McCarthyism? Let’s hope not…
I watched an interview this morning with Keith Ellison, muslim Congressman from Minneapolis, and Pete King, Congressman from New York and chair of the House’s Committee on Homeland Security. The issue is that Rep. King is starting congressional hearings on March 10 on the radicalization of American Muslims. He points to a string of recent thwarted terror attempts whose perpetrators were all American citizens. Rep. Ellison’s response is that terrorism is a much broader issue (i.e., Jared Loghlin) and it is conterproductive to single out one embattled minority. The extremist mullahs abroad who are trying to recruit young, muslim Americans make the argument that the West despises Islam. We would do well to avoid proving them right.
That being said, I think it is possible to salvage these hearings and turn them into something productive. If they devolve into a witch hunt, they will drive even more Muslim youth into the arms of the extremists. HOWEVER, if this were to turn into a substantive and honest look into how to stop the spread of extremism among the American ummah, this could actually be an incredibly positive development.
What would “substantive and honest” hearings look like? They would fairly acknowledge equal, but seemingly clashing truths. On the one hand, terrorism from Islamic extremists poses a grave threat and needs to be prosecuted aggressively. On the other hand, we should not shortshrift particular American citizens on their civil liberties, simply because they are Muslims. They would acknowledge the fact that finding ways to assure Muslim Americans that, although America has not always been America to them over the course of the past decade, it can be in the future.
Terrorism is not about achieving a military victory. It is about provoking a response in your target that causes it to stumble towards its own demise. Embracing the Muslim population at home prevents domestic disturbance which allows us to focus our energies on combatting threats abroad. Muslim Americans, on the whole, are a patriotic bunch. They are also a huge asset in figuring out how to bridge the divide between East and West, so that we can one day move past this barbaric war of attrition.
