The U.S. Muslim Brotherhood continues to reaction to a North Central Texas Fusion System bulletin that identified CAIR as a supporter of Middle Eastern terror groups. This time a leader of the Muslim American Society (MAS) has said that the centers are a threat to civil liberties. According to an interview with Mahdi Bray carried on Islam Online:
Imam Mahdi Bray, Executive Director of the Muslim American Society Freedom (MASF), agrees that the secrecy under which these centers operate poses a threat to civil liberties. “Many Americans, including public officials, are not aware of these centers and the threat they pose on American society,” he told IOL. “Ironically, it might also be noted that even the Department of Homeland Security is recognizing that fusion centers represent a major problem.” Muslims rights groups complain that fusion centers are particularly eyeing their community, estimated at nearly seven million. “Contrary to its original ‘intent’ of gathering information related primarily to gangs, criminals, terrorists, it is now abundantly clear that the real targets of the DHS fusion center network are members of the American Muslim community at-large,” said Bray .Muslims have become sensitized to an erosion of their civil rights since 9/11, with a prevailing belief that Bush’s America was targeting their faith. “Fusion centers collect information particularly about Muslims, generally from… Islamophobes, neo-cons and self-appointed right-wing terrorist experts,” said Bray. He regretted the data collected suggests that even activities such as Muslim boys’ scouts, girls’ scouts troops or voting registration should be viewed with suspicion. Bray added that they also propagate stereotypes about mainstream US Muslim organizations, accusing them of disloyalty, being a “5th column”, or a front for radical groups abroad. “A clear example of the danger that fusion centers represent would be the information pertaining to mainstream organizations in Virginia. They’ve taken a youth organization like the Muslim Student Association and accused it of being a front for radical Islamic organizations,” he explained. “This is ridiculous, and would even be hilarious, if it wasn’t for the fact that such inaccurate information gets filtered down to local law enforcement where it gains credibility because it came from a national government agency,” lamented Bray.”These centers are dangerous and detrimental to the civil liberties of not only Muslims but all Americans.”
As documented by a recent Hudson Institute report, the MAS is was was created with the support of the leader of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in order to meet a series of challenges face by the U.S. Brotherhood at that time and to fill a “vacuum” in the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). The MAS, along with all other parts of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood have generally opposed every aspect of U.S. counter-terrorism strategy.
An earlier post discussed the reaction to the same bulletin by the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR), another part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood.