Congressional inquiry on homegrown Islamic terrorism reveals deep partisan rift.
Alex Brandon/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., one of two Muslims in Congress, becomes emotional during testimony Thursday. 
Alex Brandon/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Peter King Homeland Security Committee chairman convened the session. Latest local news »
- College aid cut deeply in bills
- New command expected for Fort Hood's leader
- Central Texas Digest: Llano man acquitted of sister-in-law's death; Sixth Street puncher back in jail
- Council action: City staffers to study parking ills on South Congress
- Higher Education Notes: News about Texas colleges
More on Statesman.com »
- Big 12 tournament: Colorado sweeps K-State
- UIL boys state tournament roundup
- Hamilton carries Texas in rout of Oklahoma
- Attempt to rescue Danish family from Somali pirates fails
- Nation Digest: February budget deficit breaks record; ranks of cancer survivors growing fast, CDC says
- Dalai Lama says he'll give up political role
- Tijuana's former top cop to tackle crime in Juárez
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Laurie Goodstein THE NEW YORK TIMES Published: 10:25 p.m. Thursday, March 10, 2011WASHINGTON — A congressional hearing Thursday addressing homegrown Islamic terrorism offered divergent portraits of Muslims in America: one as law-abiding citizens who are unfairly made targets, the other as a community failing to confront what one witness called "this cancer that's within."
Attacked by critics as a witch hunt, and lauded by supporters as a courageous stand against political correctness, the four hours of emotional testimony revealed a deep partisan split in lawmakers' approaches to terror investigations and their views on the role of mosques.
Republicans focused on whether Muslims cooperate with law enforcement, and they singled out a Washington-based advocacy group, the Council on American Islamic Relations, casting it as an ally of terrorists. Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y., who convened the session, declared it a "discredited group."
Democrats sought to spotlight the lone law enforcement witness, Los Angeles Sheriff Leroy Baca, who testified that Muslims do cooperate, and they cited a Duke University study that 40 percent of foiled domestic terror plots had been thwarted with the help of Muslims.
Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, defended the hearing from criticism that it unfairly characterizes the nation's Muslim community as prone to terrorism. "It is unfortunate, in my view, that some have attempted to mischaracterize this hearing as an attack on American Muslims. It is not this committee that is doing that but al Qaeda that is targeting and attacking our Muslim youth," McCaul said. "We have to know our enemy, and it is radical Islam in my judgment."
But Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, said, "This hearing today is playing into al Qaeda right now around the world," arguing that "it could become a new recruitment tool for the terrorist organization."
Jackson Lee, who raised her voice to a shout at times, noted the number of Muslim witnesses at the hearing, saying, "Muslims are here cooperating; they are doing what this hearing suggests they do not do."
At one point, an exchange between Reps. Tom Marino, R-Pa., and Al Green, D-Houston, grew loud.
Green, who attended the hearing though he isn't a member of the committee, said he has no problem discussing terrorist organizations rooted in religion, but he would include other groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. "It does not look right to focus on one religion to the (exclusion) of others," he said.
Marino said the subject of the day was terrorism, prompting King to rap the gavel repeatedly as the two lawmakers argued about whether the KKK was a terrorist organization.
Rep. Keith Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat who is Muslim, wept as he recounted the story of Mohammed Salman Hamdani, a 23-year-old Muslim volunteer medical technician who rushed to help when the World Trade Center was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001 — and died in the building's collapse.
Ellison barely finished his testimony, breaking down as he described how, when Hamdani disappeared, his religion fueled suspicions that he was part of the terrorists' plot.
"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."
But two other witnesses — Melvin Bledsoe, a Memphis businessman, and Abdirizak Bihi of the Somali Education and Social Advocacy Center in Minneapolis — offered their own compelling narratives of how their relatives embraced Islamic extremism.
"Our children are in danger," Bledsoe warned, as he told lawmakers of how his son Carlos had converted to Islam in college and traveled to Yemen, where he was "trained and programmed" to kill. After returning to the United States, he opened fire on a military recruiting center in Little Rock, Ark., killing one soldier and wounding another.
"It seems to me that Americans are sitting around doing nothing about radical extremists," Bledsoe said, adding, "This is a big elephant in the room."
Bihi's nephew was one of a group of young men who were radicalized in this country, then traveled to Somalia to join the unrest there. In June 2009 the nephew, Burhan Hassan, was shot in the head and killed in Somalia.
"We regret the silencing and intimidation faced by leaders and activists who dare speak out on the real challenges that keep our youth and community vulnerable to radicalization," Bihi said. "Burying our heads in the sand will not make this problem go away."
Attacked by critics as a witch hunt, and lauded by supporters as a courageous stand against political correctness, the four hours of emotional testimony revealed a deep partisan split in lawmakers' approaches to terror investigations and their views on the role of mosques.
Republicans focused on whether Muslims cooperate with law enforcement, and they singled out a Washington-based advocacy group, the Council on American Islamic Relations, casting it as an ally of terrorists. Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y., who convened the session, declared it a "discredited group."
Democrats sought to spotlight the lone law enforcement witness, Los Angeles Sheriff Leroy Baca, who testified that Muslims do cooperate, and they cited a Duke University study that 40 percent of foiled domestic terror plots had been thwarted with the help of Muslims.
Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, defended the hearing from criticism that it unfairly characterizes the nation's Muslim community as prone to terrorism. "It is unfortunate, in my view, that some have attempted to mischaracterize this hearing as an attack on American Muslims. It is not this committee that is doing that but al Qaeda that is targeting and attacking our Muslim youth," McCaul said. "We have to know our enemy, and it is radical Islam in my judgment."
But Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, said, "This hearing today is playing into al Qaeda right now around the world," arguing that "it could become a new recruitment tool for the terrorist organization."
Jackson Lee, who raised her voice to a shout at times, noted the number of Muslim witnesses at the hearing, saying, "Muslims are here cooperating; they are doing what this hearing suggests they do not do."
At one point, an exchange between Reps. Tom Marino, R-Pa., and Al Green, D-Houston, grew loud.
Green, who attended the hearing though he isn't a member of the committee, said he has no problem discussing terrorist organizations rooted in religion, but he would include other groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. "It does not look right to focus on one religion to the (exclusion) of others," he said.
Marino said the subject of the day was terrorism, prompting King to rap the gavel repeatedly as the two lawmakers argued about whether the KKK was a terrorist organization.
Rep. Keith Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat who is Muslim, wept as he recounted the story of Mohammed Salman Hamdani, a 23-year-old Muslim volunteer medical technician who rushed to help when the World Trade Center was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001 — and died in the building's collapse.
Ellison barely finished his testimony, breaking down as he described how, when Hamdani disappeared, his religion fueled suspicions that he was part of the terrorists' plot.
"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."
But two other witnesses — Melvin Bledsoe, a Memphis businessman, and Abdirizak Bihi of the Somali Education and Social Advocacy Center in Minneapolis — offered their own compelling narratives of how their relatives embraced Islamic extremism.
"Our children are in danger," Bledsoe warned, as he told lawmakers of how his son Carlos had converted to Islam in college and traveled to Yemen, where he was "trained and programmed" to kill. After returning to the United States, he opened fire on a military recruiting center in Little Rock, Ark., killing one soldier and wounding another.
"It seems to me that Americans are sitting around doing nothing about radical extremists," Bledsoe said, adding, "This is a big elephant in the room."
Bihi's nephew was one of a group of young men who were radicalized in this country, then traveled to Somalia to join the unrest there. In June 2009 the nephew, Burhan Hassan, was shot in the head and killed in Somalia.
"We regret the silencing and intimidation faced by leaders and activists who dare speak out on the real challenges that keep our youth and community vulnerable to radicalization," Bihi said. "Burying our heads in the sand will not make this problem go away."
No comments:
Post a Comment