Muslim Death Threats to Rep. King, Democrats Try to Cancel Terrorism Hearing

[Spiraling Leopard]

http://www.uncoverage.net/2011/03/congressional-hearing-thursday-report-shows-muslims-commit-80-of-u-s-terror/

Tomorrow, Congressman Peter King (R-NY) begins the first-ever hearings in our country on the threat of radical Islam.  What a shame that it has taken ten full years since 9/11 to have this discussion.  Even worse, what a sham it is that we have Muslim groups in this country and their blind-folded apologists trying to stop the hearing from taking place and trying to silence Rep. King.  Already, they have pounded and whined to have their own radicals allowed to testify. Whatever.  Let this hearing proceed.  I will hopefully be able to carry it live on my website, so look for that link early tomorrow.

For now, in answer to the terror sympathizers who say we are unfairly targeting Muslims as fomenting terror in our country, please review these facts from Steven Emerson at the Investigative Project on Terrorism.  80% of the terror events involve Muslims. 80%.

How dare ANYONE deny our right to probe and discuss this threat to our nation.

IPT News
March 9, 2011

http://www.investigativeproject.org/2659/islamists-dominate-doj-list-of-terror-prosecutions

More than 80 percent of all convictions tied to international terrorist groups and homegrown terrorism since 9/11 involve defendants driven by a radical Islamist agenda, a review of Department of Justice statistics shows.

Though Muslims represent about 1 percent of the American population, they constitute defendants in 186 of the 228 cases DOJ lists.

On Thursday, the House Homeland Security Committee holds its first hearing into radicalization among Muslim Americans. Critics have taken issue with the focus on one religious minority, but the DOJ list shows that radical Islamists are disproportionately involved in terror-related crimes.

Al-Qaida is involved in the largest number of prosecutions, representing 30 percent of the 228 terror cases involving an identified group. Hizballah-affiliated defendants are involved in 10.5 percent of the cases and Hamas is part of 9 percent. Pakistani-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba was involved in 6.5 percent of the cases.

The Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka and the Colombian FARC lead the non-Islamist terrorist groups, combining for 14 percent of the total.

The Investigative Project on Terrorism analysis involved reviewing the Justice Department’s list of more than 400 successful terrorism-related prosecutions from Sept. 11, 2001, through March 18, 2010. Those cases that demonstrated defendants with a clear Islamist agenda were placed in that category, while those without a clear tie to radical Islam were excluded. In some cases, defendants with Arabic-sounding names were excluded from the Islamist category, because no definitive tie could be made.

To see the individual case listings, and those which were considered Islamist in nature, click here. To see a separate rundown of more than 30 terror-related prosecution activity in 2010 alone, click here.

The cases listed by DOJ are divided between those involving direct support for terrorist plots or organizations, and those where investigations “involved an identified link to international terrorism” but the resulting indictments and complaints involved charges such as fraud, immigration violations, firearms, drugs, false statements and obstruction of justice.

Among all cases, an Islamist connection was found in at least 46 percent. An almost equal percentage, however, involved cases listed by the DOJ as terror-related, but in which there was insufficient information to determine whether a person was tied to an Islamist cause. In many, it was unclear why the case was included on a list of terror-related prosecutions.

The list emphasizes international terror, so domestic extremist groups like the Hutaree militia and eco-terrorists are not included.

Thirty of the terror cases listed, or about 13 percent, involve homegrown Islamist terrorists.

As the DOJ statistics cover cases prosecuted through March 2010, a series of homegrown Islamist terrorist plots thwarted in the last year are not included. For example, Jordanian Hossam Smadi pleaded guilty in May 2010 to attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction to blow up Fountain Place, a well-recognized skyscraper in downtown Dallas. In September of 2009, Smadi parked a vehicle loaded with what he thought was a live bomb underneath the building. After moving several blocks away from the building, he used a cell phone to detonate the explosive device. Smadi was unaware that the device, provided by the FBI, was inert.

The FBI gained interest in Smadi while monitoring a radical group online. According to the government, Smadi’s “vehement intention” to carry out terrorist attacks on U.S. soil separated him from others in the group. Smadi’s statements exhibited his Islamist beliefs. “To sacrifice in person is the best type of jihad,” “Oh how I love, my brothers, to perform jihad with you in the same rank, in the same field against the same enemy” and statements of support for al-Qaida leaders like Osama bin Laden are just some examples given in a criminal complaint.

Similarly, the FBI arrested several men last fall in separate incidents who had attracted scrutiny due to their expressed desire to participate in violent jihad. Upon sending in agents to investigate further, the FBI discovered the men were all ready to take their rhetoric to the operational level. Farooque Ahmed plotted to attack the Washington, D.C. Metro system, Antonio Martinez targeted a military recruitment center in Maryland and Mohamed Osman Mohamud, tried to bomb a Portland, Ore. Christmas tree-lighting ceremony.

Prosecutors say Ahmed had been “inquiring about making contact with a terrorist organization in order to participate in jihad” overseas. He told someone he thought was a terrorist operative that he wanted to kill Americans in Afghanistan. He replied “of course” when the operative asked whether he wanted to become a martyr.

In a posting on his Facebook page, Martinez exclaimed that “The sword is cumin the reign of oppression is about 2 cease inshallah ta’ala YA mulismeen! Don’t except the free world we are slaves of the Most High and never forget it!”

Mohamud attempted to contact an associate in Pakistan to make plans to travel abroad to prepare for violent jihad and wrote pieces for “Jihad Recollections,” an online publication which condones violent jihad.

Nor does the DOJ list include pending cases, like the prosecution of seven North Carolina men who tried to wage jihad abroad and then talked of shifting to domestic targets when that didn’t work, and most of the prosecutions of more than 20 people charged with providing material support for the Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab.

Examples of cases included in the DOJ list with direct ties to international terrorism include failed airplane bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba operative David Headley, who scouted targets for the 2009 Mumbai attacks.

Cases not directly tied to terrorism but that indirectly helped aid terrorist activity, include Sabri Benkahla, who was convicted in February 2007 on charges of lying to a grand jury, obstruction of justice and making a false statement. Benkahla was part of the “Virginia jihad network” of young Muslim men who played paintball to train for jihad against nations hostile to Islam, including the United States. The group’s spiritual leader Ali Al-Timimi is serving a life sentence for inciting terrorist activity by urging followers to wage jihad against American forces in Afghanistan.

In another case, Fawaz Damra, former imam of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, was convicted by a federal jury in 2004 of lying on his naturalization application about his involvement with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a designated terrorist organization. Evidence presented at his trial included a 1991 speech in which Damra called Jews “the sons of monkeys and pigs” and openly raised money for the PIJ. Damra was subsequently stripped off his U.S. citizenship and deported to the Palestinian territories.

The DOJ list does not demonstrate that vast segments of the Muslim community constitute a threat to carry out terrorist attacks or support groups which do. Assuming a Muslim American population of about 5 million people, the DOJ cases amount to .000004 percent of the community.

However, it is clear that Islamist terrorist movements have been successful in getting support from extremists in the United States. As other recent hearings have shown, more sophisticated online recruitment has helped lure more people to seek jihad.

Unless that trend changes, the DOJ data likely will grow even more disproportionate.

[Spiraling Leopard]

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/148499-democrats-plead-with-king-to-cancel-hearing-on-muslim-radicals

Democrats plead with Rep. King to cancel hearing on US Muslims
By Jordy Yager - 03/09/11 05:08 PM ET

More than 50 Democrats on Wednesday pleaded with House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Pete King (R-N.Y.) to cancel his panel’s hearing on radicalization within the Muslim American community.

A group of 56 lawmakers said in a letter to King that the hearing will jeopardize trust between Muslims in the U.S. and law enforcement officials, adding that “the stated narrow scope and underlying premises of these hearings unfairly stigmatizes and alienates Muslim Americans.”

They asked King to broaden the scope of the hearing to include extremists of all ideologies and motivations. The hearing on Thursday is titled, “The extent of radicalization in the American Muslim community and that community's response.”

“Singling out one religious group and blaming the actions of individuals on an entire community is not only unfair, it is unwise — and it will not make our country any safer,” the group of lawmakers wrote in the letter.

The committee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Bennie Thompson (Miss.), made the same plea to King last month. But King responded that he “will not allow political correctness to obscure a real and dangerous threat to the safety and security of the citizens of the United States.”

The hearing has sparked a furor in the media and among Islamic and civil-liberty groups, like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), that say Muslims are being unfairly targeted. They have called for King to cast a wider net that encompasses neo-Nazis and environmental extremists.

King told the Hill on Tuesday that he was somewhat surprised by the public outcry over the hearings because the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has held multiple hearings of the same nature over the past several years, with little or no opposition.

Hearings before the Senate panel have included titles such as: “Violent Islamist Extremism: Al-Shabaab Recruitment in America,” “The Roots of Violent Islamist Extremism and Efforts to Counter It” and “Violent Islamist Extremism: Government Efforts to Defeat It.”

The letter on Wednesday was signed by the ranking Democrat on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, Bob Filner (Calif.); the House Financial Services Committee, Barney Frank (Mass.); the House Judiciary Committee, John Conyers Jr. (Mich.); and the House Education and Labor Committee, George Miller (Calif.).

The only two Muslims in Congress, Reps. Andre Carson (Ind.) and Keith Ellison (Minn.), also signed the letter, as did New York Reps. Gregory Meeks and Jose Serrano.

Others to sign the letter were Democratic Reps. Jim Moran (Va.), John Dingell (Mich.), Michael Capuano (Mass.), Mike Honda (Calif.), Jesse Jackson Jr. (Ill.), Earl Blumenauer (Ore.) and Raul Grijalva (Ariz.).

“I am proud to represent a diverse community where Muslim Americans make valuable contributions to our society each day,” said Moran in a statement. “Hearings that call into question the loyalty of a group of American citizens based upon their religious faith does not reflect our nation’s values and is counterproductive in the fight against terrorism.

"I strongly urge Chairman King to call off these hearings or expand their scope to include all forms of violent extremism."

Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) on Wednesday shied away from condemning or endorsing the hearing, and instead stressed the need to unite the public around the common goal of protecting America's national security.

"In a nation founded on diversity and strengthened by the contributions of many faiths, including those of Muslim Americans, we must never use religion as a wedge to divide the American people," Pelosi said in a statement.   

"Instead, we must state in a united voice: Violence in the name of any religion is a betrayal of our fundamental values as Americans. And any responsible national security strategy must be rooted in facts, fairness and an unending commitment to the rights and liberties of every American."

[Spiraling Leopard]

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/148269-king-receives-threats-on-eve-of-his-hearing

King receives threats on hearing's eve
By Jordy Yager - 03/08/11 09:19 PM ET

Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) is receiving a barrage of threatening phone calls, some from overseas, which has led to increased police protection ahead of Thursday’s hearing on the possible radicalization of American Muslims.

King told The Hill that he’s not concerned about his safety and that the hearing, which will examine whether the Muslim community in the U.S. is being targeted by terrorist groups to carry out attacks, will proceed as scheduled.

“There were some threats from overseas and a number of other remarks,” said King, the chairman of House Homeland Security Committee. “Whatever threat analysis police have done, they believe I warrant security. I don’t ask for it and I certainly don’t turn away any security that police think I should have. I leave it up to them.”

Added security is coming from the Nassau County Police Department and the New York City department for the hearing, King said.

But the 10-term lawmaker is not the only security concern. Some in the intelligence community are worried the hearing could jeopardize national security.

The hearing has sparked a furor in the media and among Islamic and civil-liberty groups, like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), that say Muslims are being unfairly targeted. They have called for King to cast a wider net that encompasses neo-Nazis and environmental extremists.

The worry in the intelligence community is that the hearing — which is aimed at investigating recruitment tactics — has reached such a contentious level that ideological extremists could use it as evidence the U.S. is discriminating against Muslims.

“If the Islamic community feels that they’re being targeted, it could fuel the fire of people who are recruiting [and] saying, ‘This is discrimination, this is why we want you to join our side, this is why we want you to attack,’ ” said Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (Md.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “And unfortunately, they could use the religion to get to the endgame of an attack.”

Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper voiced similar concerns in testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence last month, saying that terrorist recruiters could attempt to exploit “anti-Islamic incidents, legislation and activities, such as threat of Koran burning and restrictions on Muslim attire.”

King acknowledged the precariousness of the situation, saying he nonetheless would rather hold the hearing than bow to the concern that it could be used as ammunition against the U.S.

“This becomes a vicious cycle,” he said. “There’s a cause of this radicalization in the Muslim American community that is a real threat to the United States. The only way we can counter it is by letting the public know about it and by encouraging the Muslim American community to speak out against it.

“Then when I do that and radical Muslim groups attack me, they say I’m creating division and will create more recruits. Well, we can’t have it both ways. And my point is, in that case we would do nothing because it may inflame a certain people in the Muslim community. I have made a decision that it’s more important to expose it for what it is and bring it out in the open, as you do in a democracy. Anyone who’s going to attack is going to attack us anyway.”

For all of the opposition to the hearing, King does have his supporters. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) backs the hearing, saying that it is essential to understand the evolving terrorist threat against the U.S.

“That’s where the war is going,” Graham told The Hill. “The more we know about what’s out there and how we can prevent it, the better off we are. No one’s suggesting putting anyone in jail, but Peter is suggesting that we try to find out what is being used out there by our enemies directed toward young Americans. I think that’s a good thing to inquire into.”

The ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), told The Hill that — while she wasn’t fully acquainted with King’s hearing — her panel has looked into the very same issue many times.

King echoed Collins’s remarks, saying that he’s been surprised by the objections to his hearing, mainly because the Senate has held similar hearings in the recent past, with little or no opposition.

The hearing is expecting a bevy of protesters and is taking RSVPs from the press because it expects such high attendance.

The White House, as if anticipating the potential for damage control on relations with the Muslim American community, sent President Obama’s deputy national security adviser, Denis McDonough, to address the All Dulles Area Muslim Society on Sunday in Northern Virginia.

“Our challenge, and the goal that President Obama has insisted that we also focus on, is on the front end [of] preventing al Qaeda from recruiting and radicalizing people in America in the first place,” McDonough said. “And we know this isn’t the job of government alone. It has to be a partnership with you.”