Should Muslim Communities Cooperate with Police

Abigail R. Esman, Contributor to Forbes
“If you see something, say something.”  It’s become part of the American vernacular, the 21^st-century version of “Just Say No.”   Now comes a new one: “If you see something, say nothing.” This, at least, is what America’s Muslim organizations are exhorting American Muslims to do: stay silent.  Report nothing.  And whatever you do, do not cooperate with the police.

That advice comes after an AP report exposed controversial investigations by the NYPD into New York’s Muslim communities which some say violate civil rights.  Surveillance of neighborhoods has gone at times to extremes, according to the AP report, with police monitoring restaurants, barber shops, and other small businesses, even in the absence of any crime.

On Friday 11/18/2011, New York Muslims took to the streets to protest the actions, claiming discrimination, and that the surveillance in Muslim communities is without precedent.

But according to Patrick Dunleavy, former Deputy Inspector General of New York and author of The Fertile Soil of Jihad: Terrorism’s Prison Connection, law enforcement has long followed similar patterns in investigating issues like organized crime and drug cartels...READ MORE

Minimizing the Threat, Ignoring the Facts

In the latest study from the New America Foundation(1) on the threat of homegrown terrorism the researchers pose the question,

“Just how real is the “homegrown” Islamist terrorist threat?”

And according to their findings, its no big thing.  If fact

you have a greater chance of being murdered by your neighbor than being killed by a radical Islamic jihadist. 

Comforting, isn’t it ?

Just how the analysts came to these conclusions is as fascinating as the data they used to support their claims.

The panel looked at 188 terrorist related cases from the period

2001 (post 9/11) till 2011, examining such variables as, citizenship, ethnicity, education, target choice, weapons acquisition, number of deaths caused, the role of informants, and if there was cooperation from the Muslim community that lead

to the arrest of the subjects.

The experts than used that data to compare it against 114 cases of domestic terrorism for the same period committed by individuals or groups “motivated by political ideologies other than the violent Islamism advocated by bin Laden.”  In other words, neo-nazis, Christian militants, anarchists, or environmental wackos like the Earth Liberation Front.

Here is where the wheels come off the bus.

The researchers minimized, or in some cases deliberately overlooked, significant data. No mention was made of overseas travel, training or funding. In comparing apples and oranges, it's important to appreciate that they grow in different environments. The same is true for ideological extremists bent on violence. READ MORE...

   

Dunleavy debates CAIR attorney Gadeir Abbas

Investigation alleges NYPD of Profiling Muslims

Critics are calling this a blatant act of racial and religious profiling. But others contend it’s necessary for the sake of ensuring national security. Is this a violation of civil rights? Or would it be impossible for police to ignore this aspect of countering terrorism? How does this method of policing square with the latest initiative from the White House that seeks a softer, integrated approach that works within communities?

   Listen to the interview ...

Evidence vs Intelligence - Knowing the Difference

Two New York police officers patrol Times Square as a police lookout post towers in the background on Wednesday, May 5, 2010. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

There is a new brouhaha stirring among civil libertarians and Islamic organizations in light of the recent Associated Press story regarding the working relationship between the NYPD and the CIA.

Was the government unlawfully collecting evidence against innocent citizens or simply gathering information for effective community policing....read more

                                                                                                                       

The Tragedy in Oslo

  Understanding the Threat

On friday morning the world was confronted with the evil madness of Anders Behring Breivik, the man accused of killing ninety three people in Norway.

The profile coming out now describes the man as a “right-wing Christian Fundamentalist”

 .  He is also said to have posted a manifesto online decrying multiculturalism and Islamism in Europe and calling for a revolution to rid the world of Marxists and Muslims.  What are we, who have spoken out against radical Islamic terrorist acts in the past, to make of this?

In June of this year I had the privilege to testify before the House Committee on Homeland Security, Chaired by Rep. Peter King of New York, on the topic of threat of Islamic radicalization in the U.S. prison system.  During my testimony, I was asked by Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee (D-Tex) a question regarding a letter she stated the committee received from an inmate who she described as a “Christian Militant”.  That inmate was in prison for setting an explosive device at an abortion clinic.  Rep. Lee asked if I thought that individual should be considered an terrorist and if I thought that “Christian Militants” were a threat to the security of the United States.  I responded by stating that;

“I believe that anyone who kills (innocent) people in the name of God is an ideologue.”  When Rep. Lee was not satisfied with my answer she asked again if I would agree that “Christian Militants” pose the same threat as radical jihadists like Al Qaeda.  I stated that I doubted that you would find foreign backing or financing for Christian militants, as is the case with radical islamic jihadists.

I know of no country on this planet that provides safe haven for  individuals like  Anders Behring Breivik or organizations that would support his heinous act.

On the contrary places like Afghanistan, Somalia, and Yemen have become meccas for

radical Islamists who continue to plot violent acts against innocent people in the name of Allah.

An honest analysis or risk assessment or the two  distinct threats would reveal one as individualistic and the other as systemic in nature.

We condemn the despicable twisted acts of a lone individual such as Breivik and our sympathies go out to the survivors and families of the victims...but we understand that this was not supported by some shadow organization or government bent on ridding the worlds of infidels.  Evil can take many forms, we must speak out against if wherever it is found