Posted on 12/07/2001 5:44:28 AM PST by brewcrew
UW-Madison police will not question foreigners
10:44 PM 12/06/01
Andy Hall Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison police on Thursday joined a handful of law-enforcement agencies across the country that are refusing to assist the U.S. Justice Department in questioning 5,000 foreigners about the Sept. 11 terrorism attacks.
A local Islamic leader praised the university police for showing sensitivity to foreign residents, but law-enforcement officials in Madison and Milwaukee said other federal, state and local agencies will press ahead with interviews of about 130 Wisconsin residents named on a Justice Department list.
"The purpose of the project is to, in a very non-threatening, non-controversial manner, contact the people who are on the list we received from the Department of Justice," said Grant Johnson, interim U.S. attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, which includes Madison. Investigators will request interviews, but "if they say no, we'll thank them and leave. If they say they want an attorney, we'll say fine ... have your attorney call ... and we'll set it up."
Asked to react to UW-Madison's decision, Johnson said, "I certainly don't have any qualms about that whatsoever." It's not necessary for university police to participate, he said.
In a carefully worded statement, UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley announced that the university's police department "has declined to participate in arranging and conducting interviews for the U.S. Attorney's Office with a number of Dane County residents, including UW-Madison international students."
Wiley said the university always has, and will, cooperate with investigations of "suspected criminal activity."
"But university officials, including me, believe the criteria to select individuals for interviews ... is broadly based and appears to consist of people who are not suspected of any crimes or suspicious activities," he wrote, echoing language from a Nov. 27 announcement that University of Michigan police also will refrain from the interviews.
UW-Madison police, Wiley said, will remain active on an anti-terrorism task force headed by the U.S. Attorney's Office that includes federal, state and local agencies.
In an interview, Wiley said he doesn't object to other members of the task force interviewing foreigners. "I do have an objection to our police doing it," he said.
One concern, Wiley said, is that although the interviews are described as voluntary, people who decline to be interviewed could face coercion from law-enforcement agencies.
Earlier in the week, Madison police Chief Richard Williams said his department will work with federal officials, if requested, but he does have concerns about the process. "It's religious and racial profiling," Williams said. "They're being looked at because of their race, religion and culture ... The test will be to define some behavior beyond the fact that they're Muslims from a certain country."
Other police agencies declining to take part in the interviews include those in San Mateo and San Jose in California and Portland and Corvallis in Oregon, the Associated Press reported.
Salih Erschen, outreach coordinator for the Islamic Community of the Madison Area, said the estimated 2,500 to 3,000 Muslims in Dane County will appreciate the UW-Madison Police's decision.
"I think it's a noble thing that the police (are) going to stay away, the UW police at least, because a lot of the people that might be questioned, at least in Madison, would probably be UW students," Erschen said.
He described the local Islamic population as "amazingly beautiful, wonderful people ... very much concerned and enveloped in their career and their studies. For the most part what you see in Madison is Muslims who are very devoted to research and getting a higher degree, a lot of doctors, engineers."
Despite federal officials' vows that the interviews are voluntary, Erschen said, "in the end they know it's going to cause hardship in the hearts of these people, no matter what."
Johnson, the interim U.S. Attorney, said the interviews are "an investigative technique that's used every day. If you have a bank robbery and there's a blue car involved, you're going to go out and ... interview everybody who owns a blue car."
He added, "There's absolutely no pressure being applied whatsoever."
Some people may not realize they possess valuable information, said Johnson, who added that about 100 people in his jurisdiction are being sought for questioning. "If you get one or two good pieces of information out of the entire 5,000 interviews, it's worth it."
In addition, about 30 people in the Milwaukee area are being sought.
Francie Wendelborn, media liaison for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Wisconsin's Eastern District in Milwaukee, said the interviews are directed at men who entered the United States after Jan. 1, 2000, from an unspecified list of countries where the al-Qaida terror network has operated.
"We're trying to learn more about their world," Wendelborn said. "And we need their help."
A Justice Department press guide, she said, contains this suggested response to questions about the propriety of the interviews:
"We have allowed these individuals to enter our country to visit, to study, to do business, and we expect them to cooperate and help us by providing any information they may have. This is what we would expect of a neighbor who has witnessed a crime in his neighborhood. We all have a responsibility to help prevent future acts of terrorism."
If they are aiding and abetting an ATTA, they deserve the same as he might do to innocent Americans!
Just so you know:
Terrorist pilot Mohammed Atta blew up a bus in Israel in 1986. The Israelis captured, tried and imprisoned him. As part of the Oslo agreement with the Palestinians in 1993, Israel had to agree to release so-called "political prisoners."
However, the Israelis would not release any with "blood on their hands."The American President at the time, Bill Clinton, and his Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, insisted that all prisoners be released.
Thus Mr. Atta was freed and eventually "thanked the US" by flying an airplane into Tower One of the World Trade Center.
This was reported by many of the American TV networks at the time that the terrorists were first identified. It was censored in the US from all later reports.
Bob Larson, Old Timer Clock Shop, 1803 W 35th St., Austin, TX 78703
Grampa - We can now add one more thing to the growing list of treasonous acts (and I don't use that word lightly) attributable to Ex-President Pantload. What a $#!++y way to start the weekend.
Thank you for this tidbit. I did not know this.
This is an absolute and utter steaming pantload of crap. It is part of the definition of your belief system. I'll spell it out for you: A huge part of the very definition of being a liberal is rooted in class envy and the legalization of the redistribution of wealth. It's legalized robbery.
Once you accept this, you will at least have started being honest with yourself. The next step is to admit that you need help. Then you will traverse a long and difficult road to recovery, finally to a place called "Acceptance of Conservatism," where you tell yourself it's okay to believe that people need to take responsibility for their own actions, support their own children, stop the cycle of dependence, and exercise a little tough love from time to time.
It can happen. It did with me. In the meantime, try not to hurt anyone.
"This was reported by many of the American TV networks at the time that the terrorists were first identified. It was censored in the US from all later reports."
THIS JUST RILES ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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