FBI Teaches Agents: \u2018Mainstream\u2019 Muslims Are \u2018Violent, Radical\u2019
\nBy Spencer Ackerman – September 14, 2011 – Danger Room<\/p>\n
The FBI is teaching its counterterrorism agents that \u201cmain stream\u201d [sic] American Muslims are likely to be terrorist sympathizers; that the Prophet Mohammed was a \u201ccult leader\u201d; and that the Islamic practice of giving charity is no more than a \u201cfunding mechanism for combat.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the Bureau\u2019s training ground in Quantico, Virginia, agents are shown a chart contending that the more \u201cdevout\u201d a Muslim, the more likely he is to be \u201cviolent.\u201d Those destructive tendencies cannot be reversed, an FBI instructional presentation adds: \u201cAny war against non-believers is justified\u201d under Muslim law; a \u201cmoderating process cannot happen if the Koran continues to be regarded as the unalterable word of Allah.\u201d<\/p>\n
These are excerpts from dozens of pages of recent FBI training material on Islam that Danger Room has acquired. In them, the Constitutionally protected religious faith of millions of Americans is portrayed as an indicator of terrorist activity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere may not be a \u2018radical\u2019 threat as much as it is simply a normal assertion of the orthodox ideology,\u201d one FBI presentation notes. \u201cThe strategic themes animating these Islamic values are not fringe; they are main stream.\u201d<\/p>\n
The FBI isn\u2019t just treading on thin legal ice by portraying ordinary, observant Americans as terrorists-in-waiting, former counterterrorism agents say. It\u2019s also playing into al-Qaida\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n
Focusing on the religious behavior of American citizens instead of proven indicators of criminal activity like stockpiling guns or using shady financing makes it more likely that the FBI will miss the real warning signs of terrorism. And depicting Islam as inseparable from political violence is exactly the narrative al-Qaida spins \u2014 as is the related idea that America and Islam are necessarily in conflict. That\u2019s why FBI whistleblowers provided Danger Room with these materials.<\/p>\n
Over the past few years, American Muslim civil rights groups have raised alarm about increased FBI and police presence in Islamic community centers and mosques, fearing that their lawful behavior is being targeted under the broad brush of counterterrorism. The documents may help explain the heavy scrutiny.<\/p>\n
They certainly aren\u2019t the first time the FBI has portrayed Muslims in a negative light during Bureau training sessions. As Danger Room reported in July, the FBI\u2019s Training Division has included anti-Islam books, and materials that claim Islam \u201ctransforms [a] country\u2019s culture into 7th-century Arabian ways.\u201d When Danger Room confronted the FBI with that material, an official statement issued to us claimed, \u201cThe presentation in question was a rudimentary version used for a limited time that has since been replaced.\u201d<\/p>\n
But these documents aren\u2019t relics from an earlier era. One of these briefings, titled \u201cStrategic Themes and Drivers in Islamic Law,\u201d took place on March 21.<\/p>\n
The Islam briefings are elective, not mandatory. \u201cA disclaimer accompanied the presentation stating that the views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. government,\u201d FBI spokesman Christopher Allen tells Danger Room.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe training materials in question were delivered as Stage Two training to counterterrorism-designated agents,\u201d Allen adds. \u201cThis training was largely derived from a variety of open source publications and includes the opinion of the analyst that developed the lesson block.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not all counterterrorism veterans consider the briefings so benign. \u201cTeaching counterterrorism operatives about obscure aspects of Islam,\u201d says Robert McFadden, who recently retired as one of the Navy Criminal Investigative Service\u2019s al-Qaida-hunters, \u201cwithout context, without objectivity, and without covering other non-religious drivers of dangerous behavior is no way to stop actual terrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, at Quantico, the alleged connection between Islam and violence isn\u2019t just stipulated. It\u2019s literally graphed. …more<\/a><\/p>\n