Tomorrow Republican State Senator Greg Ball will hold hearings in downtown Manhattan to discuss terrorism; the meeting is titled "Reviewing our Preparedness: An Examination of New York's Public Protection Ten Years After September 11." Ball says the hearings, "which may be the first of a series," will focus on WMD, the threat of Islamic jihad, Indian Point's vulnerability, and more. According to Ball, "we still have a soft underbelly that makes us vulnerable and in the current environment, no threat can be taken lightly." But eleven state Senate Democrats have criticized the hearings, insisting that some of the speakers are anti-Islamic wingnuts, and that Ball's hearing will just "provide a venue to unqualified individuals who profit from maligning Muslims." Who are these controversial guests?
Talking Points Memo believes "some of the witnesses are prominent figures in the right's recently heightened campaign against the supposed threat of sharia." These include Nonie Darwish, director of Former Muslims United, who has predicted that Islam "will destroy itself because it's not a true religion." Also on the guest list: Frank Gaffney, founder and president of the American Center for Security Policy, who once wrote of President Obama, "The man now happy to have his Islamic-rooted middle name featured prominently has engaged in the most consequential bait-and-switch since Adolf Hitler duped Neville Chamberlain over Czechoslovakia at Munich." Whoa, don't forget how Obama brought down WTC Building 7 with a controlled demolition!
Despite the criticism, Ball's going to the wall with these hearings. In a letter to the Democratic Senators, he accused them of "just playing political games. I bent over backwards to include their input in the hearing, actually asking that they give a suggestion on who should be in the hearing... Unfortunately the possibility of a significant attack is real, and while we have made gains, initial evidence is compelling that we really are not as safe or as secure as we should be." Here's the agenda for tomorrow's hearing.
