Mosque Surveillance

 This article is a really interesting piece about FBI's surveillance on Mosque's. It talks about how having surveillance on Mosque's is a must and that they should have taken threats that were made prior to 9-11 more seriously. It is mentioned that there has been a suit filed against the FBI for religious discrimination based on them being Muslim but this article argues that we are being far too lack. Prior to 9-11 there were threats being made and because targeting and focusing on this group would be politically insensitive, the government did not want to dwell on this subject. The main stateside contact for Obama Bin Ladin traveled freely around the United States denouncing the country and promoting hate and to take action. Following this, the World Trade Center incident happened and our government started taking threats more seriously. This article ends with the main point which is that even if the inside man in one operation messes up, our government should not go back to the way it was before 9-11. We should still take threats from Mosque's seriously and must protect ourselves. "The FBI may have bungled in southern California by placing their trust in a man wholly unsuited for the task to which he was assigned. But it would be a grave mistake to return to the days when the default position was to stay away from mosques and allow the domestic terrorist networks that had used them to fully reconstitute. The First Amendment is not a suicide pact."

I think this article was very interesting and brought to light how the government was very lax with threats being made against our government and country because it was politically sensitive. I did not know that we basically turned a blind eye and because of it, 9-11 happened. If we had brought action upon groups that have provided sufficient reasons to watch them and arrest them if needed then it is highly possible that 9-11 would not have happened. At the same time though, I understand how it is infringing upon their first amendment right. What has to be clear is that if there is sufficient evidence then the government must take action.  We cannot make the same mistake that we did in the past. I think I would have to agree with what has mostly been said about this incident from the article. I agree that this specific focus is very sensitive but as long as there is SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE then we must do what we have to do to protect our government, our people, and our country.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/feb/24/mosque-surveillance-a-must/