CAIRO — Angry with its tactics of sending informants into mosques and wiretapping communications, American Muslims warn that the FBI policies are sowing fear and mistrust.
“There is a sense that law enforcement is viewing our communities not as partners but as objects of suspicion,” Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), told The New York Times Friday, December 18."What someone might get your teenage son to do"--oh, you mean pump him full of Islamist/jihadist blather such that he'll take it into his head to run off and join the holy war? Yeah, that is something to to "fear".
“A lot of people are really, really alarmed about this.”
Mattson said many Muslims have cancelled trips abroad to avoid arousing suspicion.
American Muslims also are wary of whom they speak to, she noted.
Since 9/11 attacks, the FBI and American Muslims have worked to build a relationship of trust, sharing information both to fight terrorism.
But those relation have come under increasing strain recently.
Muslims are particularly infuriated by the FBI's planting of informants into mosques to provoke Muslim worshippers and trap unsuspecting youth.
The relations hit a new ebb after a local imam was shot dead by FBI agents in Dearborn last October.
“We are citizens who care about our country as much as everyone,” Wael Mousfar, president of the Arab Muslim American Federation, said.
“But people don’t know what to expect — who might report them for speaking about Middle East politics, what someone might get your teenage son to do.”
Earlier this year, a coalition of America's largest Muslim organizations threatened to halt cooperation with the law enforcement authorities over the FBI practices...
As for the supposed Muslim/FBI "parternship" that's supposedly in mortal peril due to FBI vigilance--since when did those being investigated get to set the terms of the investigation? Talk about your chutzpah.
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