No FBI director has ever broken bread with apologists for the murderers of Americans. J. Edgar Hoover, for all his faults, never addressed the German-American Bund or the American Communist Party.
But Robert Mueller III, unembarrassed by his bureau's string of intelligence failures, intends to deliver a lunch talk today to the American Muslim Council - a group with well-established links to supporters of anti-American terrorism.
Abdurahman Alamoudi, the AMC's executive director, has been strident in his support for the Hamas and Hezbollah terror gangs - both of which are on the U.S. government's list of terrorist groups.
Hezbollah, remember, is the ruthless Iranian-backed Islamic fundamentalist group responsible for the bombings that killed hundreds of Americans in Beirut in 1982, and which continues to bombard Israeli cities from its bases in Lebanon.
Alamoudi has also been a vehement defender of Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman, the blind mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Another board member, Jamal Barzinji, has been investigated by federal authorities for links to al Qaeda.
The AMC was also a major fund-raiser for the Holy Land Foundation, a conduit for cash for Middle East Islamist terrorists that was recently shut down by the Bush administration.
If all this weren't bad enough, the fact that the AMC is the kind of organization that once had a cop-killer - Abudulla Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown - on its executive board should have given Mueller pause before he accepted an invitation.
By addressing the AMC's conference, Mueller discredits the FBI.
For shame.
FBI Director's Speech to American Muslim Council
"In addition, because we believe education is one of the best ways to prevent intolerance and discrimination, the FBI has developed a cultural diversity training program and a community outreach program. Since 1991, the FBI has conducted 728 training sessions on issues like diversity, sexual harassment, intercultural communication and equal employment opportunity. We instruct every new agent in cultural diversity, and include diversity training in the FBI management seminars. Ideally, these types of workshops should occur in every community. In fact, in Norfolk, the local Imams are currently working with our office to develop a program to help educate local law enforcement -- not just the FBI but the entire law enforcement community -- about the Muslim community. Through this effort, better relationships among the various communities can be cultivated and fostered. We must breakdown the fears and misunderstandings which develop from the unknown and that often form destructive stereotypes. No one, including the FBI, is served well by these portrayals, and law enforcement must never fall victim to them."
Feeling safer?