Rep. Sue Myrick’s hearing on the Muslim Brotherhood

Sheila Musaji

Posted Apr 13, 2011      •Permalink      • Printer-Friendly Version
Bookmark and Share

Rep. Sue Myrick’s hearing on the Muslim Brotherhood

by Sheila Musaji


It seems that the Republicans particularly are using Islam and Muslims as a political pawn.  Here on TAM we have questioned how low can they go?, and collected anti-Muslim and anti-Islam statements made by elected representatives and government officials.  In the past few months we’ve seen Rep. Peter King’s first hearing, and Rep. Greg Ball’s hearings.

The Charlotte Observer reported that Rep. Sue Myrick will be chairing a hearing of the House Intelligence subcommittee on terrorism, human intelligence, analysis and counter-intelligence (TAHCI).  This hearing will be on the subject of the Muslim Brotherhood.  According to a press releases, the witnesses will be:  • Lorenzo Vidino, Visiting Fellow, The RAND Corporation, • Ahmed Subhy Mansour, President, The International Quranic Center, • Tarek Masoud, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Harvard University • Robert Satloff, Executive Director, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, • Nathan Brown, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University.

C-SPAN was supposed to have a video of the hearing but it is not available yet on the site.

Based on Sue Myrick’s background, I am not very hopeful about this hearing’s value, but anything is possible.  I will update the article after I have been able to view the hearing video.


Myrick’s Background

Myrick has a long history of anti-Muslim rhetoric.  In an article The Anti-Muslim Congressional Mafia I discussed the claim made by Myrick and two other representatives, that Muslim staffers and interns on Capitol Hill might be “infiltrators”, and their demand for an investigation.  This effort was denounced by the Congressional Tri Caucus among others.  Interestingly, when confronted at a Town Hall meeting about some of Gaubatz’ anti-Muslim statements, Myrick attempted to distance herself from Gaubatz and the book.

At a Town Hall meeting with Muslim constituents, Myrick brought along Zuhdi Jasser, a conservative political ally and a Muslim physician who heads the Islamic Forum for Democracy.  She turned the microphone over to him, and he accused many moderate Muslims, including those in the audience, of being in denial about the “cancer” of radical Islam. Based on Jasser’s comments, Rose Hamid—the former head of Muslim Women of the Carolinas—said after the meeting: “(Myrick’s) goal was not necessarily to listen to the Muslims, but to deliver her message to the Muslims.”  This is particularly interesting, as on her official site she has a page about her Wake Up America campaign.  One of the goals listed on that page is •We will introduce Members of Congress, and US government agencies, to moderate activists and human rights workers within the Muslim community with whom they can work, and listen to their opinions about what the Muslim community really believes, rather than Islamists;.  As I discussed in the article Zuhdi Jasser and AIFD - Identified by Rep. King as the Ideal American Muslim Leadership ths goes right along with a campaign to attempt to define what constitutes a moderate Muslim.  As I said in that article TAM has had a number of articles over the years about a neo-con strategy called Religion Building and on the devious process of labeling and identifying “moderate” Muslims.  (type religion building or moderate Muslims in the TAM search for many of these articles)  It seems as if this religion building strategy has entered a new phase - actively attempting to set up an individual and/or organization as the authorized spokesman for the American Muslim community.  Enter Zuhdi Jasser and AIFD.

Rep. Myrick has said regarding domestic security threats, “You know, and this can be misconstrued, but honest to goodness (husband) Ed and I for years, for 20 years, have been saying,‘You know, look at who runs all the convenience stores across the country.’ Every little town you go into, you know?”  “My point is people (who) don’t like us are all over the country, and we know that,” she said.” 

Rep. Myrick supports the work of The National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools whose goals are clearly in opposition to the first amendment of the U.S.

Rep. Myrick is listed as a sponsor on the website of Capitol Ministries, along with Todd Akin, Michele Bachmann, Paul Broun, Trent Franks, Louie Gohmert,  Mike Pence, Tom Price, Lamar Smith, Joe Wilson and various others.  (Read more on Capitol Ministries here)

Rep. Myrick believes that Osama Bin Laden and his ilk – “are acting in accordance with Islam”. 

Rep. Myrick and Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan sent a letter that attacked the Justice Department for sending envoys to an ISNA convention because, the lawmakers said, the Islamic Society of North America was a group of “radical jihadists”

Rep. Myrick launched a YouTube video series. In the first video, called Beyond Terrorism: The Whole Story, she warns that extremists live in our midst, “even in positions in our government.” But the wide-eyed Myrick tells the camera: “You’re not being told the whole story… This is something that nobody ever tells you.” 

Rep. Myrick supports Brigitte Gabriel’s ACT for America, and put out a letter enthusiastically endorsing them.  It was reported in February that Hal Weatherman, longtime chief of staff for Sue Myrick, is leaving to join the staff of ACT for America.  (Read about Brigitte Gabriel and ACT for America here.)

Rep. Myrick wrote the forward to Dave Gaubatz’ Muslim Mafia book.  (Read more about Gaubatz and this book here)

Rep. Myrick is reported as saying:  “I believe Hezbollah and the drug cartels may be operating as partners on our border.” That department’s spokesman replied that the U.S. “does not have any credible information on terrorist groups operating along the Southwest border.”  (Read more on this charge and responses to it here.)

Rep. Myrick and Rep. Peter King were among the lead sponsors of a bill introduced by Rep. Frank Wolf [R-VA]  to create a panel of outside experts - fresh eyes - to help develop new strategies to combat the violent Islamic jihad as well as its stealth component. 

Myrick has videos on her official site, one of which discusses the Muslim Brotherhood document introduced in the Holy Land Foundation trial. 

 

Permalink