Please join Muslims and our neighbors, interfaith partners and peace movement in calling Rep. Peter King the Chair of Homeland Security Committee to say that
  • Mosques in the USA are not run by violent extremists and
  • He should hold hearings on Arizona shooting of Rep. Giffords 
 Tuesday, February 22nd is the National Call In Day.

Washington Office: Phone: 202-225-7896 Fax: 202-226-2279
Massapequa Park: Phone: 516-541-4225 Fax: 516-541-6602
Suffolk County: 631-541-4225
Email: Pete.King@mail.house.gov

Peace Movement is concerned that Islamophobes will use the hearings to do the following:

  • Spread hatred and fear against American Muslims
  • Facilitate passing of draconian laws like indefinite preventive detention law for citizens
Since the Congressman is Chair of a House Committee, everyone can call him.

First day of Rep. Peter King's Hearings

Congressman Peter King's hearings have begun.

 

The threat of terrorism is at "its most heightened state" since the 9/11 attacks nearly a decade ago, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on the first day of hearing.

"One of the most striking elements of today's threat picture is that plots to attack America increasingly involve American residents and citizens," Napolitano said, referring to so-called homegrown terrorists fueled by the Internet and connections with operatives overseas.

"This shift is a game changer," Republican committee chairman Rep. Peter King of New York said. "We must confront this threat."

Read the rest of the story.

This was just the first day of the hearing.   


An Action Plan 

We encourage all Muslims and our neighbors to do the following:

  • To talk to your Congresspersons about this issue: Find contact information here. 
  • Ask your interfaith partners and peace movement to take a stand opposing these Islamophobic hearings by writing to Congressman Peter King and by meeting their Congressman about it
  • Please write to Peter King and ask him to ensure that his hearings are fair, and include testimony of law enforcement leaders who have regularly worked with the Muslim community; Muslim leaders recognized by the vast majority of American Muslims, as well as civil and human rights activists.
Points to Consider

"The war against Islamic terrorism must be fought in many ways and we must do all we can to stay ahead of our enemy," King writes on his website. "That is why I strongly supported the PATRIOT Act...," he reminds readers. King was described by the New York Times as, "the Patriot Act's most fervent fan" in a December 2006.

 

King believes that "80-85 percent of mosques in this country are controlled by Islamic fundamentalists. . . . I'll stand by that number of 85 percent. This is an enemy living amongst us," as he told a conservative talk radio host Sean Hannity.

 

King's basic premise is that American Muslims and their leaders are not cooperating in the fight against terrorism directed at American targets. This has actually been refuted in a recent report by the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security, a research group affiliated with the University of North Carolina and Duke University.

 

The report, issued in early February 2011, noted that 48 of the 120 Muslims suspected of plotting domestic terrorist attacks since the 9/11 attacks, were turned in by other Muslims. These included parents, members of the same mosque, and in at least one case, a Facebook friend.

 

"In some communities, Muslim-Americans have been so concerned about extremists in their midst that they have turned in people who turned out to be undercover informants," it said. 

 

Going back to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, according to Michael E. Rolince, former FBI Special Agent in Charge of Counterterrorism, DC Field Office, the FBI conducted about 500,000 interviews of Muslims in America without finding a single lead which could have helped the agency prevent the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

 

King's false view that Muslims have not cooperated to help law enforcement has also been challenged by members of the intelligence community and law enforcement in other parts of the country. One example is Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, who this month said Muslim Americans have played a pivotal role in his area in fighting terrorism and other crime.

 

King's crusade has been likened to McCarthyism, a term used to describe the antics of Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. In the 1950s, at the height of America's Cold War with the former Soviet Union, McCarthy launched a series of hearings aimed at ferreting out Communists from the American government. Many of his claims of Communist infiltration were unsubstantiated. They led to one person committing suicide and caused others to lose their livelihoods and reputations. Ultimately, McCarthy was censured by the Senate for his tactics and shunned by politicians and journalists fed up with his fear mongering and harassment.

 

War and terrorism are intimately connected with each other as Professor Robert Pape has demonstrated in his research. If the Congressman Peter King really want to eliminate terrorism, it may be prudent to look into this connection.

 

What is surprising is that King's call comes after almost a decade of hyper-surveillance on the Muslim community: wiretapping; tens of thousands of interrogations and detentions; consistent surveillance of mosques, which have also been checked for nuclear weapons; recording sermons; racial profiling at airports and other venues; the use of Muslim informants to spy on their own community, as well as cooperation of Muslim leaders and the community with FBI and other law enforcement bodies locally and nationally to fight terrorism.


Let's Speak Up

Spare one hour on February 22, 2011 for the national call in day on the Peter King hearings:

 

We must clearly speak up for ourselves, and against this criminalization of our entire community.

 

Washington Office: Phone: 202-225-7896 Fax: 202-226-2279
Massapequa Park: Phone: 516-541-4225 Fax: 516-541-6602
Suffolk County: 631-541-4225
Email: Pete.King@mail.house.gov