Anti-Muslim Activist Calls for HUAC Revival
, an activist who in April told conservatives that 鈥淪hariah is communism with a God,鈥� has called on Congress in a Washington Times to bring back the McCarthy-era House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). This time around, the infamous panel鈥檚 job will be to root out the Islamist operatives who, he claims, are well on their way to replacing America鈥檚 democracy with a Shariah-based caliphate.
Gaffney, who helms the Center for Security Policy, is fervent in his conviction that agents of the Muslim Brotherhood have infiltrated the government at all levels, intending to subvert U.S. institutions through 鈥渃ivilization jihad.鈥� He laid out his 鈥渆vidence鈥� for infiltration into the U.S. government in April at 鈥淭he Awakening 2011,鈥� a conference at the late Jerry Falwell鈥檚 Liberty University that brought together economic conservatives, national security hawks and stars of the Religious right to discuss the future of America.
鈥淲hen it is impracticable to engage in violence, Shariah-adherent Muslims are still obliged to engage in jihad through stealthy techniques or, in the words of the Muslim Brotherhood, 鈥榗ivilization jihad,鈥欌�� Gaffney told a rapt audience. 鈥淭hey are doing it through influence operations, the target set of which is comprehensive 鈥� government, law enforcement, intelligence agencies, the military, penal institutions, media think tanks, political entities, academic institutions. And they are very aggressively targeting non-Muslim religious communities in the name of ecumenicalism.鈥�
Gaffney鈥檚 Center helped set off a Shariah panic on the far right last year with the September 2010 release of its report, 鈥淪hariah, the Threat to America,鈥� which depicted Islamic Shariah law as a global threat comparable to Soviet communism a generation ago. 鈥淪hariah鈥檚 pursuit in the United States,鈥� the report asserted, 鈥渋s tantamount to sedition.鈥�
Gaffney, who uses the terms 鈥淚slam鈥� and 鈥淪hariah鈥� as virtual synonyms, made no secret of his belief that it would be folly to extend the civil liberties enjoyed by all Americans to the putative enemy. 鈥淪hariah is not only un-American, it is anti-American. It is not only unconstitutional; it is anti-Constitutional,鈥� he said at The Awakening. 鈥淪hariah is not a protected religious practice; it is a seditious religious program 鈥� and as a result it has to be prosecuted.鈥�
If prosecution is what he鈥檚 after, HUAC would be the committee to do it. First established in 1938, the committee was charged with rooting out efforts to subvert the government by both communists and fascists. As relations with the Soviet Union went from cool to frigid in the aftermath of World War II, it shifted its attention almost exclusively to suspected communists. With the help of Red-baiting Sen. Joseph McCarthy (who did not sit on the committee but whose vicious campaign against supposed Communists did much to make the era what it was), HUAC investigations devolved into witch-hunts that destroyed countless Americans鈥� lives. The committee was shut down in 1975, and is broadly considered to be one of the most shameful government undertakings of the 20th century.
Yet Gaffney is only the latest in a calling for a return to McCarthyism. Outstanding among these is the ever-execrable former Fox News Host Glenn Beck, who last year invited M. Stanton Evans, author of 2007鈥檚 Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America鈥檚 Enemies, to join him on his radio show.
Evans was happy to educate Beck about America鈥檚 most unsung 鈥渉ero.鈥�
鈥淸McCarthy] was right in general. There was a massive penetration of the government and 鈥� it was covered up and 鈥� he threatened that cover-up. And that is why he was isolated, demonized and destroyed,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 have something I call 鈥楨vans Law of Inadequate Paranoia,鈥� which says no matter how bad you think something is, when you look into it, it鈥檚 always worse.鈥�
Gaffney obviously agrees. In fact, he cited Evans鈥� book in the Washington Times as a key 鈥渟tudy鈥� that 鈥渧indicated鈥� HUAC, and asserted that all members of Congress and their staff should read it.
And fast. As Gaffney sees it, the Obama administration has already imperiled the country with 鈥渁nti-American鈥� conduct in activities ranging from international diplomacy to banking law to 鈥渓etting Afghanistan think that we鈥檙e ready to fold up our tents and bug out,鈥� as he put it in April.
鈥淎t best, [the administration is] acquiescing to far-reaching concessions to the Muslim Brotherhood and its ilk,鈥� he wrote Monday. 鈥淎t worst, they are enabling the group's efforts to destroy the West from within.鈥�
