Yesterday the Washington Post published a prominent front page article filled with breathless drama and word of panic running through the Muslim-American community. Their focus was on planned congressional hearings on the noteworthy rise in planned acts of terrorism by Muslim extremists who are American citizens. The Post charged the proposed hearings were akin the the vile McCarthy witch hunt hearings of the 1950s.
Before I give you the punch line that exposes the Post’s hysteria and its irresponsible journalism, I want you to get a feel for the paper’s sense of drama. Here is the actual lede:
“They called it a summit to teach Muslims how to fight prejudice and fear. But all day long, fear was inescapable in the fluorescent-lit meeting hall of the Long Island mosque.
“The top issue on everyone’s mind this month at the Islamic Center of Long Island was this:
“What could be done to stop planned congressional hearings on alleged hidden radicalism among American Muslims and mosques?
“The House hearings, scheduled to begin next month, have touched off a wave of panic throughout the U.S. Muslim community, which has spent much of the past year battling what it sees as a rising tide of Islamophobia. Conference calls, strategy sessions and letter-writing campaigns have been launched. Angry op-eds have compared the congressional inquiry to McCarthyism and the World War II persecution of Japanese Americans.”
OK, got enough? Get where this 3,000-word article is going?
So here is the punch line: none of the witnesses for the evil hearings have even been selected. A highly trusted source who is working with the House Homeland Security Committee told the Tatler matter-of-factly : “The hearings and lineup haven’t been set yet.”
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