US Muslim Leaders Slam Secret Monitoring of Islamic Sites

[sonz]

---Leaders of the Washington-area Islamic community will hold a news conference this afternoon to offer their reaction to the reported secret monitoring of radiation levels at more than 100 Muslim homes, businesses and mosques in the capital region and in other areas nationwide.


According to an exclusive online article by U.S. News & World Report:
"In search of a terrorist nuclear bomb, the federal government since 9/11 has run a far-reaching, top secret program to monitor radiation levels at over a hundred Muslim sites in the Washington, D.C., area, including mosques, homes, businesses, and warehouses, plus similar sites in at least five other cities, U.S. News has learned. In numerous cases, the monitoring required investigators to go on to the property under surveillance, although no search warrants or court orders were ever obtained, according to those with knowledge of the program.

Some participants were threatened with loss of their jobs when they questioned the legality of the operation, according to these accounts. . . No dirty bombs or nuclear devices have ever been found - and that includes the post-9/11 program. 'There were a lot of false positives, and one or two were alarming,' says one source. 'But in the end we found nothing.'"
In a statement, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said:

"This disturbing revelation, coupled with recent reports of domestic surveillance without warrant, could lead to the perception that we are no longer a nation ruled by law, but instead one in which fear trumps constitutional rights.

"All Americans should be concerned about the apparent trend toward a two-tiered system of justice system, with full rights for most citizens, and another diminished set of rights for Muslims."

Award noted that just yesterday, a judge refused to prohibit U.S. border personnel from singling out American Muslims on their way home from a religious conference that begins today in Canada.

Also yesterday, CAIR announced that it filed a freedom of information (FOIA) request over President Bush's post-9/11 executive orders authorizing electronic surveillance of Americans and others in the United States without first obtaining court approval, as required by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). CAIR says it may file a similar request for documents relating to the radiation monitoring