This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/4785

Los Angeles Times - Head In The Sand Regarding Rising Domestic Islamic Radicalism

February 10, 2011

February 10, 2011 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - An editorial published in today's LA Times [see, http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-king-20110210,0,1479817.story] dealing with the topic of the radicalization of domestic Muslims, suggests that Rep. Peter King [R-NY] " hasn't identified such a threat..."

"If the radicalization of American Muslims is, as King suggests, a significant and growing threat to the nation's security, then hearings should by all means be held. The problem is that King hasn't identified such a threat, and certainly not at a level that would justify singling out one religion to be targeted for special scrutiny."

That assertion is so ridiculous that it doesn't bear comment, as King has made the point clearly and repeatedly that after 9/11 growing numbers of Islamic Americans have indeed been radicalized, though for the thick headed LA Times editors one might think that the case of Maj. Hassan should suffice as proof enough.

This type of editorial is all too common in America's largely über liberal media, take positions reflexively with little or no factual basis to support them, simply in order to keep their lefty bona-fides.

Perhaps the Times' editorial board should consider what Dept. of Homeland Security Secty. Napolitano - who can in no way be called anti-Muslim or a basher of Islam - stated in testimony yesterday before the House Homeland Security Committee [see, http://homeland.house.gov/sites/homeland.house.gov/files/02.09.11%20Sec.%20Napolitano%20Testimony.pdf]

"...Today, however, in addition to the direct threats we continue to face from al-Qaeda, we also face growing threats from other foreign-based terrorist groups that are inspired by al-Qaeda ideology but have few operational connections to the core al-Qaeda group. And, perhaps most crucially, we face a threat environment where violent extremism is not defined or contained by international borders. Today, we must address threats that are homegrown as well as those that originate abroad.

One of the most striking elements of today's threat picture is that plots to attack America increasingly involve American residents and citizens. We are now operating under the assumption, based on the latest intelligence and recent arrests, that individuals prepared to carry out terrorist attacks and acts of violence might be in the United States, and they could carry out acts of violence with little or no warning.

Over the past two years, we have seen the rise of a number of terrorist groups inspired by al-Qaeda ideology."

Every single reference as to motivation in this statement refers directly to a Salafist interpretation of Islam, the ideology which drives al-Qaeda. Ayman al Zawahiri, bin-Laden's second in command is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Thus she clearly identifies the ideological root of the domestic terror uptick - radical Islam.

Now, is this ideology successfully being used to motivated American Muslims?

According to Ms. Napolitano, "We saw this, for instance, in the case .. [of].. Faisal Shahzad, who attempted to detonate a bomb in Times Square in May of last year. These groups are also trying to inspire individuals in the West to launch their own, smallerscale attacks, which require less of the advanced planning or coordination that would typically raise red flags."

The problem here is not lack of evidence, what stands in the way of effectively dealing with the phenomenon of increasingly radicalized American Muslims is the courage to say it.

On that count, place the Times' editors among the cowards, too bound up in multicultural idiocy to be able to speak the truth.

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http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=lat2102011101%2Ehtm

This item is available on the Militant Islam Monitor website, at http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/4785