HEARINGS ON MUSLIMS TRIGGER PANIC - TOP
William Wan, Washington Post, 1/24/11

WESTBURY, N.Y. - They called it a summit to teach Muslims how to fight prejudice and fear. But all day long, fear was inescapable in the fluorescent-lit meeting hall of the Long Island mosque.

The top issue on everyone's mind this month at the Islamic Center of Long Island was this: What could be done to stop planned congressional hearings on alleged hidden radicalism among American Muslims and mosques?

The House hearings, scheduled to begin next month, have touched off a wave of panic throughout the U.S. Muslim community, which has spent much of the past year battling what it sees as a rising tide of Islamophobia. Conference calls, strategy sessions and letter-writing campaigns have been launched. Angry op-eds have compared the congressional inquiry to McCarthyism and the World War II persecution of Japanese Americans. ...

But for those who gathered at the Long Island mosque, the coming hearings represented not just a political issue, but a personal one. For the man organizing the hearings was the very lawmaker who was supposed to represent them in Washington - Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.). Long before he had become their enemy, he had been one of their community's closest friends.

"He used to come to our weddings. He ate dinner in our homes," said the mosque's chairman, Habeeb Ahmed, a short medical technologist with graying hair sitting near the front. "Everything just changed suddenly after 9/11, and now he's holding hearings to say that people like us are radical extremists. I don't understand it." ...

Although no member of the Islamic Center has ever been accused of terrorism, King has singled out the mosque as a hotbed of "radical Islam" and called its leaders extremists who should be put under surveillance. He maintains that most Muslim leaders in the United States aren't cooperating with authorities, even as arrests of homegrown terrorists are rising.

Now, as the new chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, King said he is finally in a position to do something about it.

"My first goal is just to have people even acknowledge this as a real issue," King said. "This politically correct nonsense has kept us from debating and discussing what is one of this country's most vital issues. We are under siege by Muslim terrorists." ...

For years, such statements by King have provoked anger among Muslims in his district, but with the hearings looming, there is also a sense of shame and regret. Long Island Muslims worry that what began long ago as a broken relationship between them and their congressman could soon pose a threat to the entire U.S. Muslim community. (More)

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KING HEARING WITNESS: 'WE ARE AT WAR WITH ISLAM' - TOP
Ayaan Hirsi Ali should not testify before Rep. Peter King
Josh Rosenau, Science Blogs, 1/24/11

I started writing this post hoping to craft an argument that Ayaan Hirsi Ali – a Somali-born atheist (formerly Muslim), a former member of the Dutch Parliament, a screenwriter threatened with assassination for helping Theo van Gogh (who was assassinated) criticize Islam's treatment of women, a feminist critic of Islam who has won acclaim across the political spectrum in the US and Europe – ought to avoid testifying in forthcoming hearings on Islamic terrorism out of enlightened self-interest. The hearings have never been about anything but attacking Muslims in America, continuing the crusade against the Murfreesboro mosque and the lower Manhattan Muslim community center (not at Ground Zero, not a mosque), and committee chairman King is a widely-reviled bigot.

I wanted to observe that the noted feminist would be speaking at the behest of an opponent of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. I wanted to argue that committee chairman Rep Peter King (R-NY) was a torture advocate, self-described as "most fervent fan" of the civil liberties-choking Patriot Act, and was so friendly to the IRA before they foreswore violence that he proudly called himself "the Ollie North of Ireland." He told Politico in 2007: "We have – unfortunately – too many mosques in this country," and surely she wouldn't want to be associated with his regressive, repressive, illiberal agenda! ...

Alas, I made the mistake of researching Hirsi Ali before posting, and my lines about her nuanced and sophisticated take on the situation, my attempts to see the best in her view, were consistently foiled by her actual words. I simply cannot say that Hirsi Ali's views would be twisted to match King's, because I think they are already aligned. ...

Hirsi Ali: I think that we are at war with Islam. And there's no middle ground in wars. Islam can be defeated in many ways. For starters, you stop the spread of the ideology itself; at present, there are native Westerners converting to Islam, and they're the most fanatical sometimes. There is infiltration of Islam in the schools and universities of the West. You stop that. You stop the symbol burning and the effigy burning, and you look them in the eye and flex your muscles and you say, "This is a warning. We won't accept this anymore." There comes a moment when you crush your enemy.

Reason: Militarily?

Hirsi Ali: In all forms, and if you don't do that, then you have to live with the consequence of being crushed. (More)

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ALLEN WEST: KEITH ELLISON 'THE ANTITHESIS OF PRINCIPLES' UPON WHICH COUNTRY WAS FOUNDED (VIDEO) - TOP
Nick Wing, The Huffington Post, 1/24/11

Freshman Tea Party-backed Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) recently got personal in an attack on one of the House's two Muslim representatives, declaring that Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) represents "the antithesis of the principles upon which this country was established."

During an interview with "The Shalom Show," West also said that he plans to "defeat" Ellison, an outspoken Democrat who "supports Islam," according to host Richard Peritz, "intellectually in debate and discourse."

As ThinkProgress notes, West has repeatedly sought to connect Islamic religious beliefs to supposedly anti-American views. (More)

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THE MYTH OF HOMEGROWN ISLAMIC TERRORISM - TOP
By Romesh Ratnesar, Time, 1/24/11

There is a specter haunting the U.S. It is "one of the things that keeps me up at night," Attorney General Eric Holder said last month. North Carolina Representative Sue Myrick, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, has warned President Obama that "there is no doubt" the problem has become "a global threat." The incoming chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Peter King, plans to convene hearings next month on the danger "that threatens the security of us all."

In the wake of the Tucson, Ariz., tragedy, you might think that such high-profile alarm would center on the shortcomings of America's mental-health system or the inadequacy of the country's gun laws. You would be mistaken. Instead, some members of the political class remain fixated on what they regard as a greater national emergency: the purported rise of "homegrown" Islamic terrorists. They point to a string of examples of jihadist activity by U.S. citizens of Muslim faith: the Somali-born Portland, Ore., man who tried to detonate a dud car bomb planted by the FBI at a December tree-lighting ceremony; last summer's failed Times Square bombing by a naturalized Pakistani; the 14 men charged last August with providing support to Islamist militants in Somalia. (See more about Portland's Christmas-tree-bombing plot.)

And then there's Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemen-based Internet imam late of Falls Church, Va., who intelligence officials say now acts as a regional commander for al-Qaeda, with the charge of recruiting impressionable American Muslims to take up arms against their country. In the eyes of some, al-Awlaki and his ilk represent the vanguard of an even more sinister trend: the growing "radicalization" of the estimated 5 million Muslims living in the U.S. "Radicalization is taking place inside America," Myrick wrote in her letter to Obama. "The strikingly accelerated rate of American Muslims arrested for involvement in terrorist activities since May 2009 makes this fact self-evident."

Actually, it doesn't. Though acts of violent extremism by U.S. Muslims appear to have grown, their potency has not. American Muslims remain more moderate, diverse and integrated than the Muslim populations in any other Western society. Despite the efforts of al-Qaeda propagandists like al-Awlaki, the evidence of even modest sympathy for the enemy existing inside the U.S. is minuscule. The paranoia about homegrown terrorism thus vastly overstates al-Qaeda's strength and reflects our leaders' inability to make honest assessments about the true threats to America's security.

Those who beat the drums about the homegrown terrorism threat often gloss over one salient fact: for all the publicity that surrounds cases of domestic jihad, not a single civilian has been killed by an Islamic terrorist on U.S. soil since Sept. 11. (The killing spree by Major Nidal Hasan at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009 doesn't fit the standard definition of terrorism: his motives were not wholly ideological, nor did he deliberately target civilians.) That's due to a number of factors, including the military's assault on al-Qaeda's leadership, tougher homeland-security measures, smart policing and some degree of luck. But the fact that every homegrown terrorism plot has been foiled before it could be carried out also demonstrates the fecklessness of the terrorists themselves. In nearly every case -- including that of Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square bomber, who came closest to succeeding -- homegrown terrorists have been found to have acted almost entirely alone. There has been no vast conspiracy. Terrorist attacks may not require much money or ingenuity, but a lone wolf has little chance of pulling off the kind of mass-casualty strike that counterterrorism experts worry about most. (More)

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NEW TERRORISM ADVISER TAKES A 'BROAD TENT' APPROACH - TOP
Dina Temple-Raston, NPR, 1/24/11

There's a pattern to recent terror attacks in the United States: Americans -- either citizens or residents -- have been behind them. In the past two years, dozens of American citizens and residents have been arrested on terrorism charges.

In some cases, the suspects were young Muslims traveling overseas to train for violent jihad. In others, they're accused of actually trying to launch attacks. Attorney General Eric Holder said homegrown terrorism is one of those things that keeps U.S. officials awake at night.

Now there is someone new at the National Security Council who won't be getting much sleep: He's a former Rhodes College professor named Quintan Wiktorowicz, and he's an expert on, among other things, how some people decide to become terrorists.

"A number of years ago, before he went into government, he did some of the most path-breaking work not only on who was susceptible to being radicalized, but most importantly, who was the most resistant to being radicalized," says Christine Fair, an expert on terrorism and radicalization at Georgetown University. "And the findings that he came up with based upon his work really shattered some of the stereotypes we have about Muslims and radicalization."

As part of his research, Wiktorowicz interviewed hundreds of Islamists in the United Kingdom. After compiling his interviews he came to the conclusion that -- contrary to popular belief -- very religious Muslims were in fact the people who ended up being the most resistant to radicalization. (More)

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CNN VIDEO: TEEN DETAINED IN KUWAIT BACK IN U.S. (CAIR) - TOP
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, 1/22/11

A 19-year-old U.S citizen on "no-fly" list is allowed to leave Kuwait. Jeanne Meserve reports on his airport reception.

Watch the video.

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VIDEO: GULET MOHAMED SPEAKS ON RETURN TO U.S. (CAIR) - TOP
Fox5

Watch the video.

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CAIR-WA HOSTS COLLEGE PANEL ON 'MUSLIMS IN AMERICA' - TOP

(SEATTLE, WA, 1/24/11) -- The Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-WA) recently coordinated a panel discussion at Everett Community College as part of the college's lecture series on "Muslims in America." Panelists were asked to answer the question, "What does it mean to be a Muslim in America?"

Some 150 panel attendees, many of whom had to listen to the panelists' presentations in an overflow room, asked questions about a variety of issues relating to Islam and Muslims.

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT: CAIR-WA Executive Director Arsalan Bukhari, 206-367-4081 or 206-931-3655, E-Mail: abukhari@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, or 202-488-8787, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, 202-341-4171, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com

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PATRIOTS UNITED CLAIMS BIAS TOWARD ISLAM IN SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS - TOP
Ron Matus and Jeffrey S. Solochek, St. Petersburg Times, 1/23/11

They say Florida's social studies textbooks are biased in favor of Islam. They say it's part of a deliberate effort to brainwash American children. They want them fixed or dumped. "I'm not Ms. Paranoid or anything like that," says Sheri Krass, leader of Patriots United, a Broward County-based group with tea party ties. "But I do know I heard some of these major publishers have backing with Arab countries, that are financially backed in some way, or they are somehow being influenced in some way by them."

Patriots United recently sent letters to about 25 of Florida's 67 school districts -- including Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco -- citing a long list of textbooks and passages they found to be pro-Islam, or anti-Christian, or anti-Judaism, or all of the above.

The concerns raise the specter of textbook wars in other states, especially Texas, where ideological camps have long locked horns over everything from the validity of evolution to how much the Founding Fathers were guided by Christianity. (More)

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REJECT PROPOSAL BANNING SHARIA - TOP
Thomas S. Kidd, Houston Chronicle, 1/22/11

Last week, Texas state Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, proposed a Texas state constitutional amendment that would prevent Texas courts from applying "any religious or cultural law." Many Texans are understandably concerned about the threat posed by Muslim jihadists around the world who believe in imposing Sharia, the sacred law of Islam, wherever possible. However, this is no way to address that Muslim threat. This amendment not only sends the wrong message to Muslims in Texas; it sets an ironic precedent that "religious and cultural" values have no place in our laws.

Berman is following Oklahoma, where voters adopted a similar amendment in the November election. That amendment was subsequently blocked by a federal judge, who ruled it violated the First Amendment. My concern is not so much that this initiative violates the First Amendment -- an overused argument, if there ever was one - but that the law would officially oppose the religion of a significant number of Texans, and that it makes an absurd distinction between law, culture and religion. (More)

Kidd is a senior fellow at the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University and the author of "God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution."

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MUSLIM HARASSMENT CASE IN IDAHO MOVES FORWARD - TOP
AP, 1/23/11

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) -- A south-central Idaho judge has ruled there is sufficient evidence to move to district court the case of a man accused of threatening a Muslim woman at a Twin Falls Wal-Mart. (More)

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TEMECULA BRACES FOR APPEAL OF MOSQUE APPROVAL - TOP
Jeff Horseman, The Press-Enterprise, 1/22/11

Temecula officials are preparing for another large crowd and another long night Tuesday when the City Council hears the appeal of a planning panel's decision approving plans for a mosque.

The Planning Commission voted 5-0 on Dec. 1 to approve a permit and development plan for the Islamic Center of Temecula Valley's mosque in the city's rural Nicolas Valley. The vote followed a roughly five-hour hearing in which more than 80 people spoke, many from outside Temecula, to the audience's cheers and jeers.

Emotions boiled to the point where the commission chairman threatened to remove disruptive people. Anti-mosque protesters picketed the hearing two hours before it started.

Temecula resident George Rombach appealed the decision on behalf of the anti-mosque group Concerned American Citizens. Among its main points, Rombach's appeal contends the commission failed to adequately address parking and traffic issues and that two neighboring churches were held to higher standards when they were approved.

Appeals of commission actions are extremely rare, according to the city's planning director.

Hundreds -- many activists from beyond Temecula and even Riverside County -- attended the commission hearing, with overflow seating set up in other parts of City Hall. Similar preparations are being made for Tuesday's hearing, which will be in Temecula's newly opened and bigger City Hall. (More)