{"id":3428,"date":"2011-03-17T17:18:49","date_gmt":"2011-03-17T17:18:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com.108-166-28-151.mdgnetworks.com\/wordpress\/?p=3428"},"modified":"2013-03-27T17:30:02","modified_gmt":"2013-03-27T17:30:02","slug":"grievance-politics-barks-kings-hearing-move-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/grievance-politics-barks-kings-hearing-move-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Grievance Politics Barks, Kings Hearing Move On"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Bruce S. Thornton<\/p>\n

Advancing a Free Society<\/em><\/p>\n

The hearings convened by Representative Pete King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, to examine the recruitment of American Muslims as jihadist terrorists revealed all the pathologies of multicultural grievance politics that for decades now has compromised our response to Islamic jihad.<\/p>\n

The need for the hearings is obvious, given the problem of homegrown jihadists that Obama administration officials like Eric Holder and Janet Napolitano have publicly discussed without any of the hysterics that have attended King\u2019s hearings. But facts seldom inhibit grievance-politics mongers, whose power and prestige derive from incessantly replaying the melodrama of white racism, xenophobia, and other \u201cirrational fears,\u201d as Eugene Robinson put it in\u00a0The Washington Post<\/em>. Hence the panoply of false analogies, cheap pathos, and outright lies that has characterized King\u2019s critics.<\/p>\n

The charge that King\u2019s hearings are \u201cMcCarthyite\u201d is so trite that it means nothing. And those hurling the charge forget that there were in fact communists infiltrating US government agencies, just as today there are in fact American Muslims plotting terrorist attacks. Then there was Representative Keith Ellison, driven to tears by the story of Mohammed Salman Hamdania, who died trying to rescue people on 9\/11. But \u201csome people tried to smear his character solely because of his Islamic faith,\u201d Ellison said. \u201cSome people spread false rumors and speculated that he was in league with the attackers only because he was Muslim.\u201d But as\u00a0Matthew Shaffer<\/a>\u00a0pointed out, little evidence of such \u201cfalse rumors\u201d exist apart from one story in\u00a0The New York Post<\/em>. But that brief speculation went nowhere, and Hamdania was mentioned by name in the Patriot Act as an example of a loyal American Muslim, as well as receiving numerous other posthumous honors from the media and government.<\/p>\n

Another weapon used by apologists for jihad, specious moral equivalency, was also brandished during the hearings. Representative Bennie Thompson called for the investigations of \u201canti-government\u201d and \u201cwhite supremacist\u201d groups, even though the number of attacks and murders perpetrated by such groups is minuscule compared to jihadist attacks, 17,000 of which have beendocumented<\/a>\u00a0since 9\/11. Of course, the \u201canti-government\u201d reference is a subtle dig at small-government Republicans and Tea Party members, who are continually, and falsely, linked to violence by liberals. Likewise conjuring the \u201cwhite supremacist\u201d bogey, Representative Al Greene wanted the committee to investigate the moribund Ku Klux Klan and its alleged links to Christianity, which is sort of like demanding an investigation into zeppelin crashes.<\/p>\n

These claims that there are other terrorist organizations as dangerous as Islamic jihadist outfits are nothing other than rhetorical misdirection. They are based on the false moral equivalency that claims religious-inspired violence can be found in every confession, and so the Islamic jihadists are merely \u201cextremists\u201d who have \u201chijacked\u201d a peaceful religion. This assertion, made by many conservatives and Republicans as well, is the big lie perpetuated by the apologists and propagandists for Islamist violence. Typical is Georgetown University\u2019s John Esposito, who has written, \u201cTerrorists can attempt to hijack Islam and the doctrine of jihad, but that is no more legitimate that Christian and Jewish extremists committing their acts of terrorism in their own unholy wars in the name of Christianity and Judaism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apart from the fact that one can count on one hand Christian and Jewish \u201cacts of terrorism\u201d committed explicitly to advance a spiritual aim, Esposito\u2019s claim rests on a duplicitous definition of jihad as, to quote John Brennan, Obama\u2019s assistant for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, the imperative \u201cto purify oneself or to wage a holy struggle for a moral goal.\u201d Moreover, nowhere in the Bible is there a timeless, theological imperative to wage war against those of another faith. The violence sanctioned by Yahweh in the Old Testament is \u201cdescriptive, not prescriptive,\u201d as Raymond Ibrahim\u00a0writes<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0The<\/em>\u00a0Middle East Quarterly<\/em>. It reflects history, not theology. Nor can one find in the New Testament a single verse that summons the faithful to wage war against unbelievers.<\/p>\n

But Islam does have a theology of violence attested in numerous scriptures from the Koran, as well as in the collection of Mohammed\u2019s deeds and sayings called the\u00a0Hadith<\/em>, and in fourteen centuries of Islamic jurisprudence and theology. This injunction to \u201cslay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush,\u201d as one Koranic verse has it, clearly does not refer to some Dale Carnegie-like course of self-improvement, or to a mere spiritual struggle. One of Shiite Islam\u2019s most revered figures, the Ayatollah Khomeini, certainly didn\u2019t see it that way: \u201cThose who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war. Those [who say this] are witless. Islam says: Kill all the unbelievers just as they would kill you all!\u201d So too Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brothers that many now believe are \u201creformers\u201d struggling for liberal democratic freedom in Egypt: \u201cFighting the unbelievers involves all possible efforts that are necessary to dismantle the power of the enemies of Islam including beating them, plundering their wealth, destroying their places of worship, and smashing their idols.\u201d<\/p>\n

This continuous tradition of violent jihad explains the jihadist imperative expressed by Mohammed in his farewell address in 642: \u201cI was ordered to fight all men until they say \u2018There is no god but Allah.\u2019\u201d This traditional injunction was repeated by the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979, when he said, \u201cUntil the cry \u2018There is no God but God\u2019 resounds over the whole world, there will be struggle.\u201d It was repeated by bin Laden in 2001: \u201cI was ordered to fight the people until they say there is no god but Allah, and his prophet Mohammed.\u201d And it was quoted in a power-point presentation delivered at Walter Reed Hospital by the Fort Hood jihadist Nidal Malik Hassan.<\/p>\n

Ignoring this clear, continuous tradition of violence against the enemies of Islam has been our most dangerous failure in confronting a passionately committed enemy eager for our destruction. And the danger represented by jihadist Muslims here in America who possess English fluency and U.S. passports is too real to be ignored out of fear of being charged with the thought-crime of \u201cIslamophobia,\u201d or of inciting grievance-politics smears and libels like \u201cracism\u201d or \u201cintolerance.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Arab proverb, \u201cThe dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.\u201d Representative King should be encouraged to continue these hearings and ignore the howls of his ideologically driven critics.<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a92011 Bruce S. Thornton<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Bruce S. Thornton Advancing a Free Society The hearings convened by Representative Pete King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, to examine the recruitment of American Muslims as jihadist terrorists revealed all the pathologies of multicultural grievance politics that for decades now has compromised our response to Islamic jihad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[22,230],"tags":[1051,366,321,674,687,492,1017,1061,30,1060,162],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-Ti","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":647,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/calls-for-hearings-on-radicalization-of-white-christian-women\/","url_meta":{"origin":3428,"position":0},"title":"Calls for Hearings on ‘Radicalization’ of White Christian Women","author":"victorhanson","date":"July 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim FrontPage Magazine During a Homeland Security committee hearing last month on the \"Radicalization of Muslim-Americans,\" Texas Congressman Al Green (D) criticized the hearings as biased and unfair to Muslims, suggesting that the only way to justify them is if Congress would also conduct a \"hearing on the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/religion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4090,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/radical-muslims-in-america-all-the-benefits-and-still-turning-to-jihad\/","url_meta":{"origin":3428,"position":1},"title":"Radical Muslims in America: All the Benefits and Still Turning to Jihad","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Ibrahim Hudson New York Recent remarks by Attorney General\u00a0Eric Holder\u00a0on the threat posed by \"radicalized\" American Muslims are revealing \u2014 not just because of what they say regarding the domestic situation, but for their international implications as well. According to Holder: \u201c[T]he threat is real, the threat is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Terrorism"","block_context":{"text":"Terrorism","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/war-on-terror\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1300,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/diplomatic-supping-with-jihadist-devils\/","url_meta":{"origin":3428,"position":2},"title":"Diplomatic Supping with Jihadist Devils","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton FrontPage Magazine While Western diplomats wring their hands over trivial insults to Islam, a slow-motion genocide of Christians has been unfolding in the Muslim world. The latest attack occurred on Christmas day in Nigeria, where the terrorist sect Boko Haram bombed two Catholic churches in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nigeria"","block_context":{"text":"Nigeria","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/nigeria\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2015,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ten-years-of-lessons-unlearned\/","url_meta":{"origin":3428,"position":3},"title":"Ten Years of Lessons Unlearned","author":"victorhanson","date":"September 25, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton FrontPage Magazine Ten years after 9\/11 many politicians and pundits continue to misinterpret Islamic jihadism. Typical is the following comment from Senator Joseph Lieberman\u2019s\u00a0essay\u00a0in\u00a0Foreign Affairs, in which he speaks of \u201can ideological struggle within Islam, waged between an extremist minority that seeks to enslave the world\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2717,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/appeasing-jihadists\/","url_meta":{"origin":3428,"position":4},"title":"Appeasing Jihadists","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 30, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"A policy of guilt and flattery will not temper terrorists. by Bruce S. Thornton Defining Ideas In 1937, the London\u00a0Times\u00a0editor Geoffrey Dawson wrote to his correspondent in Geneva, \"I do my best, night after night, to keep out of the paper anything that might hurt [German] susceptibilities . . .\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2373,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-end-of-post-racialism\/","url_meta":{"origin":3428,"position":5},"title":"The End of Post-Racialism","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton FrontPageMagazine.com So much for Obama striking a new tone on race. President Obama\u2019s response during his press conference to the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates \u2014 that the Cambridge police officer \u201cacted stupidly,\u201d despite Obama\u2019s confession that he didn\u2019t know what really had happened\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3428"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3428"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3429,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3428\/revisions\/3429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}