Dr. Faroque Khan, a trustee at the Islamic Center of Long Island, points to a 2010 study released last month, authored by Charles Kurzman, professor of sociology at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who’s extensively studied the connection between terrorism and radical Islam to look at what Muslim Americans were doing to help combat radicalization.
Kurzman’s analysis “found that there were very active efforts by Muslim Americans to combat radicalization in their communities, that these efforts varied from place to place, and from organization to organization,” he tells the Press.
Terrorist-related deaths within the United States “was very small compared to the overall murder rate,” he explains. “Since 9/11 there have been 150,000 murders in the U.S., and Islamic terrorism accounts for a tiny, tiny fraction of all that. It was 33 deaths due to Muslim American terrorists in the U.S.
“Now, it could have been much higher, of course, if the Times Square bomber hadn’t been so incompetent,” he continues. “We could have seen hundreds more, maybe thousands, but it would still be only a drop in a very bloody bucket.”
As far as the Long Island Muslim community’s cooperation goes, Khan tells the Press he has “personally met with FBI Director Robert Mueller. I’ve gone down to Washington. We have a very good relationship with law enforcement agency in Nassau County.
“I haven’t heard anything of the contrary from any of the people engaged in law enforcement,” Khan says of the local Muslim community’s relationship with law enforcement. “The only one who keeps talking about it is Congressman King, and he never says any specific incidents.”
Another critique lately gaining traction in the national media has been King’s “hypocrisy,” blast his critics, in his being a longtime supporter of the Irish Republican Army (a recognized terrorist organization by the Irish and British governments), yet now, as Homeland Security Committee chairman, he’s the driving force of unearthing terrorist threats from Muslims.
The Congressman has made no secret throughout his political career of his staunch support of the IRA’s efforts in Northern Ireland and the Irish Northern Aid Committee, or Noraid—the alleged front for IRA fundraising and North American arms importation.
“We must pledge ourselves to support those brave men and women who this very moment are carrying forth the struggle against British imperialism in the streets of Belfast and Derry,” he told a pro-IRA rally on Long Island in 1982, according to The New York Times and other published reports.
See photos from supporters at the NYC rally
See photos from earlier “Pray-In” at Rep. Peter King’s District Office
