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Chronology of Islam in America (2009)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
September 2009
British Muslims angry with police and media
Sept 1: Many young British Muslims feel demonized by the police and the media and say they have come under pressure to prove their loyalty since the 9/11 attacks on United States and the 2005 London bombings, a study has found. The report for the Policy Research Centre, an Islamic think tank, was intended to give young Muslims their own voice to counter assumptions made by others. It said young Muslims had been portrayed in the media as a threat to society and often struggled to convince people that they could be both British and Muslim at the same time. Public debate over immigration, nationalism and integration has left them feeling under attack, while Britain’s role in Iraq and Afghanistan has only increased the pressure. “As well as facing questions and challenges to their loyalty, young Muslims ... are being pressed to define their identity in light of national and international events,” the report said. Young Muslims are too often asked to prove that their religion is peaceful and they are law-abiding, the report said. “This is especially damaging when myths and stereotypes surmount accurate information, resulting in young British Muslims being portrayed as a threat to the wellbeing of the wider British communities,” it said. There are 1.6 million Muslims in Britain, 2.8 per cent of the population, according to the last census in 2001. Unofficial estimates suggest the number could now be well above 2 million. (Reuters)
President Obama emphasizes “contributions of Muslims to the United States
Sept 2: In his speech at the White House Iftar dinner today, President Obama emphasized that “the contributions of Muslims to the United States are too long to catalogue because Muslims are so interwoven into the fabric of our communities and our country.” While noting the contributions of American Muslims, president also alluded to their problems when he shared the story of the Muslim sixth-grader Nashala Hearn from Oklahoma, who was suspended twice last fall because the school officials claimed her hijab violated their dress code policy. The President said: “When her school district told her that she couldn't wear the hijab, she protested that it was a part of her religion. The Department of Justice stood behind her, and she won her right to practice her faith.” (AMP Report)
Tennessee Mayor sends anti-Islamic e-mail to Council members
Sept 4: Clarksville (Tennessee) Mayor Johnny Piper forwarded an e-mail this morning that urges “patriotic Americans” to protest a U.S. Postal Service stamp commemorating two Islamic holidays. Piper sent the e-mail to every City Council member, every department head, and numerous other city employees, friends and family members. The e-mail falsely claims that the stamp is new, and its creation was ordered by President Barack Obama. In fact, the stamp was first issued in 2001, and was reissued in 2002, 2006, 2007 and 2008. The e-mail asks readers to remember a series of what it calls “Muslim” terrorist attacks. For example, “Remember the MUSLIM bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993!” After listing a series of similar comments, the e-mail concludes, “To use this stamp would be a slap in the face to all those AMERICANS who died at the hands of those whom this stamp honors.” (The Leaf-Chronicle)
Eight years after 9/11, American Muslims widely seen as facing discrimination: PEW survey
Sept 9: Eight years after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Americans see Muslims as facing more discrimination inside the U.S. than other major religious groups, says the 209 annual survey of PEW. “Nearly six-in-ten adults (58%) say that Muslims are subject to a lot of discrimination, far more than say the same about Jews, evangelical Christians, atheists or Mormons.” Tellingly, of all the groups asked about, only gays and lesbians are seen as facing more discrimination than Muslims, with nearly two-thirds (64%) of the public saying there is a lot of discrimination against homosexuals. The PEW national survey was released today just two days before the 8th anniversary of 9/11. The survey finds that finds that two-thirds of non-Muslims (65%) say that Islam and their own faith are either very different or somewhat different, while just 17% take the view that Islam and their own religion are somewhat or very similar. The survey says that by comparison, the public is more likely to see differences rather than similarities between their own religion and Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam or Mormonism. In fact, majorities say that each of these faiths is different from their own religion, with sizeable numbers saying that these religions are very different from their own (37% say this about Mormonism, 40% about Hinduism, 44% about Buddhism and 45% about Islam). Fewer Protestants see Mormonism (22%), Islam (15%), Hinduism (9%) or Buddhism (7%) as similar to their own faith. On the perceptions of Islam, alarmingly 38% say that Islam does encourage violence more than other faiths do. However, 45% say Islam is no more likely than other faiths to encourage violence among its believers. PEW pointed out that views on this question have fluctuated in recent years, with the current findings showing that the view that Islam is connected with violence has declined since 2007, when 45% of the public said that Islam encourages violence more than other religions do. Those people who are most familiar with Muslims and knowledgeable about Islam are least likely to see Islam as encouraging violence, most likely to express favorable views of Muslims and most inclined to see similarities between Islam and their own religion. Detailed questions about perceptions of Islam did not address where or how Americans were getting information about Islam. Most probably, they are learning Islam through mass media and pop culture, that's easily accessible stuff which is often biased. (AMP Report)
NYPD rewords report that insulted Muslims
Sept 9: The New York Police Department (NYPD) has revised a highly touted report on the threat of homegrown terrorism in response to complaints that it was an insult to law-abiding, observant Muslims. A coalition of Muslim groups today applauded the two-page clarification tucked into “Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat” – a study first circulated in law enforcement circles and on the Internet in 2007. The new wording says the NYPD “understands that it is a tiny minority of Muslims who subscribe to Al Qaeda’s ideology of war and terror”. The clarification also calls the city’s Muslim community “our ally”, and “as such, the NYPD report should not be read to characterize Muslims as intrinsically dangerous or intrinsically linked to terrorism, and that it cannot be a license for racial, religious, or ethnic profiling.” Despite welcoming the changes, the New York-based Muslim American Civil Liberties Coalition accused the NYPD of not doing enough to publicize them. Also, the study still has passages that “criminalize religious behaviors”, said Aliya Latif of the New York office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a coalition member. (Associated Press)
Ad campaign in Bay Area answers questions about Islam
Sept 10: For the first time, billboards asking "Why Islam?" have sprouted up in San Jose, Santa Clara and Concord, along with a blitz of posters on buses and bus stops — a campaign to educate people about the religion and fight negative stereotypes. The ads offer free Korans and a toll-free number people can call to seek answers about the oft-misunderstood religion. "The best-case scenario of this campaign would be to show the public that Muslims are hardworking, peace-loving family contributors," said Ahmed Khaleel, 30, of Santa Clara, the outreach coordinator for the Bay Area Chapter of the Islamic Circle of North America, which is sponsoring the "Why Islam" project. "Since Sept. 11, Islam has stood at the focus of negativism. Islam is not synonymous with terrorism." The billboard campaign began in New York almost a year before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Ironically, one of the campaign founders, Tariq Amanullah, died in the World Trade Center that day. But as the nation mourns the eighth anniversary of the attacks today, the dual events of the tragedy and Ramadan make the timing of the billboard campaign especially poignant. Ramadan, a month of sunrise-to-sundown fasting, ends Sept. 19. The message of the campaign is simply to show that Islam is quite similar to other religions. Each year, the billboard locations change slightly and are funded by local communities. For example, billboards dot highways in Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Boston, Tampa, Fla., and earlier this year in San Francisco. Neither the local nor national chapter of the Islamic Community of North America disclosed how much the entire campaign costs, or how many free Korans have been given away other than "in the thousands each year." (San Jose Mercury News)
American Muslims Hold 9/11 Vigil at White House
Sept 11: To honor the victims, their families and unsung first respondent heroes of 9/11, the American Muslim Voice Foundation along with Multifaith groups and community organizations held a candle light vigil, “Light the Night for Peace and Friendship” at Lafayette Park (in front of the White House) in Washington DC . The event included an Iftar (breaking of the Ramadan fast) as the commemoration fell during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. This was the first time that American Muslims have gathered in front of the White House to commemorate and honor the victims of Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Samina Sundas, Founding Executive Director of the AMV was the lead organizer of the event. [AMP Report]
Muslim Advocates sues the FBI over mosque surveillance
Sept 16: Muslim Advocates today filed suit in federal court in Washington, DC demanding access to surveillance guidelines issued by the FBI to its agents. In the wake of concerns over federal agents infiltrating mosques and the so-called “mapping” of communities where American Muslim reside, the suit against the Department of Justice asserts that the FBI has no legal basis to withhold the Domestic Investigative Operational Guidelines, which became effective in December 2008. The suit seeks the text of the Domestic Investigative Operational Guidelines which went into effect on December 1, 2008. The so-called DIOGs are practical manual interpreting revised surveillance guidelines which then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey announced in October 2008. The suit demands the immediate and full disclosure of the standards and procedures utilized by FBI agents when initiating surveillance activities in houses of worship and online social networking forums, and when cultivating agent provocateurs. Another civil liberties group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, filed a suit in June seeking the text of the same guidelines. In that case, the Justice Department has promised to make public whatever parts of the guidelines it believes are subject to disclosure under FOIA by October 13. (AMP Report)
Over 40 organizations send letter to DHS inspector general calling for NSEERS audit
Sept 17: More than 40 organizations, including the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), today submitted a letter to Richard L. Skinner, US Department of Homeland Security Inspector General (DHS IG), requesting an audit of the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS). The letter calls for DHS IG to make findings on the effectiveness of NSEERS, the costs incurred with implementing the program, the relationship between NSEERS and the United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) program, the use of NSEERS in Operation Frontline , the impact of NSEERS non-compliance on individuals and families, and the adequacy of notice surrounding the program. The impact of NSEERS on the Arab-American, South Asian-American and Muslim-American communities endures. As documented in the report issued by ADC and the Center for Immigrants' Rights at Penn State University Dickinson School of Law, "NSEERS: The Consequences of America's efforts to Secure Its Borders." (March, 2009) , "well-intentioned individuals who failed to comply with NSEERS due to a lack of knowledge or fear have been denied "adjustment of status" (green cards), and in some cases have been placed in removal proceedings under the premise that they "willfully" failed to register. This scenario has torn apart families because of the real implications of having a parent or spouse without a legal status." (ADC)
Dutch politician calls for $1,500 Muslim headscarf tax
Sept 17: Muslim women should have to pay a $1,500 headscarf tax, a right-wing Dutch politician proposed during a parliamentary session. It's time "to clean up our streets," Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders said. "This is pollution of public spaces. Let us do something about this symbol of oppression." The headscarf tax, which Wilders called a "head rags tax" at one point, was intended to "demotivate" people to wear Muslim attire, he said. The money would go to women's "emancipation programs," he said. The tax would apply only to Muslim women and not to women of the orthodox Christian or Jewish faiths who wear similar headscarves, Radio Netherlands Worldwide reported. Other parliament members denounced Wilders' proposal. Minister of Housing, Communities and Integration Eberhard van der Laan called it "hysterical," while progressive Democrats 66 leader Alexander Pechtold called it xenophobic and racist, the Dutch news Web site NU.nl reported. The Court of Appeal in Amsterdam ordered Wilders' prosecution Jan. 21 for "the incitement to hatred and discrimination." Britain banned him from entering the country Feb. 12, calling his presence a "threat to one of the fundamental interests of society." (Times)
The Neocons, the BNP and the Islamophobia Network
Sept 17: Events in London in recent weeks have highlighted the growing collusion between American neoconservatives and the European far right in stirring up hatred of Muslims. Richard Bartholomew has details of a meeting at the George Restaurant in east London in August attended by Jihad Watch's Robert Spencer and Douglas Murray of the Centre for Social Cohesion at the invitation of the Christian Action Network. Also invited were the English Defence League, the group responsible for a number of recent violent anti-Muslim protests. Robert Spencer says on his blog that he and Murray refused to meet with the EDL, and cites Adrian Morgan as a witness to this version of events. But the presence of Morgan, who did meet the EDL, is itself evidence of the emerging relationship between the neocons and the far-right.Morgan is a contributing editor to Family Security Matters, which has been described as a front for the Center for Security Policy, a Washington think-tank run by the ultra-neoconservative Frank Gaffney. He is also the author of Western Resistance, a defunct blog on which he laid out his view of the BNP: I am slightly ambivalent about the British National Party, on account of its racist past. Nowadays, under the leadership of Nick Griffin, a skilled politician, the racist agenda has become replaced by an agenda which is highly focused against Islam. With this aspect of its policies, I am in agreement. Islam poses a more serious threat to every aspect of British democracy than anything previously encountered. (www.TomGriffin.org)
‘Flying while Muslim’ web site launched
Sept 18: A web site, called “Flying While Muslim,” (http://www.flyingwhilemuslim.org/) has been launched to seek support for the six American imams (Islamic religious leaders) who say their rights were violated in 2006 when they were removed from a US Airways flight in Minnesota and arrested. The “Flying While Muslim” site offers background information and updates about the six imams case and about racial and religious profiling of airline travelers. It also seeks donations to support the legal challenge to the airline. In July, a judge in Minnesota sided with the imams on key issues in their lawsuit against those involved in their removal from the plane. U.S. District Judge Ann Montgomery cleared the way for a trial by denying several motions to dismiss the case and ruling that a law passed by Congress after the incident does not grant protection from lawsuits to those sued by the imams. Judge Montgomery also ruled that the actions of the imams prior to their flight did not justify their detention. She noted that the imams were subjected to "extreme fear and humiliation of being falsely identified as dangerous terrorists." (CAIR)
First Islam Day celebrated in Hawaii
Sept 24: When the Hawai'i Legislature approved a resolution declaring Sept. 24 "Islam Day," the measure set of a firestorm of debate because the day fell so close to the date of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. But today, politics was set aside as hundreds of people packed the McCoy Pavilion at Ala Moana Beach Park (Honolulu) to celebrate Hawaii's first Islam Day. By 5 p.m., about 1,000 people had walked through the pavilion's gates and event organizers expected more as people got off work and headed to the park. "We expected 200 to 300, so we're very pleased with the turnout," said Hakim Ouansafi, president of the Muslim Association of Hawaii, which sponsored the event."It's a historic day. It's long overdue," Ouansafi said. "It's a day of celebrating our commonality, a day of people of faith and no faith to get together and talk story." The Legislature approved the resolution last session to acknowledge the "rich religious, scientific, cultural and artistic contributions" of the Islamic world. (Honolulu Adventure)
Muslims pray at the Capitol
Sept 25: Thousands of Muslims gathered today on the west lawn of the Capitol for Friday for prayer. It was mainly organized by Dar-ul-Islam mosque in Elizabeth N.J., "We wanted to bring people out to show you don't need to fear America," said Imam Ali Jaaber of the mosque . At the same time, he said, he wanted to remind non-Muslims that "we are decent Muslims. We work; we pay taxes. We are Muslims who truly love this country." The event, called "Islam on Capitol Hill," was designed to highlight how U.S. Muslims can coexist with their fellow Americans. Organizers said this month that they hoped to draw about 50,000 people from mosques across the country for the gathering, billed as a day of unity for the nation's Muslims. But it failed to attract the support of national Islamic organizations and drew only a fraction of that number. Some people were frightened off by the conservative Christian attacks, said Hassen Abdellah, president of Dar-ul-Islam. Washington Post reported that across the street from the service (prayer), Christian protesters gathered with banners, crosses and anti-Islamic messages. One group, which stood next to a 10-foot-tall wooden cross and two giant wooden tablets depicting the Ten Commandments, was led by the Rev. Flip Benham of Concord, N.C. "I would suggest you convert to Christ!" Benham shouted over a megaphone. Islam "forces its dogma down your throat." A few Christian protesters gathered at the rear of the Muslim crowd, holding Bibles and praying. Some conservative Christians had called the event a threat to Christian values. In a statement, the Rev. Canon Julian Dobbs, leader of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America's Church and Islam Project, warned that the service is "part of a well-defined strategy to Islamize American society and replace the Bible with the Koran, the cross with the Islamic crescent and the church bells with the Athan [the Muslim call to prayer]." [AMP Report]
Muslim group protests anti-Islam video shown in school
Sept 25: The course that used the video about Islamic extremists was replaced in a Philadelphia school year with a gender study course. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil liberties and advocacy group, raised concerns recently that an anti-Islamic video was part of a Council Rock High School South elective. The video, "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West," was produced by the Clarion Fund Inc. The New York City-based nonprofit organization, founded by Israeli-Canadian film producer Raphael Shore, says its efforts are geared toward informing the public about national security threats. That's not the way the Council on American-Islamic Relations sees it, according to Marwa El-Turky, the group's civil rights director in Pennsylvania. "At the beginning of the video it says it is to show Islamic extremism. But throughout the video, it suggests and promotes bigotry and hate," El-Turky said Thursday. "It doesn't make a distinction between mainstream Islam and extremists." CAIR-PA learned from a former Council Rock student recently that CR South offered a course called "Social Problems in America," which included the use of the video, El-Turky said. The student saw the video usage posted on an online course syllabus. The Muslim group contacted Council Rock officials in August and asked them to stop showing the video "to a captive audience" in the social studies class. (Bucks County Courier Times)
U.S. Muslim & Arab groups urge vigilance following latest NY terror case
Sept 25: Following the announcement of a federal indictment against a Colorado man on one charge of conspiring to detonate bombs in the U.S., a coalition of Muslim and Arab American groups today urged greater vigilance and partnership among community members. "We are investigating a wide range of leads related to this alleged conspiracy," U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said yesterday. "We believe any imminent threat arising from this case has been disrupted, but as always, we remind the American public to be vigilant." In their joint statement, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), the Freedom and Justice Foundation (F&J) and Imam Mohamed Magid of the ADAMS Center in Virginia, stated: The defendants in this case will be judged in the court of law, and should be afforded their due process and the presumption of innocence. While we are always vigilant in defending civil rights and preventing stigmatization of any group or religion, we also view the safety of our country as a top priority. We have an overarching duty to work together and with law enforcement to protect the country and to offer any information that can pre-empt another terrorist attack…… As is always the case with news reports of regarding alleged terror plots, our groups are concerned about the possibility of backlash against Muslim, Arab, and South Asian Americans. ” (ADC)
Texas GOP candidate: No more Muslims to U.S.
Sept 28: Big Country (Texas) congressional hopeful Canyon Clowdus wants no more Muslim immigration to America. The conservative Republican doesn’t want to stop at the stance he outlined to radical blog “Dr. Bulldog & Ronin,” which endorses him for 11th Congressional District representative. Clowdus wants to halt Muslim immigration to stop what the blog termed a “Stealth Jihad” and “creeping sharia” to replace the Constitution with Islamic religious law. A civil rights advocate said he reads the blog and is disappointed a congressional candidate is lending his credibility to efforts to divide Americans instead of bring them together. The blog pushes the wrongheaded idea that there is a huge clash of civilizations between Christianity and Islam, said Eric Ward of the Chicago-based Center for New Community, a faith-based organization including Christians, Jews and Muslims. A spokesman for an Islamic civil rights and advocacy group (CAIR) said the level of anti-Muslim rhetoric is rising, especially from the right. “Our research has shown that this kind of rhetoric is coming from a minority of Americans, but it’s a very vocal minority,” said Ibrahim Hooper of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. CAIR asks mainstream leaders to challenge anti-Muslim talk if they hear it because silence equals consent or unspoken approval, Hooper said. “That’s why it’s the responsibility of people of goodwill in our society and particularly leaders in our society to challenge this kind of hate-filled bigoted rhetoric when it’s used anywhere in our society,” Hooper said. Dr. Bulldog & Ronin listed CAIR among organizations supporting a “Stealth Jihad” with “Islamic Supremacists.” (Abilene Reporter News)
Two Muslim men removed from NY-bound flight in LA
Sept 28: Authorities removed two men from a United Airlines UAL.N flight at Los Angeles International Airport for suspicious behavior today, but later called the incident a false alarm. The men, who were said to be from a Middle Eastern country, were taken off the flight, which was bound for New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport with an ultimate destination of Cairo, after members of the flight crew said they were behaving suspiciously. But an FBI spokeswoman, Laura Eimiller, said the men were cooperative during interviews and agents determined that they posed no threat. Eimiller said concerns were raised when one of the men got up to use the plane's restroom just before take-off, ignoring orders from the flight crew to remain in his seat. According to a passenger interviewed via telephone at the airport, the incident began about "30 seconds" before Flight 22 was to take off. Passenger Charlie Rosine told NBC4 that a fellow passenger jumped out of his seat, said he had to go to the bathroom, and then went inside the lavatory, even though the flight attendant told him that everyone needed to remain in their seats for takeoff. About 30 seconds later, the man returned to his seat without closing the bathroom door, Rosine said. That's when the flight attendant notified the pilot, who taxied the aircraft to an area of the airport where the jetliner could be searched, and the man was taken into custody for questioning. (Daily News/Reuters)
Cal Thomas, a purveyor of hate in religious disguise
Sept 29: Syndicated columnist Cal Thomas, writing in the Washington Times, today offers an ugly, despicable attack on all Muslim Americans, whom he accuses of “the undermining of this nation from within … through deception, putting on a peaceful face while subtly plotting ways to bring America down.” As his sole piece of evidence, Thomas cites statements at a public prayer rally of Muslim Americans in Washington, at which a Brooklyn imam lauded American freedom, telling the crowd that “What we’ve done today, you couldn’t do in any Muslim country. If you prayed on the palace lawn there, they’d lock you up.” But on Facebook, Thomas points out, that same imam has written that “Democracy is not revelation, and democracy does not equal freedom, for in democracy you have apartheid, you have slavery, you have homosexuality, you have lesbianism, you have gambling, you have all of the vices that are against the spirit of truth; so no we don’t want to democratize Islam, we want to Islamize democracy.” To Thomas, an evangelical Christian, this statement constitutes proof that the imam in particular and Muslim Americans in general are trying to destroy America from the inside, using terrorism as a weapon. Yet the truth is that on an almost daily basis, socially conservative Christian leaders employ almost identical rhetoric as the socially conservative imam. They too decry the excesses of American freedom that lead to tolerance of gays and other perceived vices — the difference is that in their case, they seek to “Christianize” rather than “Islamize” democracy. Thomas of course sees nothing dangerous or wrong with that at all. (For the record, neither do I. I disagree with them, but they have every right to say those things and in no way endanger our country by doing so. The same is true of the imam.) (Jay Bookman, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
U.S. attorney targeted Muslim store owners in Mississippi
Sept 29: The U.S. attorney's office in Oxford targeted convenience store operators in north Mississippi, many of Middle Eastern descent, despite a lack of any connection to terrorism, according to documents obtained by The Clarion-Ledger. The Convenience Store Initiative arose from meetings with local law enforcement officers in the years following 9-11 - when Middle Eastern terrorists flew hijacked planes into the Pentagon and World Trade Center Twin Towers. U.S. Attorney Jim Greenlee of Oxford said the government was "looking to see any links to terrorism, but what we found was criminal conduct." Instead of arrests for alleged terrorist plots, state and federal officials since 2006 have charged more than 60 people in Mississippi with such illegal acts as the sale of excessive amounts of pseudoephedrine - used to make meth. Those who ran the Convenience Store Initiative say the FBI found nothing wrong with the initiative, which arose from tips from local law enforcement. In fact, they say the Justice Department in the Bush administration praised the concept. Those involved in the initiative say the money from the illegal activity was being sent back overseas, where it couldn't be traced and possibly could have gone to funding terrorism. But they acknowledged the money could have gone to relatives instead. (Clarion ledger)
CAIR asks DOJ to address civil liberties concerns about FBI manual
Guidelines on possible surveillance of mosques redacted from newly-released document
Sept 30: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. to address concerns about possible civil rights violations resulting from FBI investigation guidelines instituted in the last days of the Bush administration. The CAIR issued that call after the release of a redacted version of the FBI’s Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide that whites-out portions (Part 16) about guidance on “undisclosed participation,” which relates to the use of confidential informants in American houses of worship such as mosques. It is the FBI’s use of informants in mosques without probable cause indicating criminal activity that has been of particular concern to the American Muslim community and, in part, caused national Islamic groups earlier this year to consider suspending ties with the FBI. Other civil liberties concerns center on the FBI’s vague rules for initiating an “assessment,” or initial investigation that does not require “any particular factual predication,” and the possible use of race and ethnicity as factors in opening an investigation.
“These newly-revealed guidelines for FBI investigations only serve to heighten concerns that the Bush administration put in place policies that will inevitably lead to violations of the Constitution and of the right of all Americans to practice their faith without fear of government intrusion or intimidation,” said CAIR National Legal Counsel Nadhira Al-Khalili. “The Obama administration should review these guidelines and bring them into conformity with the Constitution and with the cherished American values of religious freedom and respect for civil liberties.” Al-Khalili noted that just yesterday, a newspaper in Mississippi reported that a U.S. attorney’s office has been targeting Muslim store owners in that state in a post-9/11 crackdown, although they have no connection to terrorism. (CAIR)
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