At King’s Islamic hearings, Muslim victims warn Congress while Dems question their very participation, and Hamas-CAIR says, “No such thing as Islamism,” Islam is Islam

Hamas-CAIR tracked Peter King's hearing on radicalization, with chapter leaders posting a stream of criticism on Twitter. "No such thing as Islamism," Michigan Director Dawud Walid claimed. "Is there Christianism or Jewishism?"

I. told. ya. so.

I have pointed this out repeatedly (and the reason I insert [sic] after "islamism" in every news report that uses it.) Islamist and Islamism are western constructs, a fabrication, an artificial distinction. Islam is Islam.

The problem is not with Muslims, the problem is with ideology. Zuhdi Jasser's remarks are once again off the mark. "He said he hoped the hearings could serve as 'a dialogue to bridge between those who see no problem in the Muslim community and those who see all Muslims as a problem.'"

Dissembling. No one sees "all Muslims as the problem." It's not Muslims, it's the ideology.

At Islamic radicalization hearings, moderate Muslims warn Congress while Dems question their very participation Steve Emerson, JWR

The fifth House Homeland Security Committee hearing on radicalization within the Muslim community ended Wednesday much as last year's inaugural hearing began: With committee Democrats criticizing the premise and diminishing the views of witnesses.

The hearing, "The American Muslim Response to Hearings on Radicalization within their Community," featured three Muslim American activists describing their first-hand experiences identifying and challenging extremist viewpoints and visceral reaction that often generates.

Those accounts were largely dismissed, however, as representatives stuck to talking points about the horrible harm they saw being caused by the very discussion. Ranking Democrat Bennie Thompson of Mississippi worried the hearings helped "provide a Congressional stamp of approval for groups that espouse anti-Muslim beliefs" and fuel anti-Muslim hate crimes.

None of the critics offered an example of any crime which was in any way connected to the congressional hearings.

Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., invoked the Japanese internment camps during World War II.

That left Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y., frustrated. He cited a statement by Attorney General Eric Holder that there was a crisis of radicalization to violence within the Muslim-American community. Past testimony showed "[t]he threat posed by radicalized Muslim-Americans is a clear and present danger to homeland security," he said in his prepared remarks. Widely accessible videos and books in prison libraries fuel the radicalization, he noted. And classified information shows a growing problem of Islamist extremism within U.S. military ranks has reached a "truly eye-popping amount of ongoing cases."

National Islamist [sic] organizations like the Council on American-Islamic Relations tracked the hearing with chapter leaders posting a stream of criticism on Twitter. "No such thing as Islamism," Michigan Director Dawud Walid claimed. "Is there Christianism or Jewishism?"

Yet, the discussion remained blocked by partisanship.

That's by design, witnesses said.

"If you label anybody that addresses this [as] an Islamophobe or a bigot, it stifles free speech," said ZuhdiJasser, founder of the American-Islamic Forum for Democracy and a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. "It prevents us from dealing with the very issue that we need to."

He said he hoped the hearings could serve as "a dialogue to bridge between those who see no problem in the Muslim community and those who see all Muslims as a problem."

For all the talk of fueling anti-Muslim sentiment, the hearings provide a chance to explain the distinction between the faith of Islam and the politics of Islamism, said Qanta Ahmed, a writer and physician who treats 9/11 first responders.

One is a faith, she said. The other is political ideology. For all the rhetoric, nothing debated in the radicalization hearings has crimped her ability to practice her religion. "I am more free to worship here than in any Muslim majority nation," she said. "Our rights are not at risk. That gets lost in the debate."

King echoed that, saying "none of the nightmare scenarios anticipated by the media ever occurred. No religious war broke out. Not one bigoted word was uttered during the four investigative hearings we held."

There is a cultural element in play, said former Wall Street Journal reporter AsraNomani. Many Muslims have become what she called "wound collectors," citing a phrase created by an FBI agent. They cling to ancient grievances, dating back to the Crusades, and quickly turn defensive and in denial to any outside criticism.

The Quran calls on people to stand for justice, she said, even if it's within your own community. That's often easier said than done, and for Muslims like herself it creates "a culture clash where you can't talk to each other."

National Islamist organizations like the Council on American-Islamic Relations tracked the hearing with chapter leaders posting a stream of criticism on Twitter. "No such thing as Islamism," Michigan Director Dawud Walid claimed. "Is there Christianism or Jewishism?"

The term is not an invention by non-Muslims, though. The Muslim Brotherhood uses it, and this website is devoted to it.

In the inaugural hearing last year, California Democrat Jackie Speier denigrated the panelists' experiences, calling them anecdotes that offered little from which to learn. Rep. Laura Richardson, D-Calif., picked up that theme Wednesday, comparing the witness testimony to an episode of "Oprah."

Future hearings need more authoritative witnesses, she said, or else it's "similar to a community town hall that does not rise to the level of U.S. Congress."

King angrily rebutted that, noting the committee often presents classified briefings to its members.

Faiza Patel, co-director of New York University Law School's Liberty and National Security Program, stressed her view that signs of stricter religious practices among Muslims were not signs of a trend toward violent radicalization. She rejected the notion offered by some in law enforcement of a "conveyor belt" of radicalization, saying it does nothing to help identify those with potential to engage in terrorism.

Dissembling again.

"If there isn't a conveyor belt I guess terrorists self-combust immediately," Jasser responded. Fort Hood shooter NidalHassan "did not radicalize overnight."

King challenged Patel, too, noting prepared testimony from the Department of Homeland Security which acknowledged that "the greatest terrorist risk from those extremists who have either been recruited by Al-Qa'ida or its affiliates or inspired by their ideology. This threat is real" and played out in both a successful attack on Fort Hood and an attempted follow-up.

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prestigio

11 years ago

absolutely correct
islam is islam
it’s a satanic hate cult

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Guy Macher

11 years ago

Muslims are the problem. They put the doctrine of evil into action. It was not the ideology of Hitler that was the problem, it was that believers in Hitler’s ideas, Nazis, put the evil ideas into action.
Muslims are the problem. No one has to be a Muslim. Muslims adopt the evil of Islam and agree to work out its evil. Ideas don’t kill people, people do!

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Angel Lasuma

11 years ago

Islam is a an evil cult patterned after that pedophile, rapist , murdering bastard Mohamad whose doctrine is cemented in the minds of Muscum meant to kill every single unbeliever , so never mind sitting with them! Bastard terrorists will remain terrorists! Period!

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Angel Lasuma

11 years ago

Creed of the Muslim Brotherhood ( CAIR) ” Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Koran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest honor.” So, why dialogue with these bastards? Wake up, America!

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Choi

11 years ago

Guess it’s TRUE,Oprah is OUT with the “First Couple”,therefore Lefty Democratic Congresswomen use her name in MOCKERY.
They’ll throw anyone and everyone under the bus.
Now what would it take for Oprah to do to them what she did for them in 2008?

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VLParker

11 years ago

Well, somebody better tell the folks at frontpagemagazine.com that Islam is Islam.
Current articles at Front Page:
P. David Hornik – Washington Backs Islamists as Sinai and Gaza Explode
Nonie Darwish – Over 75% of Egyptian Americans Voted for Islamists
Raymond Ibrahim – Egyptian Election: Islamist Victory or Deceptive Strategy
Ryan Mauro – Military Power Grab Eclipses Egyptian Islamists’ Declared Presidential Victory

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Kufar Dawg

11 years ago

I’m with Guy Macher, muslimes are the problem, because they sure as hell haven’t ever been part of the solution to islamofascism.
Nazism wouldn’t have been a problem if there weren’t any nazis to carry the precepts of the ideology out.
Muslimes all over the world have done absolutely nothing of substance for the victims and the families of the victims of their terrorism and persecution, worse yet, they’ve done nothing substantive to stop it — except temporarily, while being paid billions of dollars by corrupt western democracies in jizya payments.

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Bruce O'H.

11 years ago

If the muslims would just step down off of that big pile of dead bodies that they keep adding to, it would be a lot easier to begin to think differently of them. They’ve TRAINED me to expect murder and barbaric mayhem from them. How do I end up being the bad guy when I do?

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Edward

11 years ago

Zudi Jasser AKBAR!

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VLParker

11 years ago

Guy Macher and Kufar Dawg are right on the money. MUSLIMS are the problem. Just look at the anti-honor killing rally Pamela held in Dearborn, Michigan. How many muslims supported Pamela? How many muslims opposed her? Case closed.

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Clarence D'Souza

11 years ago

If the word Islam did not exist we would have to invent it in the form of Islamism
which means Mohammedan fundamentalism.

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Gleaner1

11 years ago

I see a RPG and a muslim as the same.
When you aim and fire the RPG, the warhead usually kills someone. Islam for me is the propellant, and muslims, the warhead. Now, i am the target.
Do the “nice” muslims protest about all the crimes of their fellow muslims – NO.
Is it peaceful to slash the throat of a live sentient animal, OR western hostage – NO.
A Pakistani, Arab or Palistinian can be peaceful and moderate – but only when the’re
Christian. Life is full of choices, Kill them or convert them, either is effective and a “must do” IF you wish to live your life in peace, sparing your children the consequences of any misjudgement on your part.

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Laura

11 years ago

“No one sees “all Muslims as the problem.” It’s not Muslims, it’s the ideology”.
………………………………………………………………………
I have to take issue with this particular point. It takes muslims to carry out the ideas of islam. So of course muslims themselves are the problem.

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1571_My_Favorite_Year

11 years ago

Always remember what building bridges, a favorite catch phrase of muslims really means… building a bridge into one’s homeland to make a muslim invasion easy.

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Kufar Dawg

11 years ago

A congressional dog and pony show w/no more substance than a tissue. It wouldn’t really matter if they had the more honest, rabid dogs of pisslam testifying instead of the smooth talking expert practitioners of Al Taqiyya because nothing is going to come of this.

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MrMossberg

11 years ago

Know Islam…..Know Death, intolerance, murder, destruction and misery
NO Islam…….NO Death, intolerance, murder, destruction, and misery.
Phobia is the unreasonable and imaginary fear of a person, place or thing. To be called an Islamophobe is an oxymoron really. There is a very real reason to fear being the target of mindless fanatics who live to die for their god, and the more infidels they take with them the better. Muslims are like rabid dogs. You can try to pet one and make them feel loved, but they will shred your face and kill you anyway. So Islam, muslim, whatever. They are a murdering cult with no redeeming social value whatsoever.

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