LA Times Article on FBI reassuring local Muslim community following comments of Rose

Submitted by MarcH (United States), Jun 18, 2006 at 10:19

Per my earlier comment, here's a link to an LA Times article where Steven Tidwell, the chief of the LA FBI "reassures" the Muslim community concerning Rose's comments along with excerpts from the article presenting Tidwell's comments.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-muslim7jun07,0,6028236.story?coll=la-home-local

From the Los Angeles Times

An FBI official tried this week to convince a skeptical audience that Muslim students are not under routine surveillance as agents pursued tips in the fight against terrorism.

The Monday night meeting at the Islamic Center of Irvine was an attempt by the FBI to quell criticism that erupted last month after agent Pat Rose was quoted as saying that the FBI was monitoring groups at UC Irvine and USC.

J. Stephen Tidwell, FBI assistant director in Los Angeles, denied that monitoring was taking place. He told the audience that "we still play by the rules."

...

As he did several times during the evening, Tidwell tried to turn the focus away from the alleged monitoring, saying that the FBI had issued a denial May 26, the day after the column appeared. "We are well past that," he said and urged the audience to work toward a better relationship with the FBI

...

Tidwell didn't say that Rose was misquoted and acknowledged that the agent's comments could have given the impression that Muslim groups were being monitored.

"From a certain viewpoint, it could be implied that she said that," Tidwell said. "[But] we are not monitoring the colleges mentioned in the article."

...

Tidwell also downplayed Rose's comments that terrorism suspects lived in Orange County. "There is no current [terrorist] threat to Southern California," Tidwell said. "But we assume they're trying to get here to carry out a threat or they're already here."

Afterward, Tidwell said that the audience's skepticism was understandable. "This is going to be a work in progress to develop trust with each other. It's something that we have to continually work on to smooth out any bumps that happen along the way," he said.

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