CAIR Asks Muslims to Thank Ill. Rep. for Questions on Anti-Islam Training

FBI Director Mueller Promises 'Top to Bottom' Review of Counterterrorism Training

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on American Muslims and other people of conscience to thank Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) for her strong defense of the Muslim community during questioning today of FBI Director Robert Mueller by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

E-MAIL Rep. Schakowsky:
http://tinyurl.com/y8orpf5
Rep. Schakowsky's Office Contacts:
http://tinyurl.com/422c6dg

"We thank Representative Schakowsky for her strong and principled defense not only of the American Muslim community, but of the longstanding American traditions of religious tolerance and equality before the law," said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. "We also thank Director Mueller for his pledge to perform a 'top to bottom' review of FBI counterterrorism training."

Awad noted that CAIR yesterday called for just such a review.

CAIR Calls for 'Top To Bottom' Reform of Training on Islam
http://tinyurl.com/3ezbrew

In her questioning, Rep. Schakowsky focused on allegations that some FBI agents have been trained to view mainstream American Muslims with suspicion and to view the faith of Islam itself as the source of terrorism and extremism.

Director Mueller admitted that the FBI training in question did contain "inappropriate offensive content" but called the reported incidents of biased training "an aberration."

Video: Rep. Schakowsky Questions FBI Director Mueller on Biased Training on Islam, Muslims
http://tinyurl.com/3v9zguc
Mueller: FBI Muslim Training Material 'Inappropriate' and 'Offensive'
http://tinyurl.com/3l3mb7k

Rep. Schakowsky said to Director Mueller:

"I am concerned, like 27 human rights and civil rights groups that wrote you a letter, about some of the FBI training dealing with the Muslim community and home-grown terrorism. And I know that there was a training -- a bureau training in Quantico and counterterrorism agents were shown a chart -- you've probably seen it, but here are copies of it -- that talked about how increased religiosity, adherence by pious and devoted, that became less violent as people of the Jewish faith or Christians got more religious.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: CAIR was a signatory to the letter referenced above.]

"But it shows that people who support the Koran, the more religious they get, the more violent they are. That was the training that went on there. And I -- I understand that there's been trainings where the Prophet Mohammed has -- has actually been called a cult leader and that Islamic practice of giving charity is no more than, quote, 'funding mechanism for combat.'

"I know that you have said that this was an aberration, but who is watching the store? Senate Committee on Homeland Security, Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins, warned that law enforcement lacks meaningful standards to prevent anti-Islamic material from seeping into counterterrorism.

"My concern is that we're not looking at criminal behavior. We're not looking at violent behavior. But we're focusing on religious practices and that this is evident, and I could cite other evidence -- I want to give you a chance to answer, though -- of training materials and written materials of the FBI that describe people who, you know, wear Muslim clothing, et cetera, as being signals that they may be violent.

"And I'd like you to -- to comment on this. This is something that we need, I believe, to worry about in this country, that values -- religious freedom and the freedom to practice religion."

Director Mueller responded in part: "We have undertaken a review from top to bottom of our counterterrorism training. I think these are isolated incidents. And in the course of that review, we've had outreach to academicians and others to assist us in reviewing the materials and assuring that that offensive -- that offensive content is not -- does not appear."

CAIR has in the past called on the Obama administration, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and Congress to provide oversight for apparently widespread anti-Muslim bias in the training of law enforcement, security and military personnel nationwide.

SEE: CAIR Asks Sec. Napolitano to Probe Use of Islamophobic Trainers
http://tinyurl.com/3qgb5uu
Video: CAIR Decries Anti-Muslim Police Trainers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxX5y7zX8RU

Trainers for American military personnel have included Islamophobes such as Robert Spencer, co-founder of Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA). SIOA has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

CAIR: Muslim-Basher Trains U.S. Military Personnel in Kentucky
http://tinyurl.com/3wbjv4z
Active Anti-Muslim Groups
http://www.splcenter.org/node/3502/activegroups

CAIR noted the release of an 80-page report by Political Research Associates (PRA), titled "Manufacturing the Muslim Menace: Private Firms, Public Servants, & the Threat to Rights and Security," which details a systemic failure to regulate content in counterterrorism training.

Manufacturing the Muslim Menace
http://tinyurl.com/4qeretq  

Washington Monthly magazine also published a major investigative article showing similar anti-Islam attitudes by private trainers of law enforcement agencies.

SEE: How We Train Our Cops to Fear Islam
http://tinyurl.com/4ajnx3h

A number of recent reports have documented the growth and promotion of Islamophobia nationwide.

CAIR: Same Hate, New Target
http://tinyurl.com/66enzm8  

Center for American Progress: Fear, Inc.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/08/islamophobia.html
Southern Poverty Law Center: Jihad Against Islam
http://tinyurl.com/3qsv2v8
People for the American Way: The Right-Wing Playbook on Anti-Muslim Extremism
http://tinyurl.com/6j9fttw

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

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CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, E-Mail: [email protected]; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, 202-341-4171, E-Mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Council on American-Islamic Relations