Holder, Democrats blast NYPD's spying on Muslims in New Jersey

by: jim kouri | published: 03 12, 2012

This week, Attorney General Eric Holder told U.S. senators that he was disturbed by what he's read about the New York Police Department conducting undercover and surveillance operations targeting mosques and Islamic student organizations in New Jersey.

Holder was testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee when New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg, a Democrat, asked about the NYPD spying operation in New Jersey.

While most of the operations were conducted within New York, NYPD officials admitted some of the operations led them outside of New York State and into New Jersey, which angered politicians such as Lautenberg, and received condemnation from the FBI, which claimed "the surveillance damaged relations with Muslims and weakened national security."

When Sen. Lautenberg asked how a New York City police agency could spy on other states' residents without any interstate-interagency input, Holder said, "I don't know. We are in the process of reviewing the letters that have come in expressing concerns about those matters."

"At least what I've read publicly, and again, just what I've read in the newspapers, is disturbing," Holder said. "And these are things that are under review at the Justice Department."

Three dozen Democrat members of Congress have asked for a full Justice Department investigation.

"I can't read their minds or look into their hearts, but based on their actions it seems to me the Democrats will always jump at the chance to investigate cops or intelligence agents or military personnel, but are lax when it comes to investigating the enemies of the U.S. or the criminals," said former police detective Mike Snopes, who served in the NYPD Intelligence Division.

"Holder, Lautenberg and others are disturbed with the [NYPD] because the department didn't allow political correctness to get in the way of protecting New Yorkers," Snopes said.

"And as far as New Jersey, let's remember that members of a Jersey City mosque were involved in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center," Snopes added.

Last Monday, as reported in The Examiner, Rep. Peter King (R-NY), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, joined a group of American Muslim leaders to show their support for the New York Police Department’s highly successful counterterrorism efforts, a NYC police officer told the Law Enforcement Examiner.

According to Detective Iris Aquino, press conference was organized by the American Islamic Leadership Coalition (AILC) at the NYPD's headquarters at 1 Police Plaza in lower Manhattan.

"The news media and commentators have been unfair and unreasonable in their criticism of the NYPD following a series of news reports regarding surveillance and intelligence gathering operations," Det. Aquino told the Law Enforcement Examiner.

"The press conference by a diverse, broad-based group of American Muslim leaders who have come together to address recent criticism of the counterterrorism programs of the NYPD [is important at this time]," said Rep. King said during the Monday press conference.

"The public discourse concerning Muslims and NYPD has been dominated by a perception that American Muslims feel targeted. This press conference gives voice to a large coalition of American Muslims who feel otherwise and reject Islamist representation of their voices," stated King.

"A campaign of vilification waged by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its allies against the NYPD has reached new heights over the past six weeks, with no less than eight separate stories having appeared in the New York Times from January 24 – February 15, 2012, including an editorial from its editorial board and a page one feature, which concern the screening of a film entitled The Third Jihad to some 1,400 NYPD officers while they waited for a training program," said the American Islamic Leadership Coalition in a press statement.

While Rep. King and members of his committee withstood name calling and accusations of racism and intolerance, his hearings proved to be "right on the money," former intelligence officer and police detective Mike Snopes, who served in the NYPD's Intelligence Division, said during a phone conversation with the Law Enforcement Examiner.

"It's like the old adage: if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck you've got yourself a duck," Snopes quipped.

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR routinely attacks anyone who questions the motives or actions of Muslims in the United States, according to several law enforcement sources. They have been demanding an investigation by the Obama Justice Department, according to Steve Emerson, director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

According to a report from the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security: "The Council on American-Islamic Relations and its employees have combined, conspired, and agreed with third parties, including, but not limited to, the Islamic Association for Palestine, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, the Global Relief Foundation, and foreign nationals hostile to the interests of the United States, to provide material support to known terrorist organizations, to advance the Hamas agenda, and to propagate radical Islam."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, and certain of its officers, directors, and employees, have acted in support of, and in furtherance of, this conspiracy, said the Senate report. "I suggest that rather than harassing good cops, Holder investigate CAIR and its current operations. And stop the politically correct dogma that's poisoning our country," said Det. Snopes.

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