Excerpt:
A House Homeland Security subcommittee meets Wednesday to discuss "Working with Communities to Disrupt Terror Plots." It's a great idea, and the kind of study the Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment should undertake. Looking at the witness list, however, shows that the committee is seeking input from a narrow viewpoint – one that is sympathetic to Islamist extremist organizations here in America.
Like any religious and ethnic group, American Muslims hold a wide range of viewpoints about their faith, the role it should play in secular society, and ways to strike a comfortable balance. Nearly all the witnesses share a history of interaction with national Islamist groups – those that seek to infuse a religious ideology into the political debate – while contrary points of view are not given a seat at the table.
Even the law enforcement and research oriented witnesses have a history of working closely with groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Society of North America, each of which have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.