Terrorism symp Peter King lets loose his anti-Muslim jihad
This morning Peter King, Long Island's last reactionary congressman standing-- and an author of largely unread but greatly self-aggrandizing Islamophobic pulp fiction-- began what is widely being called his "McCarthyite anti-Muslim hearings." As the new chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, he could have-- and certainly should have-- held hearings on the very real dangers of domestic terrorism or even on the very real dangers of religious domestic terrorism. But King-- well known one of the most prominent and avid supporters of terrorism against America's #1 ally (Britain) with his hysterical support for the then-violent and terrorist IRA-- had decided to target Muslim-Americans instead.
As Think Progress pointed out on the eve of the circus, there have been almost twice as many plots since 9/11 from non-Muslim terrorists. I recall when the Department of Homeland Security released a report on this early in Obama's Administration-- written entirely under the Bush Administration-- that criticized the kinds of far right militia-types that actually are most prone to carry out domestic terrorism-- the Republican Party reacted as though the were personally being accused.
When asked why he is singling out the Muslim American community and refusing to investigate other forms of terrorism, King has responded by saying that “it makes no sense to talk about other types of extremism, when the main threat to the United States today is talking about al Qaida.”
Yet as a January 2011 terrorism statistics report-- compiled using publicly available data from the FBI and other crime agencies-- from the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) shows, terrorism by Muslim Americans has only accounted for a minority of terror plots since 9/11. Since the attacks on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, Muslims have been involved in 45 domestic terrorist plots. Meanwhile, non-Muslims have been involved in 80 terrorist plots.
In fact, right-wing extremist and white supremacist attacks plots alone outnumber plots by Muslims, with both groups being involved in 63 terror plots, 18 more plots than Muslim Americans have been involved in.
It's as though King has found two of the bleakest moments of contemporary American history-- the horrific internment of Japanese-American citizens and McCarthyism-- and melded them into some kind of partisan witch hunt he's hoping to use to advance a disgraceful and sordid political career, something heartily endorsed by sleazy Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Ironically, the most compelling image from King's circus yesterday was Keith Ellison's testimony:
An excerpt from Ellison's testimony:
