surveillance of political, religious or activist figures solely because
they disagree with public policies or criticize the government” ….Three of the five American Muslims marked for surveillance are of Pakistan origin, community sources told Dawn.
Two
of the three – Asim Ghafoor, (Asok-mon informs that Asim is Indian origin, thanks Asok) Faisal Gill – are lawyers while the third,
Agha Saeed, heads a Muslim think-tank.
……
The Intercept said it identified at least five persons, all American citizens, based on their email addresses. These include Indian-origin attorney Asim Ghafoor, who has represented clients in terrorism-related cases.” I believe that they tapped me because my name is Asim Abdur Rahman
Ghafoor, my parents are from India, I traveled to Saudi Arabia as a
young man, and I do the pilgrimage,” Ghafoor was quoted as saying by The Intercept.
….
It is likely that these community leaders would be well known in the Brown world. It is unlikely that the surveillance stops with just these activists. Please take care.
…
How do they know if someone is an islamist radical? They do not. The assumption is that if you are a muslim you are guilty until proven innocent. So they watch and wait….
This would normally be bad enough but it gets to be more sinister than that. They will purposefully introduce some radical element who will faithfully attend mosque sessions and make blood-curdling speeches. Some innocent boys (mostly) will be trapped and the sheeple will rest happy knowing that the authorities have taken so much trouble to nip the trouble-makers in the bud.
Of course there are as always romantic, hot-headed youth who are converging upon the Caliphate (as we speak) to fight the thousand year old war(s). And when they return home they are so imbued with propaganda that they would target Jewish fellow citizens.
In the meantime, Jews in Israel, Hindus in India, Buddhists in Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand and Christians in the Philippines are killing Muslim fellow citizens (to the extreme point of de-recognizing muslims as citizens).
That leaves the Sikhs (and to a lesser extent Hindus and other browns) settled in the home of lunatics with bazookas. Some low-wattage person will always manage to find his way to a Gurudwara and shoot people down (because from a distance they look like muslims).
In summary, muslims are kiling muslims for being the wrong type of muslims. They are also killing non-muslims. Non-muslims are killing all types of people (but mostly muslims) fearing that muslims will take over the world.
Of course there are hundreds of valid reasons and thousands of invalid excuses for all of this. But please do not tell insult our intelligence by claiming that religion has nothing to do with all of this (the recent left-liberal world view).
……..
monitored the emails of prominent Muslim-American activists, academics
and a political candidate, according to a report co-authored by journalist Glenn Greenwald.
The report appearing in the online news site the Intercept said the
surveillance was authorised by a secret intelligence court under
procedures intended to locate spies and terrorist suspects.
…
The report, citing documents in an NSA spreadsheet leaked by former
contractor Edward Snowden, showed the emails of the individuals, but not
their names.
The Intercept said it identified at least five persons, all American citizens, based on their email addresses.
….
They were Faisal Gill, a longtime Republican Party operative and
one-time candidate for public office; Asim Ghafoor, an attorney who has
represented clients in terrorism-related cases; Hooshang Amirahmadi,
an Iranian-American professor at Rutgers University; Agha Saeed, a civil
liberties activist and former professor at California State University;
and Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations.
….
According to the report by Greenwald and Murtaza Hussain, the
spreadsheet shows 7,485 email addresses listed as monitored between 2002
and 2008.
…
Many of the emails appeared to belong to foreigners suspected of being
linked to Al-Qaeda, including Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni-American
cleric killed in a 2011 drone strike.
…
But the journalists’ investigation also found a number of US citizens
monitored in this manner, which requires an order from the secret
intelligence court based on evidence linking them to espionage or
terrorist activities.
…
US officials, responding to the report, said communications are only
monitored with a “legitimate foreign intelligence or counterintelligence
purpose.”
…
“It is entirely false that US intelligence agencies conduct electronic
surveillance of political, religious or activist figures solely because
they disagree with public policies or criticise the government, or for
exercising constitutional rights,” said a joint statement from the
Justice Department and office of the Director of National Intelligence.
….
“Unlike some other nations, the United States does not monitor anyone’s
communications in order to suppress criticism or to put people at a
disadvantage based on their ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation
or religion.”
….
The statement added that a court order for any surveillance of this kind
requires “probable cause, based on specific facts,” which indicate that
the person “is an agent of a foreign power, a terrorist, a spy, or
someone who takes orders from a foreign power.
…
Both the Department of Justice and Director of National Intelligence
immediately denied that they conducted electronic surveillance of
political, religious or activist figures solely because they disagree
with public policies or criticize the government, or for exercising
constitutional rights.
….
“It’s entirely false that US intelligence agencies conduct electronic
surveillance of political, religious or activist figures solely because
they disagree with public policies or criticize the government, or for
exercising constitutional rights,” the Office of the Director of
National Intelligence and the Department of Justice said in a joint
statement.
…
Unlike some other nations, the US does not monitor anyone’s
communications in order to suppress criticism or to put people at a
disadvantage based on their ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation
or religion, the statement said.
….
“Our intelligence agencies help protect America by collecting
communications when they have a legitimate foreign intelligence or
counterintelligence purpose. With limited exceptions (for example, in an
emergency), our intelligence agencies must have a court order from the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to target any US citizen or
lawful permanent resident for electronic surveillance,” it said.
….
“These court orders are issued by an independent federal judge only if
probable cause, based on specific facts, are established that the person
is an agent of a foreign power, a terrorist, a spy, or someone who
takes orders from a foreign power,” it said.
….
“No US person can be the subject of surveillance based solely on First
Amendment activities, such as staging public rallies, organizing
campaigns, writing critical essays, or expressing personal beliefs. On
the other hand, a person who the court finds is an agent of a foreign
power under this rigorous standard is not exempted just because of his
or her occupation,” the statement added.
……
Link: http://www.outlookindia.com/news/printitem.aspx?848980
…..
regards