The National Lawyers Guild–last seen in Clockwork four hours ago in relation to a debate it is hosting at Chapman University concerning visiting professor John Yoo signing off on torture while advising the Bush White House–is doing some signing off of its own. It's joined the 44 groups that have signed a statement blasting the FBI for recent incidents involving the use of informants and spying on Islamic mosques.
The issue came to a head in February following the high-profile, self-outing of such an informant who admitted spying on the Islamic Center of Irvine. That case, other spying reports and the rocky relations between the FBI and the Muslim American advocacy group the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) prompted a coalition known as the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT) to issue a statement in March saying that it is considering suspending outreach relations with the FBI. That, in turn, caused Members of Congress to grill FBI Director Robert Mueller about the bureau's use of informants and soured relations with American Muslims.
Besides the National Lawyers Guild, the new signatories include: the Colorado Muslim Council, the Muslim Consultative Network and the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California (ISCSC), which represents dozens of Southern California mosques and Muslim organizations. “Trust is a cornerstone of human society and is the basis of all relationships,” said Muzammil Siddiqi, ISCSC chairman. “I urge President Obama to preserve it for the good of America and all people.”
Besides the 44 organizations that have signed the statement to date, many community activists and scholars have endorsed it as well. You can also by filling out the online form here.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.