FIVE CHARGED IN ALLEGED PLOT TO KIDNAP OR KILL TROOPERS, JUDGE - TOP
Casey Grove, Anchorage Daily News, 3/11/11
Five people in the Fairbanks area were arrested Thursday by state and federal law enforcement on charges connected with an alleged plot to kidnap or kill state troopers and a Fairbanks judge, according to the Alaska State Troopers.
Francis "Schaeffer" Cox, Lonnie Vernon, Karen Vernon, Coleman Barney and Michael Anderson are accused of conspiring to commit murder, kidnapping, and arson, as well as weapons misconduct, hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence, according to trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters in a written statement late Thursday.
An investigation "revealed extensive plans to kidnap or kill Alaska state troopers and a Fairbanks judge," the statement said. The plans included "extensive surveillance" on the homes of two Fairbanks troopers, the statement said.
"Investigation also revealed that extensive surveillance on troopers in the Fairbanks area had occurred, specifically on the locations of the homes for two Alaska state troopers," the statement said. "Furthermore, Cox et. al. had acquired a large cache of weapons in order to carry out attacks against their targeted victims. Some of the weapons known to be in the cache are prohibited by state or federal law." (More)
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VIDEO: STEWART, COLBERT MOCK KING'S MUSLIM 'RADICALIZATION' HEARING -TOP
Colbert Report: Peter King Understands Violent Radicalism
Tennessee fights back against Sharia law, and Peter King holds a hearing to investigate radical American Muslims.
View the video.
Daily Show: Radical Muslim Hearings
Peter King ironically launches hearings to investigate American Muslims while defending his ties to the IRA.
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REP. CHU: ANTI-MUSLIM HEARING IS AN AFFRONT TO PATRIOTIC AMERICANS - TOP
Judy Chu, Special to the Mercury News, 3/10/11
This week, Republican Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, held a narrowly focused hearing on the supposed radicalization of American Muslims and homegrown terrorism.
After watching the devastation of the Oklahoma City bombing and Sept. 11, we must protect our citizens against terrorism originating from both within our borders and abroad. But I want to make clear to Peter King that Islam is not a terrorist organization, it is a religion. And Muslims living in the United States are not terrorists, they are Americans.
Muslims in America are from every background. They come from every corner of the world. They are white, black, Asian and other. They have immigrated to the United States, and they have been born here. They have traveled the world, and they have never left the United States. And while they may all share common beliefs, as a group, they are also patriots.
The committee's witch hunt for Muslim radicals will do little to make our nation safer. That's because it chose to target Muslims without evidence that there is a legitimate threat. The result is a conviction in the trial of the public arena, giving some in our society a chance to deepen their prejudices against Muslims.
This type of prejudice has already led to acts of hatred against innocent Americans like Ahmad, a Muslim elementary school student in California. His peers began to call him a "terrorist" and asked him "when he planned to blow" things up at school. (More)
JUDY CHU (D-32nd Congressional District, including East Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley) is chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and is the first Chinese American woman elected to Congress. She wrote this for this newspaper.
VIDEO: CAIR SAYS KING HEARINGS 'JUST DIVIDING US FURTHER' - TOP
View the video.
There was emotional testimony Thursday on Capitol Hill as Washington began controversial hearings into Muslim radicalization. At the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), they say these hearings aren't making us any safer. They're just dividing us further. ...
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CAIR-FL: TAMPA MUSLIMS REACT TO HEARINGS - TOP
Fox, 3/10/11
TAMPA - Some local Muslims say there was a lot of misinformation during Thursday's Congressional hearings into Muslim extremism.
A group of Bay Area Muslims, interfaith and civil rights leaders held a news conference earlier Thursday afternoon.
They say the Muslim-American community is doing its part to fight radicalism.
"We're concerned that singling out this group, singling out Muslims for these hearings.. It's happened in the past in this country, and it's never been a good thing. So we need to stand should to shoulder with our Muslim brothers and sisters," said Melda Underbakke, with Friends of Civil Rights.
They say we obviously need to be concerned about any threat to America, and they say they're not asking for special treatment -- just equal treatment.
Ramsy Kiliç, with the Tampa chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relation, says he has reservations about the Representative Peter King, the congressman heading the hearings.
Kiliç also said it is not fair to target the Muslim community, and says Bay Area Muslims are cooperating with law enforcement to fight extremism. (More)
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NY TIMES DEBUNKS KING HEARING SMEARS TARGETING CAIR - TOP
Scott Shane, New York Times, 3/11/11
WASHINGTON -- At Thursday's contentious Congressional hearing on radicalization in the American Islamic community, one Muslim advocacy group became a repeated target for damning accusations from Republicans: the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR.
Representative Peter T. King of New York, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, led off the critics, calling CAIR "discredited" and congratulating the Federal Bureau of Investigation for cutting off high-level cooperation with the group. Representative Frank R. Wolf of Virginia accused CAIR of "an attempt to stifle debate and obstruct cooperation with law enforcement." Representative Chip Cravaack of Minnesota went further, telling a witness, Leroy D. Baca, the Los Angeles County sheriff, "Basically, you're dealing with a terrorist organization."
Mr. Baca, the only law enforcement official invited to testify, who said he worked regularly with the CAIR chapter in his area, pushed back. "I have not experienced anything that suggests that CAIR supports terrorism," he said. He suggested that such accusations should not be cast about recklessly in the absence of solid evidence.
For the casual observer, it may have been a puzzling set of comments. But it is an old argument for CAIR, an aggressive civil rights organization that has long been pilloried by conservatives as the American Civil Liberties Union with a Muslim spin. A representative of the group was not invited to testify at the hearing on Thursday but submitted 30 pages of written testimony -- including a list of dozens of CAIR statements dating back to 1997 condemning terrorist attacks around the world, among them attacks in the United States and Israel.
"We are the answer to violent extremism," said Nihad Awad, a Palestinian-American who is the executive director of CAIR, noting the group's longstanding campaign against religious violence, called "Not in the Name of Islam."
Mr. Awad said Thursday's hearing, called by Mr. King, was "political theater" intended to score points, not to elucidate facts. "No one is more concerned about terrorism in the United States than we are," Mr. Awad said. This is in part because Muslim Americans face a backlash every time a Muslim is accused of plotting or carrying out terrorism in the United States. (More)
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MUSLIMS ON CAPITOL HILL FIND HEARINGS DISPIRITING - TOP
SAMUEL G. FREEDMAN, New York Times, 3/11/11
So this week, despite his political affinity for conservatives and Republicans, Mr. Khan has found himself indignant and appalled. Representative Peter T. King, a conservative Republican from Long Island, has convened hearings into what he says is the radicalization of American Muslims and the supposed refusal to cooperate with law enforcement officials. (More)
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CAIR ACTION: THANK SHERIFF BACA, REP. SANCHEZ, REP. RICHARDSON FOR SPEAKING OUT AGAINST WITCH-HUNT OF MUSLIMS - TOP
(LOS ANGELES, CA, 3/10/11) -- The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) calls on all Americans to thank Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) and Congresswoman Laura Richardson (D-Calif.) for presenting a strong voice that affirmed American Muslims' partnership in protecting the homeland and a levelheaded counter to the McCarthyesque hearing held by Congressman Peter King (R-NY) on Muslims and Radicalization.
In today's hearing, Sheriff Baca testified:
"The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has long been a leader in the development of relationships with the various ethnic, cultural and religious communities that thrive in the Los Angeles area. Nowhere is that relationship more positive than that which exists between my agency and the American Muslim Community. We have established strong bonds through continuing outreach and physical presence at events important to the community and law enforcement. I would caution that to comment only on the extent of radicalization in the American Muslim Community may be viewed as singling out a particular section of our nation. This makes a false assumption that any particular religion or group is more prone to radicalization than others."
Also at the hearing, Homeland Security Subcommittee member Congresswoman Sanchez and Congresswoman Richardson expressed concerns over singling out one religious group and advocated for American Muslims' Constitutional rights. (More)
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CAIR-MN: MINN. MUSLIMS FEAR HEARINGS FOCUS BLAME TOO NARROWLY - TOP
Allie Shah and Rose French, Star Tribune, 3/11/10
Minnesota Muslims kept a close watch Thursday on the controversial terrorism hearings on Capitol Hill and two of the star witnesses -- U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison and Somali community activist Abdirizak Bihi.
Somali-American leaders joined other Muslim groups at a Minneapolis conference center to watch the proceedings and discuss "homegrown terrorism."
"We recognize there's a problem with Muslims carrying out these attacks, but there are also problems in other communities," said Lori Saroya, president of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN). "We need to look at it as violence in and of itself, extremism, not just in the Muslim community, but in general." (More)
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CAIR-FL: PALM BEACH COUNTY MUSLIMS AND CIVIL RIGHTS EXPERTS QUESTION NEED FOR TERRORISM HEARINGS - TOP
Lona O'Connor, The Palm Beach Post, 3/10/11
The congressional hearings on Islamic terrorism raise unsettling issues for observers in South Florida.
Just last month, Nezar Hamze, executive director of the South Florida office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, attended a workshop that included representatives of law enforcement and more than 30 leaders of local Islamic organizations. The topic: How to identify and capture Muslim terrorists. (More)
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CAIR: ANTI-SHARIAH MEASURE INTRODUCED IN NEW MEXICO - TOP
Matthew Arco, Roswell Daily Record, 3/10/11
A Roswell Senate lawmaker is seeking a constitutional amendment aimed at banning the use of Islamic law in New Mexico courts.
Sen. Rod Adair's, R-Roswell, Senate joint resolution would prohibit state judges from considering or applying Sharia or international laws of other nations or cultures in their decisions. The resolution, which would go before New Mexicans for a vote if it were to clear the Roundhouse, was slated for discussion during the Senate Rules Committee, Wednesday ...
The resolution reads "the courts shall not consider or apply Sharia law" and "the courts shall not consider or apply a rule of comity to the legal precepts of other nations or cultures, international law, laws promulgated by foreign governments or national laws of foreign countries." ...
A chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations was successful in blocking a similar constitutional amendment in Oklahoma, which also sought to ban Islamic law in the state's courts.
In November 2010, a federal judge temporarily blocked Oklahoma from putting it into effect after the measure passed with about 70 percent of voters supporting it, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which sued to block the amendment.
Hooper says similar proposals to Adair's resolution have been introduced in about a dozen states, calling it "an unfortunate trend."
"I think we're going to see more of it in the run up to the 2010 elections," he said. "Quite frankly, I don't think that the sponsors of these bills really care that much that they actually get enacted -- they're more interested in throwing mud against the wall (and) smearing Islam." (More)
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CAIR-CA: BUS DRIVER CHARGED IN ATTACK ON MADERA MOSQUE - TOP
Jim Guy, The Fresno Bee, 3/10/11
MADERA -- A Chowchilla school bus driver has been charged with firebombing a Planned Parenthood office here last September, and authorities said Thursday he also is responsible for vandalism and menacing signs left at the city's Islamic center.
Donny Eugene Mower, 37, of Madera, was arrested Wednesday on federal charges of attacking a reproductive health clinic. If convicted, he faces a minimum of five years in prison.
The September firebombing came several weeks after someone threw a brick at the Madera Islamic Center and left signs there, including one that read, "Wake up America, the enemy is here."
An entity calling itself the "American Nationalist Brotherhood" took credit for both incidents, but U.S. Attorney Ben Wagner said Mower is its only member. Wagner said his office is determining whether also to prosecute Mower for hate crimes. ...
Basim Elkarra, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Sacramento, attended the news conference and called on political leaders to choose their words more carefully. He said inflamed rhetoric could provoke such attacks. He noted the incidents at the Islamic center coincided with protests about a proposed Islamic center near the site of the 9/11 attacks in New York City. He added that the current House hearings on radical Islam also may spark violence. (More)
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COURT CASE AT CENTER OF MUSLIMS' STEREOTYPING FEARS - TOP
Dina Temple-Raston, NPR, 3/10/11
Thursday's Capitol Hill hearings on the radicalization of Muslims in the U.S. plays on the community's worst fears about stereotyping.
It's those fears that were at the center of a recent landmark court case. It involved 40 Muslims from the Buffalo, N.Y., area who had crossed the border into Canada to attend an Islamic conference -- and were detained upon return. (More)
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