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| U.S. recruits Muslims for law-enforcement-agency j |
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| ahmer |
| 06/03/02 at 16:44:07 |
| U.S. recruits Muslims for law-enforcement-agency jobs Published in the Home News Tribune 6/03/02 PATERSON -- For three hours, the country's most powerful law-enforcement agencies tried to get about 300 worshippers at an influential mosque interested in working for the government. It took a 10-year-old boy to voice the question on people's minds. "Most people think all Muslims are terrorists because of what happened on Sept. 11," said Mahdi El-Saawi of Hawthorne, sitting on a dark green stripe on the floor used to line men up for prayers at The Islamic Center kf Passaic County. "Is the FBI allowed to spy on our houses?" Agents representing the FBI, Secret Service, U.S. Attorney's Office, state and local police agencies squirmed for a few moments at Saturday night's job fair before offering what boiled down to the following response: Yes, but we probably won't. They visited the mosque in this northern New Jersey community, where at least six of the Sept. 11 hijackers lived before the attacks, to enlist Arab-Americans and Muslims as law enforcement agents. Rad Alturk, a Jordanian from New York City who owns a business in Clifton, was drawn as much by economics as patriotism. "The FBI has a good reputation," Alturk said. "It's a good career job. We love this country and we want to protect it. They could definitely use some more Muslim FBI agents." The job fair was the brainchild of Muslim leaders who wanted to give their community a chance to join the agencies that have scrutinized them since attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. There was some skepticism, expected in a city where many Muslims can tell tales of relatives or friends picked up for questioning and not seen for months. But the response from would-be officers and G-Men was surprisingly strong. The FBI took names and addresses from more than 100 people who wanted job applications. State police said nearly 50 people expressed interest, and the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office heard from 20 likely applicants. Many applicants offered to put their expertise in Arabic languages to work for the federal government, which badly needs the help. Of the more than 300 FBI agents assigned to New Jersey, none speaks Arabic, although the office has a staff translator, a spokeswoman said. Musleh Hakki, a Pakistani who lives in Woodbridge, caught the attention of FBI recruiter Doug Rowe by saying he could speak Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi and Arabic. "I'll bring you in and test you," Rowe told him. Hakki said he has no qualms about working for the FBI. "The United States is my country, and if I can help it, I want to," he said. "This is my home. This is where my children were born. I chose to come here; nobody forced me to come." Most applicants were men, but several women also expressed interest in law enforcement careers. Despite having to stand with other women in a back room during prayers, Madiha Katzo, a Paterson school teacher, mingled freely with the male job seekers afterward. She said she has a bachelor's degree in civil engineering, and was eager to offer her skills to law enforcement. "I have nothing to hide from the FBI or the police," she said. "It is an honor to have them at our center. I'm proud of what I am, and my conscience is clean. If I can help, I want to." Rowe said that a handful of the 100-plus potential applicants to his agency might survive the eight- to 12-month hiring process. "Out of all these, if we could get five people, that would be a real productive night," he said. "We'd be real happy with that." A few attendees said they were skeptical of the authorities' motives. "A lot of people would hesitate to do what you would consider spying," said Ahmed Al-Hassan, a Yemeni native living in Teaneck. "Spying would not be good, but combating danger and terrorism is justified. You just have to be careful. You don't want to be just as bad as the bad guys." Paterson Police Chief Lawrence Spagnola was blunt in his appeal. "We're asking you to help us," he told the congregants. "If you don't help us, then you're condoning what happens in your community. This is your country. There are people that came in here and jeopardized all your futures. Do you accept that? So help us!" http://www.thnt.com/thnt/story/0,21282,574656,00.html |
| Re: U.S. recruits Muslims for law-enforcement-agen |
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| Kashif |
| 06/03/02 at 19:25:14 |
| assalaamu alaikum Muslims spying on other Muslims... great. We already knew this was occurring before, but now its being pushed as the patriotic thing to do. I wonder if people like this Musleh Hakki or Madiha Katzo have ever considered how this would effect who they are raised up with on the D/Judgment. Kashif Wa Salaam |
| NS |
| Re: U.S. recruits Muslims for law-enforcement-agen |
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| dirt |
| 06/03/02 at 19:32:54 |
| [slm] "We're asking you to help us," he told the congregants. "If you don't help us, then you're condoning what happens in your community. This is your country. There are people that came in here and jeopardized all your futures. Do you accept that? So help us!" Something seems very wrong with this statement... [wlm] |
| Re: U.S. recruits Muslims for law-enforcement-agen |
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| mwishka |
| 06/03/02 at 19:39:47 |
| this is an extrememly annoying line: Despite having to stand with other women in a back room during prayers, etc. etc. would they have written this if they were in an orthodox synagogue? and wouldn't someone from the mosque have reviewed the accuracy of the article before it was published? mwishka |
| Re: U.S. recruits Muslims for law-enforcement-agen |
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| Kareema_Abdul-Khab |
| 06/04/02 at 04:58:16 |
| Whoa! Looks like some Muslims are taking that'you're either with us or against us'stuff way too seriously. ??? ???Good Reputation ???Anyways ::). How can you be a good agent if you don't even read the papers and keep current? I agree with mwishka,the mention specifically of a 'back room' instead of something more neutral like'seperate room' or seperated from the men is pretty intentionally alluding to Jim Crow and the segregation of minorities. Why any mention of this is necessary in an article about FBI and Muslims is also suspect. I also find this problematic: [quote] "We're asking you to help us," he told the congregants. "If you don't help us, then you're condoning what happens in your community. This is your country. There are people that came in here and jeopardized all your futures. Do you accept that? So help us!" [/quote] So if a Christian or Jewish person is not helping them, are they also to blame? Why do Muslims have a special duty to go out of their way to prevent terrorism? The last part sounds like a threat, its just missing the 'OR ELSE.......' I don't see a personal duty to prevent terrorism other than trying to get the right view of Islam out, and other than with the intent of enjoining the good and forbidding the wrong. Finally, think about what this does for the ummah :((could we have a smiley with a teardrop in its eye here?)? Everyone afraid that their friendly neighborhood Muslim could be reporting on their activities? Reminds me of the way they tore up the civil rights and other groups in the '60s,among other issues and concerns, its so difficult to function with distrust in the air. |
| 06/04/02 at 04:59:41 |
| Kareema_Abdul-Khab |
| Re: U.S. recruits Muslims for law-enforcement-agen |
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| ltcorpest2 |
| 06/04/02 at 12:21:34 |
So if a Christian or Jewish person is not helping them, are they also to blame? Why do Muslims have a special duty to go out of their way to prevent terrorism? The last part sounds like a threat, its just missing the 'OR ELSE.......' I don't see a personal duty to prevent terrorism other than trying to get the right view of Islam out, and other than with the intent of enjoining the good and forbidding the wrong. If a christian or a jew is not helping them they are also to blame. FBI agents have spoken to Christian orgainzations and I am sure to Jewish ones also. Muslims have no more a special duty than anyone else. But they were also speaking to the mosque where at least 6 of the Hijackers attended. You do not see any personal duty to try to prevent terrorism, Hmm thats an interesting attitude. I would think that anyone that has knowledge of a crime or an act of murder and does nothing about it shares in the sin. |
| Re: U.S. recruits Muslims for law-enforcement-agen |
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| jannah |
| 06/04/02 at 13:51:24 |
| itcorpest so you're saying that all those members of that mosque knew about the hijackers or were in league with them? that's pretty ludicrous. they are the same as any american anywhere and whether they want to become spies or agents should be their own decision without any special "pressure" from the U.S. government |
| Re: U.S. recruits Muslims for law-enforcement-agen |
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| ltcorpest2 |
| 06/04/02 at 17:31:33 |
| jannah, you should be on the olympic team the way you jump to conclusions. did i ever say that all members of that mosque were in league with the hijackers? But if 6 members of the church i went to commited a crime like that , i would be at the very least wonder what was going on in my church. |
| Re: U.S. recruits Muslims for law-enforcement-agen |
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| nouha |
| 06/04/02 at 18:30:38 |
| [slm] reading things like this makes me soooooo upset!!!! >:( :'( these muslims need to wake up and smell the humus!!!! the fbi are just using them for their needs and in the end, the fbi is gonna turn their back on them!!! .... when these muslims go out and find something, theyll prolly be accused of being associated with it from a long time ago etc,. grrrrr! wasalam nouha |
| Re: U.S. recruits Muslims for law-enforcement-agen |
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| struggling |
| 06/04/02 at 19:43:48 |
| [slm] Well I think FBI should be very careful with this, since guys from the Al-Qaeda ranks can use this opportunity to spy on FBI and other Law Enforcement Agencies? :-) |
| Re: U.S. recruits Muslims for law-enforcement-agen |
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| Kareema_Abdul-Khab |
| 06/05/02 at 03:48:10 |
| [quote]If a christian or a jew is not helping them they are also to blame[/quote] But that's not what the agent was implying, he indicated that Muslims alone had a special responsibility. The article doesn't mention that the six hijackers attended the masjid[quote]They(FBI) visited the mosque in this northern New Jersey community, where at least six of the Sept. 11 hijackers [i]lived[/i] before the attacks, [/quote]only that they lived in the same community as the masjid was in. So that makes the only readily apparent link aside from location the professed faith of both! (Look who's jumping to conclusions now!) Finally, I said that I found no special duty [i]aside[/i] from enjoining the good and forbidding the evil, which means that if I ever have any knowlege of any crime or harm against civilians I would be required to report it and/or try to stop it. What I won't do is go to Masjid in full Mission Impossible gear,wearing a mike, black outfit, slinking around corners, planting bugs, etc. for supposedly anti-terror info. |
| 06/05/02 at 04:21:00 |
| Kareema_Abdul-Khab |
| Re: U.S. recruits Muslims for law-enforcement-agen |
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| ltcorpest2 |
| 06/05/02 at 12:20:04 |
| boy, looks like we can all jump. sorry about that!! Quote:If a christian or a jew is not helping them they are also to blame But that's not what the agent was implying, he indicated that Muslims alone had a special responsibility. im sorry, i missed where he was implying that. I think that if you are talking to a certain group of people the remarks are naturally targetted to that group. If the fbi was going to a church to talk to Christians about aryan nation type people i think they would have a certain responsibility more than a group of muslims because just by nature there would be less contact with muslims than with people at a church, just the same would be with Al qaeda, i would think that they would more likely be in contact with muslims or going to a mosque that going to church on sunday. What I won't do is go to Masjid in full Mission Impossible gear,wearing a mike, black outfit, slinking around corners, planting bugs, etc. for supposedly anti-terror info. are you sure? you made that sound like some pretty cool stuff. |
| Re: U.S. recruits Muslims for law-enforcement-agen |
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| Kareema_Abdul-Khab |
| 06/06/02 at 03:34:37 |
| Maybe if the FBI were that cool they wouldn't have recruitment problems! [quote]"We're asking you to help us," he told the congregants. "If you don't help us, then you're condoning what happens in your community. This is your country. There are people that came in here and jeopardized all your futures. Do you accept that? So help us!" [/quote] This is open to interpretations and questions. Perhaps he was just being unclear. Were they even a part of the community? If they don't spy for the FBI(he doesn't mention just reporting what you now about crimes) are they condoning terrorism? Is spying for the FBI the only way we can un-jeopardize our futures? How truth, freedom and the American way instead? And, just like they shaved their beards, visited strip bars, and just like a suicide bomber died his hair blonde,etc.etc. if Al qaida thought they needed to avert suspicion, they certainly might visit the local church or synagogue, so I'm not so sure that the masjid should be acknowledged as the focus of suspicion, as this begs Al Qaida to do otherwise. |
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