A ‘sense of decency’

The Island Now

It is significant that the most remarkable moment at the recent inquisition staged by Long Island Congressman Peter King came when a fellow congressman from Minnesota testified in tears about a police cadet from Queens whose body was found in the twisted steel of the World Trade Center.

As chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, on March 10 King held what he said would be the first of a series of hearings on the “radicalization of the American Muslim community.” The congressman maintained that the hearings were “absolutely essential” to the nation’s security.

Even if something of value had come out of that first hearing – and nothing did – there was no information, no testimony, no insight that justified insulting the millions of Americans who practice the Islamic faith.

At the hearing Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) spoke in tears about Mohammed Salman Hamdani, a young police cadet who died trying to rescue people on 9/11. Until the young man’s body was found, he said, some people suggested that Salman was part of the conspiracy to destroy the buildings solely because of his faith.

“Some people,” he said, “spread false rumors and speculated that he was in league with the attackers only because he was Muslim. It was only when his remains were identified that these lies were fully exposed.”

At best this hearing was unnecessary. If there is credible evidence of a terrorist threat from radical Muslims or any other organization, it should be investigated by Homeland Security, the FBI or the CIA. This can be done without insulting millions of Americans.

We are not implying that radical Islam is not a serious threat. The State Department Office of Counter Terrorism maintains that the al-Quaeda network poses the greatest threat to national security. But this does not justify insulting every Muslim in America.

The King hearings bring to mind the Army-McCarthy Hearings of the 1950s in which Sen. Joseph McCarthy used the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) to accuse Americans of being enemies of the state. The televised hearings that capitalized on the nation’s fear of communism lost their thunder when an attorney hired by the US Army found the courage to take on the senator. “Have you no sense of decency?” he asked.

The same might be asked of Peter King. For 30 years the congressman supported the Irish Republican Army even when its bombings killed innocent civilians. Following a bombing in 1982, when he was still serving as the Nassau County comptroller, King reportedly said, “If civilians are killed in an attack on a military installation, it is certainly regrettable, but I will not morally blame the IRA for it.”

The members of Congress should be careful not to abuse their powers. King should have realized how hurtful his hearings on Islam are and how little there is to be gained from them.

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