FBI training purged of materials claimed offensive to Muslims: Watchdog

FBI training purged of materials claimed offensive to Muslims: Watchdog (Video)

·         police news

·         June 5, 2013

·         By: Jim Kouri

An "Inside the Beltway" watchdog group on Monday released Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) documents that reveal the law enforcement agency which is responsible for U.S. counterterrorism had purged its training curricula of material determined by an unnamed group -- suspected to be the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) by several law enforcement sources -- to be “offensive” to Muslims.

The excised material included references linking the Muslim Brotherhood to terrorism, tying al-Qaeda to the 1993 World Trade Center and Khobar Towers bombings, and suggesting that “young male immigrants of Middle Eastern appearance … may fit the terrorist profile best.”

The FBI is purging all hints of ties between terrorism and Islam from its training programs and operations.

Photo credit:

FBI/USDoJ

The top public-interest group, Judicial Watch, obtained the materials after filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit on July 18, 2012.

"The original FOIA request was made on March 7, 2012. It sought access to records detailing a Feb. 8, 2012, meeting between FBI Director Robert Mueller and various Islamic organizations. The FOIA request also asked for any and all records setting criteria or guidelines for FBI curricula on Islam or records identifying potentially offensive material within the FBI curricula on Islam, as well as any directives to withdraw FBI presentations and curricula on Islam," according to officials at Judicial Watch.

During the February 8 meeting, Mueller reportedly assured the Islamic groups in attendance that the agency had ordered the removal of presentations and curricula on Islam from FBI offices around the country that were deemed offensive, according to Judicial Watch's report.

According to an National Public Radio news story: “The FBI has completed a review of offensive training material and has purged 876 pages and 392 presentations, according to a briefing provided to lawmakers.”

In its news story about some of Judicial Watch's revelations, the Washington Examiner reported: “While the Muslim Brotherhood is not on the U.S. State Department’s official list of international terrorist organizations, some of its offshoots, including the Palestinian group Hamas, are.” Ironically, FBI Director Mueller, who ordered the purge of “offensive” material – including the exoneration of the Muslim Brotherhood – has described the organization as a group that supports terrorism in the US and overseas."

“The FBI is rewriting history in order to help al-Qaeda. This shows that the law enforcement agency is in need of serious top-to-bottom reform. As we recently learned from the Boston Marathon terrorist attack, the country is less safe when we allow radical Muslim organizations to tell the FBI how to train its agents and do its job,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

“The FBI’s purge of so called ‘offensive’ material is political correctness run amok, and it puts the nation at risk. The Obama administration needs to stop putting the tender sensibilities of radical Islamists above the safety of the American people,” Fitton added.