Islam

Report Finds Radical American Muslims Are Not Such A Big Threat

Jillian Rayfield | February 8, 2012, 4:42PM

In 2011 there was a "relatively low level of radicalization among Muslim-Americans" and that number has been continuously decreasing over the last couple of years, according to a report by a professor at the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security.

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FBI

FBI Calling In West Point To Help Crackdown On Anti-Muslim Counterterrorism Training

Ryan J. Reilly | November 3, 2011, 2:40PM

In an effort to stomp out anti-Muslim counterterrorism training at the the FBI, the bureau is calling in reinforcements.

Spencer Ackerman reports over at Wired that the FBI is turning to the Army's Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, a request that "represents a frank admission from the FBI that it requires outside help to reform."

The bureau, Ackerman reports, reached out to Bill Braniff, a retired Army captain who directs Practitioner Education at West Point. He "spent much of October in meetings at Bureau Headquarters in Washington D.C. designing what a source familiar with the process describes as 'guidelines for objectionable material' to exclude from agent training." He continues:

In its eight-year history, the CTC has built a reputation as a non-ideological haven for rigorous, data-driven counterterrorism research. It compiled perhaps the most thorough profile ever of the foreign fighters that flocked to Iraq, based on captured military documents. Its monthly newsletter, the CTC Sentinel, is widely read in counterterrorism circles. Not only does CTC teach the Army's cadets at West Point, who will have to distinguish between Muslim civilians and insurgents in warzones, it consults for state and local police -- and the FBI.

An FBI official told TPM that the Army's role in the review is a bit "overstated." In a statement provided by the bureau, the FBI said a "core review team included FBI and non-FBI personnel with academic training in areas of Islamic studies and Arab history" which "established guidelines to provide concrete enterprise-wide guidance on the training of counterterrorism and countering violent extremism topics."

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Joe Lieberman

DOJ To Senators: Don't Blame Us For The Anti-Muslim Training We Funded

Ryan J. Reilly | October 21, 2011, 6:00AM

The Justice Department has a message for the Senators worried that federal funds are flowing to anti-Muslim training programs: no worries, we've got this thing.

TPM obtained a copy of a letter DOJ sent to Sens. Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins nearly six months after the lawmakers first asked for answers about biased counterterrorism training sessions being funded by taxpayers.

Basically there are two ways that federal dollars from the Justice Department could potentially fund biased training. First, there's DOJ's State and Local Anti-Terrorism Training (SLATT) program, which officials say they've got a pretty good handle on.

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FBI

Documents Show FBI Targeted Communities Based On Race, Ethnicity

Ryan J. Reilly | October 20, 2011, 5:11PM

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) just released a massive trove of FBI documents indicating that anti-Muslim training materials have spread pretty far and wide within the bureau over the past several years and that analysts have been targeting areas based on racial and ethnic demographics.

It's all part of the ACLU's new "Mapping the FBI" initiative, which "aims to expose misconduct and abuse of authority by the bureau." They say the documents show that the FBI "has been targeting American communities for investigation based on race, ethnicity, national origin and religion" and that analysts "across the country are associating criminal behaviors with certain racial and ethnic groups and then using U.S. census data and other demographic information to map where those communities are located to investigate them."

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Department of Justice

Former DHS Official Calls For DOJ To Probe NYPD Spying Program

Ryan J. Reilly | October 20, 2011, 12:00PM

A former official with the Department of Homeland Security wants the Justice Department to probe the New York Police Department for their infiltration and surveillance of Muslim communities.

Sahar F. Aziz, Associate Professor of Law and Texas Wesleyan School of Law, encouraged the Justice Department to open an investigation into the NYPD during a DOJ-sponsored conference on post-Sept. 11 discrimination on Wednesday.

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Islamophobia

DOJ Official: Holder 'Firmly Committed' To Eliminating Anti-Muslim Training

Ryan J. Reilly | October 19, 2011, 2:50PM

Attorney General Eric Holder

Attorney General Eric Holder is "firmly committed" to nixing anti-Muslim material from law enforcement training, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, Dwight C. Holton said Wednesday.

Holton, who was U.S. Attorney when the FBI arrested the so-called Christmas tree bomber, said that he spoke specifically with Holder about the "egregiously false" training that took place at the FBI's training headquarters at Quantico and at a U.S. Attorney's office in Pennsylvania, which was first reported on by Wired.

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Islam

Muslim Woman: Airline Booted Me After Flight Attendant Falsely Thought I Said 'It's A Go' On The Phone

Jillian Rayfield | October 10, 2011, 5:01AM

A Muslim woman is suing Southwest Airlines for being kicked off her flight after a flight attendant reported hearing her say "it's a go" into her phone -- though according to the suit, she was just saying "I've got to go" as the plane was preparing to take off.

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Hertz

Hertz Suspends 34 Muslims For Praying On the Job

Jillian Rayfield | October 10, 2011, 5:00AM

A union in Seattle has filed an unfair-labor-practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against the Hertz car rental company, after 34 Somali Muslim shuttle drivers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport were suspended for praying on the job.

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Bryan Fischer

Conservative Shock Jock Reels Off Islamophobia's Greatest Hits

Ryan J. Reilly | October 8, 2011, 2:37PM

Conservative shock jock Bryan Fischer whipped out his best anti-Muslim rhetoric at the Values Voter Summit on Saturday.

Some highlights:

"Christians and Muslims do not believe in the same God."

"I believe it's important that we have a president who understands that Islam is not a religion of peace, but a religion of war and violence and death."

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Intelligence

Ex-Intelligence Worker Says Agency Stripped His Clearance Because Of Wife's Ties To Muslim Charity

Jillian Rayfield | October 7, 2011, 4:07PM

A former employee of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency filed a discrimination suit against the agency this week, alleging that his security clearance was revoked because of his wife's ties to a Muslim charity.

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Robert Mueller

Mueller: FBI Training That Smears All Muslims Has Been 'Isolated' (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | October 6, 2011, 1:55PM

FBI Director Robert Mueller

FBI Director Robert Mueller told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on Thursday that the counterterrorism training sessions conducted by his bureau that claimed American-Muslims were likely to be terrorist sympathizers were isolated.

Mueller called the FBI training materials in question "inappropriate offensive content" but asserted they weren't commonplace, calling the incidents "an aberration."

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Anwar al-Awlaki

What Impact Will Anwar Al-Awlaki's Death Have In The West?

Jillian Rayfield | September 30, 2011, 12:30PM

The death of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric linked to al Qaeda's operations in Yemen, is likely to impact American Arabs and Muslims in positive fashion, according to Dr. Hussein Ibish, former communications director for the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Commitee.

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Georgia

Publisher Receives 'Terroristic' Threats After Complaints That Textbook Promoted Islam

Jillian Rayfield | September 29, 2011, 10:38AM

Police are looking into a series of online threats made against a Georgia textbook publisher after a parent complained that one of the books promoted Islam and polygamy.

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FBI

FBI: Anti-Muslim Counterterror Training Wouldn't Happen Again

Ryan J. Reilly | September 19, 2011, 9:52AM

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is assuring the public that anti-Muslim counterterrorism training is a thing of the past.

"The FBI is committed to protecting Americans' rights under the U.S. Constitution, including a person's right to live, work, and worship as they wish. Strong religious beliefs should never be confused with violent extremism," the Bureau said in a statement Friday. "Views that are contrary should not and will not be taught to FBI employees."

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FBI

Muslim Groups Press FBI, DOJ On Anti-Islamic Training

Ryan J. Reilly | September 16, 2011, 11:10AM

FBI Director Robert Mueller

Two Muslim groups that have had generally positive relationships with the federal government have separately written the Justice Department and the FBI asking for investigations of anti-Muslim information used in FBI counterterrorism training.

Salam Al-Marayti, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), wrote FBI Director Robert Mueller asking for an immediate internal investigation and a reassessment of the vetting process of trainers.

Al-Marayti wrote that MPAC was "greatly concerned" about the training materials used by the FBI, which he said employed "highly selective use of quotes and sources from Islamic scripture; and, Dangerously false and reductive presentation of one of the most vibrant and visible faith communities in America."

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Joe Lieberman

Lieberman, Collins: If Obama Won't Do Something About Anti-Muslim Counterterrorism Training, We Will

Ryan J. Reilly | September 12, 2011, 6:05PM

Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins

Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) aren't messing around when it comes to stopping federal dollars from flowing to anti-Muslim terrorism training. In a letter to Obama on Tuesday, the duo said that if the administration can't develop criteria to keep bigoted information out of counter-terrorism training, they'll "consider drafting a legislative mandate or even imposing standards by statute."

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Pamela Geller

Report: Millions Donated To Islamophobic Groups Since 2001

Ryan J. Reilly | August 26, 2011, 10:15AM

Seven foundations and wealthy donors gave Islamophobic groups $42.6M from 2001 through 2009, according to a new report from the Center for American Progress.

"Sometimes the money flowing from these foundations and their donors is clearly designed to promote Islamophobia, but more often the support provided is for general purpose use, which the think tanks and grassroots organizations then put to use on their primary purpose -- spreading their messages of hate and fear as far and wide as they can," the report says.

"It is possible that some of these donors and foundations, who spend millions improving child health and creating a more equal society, have no knowledge of the hateful and inaccurate propaganda generated with their money," the report says.

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Cody Crawford

Mosque Arson Suspect To Cops: 'Christians Can Jihad Too'

Ryan J. Reilly | August 25, 2011, 3:41PM

A federal grand jury in Oregon indicted 24-year-old Cody Crawford on federal hate crime and arson charges for allegedly setting fire to a mosque. The fire followed the arrest of a Muslim man for allegedly plotting a terrorist attack on a Christmas tree lighting ceremony.

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Daryn J. Moran

Airman Who Said Obama's Birth Certificate Was Forged Not AWOL, Being Discharged

Ryan J. Reilly | August 17, 2011, 2:03PM

Air Force Staff Sgt. Daryn J. Moran, who's been claiming that he's AWOL from the military in Germany because he thinks President Barack Obama's birth certificate is fake, might want to check his own paperwork.

The Air Force says Moran (who wrote his opposition to Obama is "not because he's Black") isn't AWOL at all, but rather on approved leave status awaiting discharge, Scott Fontaine reports for Air Force Times.

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New Jersey

Authorities Reportedly Investigating Whether Fatal Shooting Of Pakistani Woman Was Racially Motivated

Jillian Rayfield | August 17, 2011, 2:00PM

Prosecutors in New Jersey say they are investigating whether a fatal shooting of a Pakistani woman walking with her three-year old son and husband was racially motivated, according to WABC News.

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FBI

FBI Recommended 'Complete Idiot's Guide,' Anti-Muslim Books To New Agents

Ryan J. Reilly | July 28, 2011, 6:00AM

The FBI was telling new bureau recruits as recently as Jan. 2009 that Islam "transforms [a] country's culture into 7th Century Arabian ways" and recommending a book written by one of Norwegian terrorism suspect Anders Behring Breivik's favorite authors as well as the Complete Idiot's Guide To Understanding Islam.

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Muslim Brotherhood

At Allen West-Sponsored Event, Group Paints Thousands Of Muslims As Terrorists

Ryan J. Reilly | July 25, 2011, 4:15PM

Rep. Allen West (R-FL)

A Florida-based "anti-terror" group took to the Capitol on Monday to warn Americans about "fifth column" Muslims who it said are pulling the strings of mainstream Muslim organizations and trying to take over the United States.

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Bryan Fischer

Social Conservative Bryan Fischer: Muslims Are Stupid Because Of Inbreeding

Jillian Rayfield | May 13, 2011, 5:18PM

Conservative Radio Host Bryan Fischer

Social conservative Bryan Fischer said Thursday that centuries of inbreeding has resulted in "an enormous cost in intellectual capacity" among Muslims.

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Keith Ellison

Keith Ellison Spars With Sean Hannity: 'Stop Making It Like Only Muslims Are The Problem'

Jillian Rayfield | April 21, 2011, 1:10PM

Sean Hannity and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN)

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) -- one of two Muslims currently serving in Congress -- went on Sean Hannity's show Wednesday night to discuss the controversy surrounding last month's Muslim "radicalization" hearings by Rep. Peter King, and the results were predictably charged.

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Sharia

Missouri House Passes Ban On Sharia Law

Jillian Rayfield | April 21, 2011, 10:22AM

The Missouri House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday that would stop the courts from considering Sharia law, or any other "foreign law, legal code, or system" when ruling on cases.

The bill, which was introduced back in March, passed by a vote of 102-51.

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CAIR

Right-Wing, Peter King Accuse DOJ Of Dropping CAIR Probe For Political Reasons

Jillian Rayfield | April 19, 2011, 2:11PM

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) and Attorney General Eric Holder

There's a brand-new Muslim conspiracy theory in town.

Rep. Peter King (R-NY), who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, has sent a letter to the Department of Justice demanding that it explain a report that they dropped a probe of suspected terrorism ties among Council On American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) officials. "It raises the most serious question for the Justice Department to decline to even attempt to prosecute individuals and organizations, accused by a US Attorney and found by a federal judge, to have a nexus with fundraising for an organization which conducts terror attacks upon civilians," King wrote in his letter.

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Department of Homeland Security

Collins, Lieberman Want Answers From DHS Over Anti-Muslim Counterterror Training

Ryan J. Reilly | April 4, 2011, 10:50AM

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)

Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) are requesting information on the federal funding of counterterrorism training programs following a report on trainers who espouse anti-Muslim views during training sessions for local cops.

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Muslim-Americans

Durbin: King, Gingrich Statements On Muslims Create 'Fertile Climate For Discrimination'

Ryan J. Reilly | March 29, 2011, 11:12AM

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)

Sen. Dick Durbin said Tuesday that statements from a "chorus of harsh voices" -- specifically Rep. Peter King (R-NY), former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Rev. Franklin Graham -- create "a fertile climate for discrimination" against American Muslims.

Durbin is chairing the first-ever congressional hearing on the civil rights of American Muslims, which the Illinois Democrat's office said was held in response to the "rise in anti-Muslim bigotry over the last year including Quran burnings, restrictions on mosque construction, hate crimes, hate speech, and other forms of discrimination."

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Bryan Fischer

Bryan Fischer: Muslims Have No First Amendment Rights

Jillian Rayfield | March 24, 2011, 12:42PM

Conservative Radio Host Bryan Fischer

Bryan Fischer, the "Director of Issues Analysis" for the social conservative group the American Family Association, says that when it comes to Islam, the First Amendment is a privilege, not a right. "Islam has no fundamental First Amendment claims, for the simple reason that it was not written to protect the religion of Islam," Fischer wrote today.

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Bernard Melekian

Federal Funds For Counterterrorism Training Pay For Anti-Muslim Instructors

Ryan J. Reilly | March 15, 2011, 9:35AM

Muslim Mafia Co-Author David Gaubatz

There's been an explosion of both state and federal money flowing into counterterrorism training for law enforcement in the years since Sept. 11. But it is becoming increasingly clear that some of the experts who are providing counterterrorism training for local law enforcement officers are sometimes not well vetted and have provided training which is based on bias against all Muslims and relies on falsehoods and exaggerations.

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Muslim Radicalization Hearings

Dingell: Remember McCarthy, Don't 'Blot Good Name' Of Muslims (VIDEO)

Melissa Jeltsen | March 10, 2011, 10:53AM

Rep. John Dingell (D-MI)

Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), the first witness to speak at Thursday's hearings on Muslim radicalization, warned House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Peter King (R-NY) to proceed with caution.

"For years, I ran investigative committees. I kept a picture of Joe McCarthy hanging on the wall so that I would know what it was I did not want to look like, to do or to be."

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Frank Gaffney

Gaffney, Jones Fight For Soul Of Anti-Sharia Movement At Rally By White House (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | March 4, 2011, 8:50AM

Frank Gaffney

Rev. Terry Jones, the man who rose to national prominence last fall when he announced (but later backed off off) a plan to burn copies of the Koran, was clad in a beat-up black leather jacket when he showed up to a park across the street from the White House a few minutes before noon on Thursday.

His black sunglasses resting a few inches above his signature handlebar mustache, Jones hopped up on a bench in Lafayette Park and announced that his organization Stand Up America was holding a rally.

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Muslims

Muslim Group: 'Our Heads Aren't In The Sand' On Threat Of Islamic Extremism

Ryan J. Reilly | February 7, 2011, 3:55PM

Suhail Khan

The American Muslim community knows that Islamic extremism is a threat -- and several panelists at a forum hosted by a Muslim-American group on Capitol Hill today said that a community policing approach in partnership with the intelligence community was the best way to counter radicalization.

"Law enforcement can neither go in alone or arrest its way out of this challenge," the Muslim Public Affairs Council's Alejandro J. Beutel said.

"Our heads aren't in the sand, the threat clearly exists," Beutel said. "The threat exists, but it is not a pandemic."

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Islam

California Mosque Opponents Defeated, Project To Go Forward

Evan McMorris-Santoro | January 28, 2011, 10:56AM

The plan to build a mosque in the southern California community of Temecula will go forward after months of protest from area residents afraid that a home for Muslim worship in their town will bring traffic, flooding and terrorists. Following an eight-hour meeting of the Temecula City Council, where the bitter fight between mosque opponents and supporters of religious freedom in the city were laid bare, council members voted 4-0 at around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday to allow the mosque project to go forward. That's left opponents -- who once suggested taunting Temecula Muslims with dogs -- scrambling over what to do next.

Reports from the meeting tell the tale of a contentious gathering that was a microcosm of the Islamophobia that has gripped the right in the past couple years, culminating with the epic struggle over the Park51 cultural center, better known by its critics as the "Ground Zero Mosque."

As the North County Times reported, many of the arguments against the Manhattan mosque project made their way to the Temecula meeting.

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Counterterrorism

NYPD Used Anti-Islam Film 'Third Jihad' To Train Officers

Rachel Slajda | January 19, 2011, 3:20PM

A still from "The Third Jihad"

The New York Police Department has used a movie that portrays Muslim-Americans as jihadis hell-bent on destroying the United States from within in its counter-terrorism training for officers.

The Village Voice reports today that the NYPD has shown "The Third Jihad" to officers taking their mandatory counter-terrorism courses.

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Terry Jones

British Anti-Islam Group: Terry Jones Is Too Radical For Us

Jillian Rayfield | December 15, 2010, 8:36AM

Pastor Terry Jones, of the Dove World Outreach Center

A British anti-Islam group is denying reports that Pastor Terry Jones will be speaking at their event in February, claiming that they "disapprove" of his thwarted plan to burn copies of the Koran last September 11.

Though the English Defence League does not condone Jones' infamous plan, it might not be for the reasons you think. "We do not believe the Koran should be burned, but rather read, so that people come to understand its inherent violence, supremacism, and hatred and contempt for non-Muslims," the group wrote on its Facebook page.

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FBI

AG Eric Holder On Terrorism Stings: FBI Doesn't Entrap People

Ryan J. Reilly | December 10, 2010, 8:40AM

Muhammad Hussain

On the heels of FBI's arrest this week of a 21-year-old Baltimore man who converted to Islam and allegedly tried to set off a fake car bomb outside of a military recruitment center, Attorney General Eric Holder defended the federal government's undercover operations to prevent terror plots before they further develop.

"I think that we are on an appropriate course," Holder said at a news conference Thursday in response to a question from TPM. "I'm comfortable with the way that we've been conducting ourselves with regard to these investigations."

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Keith Ellison

Christian Minister: Muslim Congressman's Support Of 'Homosexuals' Is Part Of Sharia Plot

Ryan J. Reilly | December 2, 2010, 10:38AM

Radio host Bradlee Dean and Keith Ellison (D-MN)

A Christian minister in Minnesota said on his radio program that the nation's first Muslim member of Congress was soliciting the support of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community to implement Sharia law. Follow his logic with us, wouldn't you?

Bradlee Dean of the religious ministry You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International said on his radio program that Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) is only supporting LGBT rights as part of a strategy to bring Sharia law to the United States, the Minnesota Independent reported.

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Larry Klayman

Judicial Watch Founder: Obama On 'Political Jihad Promoting Islam'

Ryan J. Reilly | November 17, 2010, 1:43PM

Alan Keyes and Larry Klayman

President Barack Obama is on a "political jihad promoting Islam around the world," said Larry Klayman, the founder of the conservative group Freedom Watch USA, at a panel on Wednesday.

Klayman, who also founded the Judicial Watch group, organized today's forum at the National Press Club under the auspices of his organization, which says its goal is "preserving freedom" and claims to be "the only political advocacy group that speaks through actions."

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Sharia

Female-Only Swim Hour For Muslim Students Sparks Debate At GW

Rachel Slajda | November 11, 2010, 12:09PM

Get out of the pool! It's filled with Sharia!

At George Washington University, the Muslims Students Association this year successfully lobbied to create a weekly women-only swim hour at the pool. Once a week, a dark tarp is hung over the glass door, a female lifeguard watches the pool and only female swimmers are allowed in.

The program, called "Sisters Splash," went unnoticed by the larger GWU community -- until the school paper wrote about it.

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