This is one of those you can’t win for losing stories. First, we have written extensively about the missing Somali youths who may have joined the terror group al Shabaab and whose parents and the Somali community are demanding that the FBI and other authorities find out what happened to their “kids.”
Even CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations) was demanding answers just last week here. And, don’t forget here is a Somali writer blaming the FBI for not figuring out what was going on in mosques in the US earlier.
Then when the FBI does make a concerted effort to question Somalis, apparently especially those flying in and out of the country, the crybabies start to wail about religious profiling. It makes me want to scream!
From Minneapolis Public Radio:
Ever since news broke a few months ago on the disappearances of young Somali men from the Twin Cities, local Somali residents say federal investigators have been randomly stopping people to ask them questions at malls, college campuses, and the airport. One civil-rights group representing Muslims in the U.S. has compared the questioning to a fishing expedition.
FBI, keep fishing!
… many college students of Somali origin have been stopped in the past two months, including Hassan’s older cousin. Mukhtar Osman said he was stopped in Chicago after flying back from Sweden to visit family friends.
Osman said he personally knows at least 10 others who have encountered similar lines of questioning, and not only while traveling. Agents have been known to interview college students on campus and even knock on the doors of private homes. A number of young people who attend the Abubakar As-Saddique mosque in Minneapolis have also been approached.
Community leaders say many Somalis are eager to provide information — until the interviews begin to sound more like interrogations.
We hear so much about how poor the Somalis (former refugees) are and yet we also keep hearing about them flying in and out of the country. What gives? Someone who knows the Somali community well recently told me that you never know who is coming and who is going, they are always on the move.
Back to the story, so now CAIR (unindicted co-conspirator in terror trial) is in on the act and crying about religious profiling. Give me a break!
The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations has heard directly from 50 to 100 individuals who say they’ve been stopped by federal agents in recent months. The council has begun increasing the number of “Know Your Rights” presentations in the community.
Lori Saroya, who chairs the state chapter, said religious profiling is something that all Muslims have faced since 9/11, but some Somalis are just now beginning to encounter it. Saroya said the FBI’s approach has intimidated some Somalis who have traditionally feared government because of the oppression they knew in their old country.
Saroya, this last is such a crock of you know what! These Somali young people, the college-age students interviewed don’t even remember Somalia, most have been here since they were young children.
CAIR: We want answers but don’t ask any questions and don’t ask Muslims. Geeesh!
Note to the FBI: Check out Nashville too!