Is it preferable to let a terrorist kill thousands than it is to question one Muslim who might know something about the plot?

Seattle's Muslims don't wish to be bothered by terrorist-seeking FBI agents, we learn in today's Seattle Times report about a community barbecue at a local mosque:

While the mood was festive, there were worries that the FBI may be targeting Seattle's small Muslim community
...
reports persist that local Muslims have recently been quizzed by federal agents. And if such contacts are taking place, the FBI should acknowledge them, Muslim leaders said
...
"We are very, very concerned about this," said Aziz Junejo, a spokesman for the mosque. "Especially because they are using deceptive means to do [their interviews]."

We have real threats about potential terrorist plots, and the most effective way to find any terrorist is to look for them where they would most likely to be. The only current warnings about terrorist activity involve Muslims, who are likely to try to fit in with local Muslim communities and attend mosques. One would think that Muslim community leaders who reject terrorism would be just as motivated as anybody else to cooperate with law enforcement to help uncover dangerous criminals in their midst. Certainly if any terror plot succeeds and it turns out that the perpetrators were sheltered by a Muslim community that declined to cooperate with investigators, the damage to that community's reputation would be devastating.

But even asking questions sends certain folks into hysterics:

The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington has offered to assist anyone approached by the FBI. In a recent statement, Kathleen Taylor, the executive director of ACLU of Washington, said the technique used by the FBI "is simply ethnic profiling."

Julya Hampton, ACLU legal-program director, said in the statement, "Treating innocent people like criminals is certain to drive a wedge between law enforcement and the communities that agencies should be reaching out to."

Asking questions is not the same as treating people like criminals. "Baghdad Jim" McDermott is most hysterical of all:

"You don't round up all Irish people on St. Patrick's Day or Italians on Columbus Day, just because the people who did this damage were from the same country," said McDermott, who attended yesterday's event. He said he wanted to hold a congressional hearing on the matter.

The FBI is not "rounding up" any, let alone all Muslims. But I do like the idea of a congressional hearing. Let the rest of the country see how thoroughly unserious the Democrats are about protecting us from potential terrorists in our midst.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at August 09, 2004 11:01 AM | Email This