A former top FBI interrogator, who is a Muslim, says the opposition to building a mosque near ground zero is only helping al-Qaeda, the Washington Post’s Spy Talk column reports.
“It bolsters the message that radicalizers are selling: That the war is against Islam, and Muslims are not welcome in America,” ex-FBI agent Ali Soufan wrote in a piece in Forbes magazine, according to Spy Talk.
“There are many reasons for supporting the Muslim community’s right to build a cultural center and mosque on private property, not least of all the First Amendment of the Constitution guaranteeing freedom of religion,” wrote Soufan, who was a supervisory special agent with the bureau from 1997 to 2005.
“But from a national security perspective, our leaders need to understand that no one is likely to be happier with the opposition to building a mosque than Osama Bin Laden. His next video script has just written itself.”
