Rep. Peter King, newly elected Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, announced yesterday he will hold Congressional hearings to combat “radicalization of the American Muslim community,” a move that will undoubtedly strain relations between the government and Muslim leaders. He must be stopped, and Eric Holder’s just the man for the job.
“There’s a disconnect between outstanding Muslims who contribute so much to the future of our country and those leaders who — for whatever reason — acquiesce in terror or ignore the threat. It is this disconnect that threatens the security of us all,” wrote King in an op-ed for ‘Newsday’ yesterday.
The New York Republican concluded, “As chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, I will do all I can to break down the wall of political correctness and drive the public debate on Islamic radicalization. These hearings will be a step in that direction. It’s what democracy is all about.” His comments recall the days of Joseph McCarthy, the Senator who led the anti-communist witch hunts of the 1950s.
In fact, the Committee on American Islamic Relations released a statement making that very comparison. They — and many others — have also called him a “bigot.”
King doesn’t appear to mind being targeted by CAIR and like-minded activists. In fact, he wears the acrimony as a badge of honor, dismissing their criticism as misguided political correctness. “To some in the strata of political correctness, I’m a pretty bad guy. To be blunt, this crowd sees me as an anti-Muslim bigot,” he wrote in the ‘Newsday’ piece, and he told Fox News, “That’s political correct nonsense. But I’m willing to take that hit if I have to.”
The Republican congressman’s proclamation comes as Muslim-government relations are at a low point. Recent FBI stings in Oregon and California involving young Muslim men have some wondering whether the government’s going to alienate the Muslim population. While Holder describes their tactics as “forward-leaning,” CAIR’s executive director Hussam Ayloush disagrees.
“‘Forward-leaning’ seems to be basically if someone has not crossed the bridge, we will push them forward, we will tip them over the edge,” he contended. “That is not how a government should be treating its citizens.”
Holder, however, has defended the stings as essential, although did warn potentially explosive Americans that he, the Justice Department and the FBI will not tolerate anti-Muslim hate crimes, violence or harassment.
“I believe that law enforcement has an obligation to ensure that members of every religious community enjoy the ability to worship and to practice their faith in peace,” he said. “Free from intimidation, violence or suspicion.” King’s hearings qualify as at least two of those three things: intimidation and suspicion.
If Holder and his team at the Justice Department want to nip anti-Muslim activity in the bud, they need to pipe up and pressure King to stand down, because the congressman’s proposal casts a shadow of doubt over our fellow Americans, and the last thing this increasingly divided nation needs is more civil war.
December 20, 2010 at 10:41 pm, Stanislav Sharovskiy said:
Andrew Belonsky is far removed from the reality of the threat of Islam. Niceties and wishful thinking are never going to stop a single terrorist – nor are they going to dissuade Muslims from extracting and following the Jihad doctrines contained, thoroughly, plentifully, and undeniable within the Qu'ran. The Muslim community must answer for its religious extremists and then answer for itself regarding its silence, lack of opposition to terrorism, fundamentalism, and lack of cooperation with law enforcement. How is that catching a MUSLIM terrorist in Oregon is something that will strain relations? What are Muslims afraid of? If anything it should be an opportunity to give up the Jihadis in their ranks, growing in America's Saudi funded Mosques, rather than act of tension. Peter King has exactly the right idea.
Also notice the fallacy of “forward leaning” – i.e. the government enticing Muslims to commit terrorist acts. Lets apply some common sense Mr. Belonsky, what would it take for you to attempt to kill hundreds of people? You are pretending as if a completely innocent person was given a bomb and then pressured to kill people – find me one example of a person who does not already have a religious propensity to kill who could be cajoled and “tricked” into murdering hundreds of civilians.
There are a few words to describe people like Mr. Belonsky – apologist, appeaser, and in denial.
December 21, 2010 at 3:32 pm, Islamoutnow said:
Thank GOD for people like Pete King!!!
Root this scum out of America now!!
December 22, 2010 at 7:22 am, Rick_vonBerne said:
King is right. Some American Muslims are becoming radicalized and their religious and political leaders either have to denounce them or be identified as part of the problem and treated accordingly.
As usual, the uninformed author of this trash ignored the facts and continues to pretend that Sen McCarthy was a raving maniac. The truth is that he was right and when the Soviet Union collapsed and the KGBs documents were opened up to scrutiny, lo and behold, they showed that there really were Communists throughout the US government. Just as McCarthy charged. Alger Hiss WAS a spy and the Rosenbergs were guilty, too.
Give King a chance. He'll get the message across.
December 30, 2010 at 4:34 pm, Rep. King Suggests Congressional Hearings On ACORN, USDA ‘Reparations’ | Death and Taxes said:
[...] myriad Congressional hearings for months. Rep. Peter King, no relation to Steve, wants to discuss “Muslim radicalization,” while others have championed hearings on Presidential birth certificates, an evolution of the idea [...]
January 05, 2011 at 11:11 am, Brendan Monroe said:
Peter King is a neo-conservative errand boy who truly would take no offense in being compared with Senator McCarthy. His comments designating WikiLeaks a terrorist organization truly show what a militaristic, conservative tool he really is. But Mr. Belonsky, like most ignorant Americans, clearly knows nothing about the increasing threat that a rapidly spreading radical Islam poses. Furthermore, if he genuinely believes that Islam in the United States and elsewhere is truly about “peace” then he is not only ignorant but incompetent. Islam directly translates as “submission,” which, last time I checked, is defined as “submitting to control by someone or something,” in this case a tyrannical, misogynistic God. Sidenote: In no dictionary is “Allah” or “God” defined as possessing any kind of positive or “good” characteristic. Just because people consider or worship something or someone as “god” doesn't make that supposed entity good, but I digress. What I mean to say is that any self-respecting journalist should clearly see what their own eyes, much less their own headlines, tells them: that time and again fundamentalist Islam has proven a contagion spreading throughout the Western World so fast that the diagnosis will truly only come when we're flat-lining on the operating table. There is a difference between Senator McCarthy's fear mongering and blackballing and simply calling a spade a spade. A dangerous, fundamentalist spade in this case. As liberal as I am, I nevertheless am able to recognize the blatant hypocrisy and absurdity that exists among America's liberal class who tout feminism and equality yet refuse, out of fear and cowardice, to do so in and amongst the Muslim community where such misogyny and inequality make up the medieval bedrock upon which Islam's flawed and decrepit shack is built. European intellectuals, though perhaps too late, have nevertheless opened their eyes to the problem. Our journalists and politicians are, in the meantime, too enraptured at the very notion of being labeled as bigoted or intolerant that they're unwilling to do the same, preferring instead to wallow in a pit of their own politically correct excrement. It is in this way they reveal who they truly are- a sad, pathetic lot of debased cowards who, constantly offering excuses for the religious sins perpetuated upon Muslim women, are as enslaved by their fear of peer perception as those very women are by their identity dissolving veils.
February 08, 2011 at 6:37 pm, Kerrwilliam said:
STOP ERIC HOLDER!!! William Kerr
March 10, 2011 at 3:01 pm, Robert said:
Peter king is right to address this radical muslim threat to the USA now,rather than having to deal with it after they KILL more americans.This internal threat has to be stopped now..As far Eric Holder is concerned he is so afraid of what other people think he cannot see the truth right befor his eyes…