White House praises Muslims ahead of House hearing

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Iman Mohammed Magid, executive director All Dulles Area Muslim Society, left, and Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough, are seen as the pl AP – Iman Mohammed Magid, executive director All Dulles Area Muslim Society, left, and Deputy National Security …

By EILEEN SULLIVAN and LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Eileen Sullivan And Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press 1 hr 43 mins ago

STERLING, Va. – Muslim Americans are not part of the terrorism problem facing the U.S. — they are part of the solution, a top White House official said Sunday at a Washington-area mosque.

Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough set the Obama administration’s tone for discussions as tensions escalate before the first in a series of congressional hearings on Islamic radicalization. The hearings, chaired by New York Republican Peter King, will focus on the level of cooperation from the Muslim community to help law enforcement combat radicalization.

The majority of the recent terror plots and attempts against the U.S. have involved people espousing a radical and violent view of Islam. Just a few weeks ago a college student from Saudi Arabia who studied chemical engineering in Texas was arrested after he bought explosive chemicals online. It was part of a plan to hide bomb materials inside dolls and baby carriages and blow up dams, nuclear plants or the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush.

King said the Muslim community could and should do more to work with law enforcement to stop its members from radicalizing and recruiting others to commit violence.

“I don’t believe there is sufficient cooperation” by American Muslims with law enforcement, King said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Certainly my dealings with the police in New York and FBI and others say they do not believe they get the same — they do not give the level of cooperation that they need.”

In New York City on Sunday, about 300 protestors gathered in Times Square to speak out against King’s hearing, criticizing it as xenophobic and saying that singling out Muslims, rather than extremists, is unfair.

McDonough said that instead of condemning whole communities, the U.S. needs to protect them from intimidation.

McDonough spoke to an interfaith forum at a Northern Virginia mosque known for its longtime relationship and cooperation with the FBI. The executive director of the center, Imam Mohamed Magid, also spoke, as did speakers from a local synagogue and a Presbyterian church.

The administration has tried to strike a balance on the thorny issue, working to go after homegrown Islamic extremists without appearing to be at war with the Muslim world. There has been an effort to build stronger relationships with Muslims — internationally and in the United States.

During his remarks Sunday, McDonough called the mosque a “typically American place” and said it reminded him of his Catholic parish where he grew up in Minnesota.

“Being religious is never un-American. Being religious is quintessentially American,” he said.

He commended the mosque’s members for taking “an unequivocal stand against terrorism.”

“You’ve sent a message that those who perpetrate such horrific attacks do not represent you or your faith, and that they will not succeed in pitting believers of different faiths against one another,” McDonough said.

The White House is close to finalizing a strategy for countering violent extremism. McDonough leads a working group of 13 federal agencies and offices — including the National Counterterrorism Center and the departments of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Justice and State — focused on finding ways to confront the problem.

On Sunday, McDonough said the strategy would involve continuing efforts to understand the process of radicalization, as well as further outreach to Islamic communities in the United States. He also promised further efforts to dispel “misperceptions about our fellow Americans who are Muslim.”

“No community can be expected to meet a challenge as complex as this alone,” McDonough said. “No one community can be expected to become experts in terrorist organizations, how they are evolving, how they are using new tools and technology to reach our young people.”

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Baldor reported from Washington.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

7 Replies to “White House praises Muslims ahead of House hearing”

  1. Quote: “McDonough spoke to an interfaith forum at a Northern Virginia mosque known for its longtime relationship and cooperation with the FBI. The executive director of the center, Imam Mohamed Magid, also spoke” .

    Who is Imam Mohamed Magid? Yes, he is repeatedly on record fighting anti-semitism as well as speaking out against misunderstanderers of Islam. Google his name and for 20 or so pages you will get lots of links. At first glance he appears quite harmless. Then I came across this quote . . .

    Scroll down to final paragraph/final response to Q&A:

    ““Imam Magid: A land where you sign a treaty with a people is considered dar al-ahd, which according to one scholar is any place you are able to live and able to practice your Islam. This land then becomes your land and you have to protect it even if you are a minority.”

  2. Of course thy will praise the ‘faithful’ followers of the prophet. Frankly I am getting quite sick of the absolute and obvious groveling, pandering,apologizing, and tiptoeing by this feckless and cowardly administration of our ‘Dear Leader’, just to score some brownie points with the so-called groups representing Muslims in the US and the Islamic world. Rep. King ‘s hearings IMHO will not be not an indictment of all Muslims nor a witch hunt. The stated aims of the hearings are to expose those elements in the US that are radicalizing, targeting, and recruiting future terrorists and Jihadists. Law biding and loyal US Muslims if they are doing nothing illegal should have nothing to fear.

  3. They may be law abiding but I doubt their loyalty.
    Anyway, I think it is not a good idea to be friendly to their islamic community even though their islamic community at certain point showed their schizophrenic friendly anxiety towards us nonbelievers.

  4. The majority are not loyal to the US and are probably giving money to the terrorists.

  5. I hope Canada is getting ready to receive more loyalists when it all hits the fan.

  6. I’ve seen that discussion on the CNN at least I believe it was the same program. Cindy Crowley, Republican King and a democrat muslim member of congress (?) (forgot his name). Crowley was absolutely pathetic in her political correctness. The muslim congressman predictably argued against focusing on just one particular group when it comes to terorrism. A bizarre discussion where lo behold islamophobia once again surfaced as the biggest problem and concern on Earth. No surprise there. Kudos to republican King who even though not very convincingly tried to sneak in a few comments about homegrown radical islamic ideology. We are our own worst enemy.

  7. The White House is looking more and more Muslim these days.

    The nerve of McDonough to say that mosques are “typically American”.

    They are as “American” as sleeper cells of Nazis during WWII or meeting places where Soviet spies regularly worked to undermine the west during the Cold War.

    Mosques teach hatred, intolerance and the destruction of the west, especially the USA.

    Let no-one forget who flew planes into the WTC; mosque-attending Muslim men who were bent on the destruction of everything that is not Islam/Muslim.