[Al Jazeera] An FBI informant who attempted to infiltrate an Islamic community centre in the quiet Caliphornian town of Irvine scared Mohammedan worshippers so much with his talk of violent jihad that they took out order against him, the Washington Post reported.
| Good for them. That's what we want -- American Muslims protecting the society they joined by rejecting old-world jihadi viciousness. |
The FBI claims its use of such informants has prevented more attacks since the attacks of September 11, 2001.
| That is, indeed, what the Washington Post has reported over the years. |
Yet its officials have said that they do not target Mohammedans - an argument that has long been taken with a dose of scepticism by some commentators.
The latest case follows revelations that a man who tried to bomb a Christmas ceremony in Portland, Oregon, did so not only whilst under FBI surveillance, but had been provided with fake explosives by its undercover agents.
Making matters worse for the agency, Craig Monteilh, the convicted fraudster whom the FBI sent into the mosque to spy on its members, has gone public and is suing the investigative agency.
The two cases are reviving criticisms over the government agency's apparent surveillance of Mohammedans in the US.
Southern Caliphornian Mohammedan community leaders have expressed outrage over the FBI's methods, saying it undermines any efforts to build trust.
"The community feels betrayed," Shakeel Syed, the executive director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern Caliphornia, told the Post.
"They got a guy, a bona fide criminal, and obviously trained him and sent him to infiltrate mosques," Syed was quoted as saying. "And when things went sour, they ditched him and he got mad. It's like a soap opera, for God's sake."
| But you are well out of it, Mr. Syed, because your congregation openly rejected the man's attempted seduction to evil. You should be proud of yourselves for what you have demonstrated to your neighbors, your country, and the world. |
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