White House praises Muslims ahead of House hearing

[Spiraling Leopard]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110306/ap_on_re_us/us_muslim_hearings

STERLING, Va. – Muslim Americans are not part of the terrorism problem facing the U.S. — they are part of the solution, a top White House official said Sunday at a Washington-area mosque.

Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough set the Obama administration's tone for discussions as tensions escalate before the first in a series of congressional hearings on Islamic radicalization. The hearings, chaired by New York Republican Peter King, will focus on the level of cooperation from the Muslim community to help law enforcement combat radicalization.

The majority of the recent terror plots and attempts against the U.S. have involved people espousing a radical and violent view of Islam. Just a few weeks ago a college student from Saudi Arabia who studied chemical engineering in Texas was arrested after he bought explosive chemicals online. It was part of a plan to hide bomb materials inside dolls and baby carriages and blow up dams, nuclear plants or the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush.

King said the Muslim community could and should do more to work with law enforcement to stop its members from radicalizing and recruiting others to commit violence.

"I don't believe there is sufficient cooperation" by American Muslims with law enforcement, King said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." "Certainly my dealings with the police in New York and FBI and others say they do not believe they get the same — they do not give the level of cooperation that they need."

In New York City on Sunday, about 300 protestors gathered in Times Square to speak out against King's hearing, criticizing it as xenophobic and saying that singling out Muslims, rather than extremists, is unfair.

McDonough said that instead of condemning whole communities, the U.S. needs to protect them from intimidation.

McDonough spoke to an interfaith forum at a Northern Virginia mosque known for its longtime relationship and cooperation with the FBI. The executive director of the center, Imam Mohamed Magid, also spoke, as did speakers from a local synagogue and a Presbyterian church.

The administration has tried to strike a balance on the thorny issue, working to go after homegrown Islamic extremists without appearing to be at war with the Muslim world. There has been an effort to build stronger relationships with Muslims — internationally and in the United States.

During his remarks Sunday, McDonough called the mosque a "typically American place" and said it reminded him of his Catholic parish where he grew up in Minnesota.

"Being religious is never un-American. Being religious is quintessentially American," he said.

He commended the mosque's members for taking "an unequivocal stand against terrorism."

"You've sent a message that those who perpetrate such horrific attacks do not represent you or your faith, and that they will not succeed in pitting believers of different faiths against one another," McDonough said.

The White House is close to finalizing a strategy for countering violent extremism. McDonough leads a working group of 13 federal agencies and offices — including the National Counterterrorism Center and the departments of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Justice and State — focused on finding ways to confront the problem.

"No community can be expected to meet a challenge as complex as this alone," McDonough said. "No one community can be expected to become experts in terrorist organizations, how they are evolving, how they are using new tools and technology to reach our young people."

[Spiraling Leopard]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/06/obama-adviser-credits-american-muslim-anti-terror-cooperation-protesters/

Obama Adviser Praises American-Muslim Anti-Terror Cooperation as Protesters Denounce King Hearings

Practicing one's faith does not make him or her an extremist, a top aide to President Obama said Sunday in a speech to Muslims scheduled partly in response to coming congressional hearings on Islamic radicalization.

Speaking at a Muslim community center in Virginia known for its cooperation with the FBI in ferreting out and preventing extremism, Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough said the United States does not practice guilt by association.

"We have a choice. We can choose to send a message to certain Americans that they are somehow 'less American' because of their faith or how they look; that we see their entire community as a potential threat ... Or, we can make another choice. We can send the message that we're all Americans," he said in remarks to the ADAMS Center.

Crediting the Muslim-American community with helping to foil terror plots, McDonough said the U.S. government is making efforts to prevent the process of radicalization, in part by countering terrorist groups that seek to prey on disaffected individuals.

As one of President Obama's top security advisers prepared to speak about cooperation of Muslim Americans with the U.S. government, about 300 people gathered in New York's Times Square Sunday to decry Republican Rep. Peter King's scheduled congressional hearings on the radicalization of Muslims in the United States.

Signs that read "Today I am a Muslim, Too" peppered the crowd, which stood in pouring rain to hear Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the cleric defending construction of a mosque near Ground Zero. 

Rauf said the real enemy isn't Muslims or Islam, it's extremism, a message not so distinct from King's, who said Sunday that he is holding hearings because radical Islam not only poses a threat to the United States as a whole, but is particularly dangerous to American Muslims who are targeted by terror groups.

King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he's dismayed that American-Muslims are not more enthusiastic about the series of hearings, which begin Thursday, since they are the ones most victimized when radical elements infiltrate their communities.

"I've said time and again the overwhelming (majority) of Muslims are good Americans, but the threat is coming from their community and we have to find out why, how it is being done and how to stop it," he told Fox News. "We have an absolute obligation to investigate that."

Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim elected to the House, said that while it's proper to investigate radicalization, he thinks it is wrong to single out a religious minority.

"If we're going to talk about gang violence, I don't think it's right to talk about, you know, only the Irish community and the Westies. I think we talk about gang violence. I think, if we're going to talk about organized crime, it's not right to just talk about the Russian community," Ellison said during a Sunday appearance with King on CNN's "State of the Union."

However, Ellison, who will be participating in the hearings, added that it makes sense to talk to the Muslim community about how to "meet the challenge of public security" to prevent people like Anwar al-Awlaki, the American cleric who fled to Yemen, from reaching his tentacles into American-Muslim communities.

"I think it makes sense to talk about the Internet, confronting ideology of people like Anwar al-Awlaki. I think where he's trying to exploit and misuse Islam, we should counter him with what Islam really does say. And so I do think that there is a place for that. I just think it doesn't make sense to narrow in on a discreet, insular group that has already been the target of a certain amount of discrimination," Ellison said.

In his remarks Sunday, McDonough said that while it is wrong to single out Muslim Americans for scrutiny, he acknowledged that "entire analytic units" at the Homeland Security Department and National Counterterrorism Center are dedicated to studying how terror groups like Al Qaeda twist Islam to radicalize disillusioned individuals.

Local officials are also working with Muslim American communities to develop and expand better communications in light of ongoing threats from predators who seek to exploit disaffected American Muslims.

At the same time, however, McDonough said U.S. efforts extend beyond security matters.

"This engagement can't simply be about terrorism. We refuse to 'securitize' the relationship between the government and millions of law-abiding, patriotic Muslim Americans and other citizens. We refuse to limit our engagement to what we're against, because we need to forge partnerships that advance what we're for, which is opportunity and equal treatment for all," he said.

King said that among the witnesses testifying at his hearing are family members of two men who were radicalized -- one was murdered and one committed an act of violence. He said they will discuss how the imams at the mosques they attended were involved and will offer "telltale indicators" so people can be aware of radicalization efforts within their surroundings.

"Also, we'll see from witnesses how often they are told not to cooperate with the FBI, not to cooperate with the police, and, somehow, a wall of silence builds up and that is part of why I'm holding the hearings," King said.