Rep. Peter King Announces Third Islamic Radicalization Hearing Will Happen Next Week

Peter King, the controversial Republican congressman from New York who chairs the House Committee on Homeland Security, announced Tuesday that he will hold a third hearing on radicalization among Muslim-Americans next week.

While King's first hearing in March focused on Islamic radicalization in general and his second focused on radicalization in prisons, the July 27 hearing will be about al Shabaab, a Somalia-based terrorist organization that has made headlines for recruiting Somali-Americans in the Midwest.

In a press release released on Tuesday, King said:

“At this hearing, the third in a series, we will examine Somalia-based terrorist organization al-Shabaab’s ongoing recruitment, radicalization, and training of young Muslim-Americans and al-Shabaab’s linking up with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

“In Minnesota, Ohio, and other states, dozens of young Muslim males have been recruited, radicalized, and then taken from their communities for overseas terrorist training by al-Shabaab. In a number of cases, the men – including both Somali-Americans and other converts -- have ended up carrying out suicide bombings or have otherwise been killed, often without their families even knowing where their sons have gone. There has not been sufficient cooperation from mosque leaders. In at least one instance, a Minnesota imam told the desperate family of a missing young man not to cooperate with the FBI.

“There are growing concerns that al-Shabaab in Somalia is linking up with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen to better train these radicalized young men in order to attack Americans around the world, or potentially shift their focus to attacking our homeland.

“This coordinated and ongoing recruitment and radicalization of young Muslim men in the U.S. is a serious and growing threat to our homeland security and simply cannot be ignored.”

King has been criticized by Islamic organizations for his prior hearings, which many Muslim groups have said too broadly target their communities. Muslims groups have also criticized prior hearings for largely lacking Muslim witnesses. A witness list for next week's hearing has not been released.

Comments

[alkh3myst]

06:17 AM on 08/03/2011

FOX ANNOUNCER: "Correction. Rep. King now announces that he is convinced of the truth of Islam, and intends to take his Shahada, the ceremony of conversion to Islam, at the Islamic Center of New York City." HANNITY: "See, I told you they were good! Just that light exposure, and one of the Defenders of our Freedoms is contaminated." ANNOUNCER: "Remember, you heard it on Fox News first."

[RealityChezck]

07:30 PM on 07/27/2011

Anything coming from this Nut is suspect. Wouldn't surprise me if he tried to outlaw anything but fundamentalism knowing it's unconstitutional to do so.

The soul of Joe McCarthy lives on.

[Charles Fortner]

10:57 AM on 07/23/2011

When will Mr. King be proactive and hold hearings on the threat of conservative fundamentalist christianity? In the wake of this week's violence in Norway it's not possible that it could escape his attention. OH, wait, I forgot. he only investigates things he's paid to notice.

[Tolerant]

01:57 PM on 07/24/2011

That's a good point! The FBI did release a report on the threat emanating from the right wings, but looks like that report has been suppressed.

[Charles Fortner]

03:52 PM on 07/24/2011

It will probably need to be revised pretty soon. It'll come out.

[Puro Purepechas]

07:50 AM on 07/23/2011

With the Right-Wing terror attacks that just occurred in Norway is Rep. King going to hold hearing about the possibility of some crazy Tea Party people resorting to terror? Or the other armed and dangerous terrorist groups taking it upon themselves to "guard" the border?

[MajorKong]

10:06 PM on 07/22/2011

Nice to know we're "focusing on jobs" and all that.

[elamatt]

08:47 PM on 07/22/2011

If anyone should know something about "radicalization" it's the "honorable?" Mr. King. What a poser he is.

[Mag7]

07:37 PM on 07/22/2011

Well this should create tens of thousands of jobs. Why don't the democrats ever think of these things?

[SimonBao]

03:42 PM on 07/22/2011

I think that those spreading hate and fear of Muslims are best ignored...

But I think those upset with what King is doing ought to step back and breathe deeply.

King reaped no benefits from his earlier hearings, nor reaped any favorable attention except among a far-right media.

King will continue this as a means of attracting campaign donations from outside his district, and he'll be thought clever by some for coming up with the scheme.

But his hearings won't actually spread either hate or misinformation; it may provide more bogus "justification" for bigots, who don't actually require any justification for what they feel.

But so long as the media continue to disprove King's more idiotic assertions, and those of his "expert witnesses," this won't be the end of the world.

It's shameless and indefensible, and shame on the GOP for permitting this cr@p to occur in Congress. But what Fox News does every night is a greater threat to religious and racial tolerance than anything King comes up with.

[gregstevens]

10:43 PM on 07/21/2011

Reactions to things like this is what Democrats always, always get wrong. And I mean: "wrong" from a strategic perspective.

Democrats always say: "Shut up! You shouldn't do that! It's offensive!"

But these are the situations in which you can only teach by advocating more diversity, not less.

The proper response to this is NOT to say, "Shut up! You shouldn't be having hearings about Muslim extremists!"

The proper response is to say: "What a great idea! In addition to YOUR hearings, honorable colleague, I would like to hold my own set of hearings on Christianist Radicalization! We can talk about everything from Bill O'Reilly to anti-Abortion kooks to the Klan!"

The proper response is always, ALWAYS to suggest more, not less, in situations like these.

[SimonBao]

03:36 PM on 07/22/2011

While it is nice to fantasize, it's utterly unrealistic to imagine that any member of Congress is going to respond to King by holding hearings on Christian Radicalization.

That's simply preposterous and impossible, and therefore is no kind of response to King at all.

No, when you see someone acting out as bigot, when you see a government official exploiting fear and hatred, you MUST call out that person.

You can do it with dignity, you can do it free of your own fear and hatred, but you must do it.

[RealityChezck]

07:31 PM on 07/27/2011

And this relates to the article, how ?

[Tazirai]

05:06 PM on 07/21/2011

Christians had their time as terrorists I guess.. how could that be forgotten?
I forget where I live.. and how evil people who hate others not like them can be.

[Tolerant]

08:44 AM on 07/21/2011

Final Comment on this Article:

I am genuinely saddened by the comments of a few here. It seems that there is a well-organized cottage industry of anti-Islam that is spreading hatred against the Muslims.

One of their characteristics is that they only focus on the negatives and totally ignore the positive.

They claim that they are criticizing Islam, but their activities go beyond simple scholarly crticism as their main activity is to dig up dirt against the Muslims and only present the most negative acts by some Muslims to be representative of Islam and the larger Muslim community.

Another characteristic of them is the "us vs them" mentality. They will not acknowledge the existence of those Muslims who are born in the West and are Western. They consider Muslims to be foreigners no matter for how many generations they have lived in the West.

As I have stated before, our actions should be encompassed within love, respect, justice and fairness, and not negative tendencies of hatred, lack of respect and the "us vs. them" mentality.

We are all human beings, and in essence, we are all the same.

[Rianna]

11:05 AM on 07/21/2011

You are so right. According to their comments here, ALL billion and more Muslims are terrorists, pro terrorism, and it seems hard to find ANY good and decent Muslims.
Anti Arab, Anti Muslim, Anti Islam sentiment are fine, acceptable, and clearly obvious.
It benefits certain political leaders, Israeli policies, and lobbies, to portray Muslims as "them", and you are correct, find the negatives, and pinpoint to extremists, to paint ALL Muslims with the same brush, while pretending "they" are blameless and no one on "their" side resorts to violence or crimes. Good post.

[ShabazII]

12:01 PM on 07/21/2011

We are at war with radicalization and it is not Hinduism or Christianity.
Home grow terr0r!sm is a fact.
Saudi money is pouring in and building worship places around the world.

The west is so naive.

Britain's "Islamic Emirates Project"
http://www.hudson-ny.org/2278/britain-islamic-emirates-project
A Muslim group in the United Kingdom has launched a campaign to turn twelve British cities – including what it calls "Londonistan" – into independent Islamic states. The so-called Islamic Emirates would function as autonomous enclaves ruled by Islamic Sharia law and operate entirely outside British jurisprudence.

[ShabazII]

03:56 AM on 07/21/2011

To add the confusion surrounding the reality of islm:

Engy Abdelkader a blogger on HP thinks Islm is monotheistic religion!

Engy Abdelkader, 07.07.2011
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/engy-abdelkader/the-question-of-muslim-wo_b_889588.html
To be clear, Islam is defined as a monotheistic, Abrahamic faith.

While

http://muslimvoices.org/islam-sects/
Islam is splintered into many different groups.

The point is be aware

[ShabazII]

07:45 AM on 07/21/2011

monotheist­ic and monolithic­. I was wrong here my bad.

[ShabazII]

03:27 AM on 07/21/2011

We know Islm in not monolithic. What one sect or imam says doesn't necessarily apply on others. There is no one position so be aware. Google for fatwas for mslms to fight in the US armed forces, you'll be amazed.

http://www.islamopediaonline.org/fatwa/permissibility-muslim-military-personnel-within-us-armed-forces-participating-war-operations-a
In this case, he has no choice but to follow orders, otherwise his allegiance and loyalty to his country could be in doubt.

http://infad.usim.edu.my/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=4524
it is not allowed for a Muslim who is currently recruited in the American army to fight against Muslims neither in Afghanistan nor in anywhere else.

http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=11577#ixzz1Sio3IKci
Army Chaplain Capt. Abd Al-Rasheed Muhammad began questioning the permissibility of a fight against fellow Muslims.

http://islam-qa.com/en/ref/3885/military
"It may be advantageous for Muslims to work in these armies so as to learn their secrets and be aware of their potential evil. "

[Pharcee]

04:37 PM on 08/04/2011

What about everything said in the Talmud about Gentiles? What about the Christians? Any one who isnt Christian gets to go to hell. Yet in Islam, we have this:

2:62 (and also 5:69) VERILY, those who have attained to faith [in this writ], as well as those who follow the Jewish faith, and the Christians, and the Sabians49 – all who believe in God and the Last Day and do righteous deeds – shall have their reward with their Sustainer; and no fear need they have, and neither shall they grieve.

[Rodger leMonde]

12:16 AM on 07/21/2011

Yeah fear the might of the crew that sort of maybe conquered some part of the majestic forces of Somalia.

[Sanity Inspector]

11:46 PM on 07/20/2011

Jihadists hate us and want to kill us, no matter what we do or don't do. America was scarcely twenty-five years old when jihadists, citing Islamic precepts, started attacking us. No provocation other than their own reading of their religion is needed.

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h44000/h44647k.jpg

[truesabil]

12:18 AM on 07/21/2011

All distortions. Were those people shriners and masons?

[Tolerant]

08:51 AM on 07/21/2011

The term, Jihadist, is a distortion of the term, Jihad or Mujahid, which are Arabic terms with positive connotations, for Jihad means striving, implicitly for justice, peace, and against the lower aspects of the self.

That said, it is true that there is a version of Islam that is extremist and violent.

No question about it.

But the overwhelming majority of Muslims do not adhere to that.

In all the discussions about Islam, the impression is given as if Islam is monolithic.

It is not.

There do exist mainstream and non-mainstream currents within Islam that are enlightening and quite peaceful.

One such current is called "Traditional Islam" - "Traditional", not in the sense of socio-cultural; rather, the word "Tradition" means "Sacred", that is, this current has its roots in the revelation and has esoterically come to us in an unbroken chain from the spiritual side of the Prophet.

Part of this current is Sufism, which stresses that man cleanses his heart to reflect the higher qualities of the self, e.g., selflessness, forgiveness, peace, love, compassion, etc.

[Sanity Inspector]

03:49 PM on 07/21/2011

Yes, I am aware that there are schools of Islam which soft-pedal the commands to convert, subdue, or kill non-Muslims. I somehow fail to swoon with gratitude at the thought of them, though.