FBI Urged to Purge Anti-Muslim Material

OnIslam & News Agencies

Friday, 15 August 2014 00:00

WASHINGTON – US civil rights and religious groups have voiced their concerns over federal agencies of anti-Muslim training material, demanding an urgent audit of federal law enforcement training material.

“The use of anti-Muslim trainers and materials is not only highly offensive, disparaging the faith of millions of×Americans, but leads to biased policing that targets individuals and communities based on religion, not evidence of wrongdoing,” a letter signed by 75 groups, including the ×Council on American-Islamic Relations, Auburn Seminary and the NAACP, reads, ×Religion News Services reported on Thursday, August 14.

In a letter to ×Assistant to the ×President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Lisa O. Monaco, the coalition pointed to a reference to “Mohammed Raghead” in a memo and the claim by a former FBI official that the CIA’s director is a “closetMuslim.”

“This problem has persisted for many years, and recent revelations in a July 9, 2014 article in ×The Intercept underscore the urgent need to take concrete action to eliminate bias from our nation's law enforcement and intelligence agencies,” the letter says.

“Those revelations include a template memorandum reportedly used to justify intelligence surveillance that has a reference to 'Mohammed Raghead' as the placeholder target. They also include an FBI official's admission that he specifically sought surveillance on ×American Muslim targets."

A National Security Council representative said the letter will be reviewed and a response issued.

“As we said when these news reports first came to light, the use of racial or ethnic stereotypes, slurs or other similar language by employees is both unacceptable and inconsistent with the country’s core values,” said Caitlin Hayden, National Security Council spokeswoman.

Along with the audit, the group demanded an implementation of a mandatory retraining program for all federal, state and local law enforcement officials who have been subjected to biased and discriminatory trainings provided by the federal government or with federal funds.

Moreover, they asked for pursuing disciplinary action against those agents and officials engaging in discriminatory conduct and responsible for these training materials.

In September 2011, Danger Room cited an FBI training material which described×Muslims as "terrorist sympathizers", who turn into violent people once they become pious.

It also described ×Islam as an indicator of terrorist activity and that the ×Muslimpractice of giving charity as no more than a “funding mechanism for combat.”

The White House ordered a government-wide review of counterterrorism training late last year.

This is not the first time the FBI used anti-Muslim materials in training its counterterrorism agents.

In July 2011, the FBI used training materials that claim Islam “transforms [a] country’s culture into 7th-century Arabian ways”.

In May of the same year, the ×Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), America’s largest ×Muslim advocacy group, called on the ×Home Security to investigate the use of foreign trainers who offer hostile, stereotypical and inaccurate information about×Muslims and Islam to the nation's security personnel.

Muslim relations with the FBI have been strained in recent years over the bureau's history of targeting members of their community.

In 2009, Muslim groups threatened to suspend all contacts with the FBI over sending informants into mosques.

The infamous post-9/11 technique of sending spies to mosques has been stirring uproar in the US over entrapping young people, who posed no real threat to the US security.