The hearing into the threat of radicalization of American Muslims

After all the protests and anguish and accusations of "Islamophobia", the House hearing calmly presented the views of all sides.

Amid tight security, a House of Representatives committee launched a controversial — and at times emotional — probe Thursday into the radicalization of American Muslims, an inquiry that its chairman described as necessary to "put aside political correctness and define who our enemy truly is."

Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y., struck a largely balanced, civil tone as he opened the hearing. He said he was undeterred by criticism that the inquiry, the first in a series, unfairly characterizes the nation's Muslim community as prone to terrorist indoctrination, but he also offered a pointed concession.

"The overwhelming majority of Muslim Americans are outstanding Americans," King said. "But there are realities we cannot ignore."

The hearing was short of the heated rhetoric used by both sides leading up to the session, and views from all sides were presented.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/03/10/110123/house-muslim-hearing-presents.html

Maybe one day the self appointed guardians of political correctness will save their protests until after something bad is said or done. But, for now, they always seem to protest in advance, before an event, in an effort to stifle free speech and inquiry.

By the way, holding a Congressional hearing into a threat identified by the Obama administration's African American U.S. attorney general - - the radicalization of American Muslims - - is not the start of a "new era of McCarthyism" or equivalent to the rounding up of Japanese-Americans on the west coast after Pearl Harbour.