Southwest Daily Herald: Feds Secretly Search Mosques
Federal officials have admitted that air monitoring has been secretly made on several residential homes and Muslim sites in Illinois since the 9/11 attacks. The FBI has reportedly checked sites for radiation levels to see if nuclear or chemical bombs were being made in Illinois, New York, Nevada, Washington, Michigan and Washington D.C.
The report came shortly after President Bush admitted and supported American intelligence agencies secretly spying on Americans without court orders.
Bush stated that national security outweighed private citizen rights when the alleged spying was made.
Federal officials have now admitted that air monitoring is made to look for threats to safety.
It was reported that many sites were made on Muslim locations, but other federal officials have claimed that the monitoring was made randomly.
The Council on American Islamic Relations filed a Freedom of Information Act with the FBI on Dec. 27 for all records related to the secret monitoring program, including the authority Bush used to authorize the alleged secret program.
CAIR also requested the lists of sites and addresses that were targeted for the radiological searches.
Ahmed Rehab, communications director of CAIR-Chicago, said that the federal monitor insinuates that mosques are underground sites supporting terrorism when the religious entities are the opposite — open and above-ground.
“You don’t even know they’re watching you,” Rehab said.
Since the terrorist attacks on 9/11, the government has used tools like the Patriot Act to combat terrorism. At the same time, though, some organizations and groups have viewed the government’s methods as being unconstitutional.
The people or entities that are allegedly monitored are not told that they are being watched or examined.
When asked if entities or religious leaders would be able to prepare themselves legally for the monitor, Rehab said it would not be possible since the search is made secretly.
“There’s nothing to prepare them for,” Rehab said.
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