THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Al Qaeda is targeting Muslim Americans for recruits to terrorism and the community must do more to combat Islamic radicalisation, a U.S. lawmaker said on Thursday as he opened hearings that have been criticised as a witch hunt.Peter King, the chairman of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee who called the hearings, has accused the Muslim community of refusing to co-operate with law enforcement and charged that preaching in some U.S. mosques was leading to radicalisation.
"To combat this threat, moderate leadership must emerge from the Muslim community," Mr King said. "Today, we must be fully aware that home-grown radicalisation is part of al Qaeda's strategy to continue attacking the United States."
Mr King denied accusations that the hearings were "radical or un-American" and said there was no comparison between the threat by al Qaeda and neo-Nazis, environmental extremists and other "isolated madmen."
The New York congressman has been criticised by religious and civil rights leaders as going on a witch hunt for focusing on a single community, but he has defended the hearings, citing the open attempts by al Qaeda militants to recruit its members to launch attacks. >>> | Thursday, March 10, 2011
