Uuuuuuuuuh...the muslim community should be striving to earn the trust of law enforcement. Boston.com
NEW YORK - Investigators seeking to uncover terrorist plots for years have walked a fine line between keeping tabs on the Muslim community and alienating the same people who could serve as an early warning signal.[...]
FBI leaders say they have tried to strengthen ties to Muslims through advisory councils, community group meetings, and other contacts. Building such relationships is important because investigators, who often lack language skills and deep understanding of immigrant enclaves, must rely on insiders to help guide them through the maze of cultural issues.
“Your job is to know everything that’s going on in that mosque - everything,’’ said Jack Cloonan, a retired special agent for the FBI who worked in the Afghan community in Queens from the late 1980s until 2002. “What is going on in this community? Do I know what’s going on within the mosque? Do I know who’s coming in? Do I know what’s going on in terms of criminal activity? Who will know this?’’
By all accounts, that type of thinking inspired police last month to approach Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37, a Flushing community leader who had helped agents in the past, and ask him to “find out everything you can’’ about the 24-year-old Zazi - “who he is, where he is, where he’s going,’’ said Afzali’s lawyer, Ronald Kuby. They did not tell Afzali why they were looking for the younger man, Kuby said.
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