The FBI is walking a tightrope these days when it comes to ties to Muslim communities in the U.S. Last summer, it cut off official ties to CAIR, a Islamic advocacy group because of its ties to Hamas. And the Muslim communities’ distrust of the FBI in the post-9/11 era is still real. The FBI needs the relationships and will have to figure out ways to improve on them.
By Teresa Watanabe and Paloma Esquivel
Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — The Islamic Center of Irvine is a beige stucco building that blends into the rows of office buildings surrounding it. But last week, it became the most publicized mosque in California with disclosures that the FBI sent an informant there to spy and collect evidence of jihadist rhetoric and other allegedly extremist acts by a Tustin man who attended prayers there.
The revelations dismayed mosque members like Omar Turbi, 50, and his 27-year-old son who shares his name. After Friday prayer service last week, while hundreds of others scurried back to work, the pair stood with their backs to a wall and mulled over the news.
“It gives you a little bit of apprehension about who you trust,” the elder Turbi said. “Makes you think twice about what you say; what if people misunderstand you?”
Turbi’s fears were echoed by other Muslims throughout Southern California last week. Some say a climate of suspicion toward them, fueled by 9/11 and underscored by the latest disclosures of FBI surveillance, is inhibiting their freedoms of speech and faith.
