SANTA ANA, Calif. - The ACLU and Muslim advocacy groups sued the FBI and the Justice Department on Tuesday, alleging that authorities failed to turn over records detailing suspected surveillance of the Muslim-American community. The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, alleges that the FBI has turned over only four pages of documents to community leaders, despite a Freedom of Information Act request filed more than a year ago.
| I'm sure they'll find a compliant, Carter-appointed judge. Then the Ninth Circus will get the appeal. |
The request sought records that described FBI guidelines and policies for surveillance and investigation of Muslim religious organizations, as well as specific information about FBI inquiries targeting 11 groups or people.
There's nothing like giving the opposition your whole game plan and playbook. This is essentially what they want.
The lawsuit states that all the plaintiffs - who include some of the most prominent Muslim leaders in California - have reason to believe they have been investigated by the FBI since January 2001.
| No proof, of course. They'll counter by saying that in order to find the proof they need to rummage around in the FBI files for however long it takes ... |
"It sends a message that Muslim-Americans have been, and continue to be, cooperating with law enforcement, but they're concerned there might be a disproportionate focus ... on their religious practices," said Ranjana Natarajan, an ACLU attorney.
When your religious practices include beheading, murder, and total degredation of women and anyone not a Muslim then the focus needs to be on those practices.
| If nineteen angry Pentecoastalists had slammed airplanes into World Trade, we'd be busy investigating the holy rollers ... |
FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said she could not comment on pending litigation but released a statement from J. Stephen Tidwell, the FBI's assistant director in charge for Los Angeles. "The FBI does not investigate individuals or groups based on their lawful activities, religious or political beliefs," Tidwell said.
A message left for the Department of Justice after business hours was not returned.
| Reporter couldn't be bothered to call during business hours? |
The groups filed an initial FOIA request in May 2006, several months after federal law enforcement officials confirmed the existence of a classified radiation monitoring program used in surveillance at mosques, homes and businesses.
The FBI responded to the request first by saying it couldn't identify any records that met the criteria requested. After an appeal, the agency turned over four pages that dealt with the Council of American-Islamic Relations and Hussam Ayloush, the council's executive director for Southern California. Those documents dealt with a suspected hate crime at a mosque that the council had reported to the FBI and a conversation Ayloush had with an FBI agent about cooperating with federal law enforcers, Natarajan said.
| So the files contain a memo about the conversation. That's what I'd do if I were an FBI agent, document the conversation. No doubt this is seen as nefarious ... |
She said she believes there are many more records because each plaintiff has been interviewed by the FBI or stopped at airports for questioning. The FBI, in its responses, indicted it searched only files that hold information on active criminal investigations instead of more general files that could encompass surveillance activities, she said.
| What the plantiffs want, of course, are those general files. |
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