Please remove burka before voting. Thank you.
Posted on 10/08/2004 1:08:54 PM PDT by Michael Goldsberry
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Arab-Americans and Muslims in Florida are questioning the FBI's latest plan to interview people nationwide to uncover possible terrorist plots that could disrupt the presidential election next month.
For the past week, FBI officials have held meetings across Florida with Islamic community leaders to explain a July directive from FBI Director Robert Mueller to seek new information about suspicious activity ahead of the Nov. 2 election.
Although Arab-American community leaders said they understand the need for vigilance, they raised questions about the plan.
"Our community is already afraid and jittery, because there has already been several rounds of detainees and interviews since 9-11," said Ahmed Bedier, a Florida spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
"Arab-Americans will do everything in their capacity to ensure the security of this country," said Taleb Salhab, president of the Arab-American Community Center of Central Florida. "However, we will not tolerate the violation of our community's constitutional rights."
Salhab was one of eight leaders who met Monday with Carl Whitehead, head of the Tampa FBI division, and four other high-ranking FBI and state agents.
FBI officials said the questioning was not in response to any specific threat and wouldn't focus on only Muslims or Arab-Americans. For example, federal agents plan to question people who may store chemicals or explosive materials or operate rental businesses, said Sara Oates, an FBI spokeswoman in Tampa.
"We have done this before, and we're going to have to do this as many times before in order to prevent a terrorist attack," Oates said.
"The intent is not to influence the elections. It's to keep the nation under the democratic process," Oates said. "Our interest is to make sure that we don't have an incident because of not getting some information and not being able to prevent an attack."
To balance this out, the FBI should be required to question some Amish folk.
Ruh-roh, Raggy!
Why don't they all just leave to express their displeasure.
It is this type of belligerence that will cause the Moslem community a great deal of grief in the future. Any American would be happy to give any information to prevent a terrorist attack. Why do they hesitate? This unexpected behavior only breeds suspicion.
There are 550 Arabs who just turned in voter registration cards 15 mintues past deadline in Florida. That would be a good place for the FBI to start interrogating.
Dude, get used to the rest of your life.
Uhhhh, they live in this country and they need a "council" to "relate" to the Americans? No wonder they don't get it. That's like putting up a sign saying We Are Not Americans And We Never Will Be.
Let's see for the fact-challenged: 19 of 19 hijackers were of what origin?
bookmark thanks
> Uhhhh, they live in this country and they need a "council" to "relate" to the Americans?
Yes. "Council for American-Islamic Relations". The name itself betrays a huge problem and it makes no sense if they consider themselves Americans. It puts "Islamic" alongside "American" as an equal or an opposite. That's very revealing.
Imagine:
Council for American-Christian Relations
Council for American-African Relations
But these might make sense:
Council for American-British Relations
Council for American-Russian Relations
So what they are saying is that you are EITHER American OR you are Islamic.
The name of this organization cannot be a mistake. If it is, they will change it. They are not changing it.
This unexpected behavior only breeds suspicion.
"This unexpected behavior only breeds suspicion."
It doesn't breed suspicion. It IS suspicious. They are suspicious. Their behavior is suspicious. They should be bending over backwards to help. If they truly loved this country and the religious freedoms that this country tries so hard to maintain they would be going out of their way to help.
"The only reason that the majority of terrorists are muslims is because their homelands are full of oil, thus they are repressed by the west and hold a grudge. Islam is not an evil religion."
What reason is applied, in Sudan, Indonesia, Philippines, Maylasia, India, former Yugoslavia---to explain islam's terrorism?
They seem to reerve the "right" to be pissed off about Israel, Oil, or just not being in political control somewhere.
No, I contend islam IS an evil religion. At least now in history.
I respectfully disagree with you.
Kerry will make nice and build a coalition with the friendly muslims if he gets a chance. Isn't that sweet?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.