Muslim group questions Homeland Security plan
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- December
- 6
A U.S. Department of Homeland Security plan to get FDNY members involved in anti-terrorism is being met with unease by a national Muslim civil liberties organization.
Firefighters in New York and other cities across the country are being trained to be lookouts for terrorism, according to news reports.
Firefighters don’t need warrants to enter homes and buildings, and therefore are in a unique position to look for suspicious materials, literature or equipment.
But, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Association of Muslim American Lawyers and the Sikh Coalition questioned the plan in a joint statement issued Nov. 28.
“Undoubtedly, firefighters should inform law enforcement authorities of activity deemed ‘suspicious’ under a reasonable person standard. However, FDNY’s partnership with the government as intelligence agents may compromise resident’s trust in firefighters and consequently threaten the fire department’s standing as a group that our city holds in high esteem,” the statement read.
The American Civil Liberties Union and many firefighters across the nation have expressed concern about the plan’s effects, but FDNY officials have spoken in favor of the plan.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, December 6th, 2007 at 7:24 pm by Suzan Clarke.
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I think that if anybody sees activity that is of a suspicious nature regarding terrorism, that person has a duty to report it to the authorities. Apparently, this Muslim group feels differently.
Of course they feel differently because they are the ones
who are the terrorists.
Bulldog, I think you’re taking things too far.
Only a small minority of Muslims are terrorists. However, I think that groups like CAIR often make the mistake of appearing to defend indefensible behavior, and therefore allow the group they represent to be defined by its worst element.
They’re hardly the only group to do this; it’s endemic in today’s political climate.
I agree not all Muslims are terrorists David but they are
still the ones who are the terrorists. Is their another
religion causing us harm that I don’t know about? I don’t
think it’s the catholics or Lutherans.
Bulldog,
Most terrorists are Muslims. There’s no disputing that, and I’m not nearly politically correct enough to dispute something that’s so obviously true.
But most Muslims aren’t terrorists.
My point was that these Muslim groups are contributing to views such as yours by implicitly defending terrorists and allowing themselves to be defined by them.
I think that’s a big mistake. If Muslim groups were in the forefront of rooting out the cancer of extremism and terrorism from their ranks, rather than seeming to protect them, they’d probably enjoy a much better public image.
We agree 100% on that one. It boggles the mind why they
do defend them.