Tensions High At U.S. Congressional Hearing On Muslim Radicalization

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Tensions High At U.S. Congressional Hearing On Muslim Radicalization

March 10, 2011

WASHINGTON -- Days of controversy - playing out through protests, debates on television news channels, and in the living rooms of average Americans - reached a crescendo on March 10 when the chairman of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, Republican Peter King (California), opened a congressional hearing on the radicalization of American Muslims.

The inquiry, titled, "The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim's Community and That Community's Response," is the first in a series of hearings on the topic that King has pledged to call. The move has tapped into a deep-seated but often unspoken ambivalence about Islam in the United States.

Critics say the narrow focus on Islamic extremists in America is the wrong approach and will stigmatize the millions of American Muslims. They favor a broader investigation into homegrown terrorism, taking into account the threat of white supremacists, antiabortion activists, and other groups from which violent radicals have emerged.

The chairman's top Democrat, Representative Bennie Thompson (Mississippi), said the hearing had the potential to "stoke a climate of fear and distrust" toward American Muslims and might also play into the hands of terrorists.

"The U.S. is accused [by Al-Qaeda] of engaging in a modern-day crusade against Islam. We cannot give this lie a place to rest. I cannot help but wonder how propaganda about this hearing's focus on the American Muslim community would be used by those who seek to inspire a new generation of suicide bombers," Thompson said.

King, however, maintained that the inquiry is "the logical response to the repeated and urgent warnings which the Obama administration has been making in recent months."

"Let me make it clear today that I remain convinced that these hearings must go forward and they will," King said. "To back down would be a craven surrender to political correctness and an abdication of what I believe to be the main responsibility of this committee -- to protect America from a terrorist attack."

He called on Muslim Americans to do more to combat Islamic radicalization.

The New York lawmaker, who has been accused of organizing a witch hunt and employing McCarthy-like tactics, has had to increase his own security protection in the months leading up to the hearing. At his request, police secured the hearing room, the surrounding areas, and King's office.

Muslim American groups criticize him for overestimating the level of radicalization in their communities -- he has stated that as many as 85% of U.S. imams may be extremists -- and for alleging that Muslims do not adequately cooperate with law enforcement.

Radicalized Muslims

Testifying at the hearing was Congressman Keith Ellison, a Democrat, who in 2006 became the first Muslim elected to Congress. Ellison told the committee that acts of terror by individuals do not indict whole communities.

Ellison broke down in tears as he recounted the story of a Muslim medical technician who died when the World Trade Center collapsed in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 after rushing to the scene to help.

"Some people spread false rumors and speculated that he was in league with the attackers because he was a Muslim. But it was only when his remains were identified that these lies were exposed," Ellison said.

"Mohammed Salman Hamdani was a fellow American, who gave his life for other Americans. His life should not be identified as just a member of an ethnic group or just a member of a religion."

Others who testified, however, gave personal accounts of Muslims who had become radicalized, and said their experiences justified the hearing.

Melvin Bledsoe told lawmakers how radical imams in his home state set his son on a path to terrorism and led him to move to Yemen.

U.S. officials say Bledsoe's son, Carlos, has admitted to killing a U.S. soldier outside an army recruiting station in Arkansas.

When asked by a member of the committee whether the U.S. imams that allegedly helped radicalize Carlos knew what they had done, Bledsoe said: "Sure, they know. They're waiting around to do it again to someone else's child. That's why I'm here today, hoping that the American people are listening. I hope you hear me. I hope you learn something from this. I don't think that any other child or any other parent in America should have to go through what I'm facing today."

But Bledshoe, who wore a large cross around his neck, added that it was only a subset of American Muslims who were the subject of the hearing.

"We're not talking about all Muslims," he said. "We're talking about the ones who are hiding behind the moderate Muslims -- and they're the ones who are a threat to America."

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/tensions_high_at_us_congressional_hearing_on_muslim_radicalization/2334414.html

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