EDITORIAL : THE USA TODAY, USA

Bachmann's Islamist scare relaunches 

McCarthyism

In the 1950s, at the height of the Red Scare, Sen. Joseph McCarthy claimed to have a secret list of communists "shaping policy of the State Department." He and his allegations were subsequently discredited, giving rise to a word synonymous with unsubstantiated smears: McCarthyism. But not before lives were destroyed.

OPPOSING VIEW: This problem is systemic

Six decades later, five Republican House members — including Michele Bachmann, who unsuccessfully sought the GOP presidential nomination — seem determined to pick up where McCarthy left off. Only this time, they see Islamists under every bed instead of communists.

In the down-the-rabbit-hole world of the five conspiracists, Islamists have infiltrated Washington and are paving the way for global jihad and sharia law in America. How do they know this? They cite the dubious claims of the Center for Security Policy and its director, Frank Gaffney, who has repeatedly accused influential Americans of being complicit in jihadist "influence operations."

Gaffney is a weak source. The FBI dismissed charges he leveled after 9/11. Former Reagan administration attorney general Edwin Meese publicly rebuked him, and his rants got him barred from the Conservative Political Action Conference last year.

But none of this deterred Bachmann and her colleagues (Trent Franks of Arizona, Louie Gohmert of Texas, Thomas Rooney of Florida and Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia) from firing off letters to inspectors general at federal departments.

The letters allege a broad Islamic conspiracy and links between senior administration aides, including Huma Abedin, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's deputy chief of staff, and the Muslim Brotherhood, a powerful Islamist group that since 1928 has embraced both violence and democracy. (The newly elected president of Egypt is a Brotherhood member.)

USATODAY OPINION

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Their letter is a masterpiece of innuendo. Abedin, a U.S.-born Muslim married to a Jewish ex-congressman, is suspect because she "has three family members … connected to Muslim Brotherhood operatives and/or organizations."

Even the innuendo is thin: Pressed for proof, Bachmann wrote that a law review article said Abedin's father, who died when his daughter was a teenager, founded an institute that had the "support" of a man who headed another group that was "aligned" with the Brotherhood. This is two decades and several degrees of separation from Abedin in 2012, but that's how a guilt-by-association smear works. Like all cheap magic, it loses its power once you know the trick.

Accusations have consequences. Abedin was placed under police protection after being threatened. When fellow Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, a Democrat and a Muslim, challenged Bachmann to provide proof for her allegations, she charged that Ellison, too, is linked to the Brotherhood.

To their credit, more responsible Republicans rebuked Bachmann and her colleagues. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, called their accusations "dangerous," and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the letters were "an unwarranted and unfounded attack on an honorable citizen."

Islamic extremism obviously is a threat to the U.S. But so are members of Congress who slime patriotic Muslim Americans. By mimicking McCarthy's tactics, they invite his fate: a well-deserved fall into oblivion and disgrace.

AIDS and its last obstacle

In the 31 years since the first cases of AIDS were discovered in the United States, science has advanced so far that infected people — who once faced a death sentence — can live to near their normal life expectancy.

Proper treatment not only can keep them healthy but also can make them virtually non-contagious. That finding, in a study last year, means that AIDS can someday be eradicated if everyone infected with HIV gets treated. But that's the tough part. The greatest obstacle is an abysmal health care delivery system.
About 1.2 million Americans are infected with HIV, and while all could be treated, only one in four gets treated. The others either aren't aware of their illness, or haven't sought treatment, or haven't continued treatment.
Improving those numbers is a major challenge facing researchers, activists and patients attending this week's International AIDS Conference in Washington. Their new mantra is "seek, test, treat and retain," none of which is easy.
The disease, which once claimed the lives of a glittering array of celebrities —Rock Hudson, Halston and Rudolf Nureyev in the 1980s and 1990s — has now become associated with poverty and denial.
The U.S. numbers remain highest in major metropolitan areas, led by New York, Los Angeles and Washington. But in terms of disease rates, the rural South is fast catching up. Where poverty is high, where health care is in short supply and the stigma of homosexuality is greatest, people are less likely to be diagnosed or treated.
A prescription for reaching more people will require changing attitudes, making testing routine and finding ways to keep patients on a lifetime regimen of medicine. Delivering HIV care better will translate into systems to control other health threats, from diabetes to heart disease. So the nation will benefit beyond getting AIDS under control.