GOP Rep. King Vows Hearings on Radical Islam

NEW YORK (The Blaze/AP) -- The incoming head of the House Committee on Homeland Security says he will hold hearings on what he calls the "radicalization" of some American Muslims.

Rep. Peter King, a Republican from Long Island, said Sunday that law-enforcement officials around the country have told him they receive little cooperation from Muslims.

But a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations said he fears King's hearings will become an "anti-Muslim witch hunt." Ibrahim Hooper said several recent terrorist plots have been foiled because members of the Muslim community did cooperate with law enforcement.

King said in an opinion piece in Sunday's Newsday that he will do all he can to "drive the public debate" on Islamic radicalization.

"Earlier this month, I was elected by the House Republican Conference to be chairman of the Homeland Security Committee," King writes. "I've made it clear that I'll focus the committee on counterterrorism and hold hearings on a wide range of issues, including radicalization of the American Muslim community and homegrown terrorism."

He adds: "The great majority of Muslims in our country are hardworking, dedicated Americans. Yet a Pew Poll showed that 15 percent of Muslim Americans between 18 and 29 say suicide bombing is justified. I also know of imams instructing members of their mosques not to cooperate with law enforcement officials investigating the recruiting of young men in their mosques as suicide bombers. We need to find the reasons for this alienation."

Read King's entire piece here.

(video via Gateway Pundit)