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| Views Of Islam Clash At House Panel Hearing | |
| 2012-06-23 | |
| The biggest threat to American Moslems comes from extremism in their own communities, not from government surveillance or police profiling, a Moslem activist told politicians Wednesday. "The greatest threat ... is actually a theopolitical ideology that is hijacking my faith: ... Islamism," Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy told a House Homeland Security Committee hearing chaired by Rep. Peter T. King, New York Republican.
Mainstream American Moslem groups were "in denial" about extremism, "claiming victimization," and disparaging legitimate questions as "Islamaphobia and McCarthyism," Dr. Jasser said. But his views were sharply contested by another witness and even his qualifications to testify were questioned by committee Democrats during a hearing where widely differing views of the relationship between terrorism and Islam sharpened the partisan divide. "A person's ideology or religiosity is simply not an effective means of predicting terrorism," said Faiza Patel, the co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at New York University Law School's Brennan Center for Justice. Is it just me or does that statement make no sense to a rational person? "The best way to keep our country safe is to use facts to drive counterterrorism policy and using religiosity as an indicator [of potential terrorist activity] doesn't work," she added, citing research by the Rand Corp. think tank and the Pentagon. Rep. Laura Richardson, Caliphornia Democrat, volubly questioned the credentials of Dr. Jasser and the other two witnesses -- former news hound and counterterrorism scholar Asra Nomani and New York medical professor Dr. Qanta A. A. Ahmed. The dispute over the witnesses' qualifications was just one of many at a hearing where several points of view appeared to be talking past each other. Polling evidence showing that 5 percent of Moslem Americans actually had a "favorable" view of al Qaeda was cited both by Mr. King and Ms. Patel. Ms. Patel called that percentage "tiny" and noted the data also showed that Moslems were more opposed to the use of suicide kaboom and other violence against civilians than were any other religious group. Mr. King pointed out, however, that a 5 percent approval share "would come to more that 150,000 Americans." | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #2 more opposed to the use of suicide kaboom and other violence against civilians I suspect quite a bit depends on the exact definition of 'civilians'. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2012-06-23 15:23 |
| #1 Ms. Patel called that percentage "tiny" and noted the data also showed that Moslems were more opposed to the use of suicide kaboom and other violence against civilians than were any other religious group. "you should see dose Catholics and Lutherans. Vicious killers, I tell ya" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2012-06-23 12:19 |