Friday, Oct. 1, 2004 | 10:54 a.m.
FBI agents plan to begin interviewing members of the local Muslim community Monday in an attempt to gather information about possible terrorist attacks linked to November's election.
Muslims reacted with skepticism to the plan.
Contacted at the Jamia Masjid mosque, where part of a three-day conference on the Quran will be held this weekend, Aslam Abdullah, director of the Islamic Society of Las Vegas, quipped, "Why doesn't the FBI just come to the conference? That way they can round us all up at once."
Law enforcement officials downplayed the issue.
Special Agent David Schrom, a spokesman for the Las Vegas FBI office, said the agency was "not going out to harass people. We're just trying to fill in any intelligence gaps we may have."
The initiative, part of a nationwide effort called "2004 Threat," is in response to intelligence gathered earlier this year indicating that al-Qaida may want to strike this fall, Schrom said.
"We know that al-Qaida would love to attack us (the United States) before the election," Schrom said. "They saw what happened with the attacks in Madrid and would like to see the same type of disturbance created in the United States."
Clark County Sheriff Bill Young said Wednesday there is no evidence of a credible threat to Las Vegas, but he anticipates a shift in terror alert from yellow to the higher orange level as the Nov. 2 election and the New Year's and Christmas holidays approach.
Adjutant Gen. Giles Vanderhoof, commander of the Nevada National Guard and the state's homeland security adviser, said state security agencies were in a "heightened state" in preparation for the upcoming presidential election.
Both national and local Muslims leaders said they would cooperate with FBI agents, but were growing tired of what one called feeling "like pawns in a political game."
Khalid Khan, president of the Islamic Society of Las Vegas, said the local Muslim community, estimated at 10,000, has grown somewhat skeptical of the sorts of interviews the FBI has announced on several occasions since the Sept. 11 attacks.
The society is hosting the Quran conference this weekend with the Department of Asian Studies of UNLV, an event organizers said would draw at least 250 people from across the country, as well as speakers from Canadian and U.S. universities.
"We keep thinking that this is more politics than real issues," Khan said. "We really don't think the Bush administration is doing anything about terrorism -- he's just diverting American people's attention from real issues."
All of the local FBI offices in the country will be operating command posts and interviewing Muslims and Arab-Americans.
The federal agency conducted similar interviews last year prior to the New Year's celebrations in cities around the country, including Las Vegas.
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, wondered what the FBI hoped to achieve with such interviews.
"You have to wonder, who are they going to talk to that they haven't already? What is the purpose other than sending a chill through the community?" he said.
The FBI's initiative starts Monday, the same day as a national group announces it will be releasing the results of a survey measuring "the American public's level of hostility to Islam and Muslims."
Schrom said in addition to gathering information, the interviews will give the FBI "a chance for us to remind people that civil rights abuse is something that the FBI investigates and that if it is occurring it needs to be reported."
The federal agency will not be taking people into custody to be interviewed and people will not be forced to talk to agents, Schrom said.
"We saw great cooperation when we did this last year," Schrom said. "Everybody wanted to help."
Khan said Thursday he had already been called and arranged to meet with an agent Tuesday.
"One of the FBI officers said to me, 'We would like to have communication with the Muslim community.' I thought, 'You can start by communicating with me.' "
Larry Mefford, the FBI's former assistant director of counterterrorism and counterintelligence, said the initiative was part of a stepped-up effort to improve relations with the Muslim community that were at times strained after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Mefford, who retired from the FBI in late 2003 and now runs global security operations for Wynn Resorts, said he empathized with complaints from the Muslim community immediately after Sept. 11 and that the FBI was working to build trust with leaders of the religious group. "I understand the environment that makes them think they're singled out," he said. "Of course I don't see anything threatening about it but someone's who's not used to the FBI may be nervous. I've developed a greater appreciation for their anxiety."
Meanwhile, on Monday the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations will release results from its random survey of 1,000 people nationwide that asked questions such as, "When you hear the word 'Muslim,' what is the first thought that comes to your mind?"
The group's board chairman, Omar Ahmad, said the results will show that, "unfortunately, a significant number of Americans seem to accept and internalize anti-Muslim stereotypes."
"This is a problem that needs to be addressed by all those who care about our nation's long-standing traditions of tolerance and religious diversity."
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