Mar 12, 2011
By Chua Chin Hon, US Bureau Chief
Mr Peter King, who convened the hearing, said Americans cannot live in denial, referring to recent terror attempts by radicalised American Muslims.
WASHINGTON: A controversial hearing on the radicalisation of American Muslims has produced sharply divergent views as United States lawmakers clashed on a heated issue drawing increasing attention as the 10th anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks neared.
Republican lawmaker Peter King, who convened Thursday's hearing as chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, and his supporters said their intention was to 'inform, not inflame'.
'(We) cannot live in denial which is what some would have us do,' Mr King said in reference to a recent spate of home-grown terror attempts by radicalised American Muslims.
Critics and many in the American Muslim community, however, were concerned that Muslims were being singled out unfairly by a public inquiry that could devolve into a witch hunt.
A letter signed by 55 lawmakers opposed to the hearing said: 'If you wish to examine violent extremism, we ask that you do so by examining violence motivated by extremist beliefs in all its forms. 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.'
Controversy raged for weeks before the hearing opened to a packed house, as critics tried to get Mr King to cancel the event or change the scope of the topic - The Extent Of Radicalisation In The American Muslim Community And That Community's Response.
The persistent Mr King refused to back down, and in fact announced at the end of the hearing that the next such event, likely to be held in a few months' time, would focus on how American Muslims are being radicalised in the prisons.
While the tone and some of the rhetoric at Thursday's hearing was pointed and emotional at times, it was overall an uneventful affair.
The only truly dramatic moment came when Democratic lawmaker Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to the US Congress, choked up repeatedly while reading a prepared statement criticising the hearing and praising the bravery of American Muslims like Mohammad Salman Hamdani, who lost his life while trying to save other Sept 11 victims.
'Some people spread false rumours and speculated that he was in league with the attackers only because he was Muslim. It was only when his remains were identified that these lies were fully exposed,' Mr Ellison said between sobs.
'His life should not be defined as a member of an ethnic group or a member of a religion, but as an American who gave everything for his fellow citizens.'
He also refuted recent allegations by Mr King that the American Muslim community has been uncooperative with law enforcement agencies.
He cited a report from the Muslim Public Affairs Council that showed American Muslims had in fact provided information that helped foil seven of the last 11 domestic terror plots, and 40 per cent of all plots since the Sept 11 attacks.
The 41/2-hour hearing also heard from moderate activists in the American Muslim community, as well as a businessman whose son Carlos had allegedly been convinced by religious radicals to carry out a deadly shooting at a military recruitment centre in Arkansas in 2009.
'Carlos was captured by people best described as hunters. He was manipulated and lied to,' said the businessman, Mr Melvin Bledsoe. 'Here in America today, there are people with radical Islamic political views who are organising with one goal in mind: to convert our citizens and to turn them against the non-believers.'
Some lawmakers questioned whether these witnesses were qualified to make such sweeping statements about domestic terrorism, and asked why law enforcement agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation were not represented at the hearing.
Democratic lawmaker Jackie Speier, who characterised the hearing as 'skewed' and 'grossly incomplete', said: 'While I think these anecdotes are interesting, I don't believe these are the experts.'
The only law enforcement officer who spoke at the hearing was Mr Leroy Baca, a sheriff from Los Angeles who has experience working with the Muslim community and helped set up a Muslim Community Affairs unit in 2007.
In a sign of how contentious the subject could quickly become, one lawmaker asked Mr Baca pointedly if he felt he was being manipulated by organisations like Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), which was labelled a 'terrorist organisation', and an 'unindicted co-conspirator' at yesterday's hearing.
The sheriff retorted by saying the US should charge and prosecute CAIR in court if law agencies indeed had proof of the alleged terrorist links.
As the exchanges in the room wore on, the unease among American Muslims queueing outside was palpable.
Ms Sadia Ali Aden, 42, a writer and activist, told The Straits Times: 'The community is already feeling under siege. With this sort of hearing, it only creates more fear and potential hate crimes against the community.'
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