Many thanks for taking the time to contact my office to support the position I have taken regarding certain Muslim leaders in this country.It is very reassuring to know that I have good people like you standing with me. If we are to prevail in the war against international terrorism, all Americans must stand as one.
All the best.
Sincerely,
PETER T. KING
Member of Congress
P.S. Please find enclosed my recent letter to Newsday which further details my position.
King's defense
Reading Dr. Faroque Khan's letter just adds to my disappointment with the leadership of the Long Island Islamic Center. As he acknowledges, I had a close relationship with him and other leaders at the Westbury mosque. I also took many stands in defense of oppressed Muslims - such as my politically unpopular support of President Bill Clinton's military interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo. In the days after 9/11, I made numerous television and radio appearances defending the American Muslim community.I was, however, dismayed in the weeks following Sept. 11, when Ghazi Khankan, the interfaith director of the Islamic Center, made outrageous and indefensible statements such as that Mohammed Atta and other alleged hijackers were alive, that Atta's passport had been stolen, that the 9/11 attacks were not caused by Muslims and Arabs, and that the media should investigate the "world Zionist network." At a time when funerals and memorial services were being held for hundreds of innocent Long Islanders who were murdered by Atta and his henchmen, not one leader at the mosque - including Dr. Khan - objected to these remarks. Ghazi Khankan still holds his position and is the mosque's most visible public spokesman.
I believe that the overwhelming majority of Muslim Americans are loyal and patriotic. It is their leadership that is failing them. Indeed, in a State Department speech in 1999, Muhammad Hisham Kabbani of the Islamic Supreme Council of America said that extremists had taken over "more than 80 percent" of U.S. mosques. I find it sad that I must raise these issues. But the stakes are too high to do otherwise.
Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford)
Washington