ONLINE All Dulles Area Muslim Society: http://adamscenter.org/ House Homeland Security Committee: http://homeland.house.gov/
WASHINGTON - Muslims in America aren't cooperating enough withlaw enforcement to counter the radicalization of young followers byal-Qaida-linked groups, said a House leader on terrorism issues,renewing debate about religion's role in motivating extremists andwhat the United States can do without alienating the Islamic world.
Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland SecurityCommittee, asserted that al-Qaida terrorists are targeting Muslimyouth in this country, previewing his hearing Thursday on the extentof the problem and the Muslim community's response.
"The overwhelming majority of Muslims are outstanding Americans,but at this stage in our history there's an effort ... to radicalizeelements within the Muslim community," he said in an interviewbroadcast Sunday.
"It's there and that's where the threat is coming from at thistime," King said.
Taking up King's call for a national discussion, the White Housesent President Obama's deputy national security adviser, DenisMcDonough, to a Northern Virginia mosque to speak late Sunday at aninterfaith gathering about how the administration is dealing withdomestic radicalization.
"I don't believe there is sufficient cooperation" by AmericanMuslims with law enforcement, King said. "Certainly my dealings withthe police in New York and FBI and others say they do not believethey get the same - they do not give the level of cooperation thatthey need."
In New York City, a coalition of more than 100 interfaith,nonprofit and governmental organizations planned a rally Sundayagainst King's hearing, saying it will send the wrong message toU.S. Muslims by "demonizing" them. The committee hasn't released awitness list yet for the hearing.
The administration has tried to strike a balance on the thornyissue, working to go after homegrown Islamic extremists withoutappearing to be at war with the Muslim world. There has been aneffort to build stronger relationships with Muslims -internationally and with Islamic leaders in the United States.
At the same time, however, militant Islamic propaganda hasfactored into recent terrorist attacks and foiled attempts in thiscountry.
Maj. Nidal Hasan, the suspect in 2009 shootings at Fort Hood,Texas, is believed to have been inspired by the Internet postings ofviolent Islamic extremists, as was Faisal Shahzad, who pleadedguilty to terrorism and weapons charges in the attempted car bombingin New York's Times Square.
The first Muslim elected to the House, Rep. Keith Ellison, saidthat while it's proper to investigate radicalization, he thinks itis wrong to single out one religion.
"To say we're going to investigate a religious minority, and aparticular one, I think is the wrong course of action to take," saidEllison, D-Minn. "I don't want them to be able to stand up andclaim, you know, see, we told you, America is at war with Islam.That's one of their main recruiting arguments."
Ellison said Congress needs to be careful about how it addressesthe issue in investigative hearings. Appearing with King on CNN's"State of the Union," he said it makes sense to speak with people inthe Muslim community about efforts by extremists such as radicalcleric Anwar al-Awlaki to encourage Muslims to wage attacks againstthe United States.
But Ellison argued that Muslim-Americans have worked withauthorities to report suspected terrorists within their community.It's important, he said, to engage Muslims, not frighten them.
Shortly after he took office, Obama pledged a new beginning inthe U.S. relationship with the Muslim world. His national securitystrategy dropped rhetorical references to Islamic radicalism asObama argued that words matter and such inflammatory languagelinking Islam to the terrorist threat feeds al-Qaida propaganda andcould alienate moderate Muslims.
Others, however, say the administration is failing to clearlyarticulate the threat, and should more directly identify Islamicextremism as a root cause of terrorism.
"It's an international movement with elements here in the UnitedStates, and to me, that's a real distinction," King said. "There'salways going to be isolated incidents, isolated fanatics, isolatedterrorists even. But an organized terrorist effort, to me, isdifferent, which requires an investigation unto itself."
The site for McDonough's speech was the All Dulles Area MuslimSociety, one of the largest Muslim communities-mosque in the UnitedStates, with seven branches serving more than 5,000 families,according to its website.
It is an outreach partner of the FBI and its executive directoris a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council's CounteringViolent Extremism Working Group.
AP photo
No comments:
Post a Comment