Rep King: Boston Justifies More Surveillance of All Muslims

Insists All Chechen-Americans Are a Potential Threat

Rep. Peter King (R – NY) doesn’t need an excuse to call for massive increases in spying on Muslims; he does that all the time anyhow. Yet the Boston bombing certain provides a pretext to get those arguments rehashed all over again.

King, who spent last year holding Congressional hearings on the “real threat” posed by America’s Muslim minority, demanded “increased surveillance” on all Muslims nationwide, with particular interest in Chechen-Americans, who he termed a “new front” in the global war on terror.

Of course there are almost no Chechen-Americans in the first place, and indeed not that many Chechens on the whole planet, but Rep. King seems keen to move against the few hundred there actually are in any ways he can.

King insisted that not moving toward more overt persecution of American Muslims would be a sign of political correctness gone mad, saying that the government needed to fully explore the radicalization of Chechens in particular.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.