CAIR-SFBA Exec. Director Zahra Billoo Discusses Plan to Target American Muslims (MSNBC 'Countdown')

Rep. Peter King, D-N.Y., announced that he wanted to open a House inquiry into the radicalization of the Muslim community in America. CAIR's San Francisco Bay Area Executive Director Zahra Billoo appears on MSNBC's "Coundown" to discusses King's plan to target American Muslims.

BACKGROUND:

King's claims that American Muslims are not doing enough to support national security and law enforcement agencies are contradicted by FBI Director Mueller, who on April 23, 2008, told the U.S. House Judiciary Committee: "I re-affirm the fact that 99.9 percent of Muslim-Americans or Sikh-Americans, Arab-Americans are every bit as patriotic as anybody else in this room, and that many of our cases are a result of the cooperation from the Muslim community in the United States."

At the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on March 25, 2009, Director Mueller said the Muslim community "has been tremendously supportive and worked very closely with [the FBI] in a number of instances around the country."

In a 2003 interview with The Minaret magazine, Mueller said: "I would like to thank the Muslim Americans for their support on the war against terrorism and working with the FBI around the country as well as state and local law enforcement."

In 2007, CAIR called on Republican leaders to repudiate remarks by Rep. King in which he said "we have too many mosques in this country." The Democratic National Committee (DNC) condemned King's statements, calling them "deplorable."

SEE: Rep. King: "Too Many Mosques" (Video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMydUd...

King has in the past claimed that the vast majority of mosques in his state and nationwide are being run by "radicals" and called for racial profiling of Muslims in airports.

(Note: King has taken political donations from members of a New York mosque he claims is a hotbed of radicalism. A Newsday article stated: "Rep. Peter King is attempting to link his political opponent to men he calls 'radical' Muslim leaders on Long Island, but federal records show the congressman accepted thousands of dollars last year in campaign contributions from some of the same donors.")

In 2004, King said that "85 percent" of American Muslim community leaders are "an enemy living amongst us" and that "no [American] Muslims" cooperate in the war on terror. He made these claims despite the fact that American Muslims consistently condemn terrorism and work to protect national security.

SEE: CAIR's Anti-Terrorism Campaigns
http://www.cair.com/AmericanMuslims/A...

During a 2008 hearing of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing & Terrorism Risk Assessment, Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) challenged King's criticism of an advertising campaign in New York subway cars designed to educate the public about Islam. Rep. Pascrell said: "I am deeply disappointed in any public official or media outlet that would use harsh rhetoric against this ad campaign which simply seeks to answer people's questions about Islam."