re: “Fusion Centers” harassing patriots concerned about Islam

...Blindsided

Arthur was typical in that she was caught off guard by the visit.

“So I called him at the number he gave me and asked ‘what’s this about?’”

Sgt. Workman did not beat around the bush.

“We came by your house and wanted to talk to you.”

“Yes sir, what about?” Arthur asked.

“It’s about that FOIA request you made about the building plans for the mosque,” he told her.

It did not immediately dawn on her that she was actually not the one whose name was on the Freedom of Information Act request.

“I hadn’t filed it, a friend of mine did. Within seconds it occurred to me, but I didn’t want the other lady to be brought into it so I just acknowledged it and said ‘you know I file a lot of FIOAs, I filed one with the Health and Human Resources, with the auditor’s office, with Bureau for Medical Services, and more.”

“Yes, but those FOIAs are within the normal course of things,” said the stern voice on the other end of the phone line.

Why is it that this particular request, for information on a mosque project, was considered abnormal? And who decides what is NORMAL in a search of public-record documents?

She explained that she is an upstanding citizen activist and member ACT For America.

“I explained we are an organization with 750,000 members, we support the Constitution, American liberty, American values, and we fight terrorism and the concepts of Sharia law, which are antithetical to the U.S. Constitution.”

In the course of the 10-minute phone conversation, Arthur did a lot of explaining.

She explained that she was perusing the website of the local mosque when she came across a photo that caught her attention. It was of a man standing in the middle of the mosque speaking to the congregation. That man was Nihad Awad, executive director of Council on American-Islamic Relations or CAIR.

“He’s a terrorist supporter, he finances terror, and is part of a terrorist-tied organization,” Arthur told the sergeant.

That prompted Sgt. Workman to hint at the real reason for his inquiry.

“Well, we have a good relationship with that mosque and when he came here they notified us he was coming,” he told Arthur.

That sparked something in Arthur’s memory.

When she and a friend had gone to city hall on Jan. 31 to inspect the documents, the city manager and another city official stood over their shoulders the entire time. They made a point of telling the two women, “We have a good relationship with the mosque.”

Who’s the snitch?

The West Virginia Fusion Center’s website encourages Americans to report “suspicious activity” by filing a SAR or Suspicious Activity Report on a fellow resident.

A SAR is defined as “the sharing of information concerning activity, incident, or behavior that the reporting individual considers to be outside of normal parameters,” the website states.

Inquiring about a mosque was not NORMAL activity. Arthur had been flagged for suspicious activity, probably by a city official who has a good relationship with the mosque, or someone at the mosque itself.

In West Virginia, the fusion center operates under the supervision of the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety [DMAPS].

I called DMAPS Tuesday and asked what could possibly be suspicious about a 66-year-old insurance broker with no criminal record going to city hall and inspecting public-record documents.

Lawrence Messina, director of communications for West Virginia DMAPS, said he would ask that question of his superiors and get back with me.

He sent the following email at 2:09 p.m. on March 13:

“I have consulted with my colleagues here at the Office of the Secretary as well as with the W.Va. Intelligence Fusion Center and the W.Va. State Police (the latter is also part of this department). We decline to comment on this matter.”

Arthur, as a Jewish American, has every reason to be concerned that an anti-Semite like Awad would be invited to speak in her community. He is a supporter of Hamas, which is on the U.S. State Department’s list of designated foreign terrorist organizations, and he rejects the right of Israel to exist. [See Discover the Networks for documentation of Awad’s long history of radical statements, activities and affiliations.]…."