Remember when Republican Rep. Peter King, Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, held hearings in 2011 and 2012 on the radicalization of Muslims here at home?
"Today, we must be fully aware that homegrown radicalization is part of Al Qaeda's strategy to continue attacking the United States," King said. "Al Qaeda is actively targeting the American Muslim community for recruitment. Today's hearing will address this dangerous trend.”
Democrats stopped short of calling King a racist publically but howled, “How dare he stereotype Muslims?” Well, the Boston marathon terrorist attack suggests King was right and Democrats were wrong. The left leaning news media was wrong too. Moments after the attack many in the mainstream media suggested the bombings looked like the work of “right wing radicals,” even though the pressure cooker bombs used in the Boston attack are a trademark of al Qaeda.
Chechen brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who emigrated from Chechnya and were legally living in the US for the past 10 years, set off bombs at the Boston marathon finish line then terrorized the city for nearly a week. The older brother Tamerlan posted Islamic extremist videos on YouTube, one of which “extolled an extremist prophecy associated with al Qaeda.”
Chechnya is predominately Muslim country and according to the Wall Street Journal most Chechens are Sunni Muslims. The Tsarnaev brothers are Muslim, and early evidence suggests it’s highly possible they became “radicalized Muslims” during the time they lived in America.
Before the two terrorized Boston, Muslims living in America were committing terrorist attacks on the “homeland.” The 2009 Fort Hood shooting and the 2011 Times Square bomb attempt. If the shoe fits, well then Muslims are wearing it well.
Yet in the changing face of terrorist threats to America, President Barack Obama and Democrats are loathe to use the word terrorist and Muslims in the same sentence for fear of offending the jihadists. During King’s first hearing in 2011, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), a practicing Muslim, said, "This committee's approach to this particular subject is contrary to the best of American values and threatens our security." Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.) chimed in that "This hearing today is playing right now into al-Qaeda, around the world.”
After the Boston attack, perhaps Rep. Ellison can see what’s contrary to American values and threatens our security is Muslim terrorists who injured over 175 people and killed three with their bombs. Perhaps it’s time for Mr. Ellison to get off his political correctness high horse and face the facts, however offensive they may be to him.
Jackson also should take note that it was her comment not the hearing that played right into the hands of al-Qaeda and radical Muslims. Radicals like the Tsarnaev brothers probably watched King’s hearings and thought Democrats like Jackson’s obsession with political correctness “played right into their hands,” making it easier for them to wage terrorist attacks on cities like Boston. Democrats and Obama need to worry more about the safety of Americans and less about offending our enemies, which include Muslims at home and abroad.