RUTHFULLY YOURS

It’s almost like CAIR doesn’t care anymore. They are taking an openly hostile stance and dismissing the highly substantive concerns about prison dawah that these hearings will (or should) address out of hand. All criticism of Islam, and establishing even the most tentative connection between Islam and violence is now “hate speech” and “incitement.” They aren’t even pretending toward dialogue here anymore. They want a monologue in an echo chamber, and anything else is Islamophobic.

For all of the flaws of the first round of King’s hearings, he did call CAIR out for its behavior in this regard, and they continue to prove his point. “Controversy: Rep. King plans second Muslim-American radicalization hearing,” by Jim Khouri for the Examiner, June 10 (thanks to all who sent this in):

U.S. Congressman Peter King (R-NY) yesterday informed all parties concerned that there would be a second House Homeland Security Committee hearing on the subject of radicalization within the American-Muslim community.

This latest hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, June 15, and its main topic will be the Muslim population incarcerated in prisons throughout the country.

“We have seen cases in which inmates have been radicalized at the hands of already locked-up terrorists or by extremist imam chaplains,” said Chairman King in a statement.

“We will focus on a number of the serious cases in which radicalized current and former inmates have planned and launched attacks or attempted to join overseas Islamic terrorist organizations.”

King’s first hearing in March caused many within the Muslim community to condemn the subject of radicalization, and almost half of the Democrats in the House urged him to cancel it.

“While there have been extremist groups and random acts of political violence throughout our history, the al Qaeda attacks of 9/11 and the ongoing threat to our nation from Islamic jihad were uniquely diabolical and threatening to America’s security, both overseas and in our homeland,” said King last March.

“It was this dramatically increased threat which Attorney General Holder said “keeps him awake at night” and drove him “to make people aware of the fact that the threat is real, the threat is different, and the threat is constant.”

Attorney General Holder also noted before March’s hearings that the teachings of Islamic jihadist Anwar Al Awlaki inspired many of the most recent terrorist attacks. This threat is real, and we can hardly afford to ignore the motivating ideology behind nearly every recent homegrown attack, such as the Zazi plot, the Times Square Attack, Fort Hood, the Portland Christmas bombing attempt, and numerous others. “

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) prodded Rep. Thompson into attempting to discredit King’s probe and one the Islamic group’s top officials released a press statement. “Representative King seems to believe that he need not offer any evidence or expert testimony to back up his baseless allegations,” said CAIR Legislative Director Corey Saylor. […]

CAIR officials routinely attacks anyone who questions the motives or actions of Muslims in the United States, according to several law enforcement sources.

It’s a two-step process: deflect attention by appropriating victim status from actual or intended victims of jihadist terrorism, and attempt to silence the discussion by acting as though any portrayal of Islam or Muslims in a negative light amounts to inciting hate crimes or “backlash.”

According to a report from the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security: “The Council on American-Islamic Relations and its employees have combined, conspired, and agreed with third parties, including, but not limited to, the Islamic Association for Palestine, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, the Global Relief Foundation, and foreign nationals hostile to the interests of the United States, to provide material support to known terrorist organizations, to advance the Hamas agenda, and to propagate radical Islam.”….