which leads me to my second point. we need to conduct a thorough analysis and do no harm. the approach of today's hearing i fear will not be standard. today's hearing is entitled the extent of radicalization of the american muslim community and that community's response. it is true that individuals including some who are muslims are violent extremists. however, these are individuals, not entire communities. individuals like al akaili do not represent the muslim community. when you reflect their violence to the entire community you assigned collective blame to a whole group. this is the heart of stereotyping and scapegoating. this is the heart of my

testimony. describing evil act of a few individuals to entire communities is wrong. it risks making our country less safe. solutions to the surge of domestic terrorism often emerge from individuals from within the muslim community. a point i address later in my testimony. demanding a community response as the title of the hearing suggests the community bears responsibility for violent acts of individuals. targeting the muslim american community for the actions of a few is unjust. all communities are responsible for, batting violent extremism, singling out one community focuses our analysis in the wrong direction. throughout human history individuals from all communities have used religion and political ideology to justify violence. let's think about the kkk, america's oldest terrorist

organization. the oklahoma city bombing. the shooting at a holocaust museum by james von braun and bombings at planned parenthood places. do we focus on the ethnic group owe these agents as a matter of public policy? the answer is no. the united states entered japanese-americans during world war ii. during kennedy's political campaign his opponents portray a dire future for america with the catholic president. we now use events as a breach of our american values. let's talk about facts rather than stereotypes. the muslim american community reject violence ideology. the rand corp. highly respected research organization released a report last year that states the following, quote, given the low rate of violent extremists, 100

among three million american muslims suggests the american muslim population remains hostile to jihad ideology and violence. at a justice department press conference yesterday attorney general eric holder said, quote, the muslim community has contributed significantly to the resolution of many things that have resulted over the course of the last 18 months have received information that has been shared and critical to efforts to disrupt plots that otherwise might have occurred. muslim american communities across the country actively work with law enforcement officials from dialogue with eric holder to communities in minneapolis. recently to from many muslim american community members, two domestic terror plot including the times square bomber and northern virginia five. law enforcement officials depend on those relationships.

a recent report by the muslim public affairs council stated information provided by muslim americans helped to foiled seven domestic terror plot and 40% of all plot since 9/11. 2011 study from duke university triangle center reiterated 40% of domestic terror plots that have been prevented with the aid of muslim american community. this cooperation with law-enforcement is rooted in relationship and trust which we should nurture. a witness that today's hearing, los angeles sheriff bacca testified last year and said to detect extremists police need to have trust and understanding of muslim communities to live in the united states. police need public participation. as leaders we need to be rigorous about our analysis of violent extremists and.

are responsibility includes doing no harm. the focus of today's hearing may increase suspicion in the muslim american community ultimately making as a less safe. we have seen the consequences of anti muslim sentiment from backlash against the muslim community center to hostility against the islamic center in tennessee to friend koran burning in florida and denying permits to build mosques. at the height of the controversy a man asked a man if he was a muslim. when he said peace be to you, the individual stabbed him. dennismac data, national security advisor recently focused the adams center at the all dollars american muslim society. he noted that al qaeda's recruiting argument is the west is at war with islam. a chief goal of the national security policy is to undermine this argument.

this requires active engagement with muslim community at home and throughout the world. as president obama said, quote, islamists are not part of a problem in combating violent extremists -- it is an important part of promoting peace. the best defense against extreme ideology is social inclusion and civic engagement. fbi agent ralph older, head of the minneapolis -- he led a large scale probe into counter-terrorism involving local somali americans heading overseas to fight with terrorist organizations. he has come to be seen as the deputy assistant director in charge of counter-terrorism. the strategy to fight extremism the agency needs to establish relationships with -- within the community. we had to show people they can

trust me, trust us he said of the local community. he, quote, showed a side to the fbi people don't see. minneapolis police chief kim bowlen, they needed a little more to make their case and it paid off because of the connection he made. people came forward. he became somebody they were willing to go to. unfortunately i fear this hearing may undermine our efforts in this direction. recently a news program was stated, quote, about a young somali men who went to somalia and refuse to cooperate at all? they were denied for a long time that they even left. this sweeping statement regarding the community are represent is inaccurate.

unfortunately law enforcement from minneapolis was not justified -- invited to testify before the committee about counter-terrorism in minneapolis. i invite them and would welcome such an invitation. in january the department of homeland security of the civil-rights and civil liberties committee convened a youth summit for somali american youth and law enforcement agencies which attracted 100 people including u.s. attorney, three so mali american police officers, myself, several law enforcement security agencies. this provided an opportunity with a mall youth groups to learn more about the various roles and responsibilities of the department of homeland security and community issues and concerns with government representatives. they discussed ways some all youth and government entities can improve communication. muslim americans have been part of the scene since the nation's founding. a little known fact in iowa which is home to one of the

oldest mosques in america. the muslim community is just like the rest of us serving as doctors, business owners. the look cabdrivers and members of congress. muslim americans live in every community in america and they are neighbors and they are us. every american including muslim americans suffered on 911. twenty-nine muslims died at the world trade center. three died in hijack airplanes, united flight 175 and american flight 11. muslims stood with america united in grief and in our resolve to protect america. along with american the mall face muslim americans rushed in to save and rescue victims of al qaeda terrorism. let me close with a true story but remember that it is only one of many american stories that could be told. mohamad udani was a 23-year-old paramedic in new york city police cadet. he was one of those first

responders who lost his life in the 9/11 terrorist attacks almost a decade ago. as new york times eulogized he wanted to be seen as an all-american kid. he wore no. 79 on the high school football team in queens where he lived. he was called cell by his friend. he became a research assistant at rockefeller university and drove an ambulance part-time. one christmas he saying handle's messiah in queens. he saw the star wars movies and it is well known that he had a young jet are license plate. he bravely sacrificed his life to help others on 9/11. after the tragedy some people

tried to smear his character solely because of his islamic faith. some people spread false rumors and speculated he was in league with the attackers because he was a muslim. when his remains were identified these laws were exposed. hamdadi gave his life for other americans. he was not just a member of a religion but an american who gave everything for his fellow americans. i yield back. >> i thank the gentleman for his testimony. the gentle lady from texas. >> being moved by the statement

of mr ellison i am wondering whether or not you would waive the rules of this committee to allow all members to have opening statements. i would like to finish my inquiry. i think because of the severity of this issue and the passion being expressed and the concern for demonizing one group, members need to be on the record to be able to express their view, their opposition or their support -- >> reclaiming my time. the regular rules will be followed. recognize the gentleman from virginia. >> i object. >> recognize the gentleman from virginia, mr. wolf who served long in the congress and should particular interest in this issue and his district has a severe case of radicalization. recognize mr. wolf. >> thank you for the opportunity to testify.

i commend your leadership holding these hearings. i have been falling radical islamic terrorism for three decades. in 1998 i offered legislation creating the national commission on terrorism and highlighted the threat from osama bin laden in my introductory remarks. i was chairman of the house appropriations subcommittee on september 11th, 2001, and worked closely with director robert muller from 2002-2006 to transformed the commission to deal with the terrorist threat. and received regular briefings on terrorism and counter-terrorism center quite often in northern virginia and the new and growing threat posed by domestic radicalization. according to the congressional research service there have been 43 homegrown jihadists terrorist plots since 9/11 including one in two plots or attacks since

may of 2009. as u.s. government officials, law enforcement and community leaders seek to combat this challenge we must foster partnerships with peaceful and law-abiding americans of the muslim faith. over the last three decades i have seen firsthand the violence against muslims in many countries and spoken out in sudan, chechnya, kosovo and china. in bosnia i was one of the only members -- muslim man prison camp run by the serbs where i saw evidence of ethnic cleansing and support of lifting the arms embargo so the muslim population could defend themselves. i am mindful of the board role american muslims play today. their teachers and doctors and police and soldiers with mothers and fathers and neighbors and patriotic americans. some paid the ultimate price in service to the country.

i am reminded of a young pakistani american that i had the privilege of meeting at walter reed hospital. he lost both legs in iraq. the with a patriot who makes us proud that he was a muslim. the justice department including civil rights and national security programs, i am mindful of the government's responsibility to safeguard the rights of all americans. there have been instances in our nation's history especially when our country has been under attack when civil liberties of certain groups of people have been violated because other people were afraid. this is in excusable but this is the exception and not will. we cannot ignore the phenomenon of domestic radicalization. it is a national security challenge that must be confronted. according to a recent report by a respected counter-terrorism

experts peter bergman, quote, the american melting pot has not provided a fire wall against radicalization of american citizens and residents. it has loathe us into a sense of complacency that homegrown terrorism could happen in the united states. they went on to say by not taking it more urgently and seriously the radicalization and recruitment that was actually occurring in the u.s. authorities failed to comprehend this was not an isolated phenomenon. it indicated the possibility that even an embryonic radicalization and recruitment infrastructure had been established in the u.s. homeland. considers the following individuals radicalized in virginia or i would even say in northern virginia. in october of 2010 farouq ammad was arrested for plotting attacks on the washington metro

system targeting stations to kill as many people as possible. in july of 2010 zachary chester, graduate of oakland high school was arrested in new york on his way to join al shabaab in somalia. he pled guilty to charges of providing material support to terrorists and soliciting crimes of violence and was sentenced to 30 years. in november of 2009 five american muslim teenagers from fairfax county were arrested in pakistan to join militant islamist organizations and sentenced to ten years in pakistan prison. in november of 2009 virginia native army major hassan killed 13 service men and women in fort hood, texas. he grew up in arlington and went to wakefield high school and later moved to roanoke. in 2004, al moudy was convicted

of three charges of conspiring to assassinate saudi crown prince abdullah and sentenced to 20 years in prison. in 2003 abu ali , the academy's 1999 valedictorian was arrested in saudi arabia and convicted in alexandria for conspiracy to commit terrorism including a plot to assassinate president bush. he was sentenced to life in prison. we cannot overlook the prominent role of an american citizen a a anwar al laki , preaching in a mosque in virginia. this is noteworthy given his recruitment of the fort hood shooter, the christmas day bomber and times square bomber. some experts say the internet is the conduit to corrupt mind.

others say it is the important importation of radical -- as we deal with the growing threat it is troubling to see a group such as the council on american islamic relations attempt to stifle debate and obstruct cooperation with law-enforcement. in june of 2009 i spoke on the house floor in great detail layout my concerns about ciar and discussing the holy land foundation case. the foundation and five of its former organizers were found guilty of illegally sending $12 million to hamas which is a terrorist organization of the terrorist list by the united states and the you and wants to destroy israel. they designated a foreign terrorist organization and among the co-conspirators in the case was ciar. ciar is mistakenly elevated in

the press as the voice of mainstream american muslims and have been granted access to the highest levels of government at times. last week in a hearing before my subcommittee attorney-general eric holder recognized ciar's, quote, troubled history and fbi director robert muller suspend all non investigative cooperation with ciar. my concern about ciar is not limited to its disturbing origins and connection to terrorist financing. i am equally concerned about its role in attacking the reputation of any who dare to raise concerns about domestic radicalization. in may 25th, 2007, wall street journal op-ed, former member of a terrorist organization describes terror as the most conspicuous organization to persistently accused opponents

of islam phobia. in october of 2008 the editor of the columbus dispatch spoke to ciar's bent on accusations of the muslim debate. they said, quote, for many years terror has waged a campaign to intimidate and silence anyone who raises alarm about the danger of islamic extremism. the group acts properly when it hammers home the point that only a small number of muslims support religiously motivated violence and targeting law-abiding muslims is wrong. they went on to say -- label anyone who discusses islamic terrorism as a bigot and hatemonger and islamophobe. that is not all ciar 6. it is national and state chapter leaders actively dissuade american muslims from cooperating with

law-enforcement. after dozens of somalia americans disappeared from the minneapolis area in 2009 ciar attempted to drive a wedge between the muslim community and the fbi which seek to track down the missing men. according to official estimates at least 2 dozen americans have moved to somalia in recent years to join the terrorist group al shabaab and roughly ten americans who have gone there have been killed in fighting or acts of terrorism while connected with al shabaab. in january of 2011 ciar's california chapter display a poster which stated build a wall of resistance. don't talk to the fbi. although ciar removed the poster once the media reported on it it reflects a larger and troubling pattern. when the terrorism commission legislation was moving in 1998 and ciar's own words asked muslims to contact leaders of the house senate committee and

urge them to amend or eliminate the new legislation that would create a national commission on terrorism this was not successful. regrettably the recommendations sent to congress in june of 2000 were generally ignored until 9/11 when 3,000 people were killed including 2 dozen from my congressional district. let me be clear. terror -- ciar is counterproductive and hurting the american muslim community. i raise concerns because we are to successfully counter domestic radicalization law enforcement will need the active engagement of the muslim community. i have a recommendation to address the challenge of domestic radicalization head on. i commend the fbi director robert muller and all men of the fbi and others for the outstanding work they have done in intercepting would be

terrorists but despite the fbi's success the u.s. does not have an effective policy to for radicalization. that is why i will be introducing legislation to create a team for radicalization and counter-terrorism strategy. the team would represent a new approach which would focus not just on connecting the dots of intelligence but seeking the nature of threats to stare step ahead in understanding how to break the radicalization and recruitment cycle that sustains terrorism. how to disrupt global terrorist network and strategically isolated. during the ford administration the cia created a team composed of outside experts to reexamine intelligence relating to soviet capabilities. their conclusions were markedly different from those of agency officials. many other assessments were used in the reagan administration to deal with the soviets ultimately leading to the end of the cold

war. today federal law enforcement are so inundated with reports and investigations that we do not have the capacity to step back and strategically evaluate the threat before us. the team would provide a tremendous service to making recommendations on how to disrupt the domestic radicalization. i was working closely with congressman jane harman before she retired to go to woodrow wilson institute. for a year repeatedly written the administration urging them to implement this proposal. they have not. i urge your support of this legislation and saying you for the opportunity to testify. i strongly believe your hearings will provide congress with a starting point for a new dialogue about fighting extremism and radicalization. we cannot afford to be silent. i am reminded of a song by simon and garfunkel, the box.

a man here is what he wants to hear but disregards the rest. we cannot disregard the issue of radicalization in our country. your hearings provide a productive forum for a much needed dialogue about domestic radicalization and i want to thank you for your leadership. >> thank you, chairman wolf. the panel is dismissed. [inaudible conversations]

[inaudible conversations] [silence] >> let me thank each of the witnesses for being here today and giving us their valuable

time. it is essential as we go forward. i look forward to the testimony. first witness today, dr. jesser is founder of the islamic forum for democracy, a devout muslim he founded aifd after the 9/11 attacks to provide an american muslim voice advocating preservation of the founding principles of the united states constitution. as a member of congress, when he was here he was a respected physician and former lieutenant of the united states navy and worked in the physician's office in the united states capital. for better or worse he kept us healthy. some constituents may not be happy about that. i appreciate you being here today. the gentleman is recognized. put on the microphone please.

>> thank you distinguished members of the committee for seeking my testimony on what i feel is the most important threat to american security in the twenty-first century. i come as a devout muslim who is concerned about the country. not only its polarization but its paralysis in dealing with this problem. we formed an organization to address this but have not moved a step forward because of that paralysis. one camp refuses to believe any muslim could be radicalized and yet we see an exponential increase in the number of radicalized muslims. on the other side are those who feel islam is the problem and want to label muslims as one

collective and seeking a solution. the majority in the middle is moderate america looking for a solution and these hearings are opportunity to address that. what me be clear and state for the record the u.s. has a problem with muslim radicalization. i realize it is not problem and 90 to fix it. ..

>> of radicalization is a continuum. cooperation is a continuum. i personally have never known a muslim that wouldn't report somebody about to blow something up or commit an act of violence. but that's a final step on a continuum of radicalization. i believe there are small elements but significant elements of a ideology within our community that is radicalizing based on the identification, the lack of identification, the separatism and the disenfranchisement of certain muslims from this society that makes them not bond, not trust the government, makes them distrust the fbi and creates a culture of a lack of cooperation. that's what we need your help solving. america's current paradigm is failing. i'm a physician. i was trained as a physician.

patience coming, they're three or four symptoms. typically been one diagnosis. they don't come in with three symptoms and three diagnosis. so when you look at the problem of radicalization we have to realize that the panoply of excuses that are given, foreign policy, domestic policy, those will never run out. at the end of the day as moral corruption within a certain segment that is using our religion, hijacking it for a political movement that is not what domestic but global. the reason i'm here today and taking time away from my family and my work to do that is to be with you, is because we are failing. we are not addressing this. we are so much soaking up the bandwidth of the discussion in this country on this with victimization that we are not addressing the core problem and the root cause. and yet these halls, this government was based on discussing religious diversity. our founding fathers is based on having discussions that were

functional on religion. that you once a movement, a threat hijacked religion we seem to become completely dysfunctional and we can't even talk about it. i hope we can move beyond that. i fear for the legacy that my children will have. does i want them to be able to have the gift just like i got from my parents that felt americans, the first but they stepped off the plane, they understood that they practice their faith, their beautiful faith of islam, more greater than they could anywhere else in the world. why? because this government does not and one faith. it is under god in based on liberty. these are the principles. justice prime minister cameron said, we can't continue to play defense. we need a muscular liberalism. and so far our tax money, our resources has been squandered. we continue to play defense. and until we have an ideological offense into the muslim community, domestically and globally, to teach liberty, to

teach the separation of mosque, you're not going to solve this problem. we're not going to solve it. i'm not saying you can solve theology. you shouldn't be solving theology. we need to build public-private partnerships to build platforms where you can advocate for the loss of the constitution that are universal human rights, that are based into equality of men and women, the equality of all faiths before well. these are principles that certain pockets of islamic law, islamic legalism, within systems in this country and outside are advocating that are in contradiction with our government, our society, and end up radicalizing on a continuum, end up creating a culture, lack of cooperation. and so you treat that diagnosis, what i call political islam, spiritual islam will continue to suffer. our fate committee will suffer. and this country's decree will continue to suffer. the current groups have been speaking on a half -- have have been failing. they are apologetic, dismissals

have been completely failing. i think if you look at nidal hasan, he didn't become radical overnight. if you look at his resume it's similar to my. but yet something happened in him over years, over years. you just can't blame a lot. alike in celebratory came to radicalize her was being radicalized somewhere. he was giving sermons and moss in denver and sang -- when you talk to certain leaders of the muslim to me they said all of a sudden we don't know what happened. he became violent. that's not the way it works. pathology creates up over time and there is just as we've seen in alcoholism there is enablers. and the enabling that's been happening in some of, not all, even the majority has been, i think, significantly causing a progression of this problem and that's why we're not treating it and getting better. >> if you could try to close in about 30 seconds please. >> yes, sir ultimately we need

solutions. our creation has created a project that looks at and not doing muslims with the ideas of liberty, giving them the empowerment to counter a mom, to make -- we have a retreat coming in the next month to begin that retreat process. this is our homeland. we want to set the, a counter jihad, an offense to counter the ideas that i think is the best way to use our resources as a nation. and remember that the freedoms that we have don't come with a cheap price and we need to give back. and if the solution ultimately to fear of muslims, if it exists, for americans to see muslims leading the charge against radical islam. thank you. >> thank you. our next witness is melvin bledsoe, the father of carlos bledsoe, also known as abdul mohammed. mr. bledsoe is recognized for five minutes here and if you could try to keep your remarks

within five minutes or close to that. pleased to recognize mr. bleds mr. bledsoe. >> thank you very much for allowing me to come here today and to tell the country what happened to my son. this hearing today eviction important to begin the discussion about the issues of islamic radicalization in america. i sincere hope that this committee can somehow address the issue any meaningful productive way. first off i would like to express my deepest empathy to the family of private william long and the wounded soldier. i would like to talk about those complicity in private long smirk of islamic program and train my son, carlos, to kill. i want to kill american people and the world what happened to my son.

we sent them off to college to tennessee state university in nashville, tennessee, and the fall of 2003. i dream about his future ended up in a nightmare. carlos is my only son. who up in memphis, tennessee. my wife and operated a company memphis, tennessee, and carl started helping it with family business at the age of eight. love to talk to the traveling public. after graduating from high school, carlos wanted to get a degree in business. we thought perhaps you'd come back to memphis to run the business and give my wife and i an early retirement. after the fall of 2005, carlos came home at christmas for the holiday. we were sitting around the family room. carlos -- were having a normal conversation about normal things in life. at a certain point carlos and his brother-in-law got into a

heated conversation about muslims religions. then and later we felt like carlos personnel to change when you spoke about islam. we thought maybe he had some muslim friends and was offended by the comments. next i'm carlos came home, we saw another side of him that we didn't see before, during the night he took off all the pictures from the walls of the bedroom where he slept. even took off the picture of dr. marvin the king junior off the wall. we asked carlos what is going on with you. he replied that he is now a new convert to islam. and everything he does from now on will be to honor à la. the picture hung on his bedroom wall but now he's treating that picture as if he was nobody, dr. king was no return. we asked carlos not to take a picture of dr. king off the

wall. he took off while anyway. this became a big concern to us. we wanted to learn more about who was he hanging around with, what was going on with carlos. we discovered carles had dropped out of school and begin of 2005 semester, he was working a temporary job. he got a dog while in college. now we found out that he turned the dog loose in the woods because he was told that muslims considered dogs a dirty creature. i really couldn't understand how he could do that because carlos grew up with dogs. in the house since he was five years old. so my wife and i thought -- something and someone is getting into his head and changing his way of thinking. it had gotten to the point we had no interest -- he had no interest of come home even for the holidays. all this was part of his brainwashing. changing his thinking a little that at a time. yeti job in nashville with some

muslims who he tells, who tells him that islamic law, it is important had to let them pray certain times of the day regards of what was going on on his job. as a business owner, i told carlos it would be very difficult for employees to do this for all his employers. at this time the next step on his progress of radicalization carless was convinced to change his name. he chose the name abdullah mohammed. at this time his coach was no longer important for. only the islamic culture matter. some muslim to take advantage of my son but he's not the only one being taken advantage of. this is an ongoing thing in national and many other cities in america and national, carlos was captured by best described hunters. he was manipulated and lied to. that's how he made his way to yemen. carlos was hoping to go there for a chance to cross into saudi

arabia and visit america. he was taught that all true muslims must do this one time in life. he was taught that he would get, he was taught to get to walk on the grounds where the prophet mohammad walked. but they had other plans for an. they set him up, told me to teach english in a british school south of yemen. this will turn out to be a front for carlos, and carles ended up in a training camp run by terrorists. carlos joined with the yemenis extremist facilitated by their american counterparts in nashville. we have since discovered that the mosque wrote the recommendation letter carlos need for the school in yemen. we also discovered that school function as the intake fraud of radicalization trade of western jihad.

from what i understand the fbi had been following carlos before he left national, continued to follow him after he came back in yemen. when carlos was arrested in yemen, in october 2008 he was interviewed by the fbi agent based in nashville even before the u.s. embassy was alerted about his arrest. according to amnesty, the fbi was alarmed about what they learned from carlos. we wish to have -- we wished they could have told us his family about what they learned. if we knew have series this had become we could have put in every effort to prevent the tragedy in arkansas before it even happened. my son was arrested in yemen. my family cried out for help to bring my son back to america, for the american government. we got in touch with the united states embassy, the state department we also asked for help from our u.s. representative, and the fbi special agent who had been tracking my son in nashville,

ask that our son was finally released and brought home to us. no one said in a to is about what might've happened in yemen or what they may have learned that so on the fbi to interrogate carlos while he was in the custody of yemen. political secure organization. carlos experience jail was a final statement is radicalization. he was in there with true evildoers, hard-core al qaeda men who convinced him to get revenge on america. nothing is wrong with muslim leaders and national. what happened to carlos these enormous. i have other family members, they are modern peaceful law-abiding citizens who have been buzzing for many who are not radicalized. i also have several uncles and brothers in a military. my family has fought in every war since the civil war. it seemed to be to me that

americans are sitting around doing nothing about extremists, radical extremists, and carlos story and other stories in these hearings are not true. this is a big elephant in the room. i will continue to decide -- this wrong called local correctness you can even call it political fear. the fear of stepping on special minority population does even as a segment of the population want to stamp out america and everything we stand for. i must say that we're losing american faith. our children are endangered. this country must stand up and do something about the problem. yes, my son tried -- you hearing about today, but tomorrow it could be your son, your daughter, it might be an african-american child that they went after in nashville. tomorrow the victim might have blonde hair, blue eyes.

one thing for sure, it would happen again. spent can you just finish up in the next 10 seconds, please. >> we must stop these extremist invaders for raping the minds of american citizens. carlos grew up in a happy go lucky kid. he always had a fixed smile on his face. love to crack a joke or two. everyone liked him. he loved to play sports like basketball and football. he loves swimming and dancing. listen to music. today, i want to have -- to date we have two innings history. this could've been prevented i like to see something changed that no other feminist great country of ours has to go through what our family is facing today. god help us. god help us. >> thank you, mr. blitzer. our next witness is abdirizak

bihi, director of the somali education, he is the uncle of borhan hassan. mr. veissi, i'll ask you to try to confine remarks to five minutes. >> first of all, i want to say thank you to chairman king and members of the committee for allowing me to speak on behalf of the muslim somali american community today. i also want to thank the somali american community for helping us, the families of the missing children or youth to stand up against radicalization of our youth. i want to tell you why i am here today, and how important it is for me. i'm here because of my nephew borhan hassan could not only him, between 20 and 40 others to our somali americans in the state of minnesota that have

been brainwashed, radicalized by members of our community. i want to talk about my nephew. my nephew and his stomach, my sister, i love my sister, and her family was -- from the civil war into the knitting kenya where in the canvas there was no order but the rape, mass killing and disorder of the day. everybody begging that they should be saved by the international community. fortunately, my sister and her family, she was one of the luckiest families that made it to the shores of the united states of america. my nephew immediately adopted islam and become a student.

he was lauded by the committee. islam and i and everything else, the best thing for us was put into school. we invested in the senate with all our might to make it bigger so it could help our youth, and instead of being on the streets, to be influenced. we want our children to see. unfortunately on the night, historical might have 2004, 2008, december 4, my sister kept calling the family and mr. sun. keep calling everybody. we finally end up, other families, we come to the end that our kids were lured back to somalia. we went to the mosque and asked for answers. everybody promised that they would be with us. the other day we're waiting for the imam and the other leaders, all we did was saw on the tv and

see them, instead of helping us find our children, condemning us, to destroying our own mosque in religion. that was more hurtful than missing our children because now we have to deal with our own bigger community to destroy our faith and our community. that set the stage for two years of struggle, and the polish was the somali american community. whoever wins the committee, convinced the community that they are not missing children. but we lost our bright, well, after two years of demonstration, educating, fighting, with our personal money, three hours a night, two and a half years, we won the hearts and minds of the

community. but in the middle of the saga, though we could never get help, we never got help, from our leaders, from our organization, our biggest radical organization is. but in the middle of our winning, with the committee start to sympathize with us, what happened to us, what happened to her engineers, doctors, lawyers, my nephew want to go to harvard and become a lawyer or a doctor, just like you. but all those things, things can document we have never seen. islamic organization is true with the mosque, mosque center that we were, heard of so much than missing her. the center we build, the people we gave millions, our gold, our imams we trust. i want to warn, out of 40

something centers, and that's where all the kids are missing. all of them. this organization comes in, agrees with other leaders that we are liars, we have a clan, tribal problems. i don't know where that came from. we have no clan, tribe or language problems. we are one community. we've been hurt by other muslims in our community. we've been denied to stand. we have demonstrations in the streets in the rain come in the snow in minnesota. i don't know if you know minnesota. it's called. islamic organization, that is clinton in the house of congress, they are so powerful that they are helping us, that we are refused to be used by democrats, by liberal, by neoconservatives, by nazis, by jews. we have been muslims since mohammed, our profit. and i want to tell you my

committee -- community is the most beautiful community. they are 99.9% good american citizens that work day and night, 18 hours, 17 hours, seven days, to chase american dream. they don't have a voice. we have been kidnapped. so our children. we've been kidnapped by leadership that we have never seen. >> if you could try to finish and about 30 or 40 seconds. >> i want to conclude for two and a half years i have not done anything else. somali community wants to be heard. and i thank you, mr. king, congressman king, and other members of the community for giving me your, for panelists like him, like me. my committee wants to be heard. i will ask you to look into an

investigation as to what is happening in my community. we are isolated by islamic organization, and leaders who support them. talk to us, i want to tell you 85% of our wonderful youth do not have viable employment. they are engaged in programs. and if we stand and speak up for that, we are labeled and heard instead of being supported. we need your support. we need a voice to stick out. we have been hurt by we are not going away. what i want to say last -- >> ask the audience to refrain from any response place. >> i want to ask that the somali community hate al-shabaab. al-shabaab is killing thousands of people. and the world must understand that there's no government in somalia. this problem will continue. my last contingent is i would

never have this opportunity to challenge is that the community is lacking strong viable independent speed actually, your time has expired. next witness is sheriff baca. the gentlelady has recognized to recognize sheriff baca. your time will not be limited. >> thank you, mr. chairman. sheriff lee bock is a former u.s. marine. he served and law enforcement. he served as a law-enforcement officer for 46 years. he was elected as our los angeles county sheriff in 1998. sheriff leroy baca commands the largest sheriff department in the united states, leading over 18,000 budget and sworn professional staff, law enforcement officers and serves over 4 million people. many other cities, to which happened to be in my district, his jurisdiction includes 40 cities, nine colleges, 58 superior courts, and a local

jail system housing over 20,000 prisoners. sheriff baca is a respected witness year he has been to this committee testifying in both 2009 and 2010, and was invited here by our ranking member, mr. thompson. please join me in welcoming sheriff lee baca. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. thank you. thank ranking member thompson and your committee for this hearing today. moreover, i'd like to thank secretary janet napolitano and the department of homeland security for the support los angeles has received regarding combating violent extremism. the "los angeles times" shares department has long been a leader in the development of relationships with the various ethnic cultural and religious communities thrive in the los angeles area. we have established strong bonds for continuing outreach and physical presence of important events to every community. therefore, i would caution that

you, only on the extent of radicalization in the muslim-american community may be viewed as singling out a particular section of our nation. this makes a false a sense that any particular religion or group is more prone to radicalization than others. for example, according to information provided by the congressional research service, there have been 77 total terror plots by domestic non-muslim perpetrators since 9/11. in comparison, there have been 41 total plots by both domestic and international muslim perpetrators during the same period. reports indicate that muslim-americans helped foil seven of the last 10 plots promulgated by al qaeda within the united states. evidence clearly indicates the gentle rise of violent extremism across ideologies. therefore, we should be examining radicalization as an issue that affects all groups regardless of religion.

it is counterproductive to be able to trust with individuals or groups claim that islam supports terrorism. this plays directly into the terrorist propaganda that the west's war on terror is actually a war against islam but it is critical to build mutually respectful relationships with muslim-american communities endeavor to work together to protect all americans. for example, new immigrants or citizens -- excuse me, let me start this again. for example, as new immigrants or citizens of the vast majority of muslim committee members within my jurisdiction is fiercely proud of the american identity and display their patriotism on a daily basis. what i made a critical outreach to the committee after 9/11, i was overwhelmed by the number of muslims who are ready and willing to connect with law enforcement. moreover, after the 2005 transit

bombings in london, the muslim-american homeland security congress was formed in los angeles county to engage muslim community members in our effort to counter violence. the homeland security congress is comprised of leaders from the religious, business, professional and academic centers of the muslim-american community. moreover, it supports the efforts of our muslims, community affairs unit made up of arabic speaking muslim deputy sheriffs economic and that the los angeles police department has the same effort going. the muslim-american homeland security congress provides support to our homeland security efforts, not only in los angeles but in the entire southern california. according to the institute for homeland security solutions report, building examine successes and failures and detecting u.s. terrorist plots from 1999-2009, 40% of all extremist plots were thwarted as

a result of tips from the public and informants. muslim-american community leaders in los angeles have not hesitated to put themselves and potentially uncomfortable positions to interact with local law enforcement. in 2010 the muslim public affairs council enthusiastically responded to requests to speak at our annual radicalization conference close to 200 law enforcement personnel, subjected himself to intense period of questions and answers from the audience regarding islam a radicalization and terrorism. due to their courage and willingness to answer any questions presented, the violation other performers was overwhelmingly positive. outreach to the muslim community is also done by a law enforcement quartiers group which includes the los angeles police department, the city of

los angeles, the california emergency management agency, the fbi, the united states attorneys general office, the transportation security administration, and are most supportive federal partner, the department of homeland security. in america, we are obligated to protect all citizens as a respected religious and to effectively detect and find extremist. police leaders must have trust and understanding of all communities. the muslim community is no less or no more important than others as no one can predict with complete accuracy who and what will post the next threat against our nation. simply put, police need public participation and to accomplish that, strategies such as public trust policing need to be a priority in our nation. simply, our enemies cannot thrive or even survive when a majority of people share common goals and pledged to be an asset

for each other in the fight to counter fight extremism. thank you for listening to my pre-testimony on the subject of his fire to all americans. >> thank you very much, sheriff baca. we appreciate your testimony. the chair will recognize himself. dr. jasser, thank you for your testimony. you listen to the testimony of mr. bledsoe and mr. bihi. i would ask you, to see these these as isolated cases? has a part, or is it part of a systemic problem in the muslim-american community? and if it is, how would that be impacted as far as mosques, as far as overseas funding? >> chairman king, i can't underscore how important this question is, is that is just simply anecdote by the crime problem or is it systemic problem. the first thing we need to say is the passenger if asked are places that all of our families go worship, patriotic americans like every cross-section of america, and not only are they

not a threat but good report anything that they see. having said that though, we have a problem internally. where is that? it's a minority but there's an ideology that exist in some ask. not all but in some. it's even a significant number. it's not the violent part. we need to change that paradigm. it is about separatism, that idea that the islamic state takes president. islamic law takes precedence over america law. if you look, for example, mosques that i've seen determine in phoenix were one of the largest mosques, they helped one of the pictures, the pictures had something, extreme insult in about american soldiers and what they're doing in iraq. and you can't tell me that that doesn't happen upon radicalizing muslims at that mosque. is that free speech? absolutely. to their civil rights need to be protected? absolutely. but there should huge protest of

people in that mosque at what they did was violated and offended us as americans. but there was an. there was cited i think it's time that they should be a platform to awaken the silence muslim majority that exist there that love this country, to start to do some self repair rather than turning a blind eye and pointing fingers to other faiths. funding is also an issue. there's a lot of consolidation within mosque. one of the other things i think is important for the committee to understand is that our population is extremely diverse. but yet in this country to groups that seem to represent us are those that are mobilized based on being an islamic lobby which is really part of political islam. mostar families left that political islamic party mentality in the middle east continued to be part of a political infrastructure that separates church and state. so to say that welcome how to engage those muslims, where are they? they are hard to get to because they don't want to be involved in an islamic or muslim organizations because they

separate mosque and state. so i think it's important that we make that distinction. looking at the islamists as a group, again violence is a small part of that mentality, but get as you look at the bigger part, they facilitate the concept of islamic state of the premises, islamic law should be part of government. all this is reform. and only we can do that. some of the mosques for example, get funding and have a common source of ownership called north american islamic trust. they hold deed to some, they hold some 300 mosque on the website, some say up to 50% of mosque and yet if you look at some of the teachings that the islamic society of north america and a few others in doors, they are associated with this in my testimony, some of the imams are associated with the assembly of muslim jurist of america. so along with some of that funding that came originally from petrodollars in the '70s, comes i think an ideology that

is pervasive with wahhabi -ism which is a fundamentals of islamic strain, or islam isn't as an entity or a little islam. very different from islam as a state i believe. we sought to go through that an alignment process in the reform but you can't disconnect the funding. up in committees in this house that have studied that. the judiciary committee study the funding issue. i think there's a whole other issue. but i do think along with it comes up all agenda to, and lack of reform, and a sense of basically trying to be evangelized islam rather than trying to eternal lives and american ideals into our faith, which is two different things. so it's going to be a problem. >> thank you, dr. jasser. in the lead up to this hearings, this hearing was attacked by everybody from care to kim kardashian junior times as being such a dangerous moment we're going to have here today. why did you come to testify?

what you hope your testament will bring about? and what is your opinion of this hearing? [inaudible] >> i think it's very necessary for this hearing to be. i think as you can see, a lot of people still in denial that we even have a problem in america where radicalization. i came here to speak to the american people. i wanted to say something on behalf of my son and my grandson, which is nine months old. hoping that he don't get caught up in that same trap, get captured by that same hunter that my son got caught up in. also wanted to say to the american people that i hope by my coming in today, there's someone out there in the world, in america, that could hear my story and learn something from the radicalization stages and the process of the radicalization, that they can

catch some of that, which i did not understand at the time my son was being processed and radicalized. hoping that some other child, some other parent can understand and save that child. if i could save one other child from going through what my family going through, or the victim family went through, then i think my trip here to this committee will worthwhile. >> thank you, mr. blitzer. i'm privileged to recognize distinct recommend from mississippi, mr. thompson. mr. thompson. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. sheriff baca, as a professional law enforcement person, can you share what you're training and experience has taught you in working with different communities, within los angeles

county? >> yes. the concept of public trust, in my opinion, is the core message of my testimony, that policing requires extraordinary ability to interact with people, particularly in a diverse society where people, whether they are here for long periods of time for little bits, generally have a mistrust of what we represent on the initial contact. so in the building of relationships, and our particular subject today is obviously the muslim community, we believe that what's important is that the relationship building through programs such as our muslim outreach efforts and the idea that every individual could be a victim of a crime, and when it comes to violent extremism or let's just say even violent gangs, the same

approach that you use for a violent gang should be used for what we are now talking about in violent extremism concerning terrorism. once you do that you have ceded the community into a place where, if the informant cannot contact a copy directly, the informant knows someone who can. and so the idea that we must always in a long for for strategy be the first ones to know it's highly unlikely. that is true of any crime or anything, but it's also very fundamentally an important point to make when it comes to radicalization. obviously, the witnesses here had some exposure before the actions were taken. and as a result, the question is how well can you listen. what i didn't hear was when with a please notify, or when work authorities notified.

what i'm traded is close the gap. what i want to note as soon as possible is that when you are experiencing these unusual behaviors within mosques or within individuals, within your family, the time to notify authorities is now. and i believe that's part of the reason why these hearings are very, very important. >> thank you very much. dr. jasser, one of the schools of thought among some of these members of the committee is that we ought to profile muslims in america. did you agree with that? >> i don't agree with blind profiling. that's unconstitutional. however, it's smart law-enforcement that doesn't waste the resources on investing people that would not have a high propensity towards radicalization i think a smart also. so we have to be careful. >> the school thought is that we are to profile all muslims in

america. >> you can't do that because -- >> that's fine. but that's the school thought. what's your position on that? >> oh, i absolutely -- >> microphone, please. >> 20,000 times against profiling not only muslims but any group spent absolutely. one of the comments that those of us who have serious problems about hearings of this nature is that you run the risk of profiling law abiding citizens in this country, who just happened to be muslim. and i think what we have to do here is take as sheriff baca said, those individuals who see illegal or other activities taking place, need to be taught to report it. one of the ways you do that is to engage the community, the law

enforcement community as soon as possible. and i think from a professional law enforcement opinion, stand by, that's what we ought to be. last point, dr. jasser, another comet attributed to this committee school of thought is that there are too many mosques in america. do you agree with that? >> absolutely not that my family built a number of mosques, have involved with the. i feel it's one of the reason they came to this country in which exercise that freedom. can i add one thing, chairman? >> chairman king, may i add one thing speak with yes, dr. jasser -- >> mr. chairman -- >> mr. thompson controlled by time. >> the point is from my viewpoint, i think religious freedom has an absolute place in america. no, no, you said that there are not too many mosques in america and i think i agree with that.

>> as far as law enforcement concerned speed as i did not ask the law enforcement. spent the first question you did. >> but i did not ask it from y you. >> can i say something about -- >> the gentleman from mississippi, your back on time? i recognize the gentleman from california mr. london for five minutes. >> personal i don't recognize those schools of thought repping and then decide if they'll. secondly, i want to welcome sheriff baca here. he is an old friend. we work together and law enforcement together, and we worked with your department in creating the community oriented policing and problem solving program that you have carried through, which i would say this is an extension. that is, what you refer to here today. at the same time i would say to those who criticize us for a singular focus here that i have been on panels that have

investigated the continuing presence of not to work growth in the united states, whether or not we should continue to investigate and prosecute them. i've served on panels that dealt with the wartime relocation of japanese-americans and japanese nationals that was limited to that. i've been hearings in which we have looked at the problem of youth gang violence and we didn't talk about non-youth gang violence. i've been on the judiciary committee where we had hearings about the unsolved murders of african-americans in the south for decades after that where we made sure that there was financing for the justice department to pursue those cases. and we didn't go beyond that. i've been awarded examine the ku klux klan, but we didn't go beyond that at that time. when i was attorney general we did investigate skinhead groups

and militias, and we are not criticized or if we were, i didn't think it was reasonable criticism to say we didn't look at other gangs at that time. my point is that we are looking at a specific problem, and we're trying to deal with it. and sheriff baca, you indicated that you need to have cooperation of law enforcement. what would you say about a poster that tells people, build a wall, do not cooperate with the fbi? >> i wouldn't advise that you any group from american citizens, or any group that is an organization that would like to help solve the problem. obviously, we need the help. and i think that people that don't trust law enforcement are in a position where they should learn how to trust law enforcement, but the law enforcement community itself has to lead in that relationship. most people tend to step away from law enforcement.

>> i appreciate that but organizations that tell a firm but if we say do not cooperate with law enforcement are not exactly helpful in a solving this problem, correct? >> that's correct. >> mr. bihi, you major when you have this problem when looking for your nephew, along with the other 20 lost young people can you keep telling us that and that's a nice euphemism for the fact that you found that they been spirited away to a foreign country, and your nephew was killed when he was there. is that not correct? >> that's correct. >> when you brought that to the attention of members of leaders of your mosque, did they encourage you to deal with law enforcement? >> no. as a matter of fact, they threatened me, intimidated me, and the whole families. there are three messages that they have put out. one message was very strong message, that if -- i'm talking about the families that are missing their children to fbi or

-- the first message -- >> mr. bihi, move the microphone on little closer, please. thank you. >> the first message was to the parents, that if you are a single mother with cultural language barrier, and saigon, if you go to the fbi or the police, they don't care about you because in a way you're muslim, they will send you to guantánamo. very strong message. second message was you have more chances for your son to slip back into the country if you don't have big mouth like mr. bihi or other families come if you stay quiet. the third was moral and religious. it was afterlife. if you do that you will will be

responsible for radicalization of all mosques in north america. and you'll have eternal fire and health. >> mr. bihi, would you call that intimidation? >> that is the worst form of intimidation. >> so you were a target of intimidation? you were a target and her family were a target of intimidation to stop you from cooperative with law enforcement? >> yes. intimidation in its series for the if you'll allow me i would like to say something about what our great sheriff said about community. we reported the missing kids to the police. within hours when we woke up. several police stations including the police officers from minneapolis international airport. next morning we set up an appointment and we've met all the fbi. i believe our great director was

there, too. i also want to mention another thing about hooking up with the fbi and islamic community. if we don't have organizations and a moms and leaders that create hurdles and blocks and threats and intimidation, we could have done by ourselves, and we have done that. we in somali community get the credit, our congressman should give us the credit, should give me the credit for making all the efforts that director had said about the somali community. >> the gentleman's time has expired spent if you check the "usa today" about the report they made up and what the work we have done, it was -- >> mr. bihi, time has expired. the gentlelady from california, ms. sanchez is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i would like to ask unanimous consent to put forward 34 different letters for our body

of work here, from different organizations across the nation have submitted for testimony. >> without objection so ordered. >> thank you, gentlemen for being before us, and in particular welcome, sheriff baca. i know you've been before our committee several times. i have the privilege of representing orange county california. and a joe parr the second or third largest islamic and/or arab population in the nation. so i'm well aware of the work you have done, not only up in l.a. county but most people don't realize that in the time of a terrorist attack or a national emergency, we actually fall under your leadership in los angeles. so we worked a lot together. it's a pleasure always to have you here with us. today, my question is to mr. jasser. in testimony you say too many

so-called muslim leadership groups in america like care, or muslim advocates have specifically told muslims across the nation, for example, not to speak to the fbi or law enforcement and less they are accompanied by an attorney. now, the right to have an attorney present when speaking to law enforcement is a specific principal of american civil liberties. so, as a minority, i would advocate to people come in particular minority, that they should have their attorney present when being investigated, talked to, spoken to, addressed by the fbi. so by what legal principles do you assert that any minority in america should waive that american principal? >> i don't disagree with you. i'm talking about this as a father. when i walked up to a police officer or the fbi, i teach my children that they are your

friend, you can talk to them. they are not going to be attacking you spent but if they come to your home at night, like they do in my community, like some come to my community and not at 8 p.m. at night, to ask questions, if it were you on the other side of the door not knowing what questions they're going to ask, would you not say, can you come back tomorrow to my office, my office, my business office? would you not say, let me call my attorney and i will come meet you down at the fbi office? i would you say, sure, come on in. i will answer any question speak was it depends on the circumstances. i don't disagree with you. >> you don't understand the circumstances when someone comes to your office late at night like that. you would assert the privilege of an attorney, would you not? >> congresswoman, not all the time, no, i would not. i'm not in fear from the government because i've nothing to my. i'm not saying you don't have

civil rights to protect. that's part of the discussion but when that discussion you just went through dominate the entire discourse of about muslims in america a great a narrative that the government is against you and create a narrative that is anti-muslim. we should of our civil rights protected by its part of the bandwidth. the rest of it should be about how much we should join the military, how much we should -- >> we have those discussion. thank you, doctor. we have those discussions in the minority committee. you know, i am one of those -- one of those rock band ideas of the latino community, for example. but i still which a just to anybody that if the fbi comes late at night knocking on your door, you tell them you would like to meet them at some other place that's about the time with your attorney. sheriff baca, could you talk about some of the initiatives come in particular, that should implemented in your department to work better with the committee? and it's coming from this

background, when we have problems, for example, when we ask people, go after immigrants coming in, knock on doors and look for undocumented, or when we have these sort of situations where law enforcement comes, it is intended into its intimidating for me when law enforcement stops me and i have to pull over. i'm driving a car and all of a sudden i see the flashing lights in the back. my heart starts to be. to me, law enforcement is like a for even those of us who work with you. minority seniors in particular i think have a very big sensitivity to law and some -- law enforcement. what are the initiatives you tried so that, in fact, minority communities and immigrant communities are not afraid. and move forward and come forward with information. don't you think when we intimidate them, or point out our profile them or have some of

his comments come out like that, that it is dangerous to our ability to get communities to help is? >> the first thing i do is i train all deputies when they enter our academy and exit it to recite the providers of assurance department by hard. i would recite another this is the bedrock of the american constitution, the bill of rights, civil rights, and even human rights. and that is the core guys are this but as a leader of the loss education discussions to partner i commit myself to perform my duty with respect for the dignity of all people. the integrity that is right and fight what is whether the wisdom to apply common sense and fairness in all i do in the courage to stand against racism, sexism, anti-semitism, homophobia and bigotry in all its forms. when you look at the history of bias in america, the reality is that our founders created a brilliant document, the constitution, the bill of rights, civil rights are real. but human rights are part of the

element here were seven international problem such as terrorism. so people need to clearly know from law enforcement agency where do you stand before you even talk to me? who are you and what do you represent? no police officer, no sheriff, know anybody with law enforcement authorities will ever step outside of the american legal system in doing their job. we are the most regulated and perhaps form of public service that anyone can imagine. so my first outreach to the committee is to say, if you don't have an encounter with my deputies within those core values, and i need to know about this. when you go a step further, there is programs galore. i had councils not only of all the face, but this particular issue that are within face where people come to me because they have concerns and fears. whether it is orthodox jews or muslim or pakistanis, or south asians, or nude easterners.

the truth is that america is becoming a society of the world. and because of that, we have to be sensitive. we have to know how to work with others communities. i have over 169 which is spoken in los angeles. i have deputies of all these religions and all these ethnic groups. and we traveled throughout the world quite frankly on this counterterrorism issue. quite frankly a predictable issue after the gilmore report came out of congress. and yet, los angeles had a terrorism early warning group before 9/11. and so when you look at this from the standpoint of what even this hearing is so vital, is because americans need to wake up and start learning more about all the issues that affect their well being. and that police alone can solve this problem, nor can congress, nor can the administration without cooperation, locally, statewide, nationally, as well as internationally.

and we have no national police in america. this is why i reach out to new york, check with them other issues. i reach out to all the major cities as a member of the major cities chiefs association. but then a reach out in my own community so there is no gap regarding resources. the real truth is that the american public must step up to the plate and do more. even if it is just educating yourself. on the issue of mosque, for example, yes or -- >> about 10 seconds. >> we can go into mosques in los angeles and we do that frequently. >> the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from alabama is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. before and to my questions i do want to point out that i've been a member of this committee since it was established as a standing committee and even before that when it was a select committee. ..