Muslim Radicalization Hearings

Round 2: Pete King To Look At Muslim Radicalization In Prisons

Benjy Sarlin | June 15, 2011, 5:45AM

Rep. Pete King (R-NY)

Rep. Peter King's (R-NY) much-maligned look into the Muslim threat within continues on Wednesday with a hearing on radicalization in American prisons.

Like King's previous Homeland Security Committee hearings, his latest effort is already drawing protests from religious leaders who are concerned he's unfairly stoking paranoia about Muslim Americans' loyalty to their country. A group of Long Island civic and religious institutions organized a news conference on Tuesday to decry the prison hearing.

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Jon Stewart

Stewart: Protestors Treated Praying Muslim Like He Was Shooting Free Throws (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | March 9, 2011, 7:10AM

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart aired TPM's footage of anti-Sharia protestors taunting and throwing crosses at the feet of a Muslim man worshipping in front of the White House in a segment last night on Rep. Peter King's controversial hearings on the radicalization of the Muslim community.

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Pete King

Coalition: King's Hearings Will Promote 'Demonization And Scapegoating' Of Muslims

Ryan J. Reilly | March 8, 2011, 1:40PM

Rep. Peter King (R-NY)

A group of over 50 progressive organizations sent a letter to Rep. Peter King expressing concern over King's plan to hold hearings targeting American Muslims.

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Michael Yaki

Civil Rights Commission May Examine Anti-Muslim Discrimination

Ryan J. Reilly | March 8, 2011, 12:00PM

Michael Yaki, a former member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights who is awaiting reappointment, tells TPM he's planning to propose the federal body examine the rise of anti-Islam and anti-Arab discrimination in America once he rejoins the agency.

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Muslim Public Affairs Council

American Muslims Decry 'Cottage Industry Of Hate' Ahead Of Pete King Hearings

Ryan J. Reilly | March 2, 2011, 3:30PM

Rep. Allen West (R-FL) and Rep. Peter King (R-NY)

Muslim Americans concerned about anti-Islam rhetoric in the United States described a "cottage industry of hate" during a Capitol Hill panel Wednesday a week ahead of Rep. Peter King's hearing on the radicalization of the Muslim community in America.

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Pete King

Peter King: I Won't Widen Hearings To Include Non-Muslim Extremism

Rachel Slajda | January 11, 2011, 1:27PM

Rep. Peter King (R- NY)

Rep. Peter King (R-NY), who just became chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, says he will not widen the scope of his hearings on "Muslim radicalization" to include non-Muslim extremists.

The ranking member of the committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), had, in the wake of the Tucson shootings, called for King to expand his investigation to non-Muslim extremism as well.

King declined, according to Newsday, saying the shootings in Arizona are besides the point.

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Muslims

Keith Ellison: Sure, Have Hearings On Radicalization -- Just Don't Target Muslims

Rachel Slajda | December 23, 2010, 8:49AM

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN)

The U.S. House's first Muslim congressman is totally fine with Rep. Peter King's planned hearings on radicalization -- as long as they doesn't focus on Muslims alone.

"It is legitimate to want to know what converts a [peaceful] citizen to somebody who would want to kill their fellow Americans," Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) told TPM in a phone interview Wednesday. "I think that's a fair question, and I don't think we know enough about it."

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Bennie Thompson

Top Homeland Security Dem: Muslim 'Radicalization' Hearings Could 'Chill' Muslim Relations

Rachel Slajda | December 17, 2010, 3:50PM

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS)

A planned Republican-led inquiry into the "radicalization" of Muslim-Americans could "chill" relations between the U.S. government and its Muslim citizens, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee told TPM today.

As we reported earlier, Rep. Peter King (R-NY), the soon-to-be chairman of the committee is planning hearings on Muslim-Americans and terrorism next year.

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the current chairman who will be ranking member once Republicans take over in January, thinks that might not be a great idea.

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Homeland Security Committee

House GOP To Hold Hearings On 'Radicalization' Of American Muslims

Rachel Slajda | December 17, 2010, 1:03PM

Rep. Pete King (R-NY)

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) is planning to hold hearings on the "radicalization" of American Muslims when he takes over the chair of the Homeland Security Committee next year, the New York Times reports.

King told the Times he's concerned that Muslim-American leaders are increasingly reluctant to help out with the government's terror investigations.

"When I meet with law enforcement, they are constantly telling me how little cooperation they get from Muslim leaders," King said.

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Feisal Abdul Rauf

'Ground Zero Mosque' Imam Was A Bush-Era Partner For Mideast Peace

Megan Carpentier | August 12, 2010, 8:20AM

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and Karen Hughes

Tuesday, Reps. Peter King (R-NY) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) called Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf -- best known for his work with multicultural Cordoba Initiative to build a mosque and community center in Lower Manhattan -- a "radical" and criticized the Obama Administration for including him on a Middle East speaking tour. That tour, which includes stops in Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, is designed by the public diplomacy office to explain to Muslims abroad what it's like to be a Muslim in America.

Outside of how getting constantly called a radical by American politicians busy flacking the proposed "Ground Zero mosque" for political purposes might affect Rauf's view of what it's like to be a Muslim in America, there's one other big problem with King's and Ros-Lehtinen's accusation: Rauf already represented America in this way, under the Bush Administration.

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Sarah Palin

Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Mosque? TPM Rounds Up The Latest In Right-Wing Fear-Mongering

Jillian Rayfield | July 29, 2010, 8:30AM

Clockwise from top left: Former Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), Rep. Peter King (R-NY), and NY Gov. candidate Carl Paladino (R). Center: A mosque.

The right-wing controversy du jour? Construction of several mosques throughout the U.S. -- perhaps most notably, a Muslim community center near Ground Zero in New York City. In many cases, the right-wing fear-mongering has fed a shrill campaign warning against Muslims inevitably using their places of worship to conspire to implant sharia law in the lives of unsuspecting Americans.

So which right-wingers are most afraid of the big bad mosques? TPM rounds up the worst offenders.

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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Hoekstra: Abdulmutallab Should Be Classified As 'Enemy Combatant'

Justin Elliott | December 30, 2009, 1:42PM

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI)

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) believes the Obama Administration should have ordered that alleged terrorist Umar Abdulmutallab be taken into military custody and held as an enemy combatant, his spokesman tells TPMmuckraker.

Abdulmutallab is currently in federal prison in Michigan and is expected to be tried in U.S. district court.

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