U.S. Congressmen concerned over radicalization in Muslim community

PanARMENIAN.Net - The House Homeland Security Committee hearing on "radical Islam" is needed to highlight and investigate the threat posed by homegrown Muslim terrorists, Chairman Peter T. King (R-N.Y.) said.

Defending himself against criticism that he is scapegoating a religious community and ignoring threats from other extremists, King said that U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. "is not saying he's staying awake at night because of what's coming from anti-abortion demonstrators or coming from environmental extremists or from Neo-Nazis. It's the radicalization right now in the Muslim community."

King was joined on CNN's "State of the Union" by Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), a practicing Muslim who plans to testify at the hearings. Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, said that he agreed with holding the hearings but that the scope was too narrow. "It's absolutely the right thing to do for the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee to investigate radicalization," Ellison said. "But to say we're going to investigate a religious minority, and a particular one, I think is the wrong course of action to take."

Asked why he would participate in the hearings, Ellison said, "I believe in engaging the process. I think you've got to be involved in the conversation. You've got to offer an alternative view."

King and Ellison had differing takes on the highly charged issue of whether the American Muslim community has helped to counter radicalization. Ellison said, "The stats say 'yes.' " The Muslim community, he said, should not feel frightened but empowered.

King's outlook, however, was not as positive. "I'm aware of a number of cases in New York where the community has not been cooperative," he said, adding that law enforcement officials do not always "get the level of cooperation that they need," The Washington Post reported.