“What's radicalizing American Muslims?” asks Peter King (Newsday - December 19, 2010).
Mr. King, the U.S. Representative for New York's 3rd Congressional district, who has taken the reins as chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, announced his plans to investigate Muslim Americans and to hold hearings on the subject. In his Newsday article he alleges that no moderate Muslims have spoken out against terrorists, "no moral outrage or condemnation." He cites his own record of working with the Muslim community in his district and his support for President Bill Clinton's military offensives in Bosnia in 1995 and Kosovo in 1998. We do not doubt he is an honorable man.
Mr. King's planned hearings on Muslim communities are reminiscent of the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s. His accusations bear no basis in reality. For instance, since 2002, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has clearly condemned violence with open letters in major newspapers both local and national, announcements on TV and radio and worked with Mosques around the country to develop interfaith forums. In addition to specific campaigns, they have compiled a 68-page document showing all of the condemnations of terrorism after September 11th, 2001. It is unfortunate Mr. King missed all that. But, like Senator McCarthy, Mr. King is a true patriot.
The results of a study done by David Schanzer, Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke U., Charles Kurzman, U of N.C., Chapel Hill and Ebrahim Moosa of Duke U., called AntiTerror Lessons of Muslim Americans, identified characteristics and practices of Muslim American Communities that are preventing radicalization and violence:
• Public and private denunciations of terrorism and violence. •Self policing by confronting individuals, preventing radicals from preaching in mosques, working with law enforcement and developing youth programs to address concerns that might lead to radical behavior. •Community building to reduce isolation of Muslims. •Polictical engagement which channels grievances into democratic forums and integrates Muslim Americans into the American mainstream. The recommendations of the study can be found at thinkprogress.org/2010/08/08/mosques-deterrent.
Mr. King seems to have overlooked it, although he is a knowledgable man....
Talat Hamdani is an American who became a commentator after her son was killed during the attacks on September 11, 2001. Her son, Mohammad Salman Hamdani, was a New York Police Department cadet.
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ReplyDelete“What's radicalizing American Muslims?” asks Peter King (Newsday - December 19, 2010).
Mr. King, the U.S. Representative for New York's 3rd Congressional district, who has taken the reins as chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, announced his plans to investigate Muslim Americans and to hold hearings on the subject. In his Newsday article he alleges that no moderate Muslims have spoken out against terrorists, "no moral outrage or condemnation." He cites his own record of working with the Muslim community in his district and his support for President Bill Clinton's military offensives in Bosnia in 1995 and Kosovo in 1998. We do not doubt he is an honorable man.
Mr. King's planned hearings on Muslim communities are reminiscent of the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s. His accusations bear no basis in reality. For instance, since 2002, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has clearly condemned violence with open letters in major newspapers both local and national, announcements on TV and radio and worked with Mosques around the country to develop interfaith forums. In addition to specific campaigns, they have compiled a 68-page document showing all of the condemnations of terrorism after September 11th, 2001. It is unfortunate Mr. King missed all that. But, like Senator McCarthy, Mr. King is a true patriot.
The results of a study done by David Schanzer, Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke U., Charles Kurzman, U of N.C., Chapel Hill and Ebrahim Moosa of Duke U., called AntiTerror Lessons of Muslim Americans, identified characteristics and practices of Muslim American Communities that are preventing radicalization and violence:
• Public and private denunciations of terrorism and violence.
•Self policing by confronting individuals, preventing radicals from preaching in mosques, working with law enforcement and developing youth programs to address concerns that might lead to radical behavior.
•Community building to reduce isolation of Muslims.
•Polictical engagement which channels grievances into democratic forums and integrates Muslim Americans into the American mainstream.
The recommendations of the study can be found at thinkprogress.org/2010/08/08/mosques-deterrent.
Mr. King seems to have overlooked it, although he is a knowledgable man....
Talat Hamdani is an American who became a commentator after her son was killed during the attacks on September 11, 2001. Her son, Mohammad Salman Hamdani, was a New York Police Department cadet.