Brunn, Assassination of Dr. George Tiller by Scott Roeder, bombing of a Starbucks in Manhattan’s Upper East Side by Kyle Shaw, shooting at Muslim home in Oregon by Vadim Ignatov, Keith Luke went on shooting spree in MA to kill as many non whites and Jews as possible, Three Pittsburgh police officers are fatally shot and a fourth wounded by Richard Andrew Poplawski, who had posted his racist and anti-Semitic views on white supremacist websites.  James Cummings dirty bomb plot.  Joseph Stack’s suicide flight into an IRS building.  Hutaree militia.  Justin Carl Moose plot to bomb abortion clinics.

Even before adding in shootings, bombings and arson attacks on mosques and violent attacks on individual Muslims or individuals perceived to be Muslim, it is glaringly obvious that attempting to defend the claim that most terrorist incidents involve Muslims can only result from ignorance or outright bigotry. 

Rep. King might be interested to know that in 2010 there were at least 3 bombings carried out by the IRA in Ireland.  It would be very interesting to know what his current position is on the IRA.

In 2009, MPAC released a study of plots by Muslim and non-Muslim violent extremists against the United States since 9/11.  The the key findings of this report were:

•There were 77 total plots by domestic non-Muslim perpetrators against the United States since 9/11/01. In comparison, there have been 41 total plots by domestic and international Muslim perpetrators since 9/11/01.
•There are at least 5 incidents of non-Muslim domestic extremists possessing or attempting to possess Biological, Chemical or Radiological weapons. One of those occurred since Obama’s election. No such cases involving Muslim violent extremists have been reported since 9/11/01.
•Evidence clearly indicates a general rise in violent extremism across ideologies. Using Obama’s election as our measurement, since November 4, 2008 there have been 44 terror plots by non-Muslim domestic extremists. By comparison, there have been 20 plots by Muslim domestic and international extremists. Each of these categories constitutes close to 50% of all violent extremism cases since 9/11.
•Yet, there is little evidence of rising ideological extremism among American Muslims. We use Obama’s election as the start of a timeline for measurement. We found 14 out of the 19 post-election plots (74%) involved Muslim Americans engaging in ideological extremism before the vote. Only 2 out of 19 cases (10%) are individuals involved in extremist activities after Obama’s election. Al-Qaeda does not appear to be making new ideological gains into the Muslim American community. Instead, the data is pointing toward greater numbers of longstanding ideological extremists turning to violence.
•Muslim communities have stepped forward to help law enforcement foil over 1 out of every 3 Al Qaeda-related terror plots threatening America since 9/11. Muslim communities have help law enforcement prevent the last 7 out of 11 Al Qaeda related plots. This represents an important counter trend the recent spike of arrests. It also highlights the importance of law enforcement partnering with citizens through community-oriented policing.

Loonwatch has also published a must read article All Terrorists are Muslims…Except the 94% that Aren’t which takes information from an FBI report, analyzes the list of incidents and creates an interesting pie chart that makes all the information come clearly into focus.  Loonwatch states: “According to this data, there were more Jewish acts of terrorism within the United States than Islamic (7% vs 6%).  These radical Jews committed acts of terrorism in the name of their religion.  These were not terrorists who happened to be Jews; rather, they were extremist Jews who committed acts of terrorism based on their religious passions, just like Al-Qaeda and company.”  A second report noted by Loonwatch discusses a Europol Report which shows that in Europe,  All Terrorists are Muslims…Except the 99.6% that Aren’t.

Has Rep. King noticed that just this past month, the FBI and Connecticut police found “improvised explosives” inside a New Haven home occupied by three “white men”. 

We can only assume that King is unaware of all of these facts, as he said “There’s a systematic effort to radicalize young Muslim men,” King said.  It would be irresponsible of me not to have this investigation. If it was coming from some other demographic group, I would say the same thing.”  It is obvious that most terrorism is coming from some other demographic group, and he is not saying the same thing about that uncomfortable fact.  Perhaps Rep. King might “say the same thing” about the following:

David Niewert has just published an article Terror in Arizona: Just another ‘isolated incident’? Funny how that list keeps mounting which includes this list of “isolated incidents” in the past 2 1/2 years:

—July 2008: A gunman named Jim David Adkisson, agitated at how “liberals” are “destroying America,” walks into a Unitarian Church and opens fire, killing two churchgoers and wounding four others.
—October 2008: Two neo-Nazis are arrested in Tennessee in a plot to murder dozens of African-Americans, culminating in the assassination of President Obama.
—December 2008: A pair of “Patriot” movement radicals—the father-son team of Bruce and Joshua Turnidge, who wanted “to attack the political infrastructure”—threaten a bank in Woodburn, Oregon, with a bomb in the hopes of extorting money that would end their financial difficulties, for which they blamed the government. Instead, the bomb goes off and kills two police officers. The men eventually are convicted and sentenced to death for the crime.
—December 2008: In Belfast, Maine, police discover the makings of a nuclear “dirty bomb” in the basement of a white supremacist shot dead by his wife. The man, who was independently wealthy, reportedly was agitated about the election of President Obama and was crafting a plan to set off the bomb.
—January 2009: A white supremacist named Keith Luke embarks on a killing rampage in Brockton, Mass., raping and wounding a black woman and killing her sister, then killing a homeless man before being captured by police as he is en route to a Jewish community center.
—February 2009: A Marine named Kody Brittingham is arrested and charged with plotting to assassinate President Obama. Brittingham also collected white-supremacist material.
—April 2009: A white supremacist named Richard Poplawski opens fire on three Pittsburgh police officers who come to his house on a domestic-violence call and kills all three, because he believed President Obama intended to take away the guns of white citizens like himself. Poplawski is currently awaiting trial.
—April 2009: Another gunman in Okaloosa County, Florida, similarly fearful of Obama’s purported gun-grabbing plans, kills two deputies when they come to arrest him in a domestic-violence matter, then is killed himself in a shootout with police.
—May 2009: A “sovereign citizen” named Scott Roeder walks into a church in Wichita, Kansas, and assassinates abortion provider Dr. George Tiller.
—June 2009: A Holocaust denier and right-wing tax protester named James Von Brunn opens fire at the Holocaust Museum, killing a security guard.
—February 2010: An angry tax protester named Joseph Ray Stack flies an airplane into the building housing IRS offices in Austin, Texas. (Media are reluctant to label this one “domestic terrorism” too.)
—March 2010: Seven militiamen from the Hutaree Militia in Michigan and Ohio are arrested and charged with plotting to assassinate local police officers with the intent of sparking a new civil war.
—March 2010: An anti-government extremist named John Patrick Bedell walks into the Pentagon and opens fire, wounding two officers before he is himself shot dead.
—May 2010: A “sovereign citizen” from Georgia is arrested in Tennessee and charged with plotting the violent takeover of a local county courthouse.
—May 2010: A still-unidentified white man walks into a Jacksonville, Fla., mosque and sets it afire, simultaneously setting off a pipe bomb.
—May 2010: Two “sovereign citizens” named Jerry and Joe Kane gun down two police officers who pull them over for a traffic violation, and then wound two more officers in a shootout in which both of them are eventually killed.
—July 2010: An agitated right-winger and convict named Byron Williams loads up on weapons and drives to the Bay Area intent on attacking the offices of the Tides Foundation and the ACLU, but is intercepted by state patrolmen and engages them in a shootout and armed standoff in which two officers and Williams are wounded.
—September 2010: A Concord, N.C., man is arrested and charged with plotting to blow up a North Carolina abortion clinic. The man, 26-year—old Justin Carl Moose, referred to himself as the “Christian counterpart to (Osama) bin Laden” in a taped undercover meeting with a federal informant.

Claim that AMERICAN MUSLIM’S HAVE NOT RESPONDED TO RADICALIZATION is a lie

MPAC published its first policy memo as the Counterterrorism Chronicles in 1993, and produced its first policy paper on counterterrorism policy in 1999. In September 2003, MPAC published its second counterterrorism policy paper entitled “A Review of U.S. Counterterrorism Policy: American Muslim Critique & Recommendations.” General Brent Scowcroft, former Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs to Presidents George H.W. Bush and Gerald Ford, said, “MPAC’s Counterterrorism Policy Paper is a serious and thoughtful document that should be valuable to all policy-makers. Counterterrorism analysis from an American Muslim perspective is critical to the decision-making process. I found the paper to be serious and in-depth, and the recommendations should be reviewed by the policy-making community.”

MPAC has created campaigns to assist local Muslim communities in engaging with law enforcement and ensuring financial and ideological transparency at their mosques. One such program is our National Grassroots Campaign to Fight Terrorism, which was launched in 2004 and endorsed by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the Department of Justice.  More recently, we released an eye opening policy paper entitled “Building Bridges to Strengthen America: Building an Effective Counterterrorism Enterprise between Muslim Americans and Law Enforcement.” Against the background of more than a dozen domestic terrorism plots uncovered in 2009, this paper discusses the current analysis of the “domestic radicalization” and proposes a blueprint for effective community-law enforcement engagement and partnership.

MPAC held a briefing in Washington, D.C. on February 7, 2011, titled “Muslims, Law Enforcement and National Security,” which included Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst and current Director of the National Security Studies Program at the New America Foundation; Roger Cressey, Former Director for Transnational Threats at the National Security Council (NSC) and professor at Georgetown University; Sheriff Lee Baca, Los Angeles County Sheriff, Founder Muslim American Homeland Security Congress (MAHSC); Michael Downing, Deputy Chief of the Counter-Terrorism and Special Operations Bureau of Los Angeles Police Department; and MPAC’s Alejandro J. Beutel, who wrote a policy paper on countering violent extremism.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) also hosted a briefing on Capitol Hill to publicize the positive relationship between Arab-American communities and law enforcement.

A Community Based Approach to Countering Radicalization: A Partnership for America was produced by the World Organization for Resource Development and Education in Washington, D.C.  The report was written by Muslims.

A report from the Congressional Research Service, sent to Congress with little fanfare on September 20, contends that soon after 9-11, American Muslims “recognized the need to define themselves as distinctly American communities who, like all Americans, desire to help prevent another terrorist attack” and explores how federal, state and local law enforcement organizations responded by tapping into American Muslims’ language skills, contacts, information and cultural insights.  The CRS is a branch of the Library of Congress.

During a hearing of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing & Terrorism Risk Assessment in 2008, Rep. Pascrell expressed strong disagreement with Rep. Peter King’s (R-NY) remarks that Muslims are not doing enough to help law enforcement fight terrorism.  Pascrell said:  “America must view the Muslim community as a great asset to our homeland security effort and take real steps to engage them. We cannot risk becoming like Europe where Muslim citizens have been pushed to the margins of society and are looked at as objects of suspicion.”

In April of 2008 FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, stated before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee: “And every opportunity I have, I re-affirm the fact that 99.9 percent of Muslim-Americans or Sikh-Americans, Arab-Americans are every bit as patriotic as anybody else in this room, and that many of our cases are a result of the cooperation from the Muslim community in the United States.”  

In 2007, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff testified before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on the issue of radicalization. Chertoff said, “It is critical that we recognize that American Muslims have been, and will continue to be, a highly valued part of the fabric of our Nation. American Muslims have been outspoken in their opposition to terrorist violence and have been strong contributors to our country for many generations.” Chertoff continued, “American Muslims are active participants in our secular democracy and, as with all Americans, we will continue to ensure that they have the freedom to choose the best way to raise their families, receive an education, relate to and participate in government, start a business, and become prosperous in their professions.”

Attorney General Eric Holder has stated publicly, “Members of the American Muslim community have been—and continue to be—strong partners in fighting this emerging threat [of
terrorism]. They have regularly denounced terrorist acts and those who carry them out. And they have provided critical assistance to law enforcement in helping to disrupt terrorist plots and combat radicalization.”

Perhaps Rep. King is unaware of the FBI award given to Imam Yahya Hendi for community leadership, and perhaps he questions the State Dept. sending Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf on a speaking tour to improve relations between the U.S. and Muslim countries?

Perhaps Rep. King is unaware that The American Muslim along with a number of other Muslim efforts was mentioned in The Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University’s report on internet-facilitated radicalization entitled:  “NETworked Radicalization: A Counter-Strategy”

According to the NY Times “A two-year study by a group of academics on American Muslims and terrorism concluded that contemporary mosques are actually a deterrent to the spread of militant Islam and terrorism. The study was conducted by professors with Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy and the University of North Carolina. It disclosed that many mosque leaders had put significant effort into countering extremism by building youth programs, sponsoring antiviolence forums and scrutinizing teachers and texts.”

Nine influential American Muslim scholars have come together in a YouTube video to repudiate the militants’ message to young American Muslims.

A website has been established Defend the Prophet - Reject Extremism – Challenge Islamophobia – Promote Peace

Imam’s Zaid Shakir & Mohamed Magid have written and spoken on Curbing Violent Extremism.

And the final nail in the coffin of this slur on the community - there are many American Muslims who are part of law enforcement (e.g. Khalid Latif, or all of the [url=http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.