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Counting
Mosques
From The Arab Voice
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an American Islamic
organization fighting for the rights of Muslims in the United States,
is calling on the Department of Justice to rescind a new policy
directive that would have FBI field offices count local mosques
to determine goals for counter terrorism investigations and secret
wiretaps. The demand was made following the publication of an article
in Newsweek magazine detailing the policy instituted by FBI Director
Robert Mueller earlier this month. http://www.msnbc.com/news/864367.asp
According to Newsweek,
FBI field offices nationwide are to develop demographic profiles
of their regions, including the number of local mosques. The profiles
will then be used to set specific numerical goals for investigations
and wiretaps in each area. If field offices do not meet their goals,
they may be subjected to special reviews by teams from FBI headquarters.
CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said that "this policy makes
about as much sense as counting Catholic churches in America in
order to initiate an investigation of the Mafia, or as claiming
the number of African Methodist Episcopal churches in a given area
is indicative of the level of criminal activity. It is religious
profiling of the worst kind and must be rescinded if America is
to maintain respect for religious freedom and for equal justice
under the law.²
He said that CAIR representatives have had a number of meetings
with FBI officials to discuss issues related to anti-Muslim bias
and that his group has encouraged American Muslims to do whatever
they can to defend the United States against terrorism.
Awad added that the mosque-counting policy comes in the midst of
an INS registration program under which hundreds of American Muslims
have been detained, and sometimes deported. Muslim community leaders
and immigration-rights activists say that program is also based
on religious and ethnic profiling, a law enforcement tactic that
is being heavily promoted by right-wing pundits.
Just this past week, Daniel Pipes, a right-wing pro-Israel commentator
who many American Muslims regard as the nation's leading Islamophobe,
suggested that all Muslims in this country be placed under surveillance.
Pipes wrote in the Jerusalem Post: "Muslim government employees
in law enforcement, the military, and the diplomatic corps need
to be watched for connections to terrorism, as do Muslim chaplains
in prisons and the armed forces. Muslim visitors and immigrants
must undergo additional background checks. Mosques require a scrutiny
beyond that applied to churches, synagogues and temples."
Translated from Arabic by Elias Saber
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