Despite Donald Trump’s Claims, American Muslims Repeatedly Report Extremist Threats, Officials Say

[homersapien 11,812]

(Reuters) - Muslim-Americans have repeatedly informed authorities of fellow Muslims they fear might be turning to extremism, law enforcement officials say, contrary to a claim by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump this week.

“They don’t report them,” Trump said in a CNN interview on Monday, in the wake of the mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub of 49 people by an American Muslim who claimed allegiance to Islamic State. “For some reason, the Muslim community does not report people like this.”

But FBI director James Comey said, “They do not want people committing violence, either in their community or in the name of their faith, and so some of our most productive relationships are with people who see things and tell us things who happen to be Muslim.

“It’s at the heart of the FBI’s effectiveness to have good relationships with these folks,” Comey said at a press conference following the Orlando shootings.

Andrew Ames, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Washington field office, told Reuters on Wednesday that the agency has a “robust” relationship with the local Muslim community. FBI agents operating in the area have received reports about suspicious activity and other issues from community members.

Michael Downing, deputy chief of the Los Angeles Police Department and head of its Counterterrorism and Special Operations Bureau, said the city’s Muslim community has been cooperative in reporting “red flags.”

“I personally have been called by community members about several things, very significant things,” Downing told Reuters. “What we say to communities is that we don’t want you to profile humans, we want you to profile behavior.”

Charles Kurzman, a professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who has conducted several studies on Muslim-Americans and terrorism, disputed Trump’s criticism.

“To claim there is no cooperation is false and defamatory to the Muslim-American community,“ Kurzman said.

Read the rest of the article at http://www.huffingto...60edfd?section=

[quietfan 233]

Seems like simple common sense to me (the informers, not Trump!) in addition to respect for civic duty:

Every time a terrorist commits an insane act in the name of his psychotic interpretation of Islam, totally innocent Muslims of unassailable morality become targets of hate and violent threats. If I was subjected to curses, hate, and threats every time a crazy white man committed an insane act of violence, I'd damn sure be reporting any such threats. ...And not just because it's the right thing to do, but also to nip them in the bud before the sh*t hit the fan and splashed back on me!

[AuburnNTexas 7,246]

(Reuters) - Muslim-Americans have repeatedly informed authorities of fellow Muslims they fear might be turning to extremism, law enforcement officials say, contrary to a claim by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump this week.

“They don’t report them,” Trump said in a CNN interview on Monday, in the wake of the mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub of 49 people by an American Muslim who claimed allegiance to Islamic State. “For some reason, the Muslim community does not report people like this.”

But FBI director James Comey said, “They do not want people committing violence, either in their community or in the name of their faith, and so some of our most productive relationships are with people who see things and tell us things who happen to be Muslim.

“It’s at the heart of the FBI’s effectiveness to have good relationships with these folks,” Comey said at a press conference following the Orlando shootings.

Andrew Ames, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Washington field office, told Reuters on Wednesday that the agency has a “robust” relationship with the local Muslim community. FBI agents operating in the area have received reports about suspicious activity and other issues from community members.

Michael Downing, deputy chief of the Los Angeles Police Department and head of its Counterterrorism and Special Operations Bureau, said the city’s Muslim community has been cooperative in reporting “red flags.”

“I personally have been called by community members about several things, very significant things,” Downing told Reuters. “What we say to communities is that we don’t want you to profile humans, we want you to profile behavior.”

Charles Kurzman, a professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, who has conducted several studies on Muslim-Americans and terrorism, disputed Trump’s criticism.

“To claim there is no cooperation is false and defamatory to the Muslim-American community,“ Kurzman said.

Read the rest of the article at http://www.huffingto...60edfd?section=

Homer this is one we agree on. I have very good friends who are Muslim's they are good people and good American's. The term Radical Islamist is talking about a small percent of Muslim's at least in this country and in most European countries in some countries the percentage is higher. So when Donald Trump makes statements that lump the majority of Muslims with the Radical Islamist's he is wrong.

The problem is he is right about one thing when we vet somebody to come to the US one of the key pieces of the vetting is a criminal background check from the country of origin.. This requires a reliable viable police Department and Government to do this. In many of these war torn countries like Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc. we can't trust the validity of the documents which means there is a much higher risk of a Jihadist or a common criminal being allowed into our country.

This is a legitimate concern which does mean we need to have a tougher vetting process for people coming from these countries. Even with a tougher vetting process since you don't always have reliable documentation from country of origin how can you satisfy the humanitarian need of the people fleeing these countries versus the safety needs of your own country.

You add that to the fact that people doing the vetting here allow somebody like Mateen (despite the fact he is a US citizen) to be taken off a watch list despite repeated activities including two trips to Saudia Arabia numerous complaints from fellow employees and I can understand the fear of allowing people from this region to come to our country.With both recent incidents in Orlando and San Bernardino when checking after the fact we are finding numerous red flags that we missed and that is with people living in this country that we had accurate police records and incidents to review.

How much tougher is it to vet somebody when we can't always trust the records from the other country.

It is an issue. I won't go as far as Donald Trump saying no Muslim's should be allowed as that goes against everything this country has been based upon historically but I will say that we need to improve the vetting process. I will defend Donald on one thing he did not call for a ban on Muslim's coming to this country he actually called for a temporary ban until the vetting process is improved. The problem with Donald's statement is that realistically we will never be able to improve the vetting process enough with these countries so it would become a permanent ban and that is wrong.

Whether you are on the left or right I think the vetting issue is a legitimate issue and I will tell you now that I personally don't know how to resolve it.

Trump is wrong putting all Muslim's in same class as Islamic Militants, Trump is wrong about stopping all Muslim's from coming to the US, Trump is right we have to improve the vetting process. At some point we have to say we have improved the process as much as we can and then we have to accept some people knowing there is a higher risk.

Maybe solution is if we feel we need to allow people from these countries in we give priorities to Christians, Yazidis, Druze, etc. the ones ISIS is trying to wipe out. Also any that helped US forces when we were in these countries regardless of religion. Not an ideal solution but like I said earlier I don't have a perfect solution..