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As Congress Weighs Homegrown Terrorism, Study Shows Phenomenon Is Rare

There’s a fight brewing in Congress over upcoming hearings on homegrown Islamic terrorism. The New York Times reports that Republican Peter King of New York, the chairman of the House Homeland Security committee, plans to call mostly Muslim and Arab witnesses to make a point that there’s little cooperation from Muslim Americans on reporting terrorism suspects.

But a new study finds that Muslim Americans are the single biggest source of information on potential terrorists. The study also points out that 11 Muslim Americans have carried out terrorist attacks since 9/11, killing 33 people, including the 13 killed by the Fort Hood shooter. We speak with study author Charles Kurzman, who teaches sociology at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

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We welcome comments from all of our listeners. Post below. Please stay on topic and be civil. Comments may be moderated by us, but you are solely responsible for the content of your comments.

Shoulders

I can’t help wondering how the American people continue to vote for men like Peter King. He has said many outrageous things in the past such as calling Micheal Jackson a child molester. You have to ask what motivates this man, if he was really concerned about the security of the nation he would be worried about any threat that that could hurt any American. Obviously has no concern for people like Tim McVey or any of the far right wing militias or hate groups. Any person so ignorant and stupid should never have been elected to such a high office in government.
Private Sector Frog

If there was ever a study that didn’t have all the information it must be this one made by Mr. Kurzman. I mean….wouldn’t you think most of the information on terrorism is classified? How can he make any conclusions and statistics about terrorism with just on public knowledge? Check out his weak footnotes. That being said, I’m not sure the Peter King hearings will be all that helpful.
Joy

The hearings will be helpful in at least bringing out the illogical left wingers – like the comment above – who hate anyone with an R next to their name or have a conservative thought in their brain.
These people despise republicans more than the people behind 9/11.
They will try to imply that tea party folks and non left wing analysts are the terrorists.

Of course “Tim McVey”s name will be brought up?
The casual assumption that McVeigh was a ‘right wing’ terrorist is debatable.
McVeigh was an atheist from a registered democrat family who during/after Desert Storm actually had sympathies for Middle Eastern terrorists and became anti American government. A lot of this was never disclosed as much as it should have been.
The FBI massacre at Waco set him over the edge.

By the way, if the FBI massacre at Waco happened during the Bush years, the left wingers would be describing that ordeal much differently.
Jane

It’s not always the case that I happen to catch Here & Now during my work day, but by some act of fate I did catch this show. Please let me tell you a story…

More than 23 years ago my husband and I rented one of the 4 units of our Revere property to a lovely couple and their toddler son. They were Muslim and we are not – a non-issue, but is pertinent. We all became fast friends, especially the wife and me – we were (and are) “sisters of the heart”. We welcomed their second child, and they celebrated the impending arrival of our first. They moved out of our house, as we did shortly after. Years passed. While contact was sporadic at times it never waned completely. We visited them, they visited us, our daughter stayed in their home to attend their son’s wedding. They were our family. They ARE our family – loving, patriotic, faithful, honest, loyal. The name of the dad in this family? Daniel Patrick Boyd.

PLEASE LET THIS THOUGHT SINK IN – charges, pleas, and “evidence” aside, there is more to this story than any of us know.

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