March 04, 2009
OC Muslims More Worried About Profiling than Little Things, Like Terror Supporters in their Midst
According to Muslim leaders, some people are avoiding mosques, preferring to pray at home. Others are reducing donations to avoid attracting government attention or paying in cash to avoid leaving records. And some mosques have asked speakers to refrain from political messages in their sermons, such as criticism of U.S. foreign policy, said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Anaheim.So, if I have the story straight -- and I do -- Orange County Muslims are more worried about the FBI looking for terrorists than they are about terrorists in their midst. You'll recall that Niazi, in addition to lying about meeting with leading al Qaeda figures in Pakistan -- is also heard on an FBI surveillance tape discussing bombing Orange County landmarks.“Some average Muslims interested only in praying are avoiding mosques for fear of somehow being monitored or profiled,” Ayloush said. “Everybody is afraid, and it is leading to an infringement of the free practice of our religion.”
The latest anxiety wave was triggered by an FBI agent’s testimony last week that an informant was sent into several Orange County mosques and helped collect evidence against Ahmadullah Sais Niazi. The Afghanistan-born Niazi, 34, is scheduled for arraignment this month on charges of perjury, naturalization fraud and other acts related to lying about ties to Al Qaeda.
If Niazi was serious about carrying out domestic acts of terror -- which isn't likely, but shouldn't be discounted altogether -- than presumably his bombs wouldn't discriminate between Muslims and non-Muslism at, say, Disneyland.
I would hope Muslims would be more worried about that than they would be about the possibility that an FBI agent might drop in for a sermon.
I should also add that there is every indication that the FBI, in what now appears to be a vain attempt at working with the Muslim community, had discontinued the use of the informant mentioned nearly two years ago. Let no good deed go unpunished, eh?
