Getting the Facts

Getting the facts, straight that is. Reading the story about the Portland man who tried to denoate a truck bomb near a downtown mall at a public event. The man, a Muslim, had expressed anger at America and wanted to killed Americans. This hate speech is not new, it's been with this country it's entire existence. But what's different under the Obama administration is the focus of the FBI on one group of people, Muslims.

This is not new to the FBI. They've historically focused on the most prominent group expressing hate and violence. In the 1960's it was the KKK and the blacks. In the 1980 and 1990's it was the gangs from Central and South America. Of late it's been Mexican cartels. But they've never been more agressive about seizing on the hate and recruiting individual(s) to commit "act of terrorism" than Muslims.

The case in Portland proves a point. If the young man was white, maybe even a christian, would the FBI have engaged in the acts to entrap him into the crime? After all, the FBI used an undercover agent (disguised as a radical Muslim) to communicate with him, then help him, then provide the resources, and then just waited knowing the bomb was a dud and they would catch a "terrorist" in the act.

It makes me wonder where they failed with the Times Square bomber, who was so inept that the bomb failed to denotate and he left the keys to the SUV with the registration in the glove box. If the bomb had detonated, where would the FBI be in identifying and catching him? Probably nowhere at worst and trying to get extradition of him from Yemen at best. He would have succeeded without the FBI's help.

And where were they then?

The FBI, with NSA's help intercepting communications in/out of this country and how they identified him, was able to build a terrorist. They've done this over and over with all the case of under Bush and now Obama. But all of those people were radical Muslims. And where, prey tell, is the FBI with other racial, ethnic or religious groups? We don't hear about those sting or entrapment cases.

Why is that?

Maybe because it's not news of terrorism or about terrorists? And maybe because the FBI only considers everyone who's not a Muslim just another extremist and not a terrorist? But aren't their goals and plans the same? And aren't they often better prepared, have the resources and have the plans? They don't need the FBI to build them into extremists and more so terrorists.

They already are and are just trying to stay under the radar, except they can't and aren't. The FBI already knows all about these groups, like the white racist militias during the 2008 election. They faded from the media because the FBI and Justice Dept. didn't make a big public spectacle of them. Why is that?

Because they don't relate to mainstream America's hate for Muslims over 9/11. Yet we're not mad at Saudi Arabia. After all most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi citizens and the rest from Yemen and other countries, but not Iraq or Afghanistan. But they were radical Muslims.

And so the FBI can use that fear of and hate for them as a media tool to show they're protecting America and Americans. They didn't do the same for the Oklahoma City bomber. Why? Because he was a white devout Catholic? And the FBI wouldn't and didn't want to antagonize Catholics to call them radicals and terrorists? Like the IRA maybe?

You can go through history and find every racial, ethnic and religious groups have had terrorists among them for periods of time. You can even call some actions of governments terrorism when they use overwhelming force against innocent civilians needlessly. Look at what Israel did in southern Lebanon after the kidnapping of two border guards by Hezbolah. Two border guards and Israel used new US-provided cluster bombs on innocent rural populations.

But that's wandering from the point here. We need to stop focusing our anger and hate in response to radical Muslims. And we need to get the FBI to conduct investigations against these people similar to other racial, ethnic or religious groups. Our FBI can't discriminate this way.

They could have simply kept this man under surveillence and then arrested him when he was about to commit a crime. They would have learned more about who else may be involved than just going after him. As it stands, they sent the message how they operate, who they target, and how much anger and hate they have against Muslims.

And now we've learned again they've infiltrated innocent Muslim groups suspecting them of inciting the anger and hate. Like radical Christian leader don't incite anger and hate about President Obama and our government? It's the same words and same intent. But we know the Muslim don't as most Christian leaders don't incite anger or hate.

So why assume all Muslims guilty and then go searching for proof? And if you can't find it, create it.

I have no misperceptions that extremist groups are engaged in acts of terrorism against Americans. But they didn't necessarily start this as many are angry at our government's international and global economic policies and practices. We invaded Iraq for no reason (only lies). We made the creation of Al Qaeda in Iraq possible (they weren't there before).

We help Israel in the suppression and oppression of people in the Gaza and the West Bank. We are allies with Saudi Arabia in most of the most repression governments in the middle East. Our history in the Middle East goes back to post-WW II with the British. We have occupied many of the countries in the Middle East, often supporting dictators (the Shah of Iran and even Saddham Hussein). for decades.

Our actions has caused them to have anger and hate towards us. So we're not necessarily entirely innocent victim here.

In other words they found reasons in our actions when those actions effected their lands and people. That isn't reason, however, for the FBI's actions. There are better and less public ways they could have used than make a public spectacle of a non-event (since they knew the bomb was fake) simply because he was a Muslim.

We need the FBI to be racially, ethnicly and religious neutral about threats to America and Americans and not presuppose one group guilty so far as create extremists and more so terrorist simply for media attention.