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.
“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.
Divided FBI
Security experts blame the strained FBI-Muslim relations to the divisions inside the federal agency.
“There are some people in the bureau who believe, as I do, that the relationship with the Muslim community is crucial and must be developed with consistency,” said Michael Rolince, a former director of counterterrorism in the FBI’s Washington field office.
“And there are those who don’t.”
Rolince said some inside the FBI have always been leery of Islamic and Arab-American organizations, considering their loyalties to be divided.
Linda Sarsour, director of the Arab-American Association of New York, a social-services agency, agrees.
Sarsour said she was baffled when bonds built by Muslim groups with a New York FBI chief evaporated upon the arrival of his successor.
Security experts opine that the FBI-Muslim cooperation is crucial in fighting home-grown extremism.
“This is a national security issue,” said David Schanzer, who heads the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security at Duke University.
“It’s absolutely vital that the FBI and the Muslim-American community clear the air and figure out how to work together.”
“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.
“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.
Divided FBI
Security experts blame the strained FBI-Muslim relations to the divisions inside the federal agency.
“There are some people in the bureau who believe, as I do, that the relationship with the Muslim community is crucial and must be developed with consistency,” said Michael Rolince, a former director of counterterrorism in the FBI’s Washington field office.
“And there are those who don’t.”
Rolince said some inside the FBI have always been leery of Islamic and Arab-American organizations, considering their loyalties to be divided.
Linda Sarsour, director of the Arab-American Association of New York, a social-services agency, agrees.
Sarsour said she was baffled when bonds built by Muslim groups with a New York FBI chief evaporated upon the arrival of his successor.
Security experts opine that the FBI-Muslim cooperation is crucial in fighting home-grown extremism.
“This is a national security issue,” said David Schanzer, who heads the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security at Duke University.
“It’s absolutely vital that the FBI and the Muslim-American community clear the air and figure out how to work together.”
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