Kyl announces series of hearings on Islamist terror; decries Pentagon chaplain website

The chairman of the Senate panel on terrorism and homeland security has announced a “series of hearings” on the national threat of Islamist terrorism, after a successful initial hearing on the extremist Wahhabi sect of Islam in the United States. Wahhabism is the official state religion of Saudi Arabia and is noted for its intolerance and violence.

Arab-American and Muslim groups, which have been portraying themselves as mainstream, assailed the hearing as racist, bigoted and “hurtful.”

“The primary danger is their ability to recruit Americans . . . and infiltration of American institutions – prisons, for example, even the military clergy,” Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) told Tony Snow and Brit Hume on Fox News Sunday.

Kyl told Snow that he isn’t surprised at a Washington Post report that the US Navy has a Website that directs Muslims to pro-terrorist Wahhabi sites, but “it troubles me greatly, adding, “it’s very consistent with the testimony that we had.”

In Kyl’s view, the Saudis must end and delegitimize all support for Wahhabism abroad, and should quit “spending millions of dollars in public relations campaigns and lobbyists in Washington.” The senator chairs the Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism and Homeland Security.

“The Saudis, are very good at making some progress when the pressure’s on and the spotlight of public attention is focused on them,” Kyl said. “But you have to look at it over time and to see whether the actions really follow the words. And I think the jury is still out on that.”