The new chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Representative Peter King, Republican of New York, plans hearings into the "radicalization" of American Muslims. But his democratic predecessor as chair, says King, has it all wrong when he says American Muslims refuse to co-operate with the police in battling terrorists.

King has been quoted as saying, "My first goal is just to have people even acknowledge this [the radicalization of American Muslims] as a real issue. This politically correct nonsense has kept us from debating and discussing what is one of this country's most vital issues. We are under siege by Muslim terrorists."

In a Newsweek op-ed published December 20, the Long Island Representative wrote that as part of his duties as the incoming chairman of the Homeland Security Committee he intends to hold hearings on the "radicalization of the American Muslim community and homegrown terrorism."

King wrote, "I will do all I can to break down the wall of political correctness and drive the public debate on Islamic radicalization," adding, that hearings are "what democracy is all about."

For years, statements like these by the New York Representative have angered Muslims in his district; now, as the hearings are set to begin, many Muslims have joined to make their voices heard.

At the Islamic Center of Long Island, congregants gathered to discuss what could be done to stop the planned hearings on what King called "hidden radicalism" among American Muslims and mosques.

The Washington Post noted that although no member of the Islamic Center of Long Island had ever been accused of terrorism, King had singled out the mosque as a hotbed of "radical Islam" and called its leaders extremists who should be put under surveillance. King went on to say that the majority of Muslim leaders in the United States aren't cooperating with the authorities, although other reports – like one from Representative Bennie Thompson, Democratic of Mississippi – state the contrary.

Thompson, who chaired the committee until the GOP took over the House last month, wrote in Politico last week that the 9/11 commissioners had it right when they said, "The U.S. has to help defeat an ideology, not just a group of people."

Thompson went on to say that it was actually tips from within the Muslim community itself that have led to the disruption of several plots – including the case of the Northern Virginia Five and the Times Square bomb plot in New York.

"When I served as the committee chairman in the 111th Congress, the panel regularly heard testimony from top law enforcement and intelligent officials," Thompson wrote. "None of these officials has backed King's assertions that the Muslim community has not been helpful in thwarting terrorist attacks."

Thompson warned against spreading fear about any one group. His article stated his belief that the American people "have almost been conditioned to believe that the majority of people who seek to do us harm are those of Muslim descent." He went on to say, "Capitalizing on this fear, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King wants to hold narrowly focused hearings – only on the threat posed by foreign jihadist groups."

The House hearings, scheduled to begin this month, have stirred controversy throughout the American-Muslim community. In preparation for the upcoming hearings, many within the community have joined together in conference calls, strategy sessions and letter-writing campaigns. Fiery op-eds have compared the planned congressional inquiry to the days of McCarthyism and the World War II persecution of Japanese Americans.

More troubling for members of the Muslim community in Long Island is that the planned hearings were proposed by their own representative.

"He used to come to our weddings. He ate dinner in our homes," the mosque's chairman, Habeeb Ahmed, told The Washington Post. "Everything just changed suddenly after 9/11, and now he's holding hearings to say that people like us are radical extremists. I don't understand it."