King: We Need Surveillance of Mosques Because ‘Not Enough’ Mosques Cooperate

‘If they told the police [what’s happening in the mosques] it is likely that the Boston marathon bomber would not have occurred’

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:

BREAM: “And our next guest New York Congressman Peter King says one way to prevent terror attack here is in the U.S. Is to put mosques under surveillance in an effort to root out radicals. New York City once pursued but then abandoned such a strategy just a short time ago. New York City mayor Bill de Blasio was asked about congressman king’s suggestion. Listen.”
[clip starts]
DE BLASIO: “I have a lot of respect for Peter King, but I think he is in the wrong place on this one. Secretary Johnson is right. The way to do a better job of knowing what is happening at the community level and knowing that there are some individuals that aim to do us harm is to deepen the relationship with the Muslim community, with all communities.”
[clip ends]
BREAM: “Peter King is a Republican congressman out of New York and chairman of the House Committee on Terrorism and Counterterrorism. Thank you for joining us tonight.
KING: “Thank you, Shannon. Thank you.”
BREAM: “Can these two things work together? Can you build relationships and gain the trust of those in the Muslim community who would be the first line of defense, but also at the same time they be aware that you’re surveilling their mosque?”
KING: “Yes. In fact, listen, I actually get along personally with Mayor de Blasio, but we do disagree on this issue. And obviously we should try to do both. I can tell you that there are examples right here on long island. I would speak to New York City. There is a number of mosques on long island where they welcome the police in. They have brotherhood meetings, and they have breakfasts, et cetera, et cetera. These community-type meetings. And then we find out later that they had radicals in those mosques. They had young men who claim they’d wanted to do jihad. One actually — young man, vitas went to Afghanistan where he was arrested fighting alongside al Qaeda. He had gone to the mosque, told the mosque that he planned radical activity. At the same time that these mosque leaders were meeting with the police. So there was this great friendship going on, but they never told the police was what was going on in the mosque, never told them about this radical activity. Another young man on long island arrested who belongs to a different mosque. And the people in the mosque said yes, they were radical, but they never told police. The oldest brother who actually on the positive side, he was actually ejected from a mosque because he was so radical. But on the negative side, that was never told to the police. So if they had told the police, it’s possible, very likely that the Boston marathon bombing would not have occur. And again, another example in New York. There was an imam that the NYPD did trust. This was back in 2009. He was the one they trusted the most. And when the NYPD heard that a quid explosive bomber was coming to New York to attack the subway system, he was being monitored. But they also knew he had other cohorts in New York City. And they went to the imam, asked for advice. Can you help us find who these three other guys are. The first thing he did, the imam they trusted, he contacted the suspect’s father and tipped them off that the NYPD was looking for their son who was coming to New York to blow up the subway system. You need both. Unfortunately, not enough mosques and imams cooperate.”

Video files
Full
Compact
Audio files
Full
Compact