Attorney General Denies 'Entrapment' Of Oregon Muslim Suspect

Adelle M. Banks
Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS) Attorney General Eric Holder defended the FBI's recent undercover investigation of an Oregon Muslim terror suspect, saying Friday (Dec. 10) that critics who think it was "entrapment" are wrong.

"Those who characterize the FBI's activities in this case as 'entrapment' simply do not have their facts straight -- or do not have a full understanding of the law," Holder said at the annual dinner of Muslim Advocates, a San Francisco-based civil liberties group.

Holder was referring to the Nov. 26 arrest of Mohamed Osman Mohamud, who is charged with plotting to blow up a van full of explosives outside a crowded Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in Portland.

"I make no apologies for how the FBI agents handled their work in executing the operation that led to Mr. Mohamud's arrest," he said. "Their efforts helped to identify a person who repeatedly expressed his desire and intention to kill innocent Americans."

He said the affidavit in Mohamud's case alleges that the suspect chose the location he was targeting months ahead of time and refused to change his plans even when reminded children would be among a large crowd that could be harmed.

Holder said he hears from Muslims that they think there is an "us versus them" mentality in law enforcement.

"That is unacceptable," he said, adding that cooperation with Muslim and Arab-American communities is "absolutely essential" in preventing threats of terrorism.

In a separate but related development, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund announced Friday it had received a Nov. 15 letter from the FBI apologizing for remarks made by FBI Director Robert Mueller that were reported by The Washington Times and appeared to link Sikhs and terrorism.

At an October conference, Mueller had said American Sikhs, along with Arab-Americans and Muslims, might be among individuals investigated for possibly supporting terrorism.

"I would like to apologize for, and clarify, any misunderstanding that the account in this newspaper story may have caused," wrote FBI spokesman Michael Kortan. "I can assure you it was not meant to single out any specific community, including Sikh-Americans."

Comments

[Old Claudius]

10:37 PM on 12/20/2010

Attorney General. Holder asserts that persons who see the FBI's actions of aiding, abetting, grooming and facilitating, but not discouraging, a teenage youth inclining to play terrorist to have been entrapment "do not have a full understanding of the law,"

It is Attorney General Holder, along with too many others responsible for law enforcement in the United States today, who "do not have a full understanding of the law,"

They have neglected to learn the relationship of law and law enforcement to a Free Society.

They have been incompletely educated by incompetent instructors in law-schools and narrow-focused "law-enforcement" training programs, who fail to teach the purpose of law in free societies, and of law enforcement's educational responsibilities in those.

This is Illustrated when today's enforcement hierarchy is confronted with its failing in this regard: It answers that education is not a law enforcement responsibility.

For this law enforcement fails to recognize that every act of law enforcement educates. Every abuse educates. Every misuse of process educates. Every improper imposition educates. Every disregard of rights, every overstep, educates. And the lessons learned irritate in the social conscience.

In a Free Society the fundamental purpose of law and law enforcement is to teach the purposes, the reasons the society regulates itself, and the importance of the society-members participating in the regulation by upholding conforming their conduct to the common regulations.

The FBI, in its enthusiasm to create an act of terrorism tableaux, failed to even attempt that teaching.

[shylove2]

08:19 PM on 12/17/2010

Beware of anyone trying to sell you traps...

[babybecks]

07:07 PM on 12/14/2010

"simply do not have their facts straight"

The government rarely gives us all the facts Mr. Holder. That's the case here as well..
If you repeatedly find you have to defend yourself against accusations of entrapment, it may be time to look at the way you handle business.

[Musa1]

02:20 AM on 12/15/2010

http://www.portlandcopwatch.org/PPR34/PJTTF34.html

There are many such cases which support your viewpoint.

[Schweik]

11:49 AM on 12/15/2010

Musa1 has been cut-and-pasting on all threads with this one instance of MISTAKEN FINGERPRINT ID and presenting it as "many such cases."

Why then are you too indolent present some of these "many cases?"

[HuffPostSteveKoch]

03:38 PM on 12/14/2010

It is entrapment. It is the definition of entrapment. And, after reading the comments to this article, the FBI and Justice Department now know that most Americans approve of this. So how far will it go? Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands? Only a fool would not recognize that these actions are a major step toward a police state. And the more they do what they're doing, the more 'angry stooges' they'll have to' setup'. Job security for the fear and hate mongers? How many more 'agents' will they hire to expand these 'setup' operations? Thousands? Tens of thousands? Millions?

Aaah the irony, to think that this majority of Americans, in favor of 'security-at-all-costs', are the same Americans that are so against 'government control'. They bitch about 'big government' but they'll argue that hiring millions of security thugs is a necessary requirement. I'll bet they all think our wonderful 'security' agents, who put themselves in 'harms way', deserve to be payed handsomely... $200K? $500K? More? Sure these guys are our best, just like the wall street thugs and corporate executive thugs.

[Schweik]

11:57 AM on 12/15/2010

H"how far will it go? Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands?"

If you replace "JIhadists" with "child mole-sters" suddenly the entire sand castle built by SteceKoch collapses into a confused pile.
The fact is that people like SteveKoch display marked preference and sympathy towards these Solders of Allah.
Oh, but since it's on basis of liberalism than it is OK, eh pal.
You're wrong.

P.S.Notice how carefully SteveKoch avoids any mention of the JIhadist or the terract he was so excited to carry out.
If someone unfamiliar with this subject would read he would be justified to think this is about government suppression of freedom of speech.

[Manny Peddy]

12:01 PM on 12/15/2010

Steve Koch, I hope you realize what happened to leftists like yourself when the Iranian Revolution happened and the jihadists and islamists took over. All the leftists and progressives and liberals and socialists etc were surprised when they were imprisoned, and many were executed.

Don't be a dupe. Wake up.

[HuffPostSteveKoch]

01:50 PM on 12/15/2010

Are you threatening me? Trying to scare me? Of course you are... that is exactly what your objective is. What is your motive... that is difficult for me to understand.... but I'm working on it.

HP... if his/her threatening comment stands then don't block this... thank you.

[Schweik]

02:52 PM on 12/14/2010

Works extremely well with pedo philes, Jihadists and other s cu m

[Musa1]

02:00 AM on 12/15/2010

There are several cases of the FBI accusing, attempting to railroad, and frame the wrong Muslim, including Brandon Mayfield, the converted Muslim lawyer wrongly accused of terrorism.

http://www.portlandcopwatch.org/PPR34/PJTTF34.html

[Schweik]

03:20 AM on 12/15/2010

Among hundreds of "right" Muslim Jihadists who are justly accused accused tried and incarcerated.
Surely even keyboard JIhadist like yourself would admit this undeniable fact?

[Dunkleberger Karl]

01:52 PM on 12/14/2010

not one member of the Bush Junta prossicuted, as they brag on line, on tels

[nancytheragingliberal]

02:22 PM on 12/14/2010

DK, Yes, and don't forget Condi with her Ferrangano shoes by the boatload, Cheney with his multi millions from his Halliburton stock from his phony war for oil, W. and the rest of the vampires, ghouls and vampires, warmongers, liars and cheats. I am still wondering where my 10 billion that went missing in Iraq is. Where is my money and where is my investigation? Oh wait, those kinds of things are just for the "Little People". Holder is unimpressive and a total disappointment. I thought he was going to do great things, but, he is barely in the news.

[Dunkleberger Karl]

04:38 PM on 12/14/2010

My computer was letting me type 8 letters every minute, fixin was not an option

[Tlaltecuhtli02]

01:24 PM on 12/14/2010

Things that make you go Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

Rather than discuss why M,uslims, after a decade of infamy, are still inspired by visions of violence and ter,rorism, the leftist attempts to DEFLECT and DISTRACT with charges of entrapment.

In fact that very discussion that needs to take place is restricted and denied by charges of Islamophobia, with comments that attempt that discussion being deleted. It is NOT acceptable within leftist circles to criticize Islamic culture, especially not its violent expressions as Islamism, or radical political Islam.

And yet, check out the Israel-related blogs and see that they are daily full of comments that not only criticize Je,wish culture, but condemn it. Political Islam gets a free pass, while political Judaism is condemned as RACISM. The dream of a Je,wish homeland (Z,ionism) is a basic component of Je,wish culture, yet this is routinely - not only criticized - but CONDEMNED and DEMONIZED.

Yet not a word of criticism of Islamic culture is allowed. Posts will be deleted by leftist m0ds.

Things that make you go Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

[Tlaltecuhtli02]

01:40 PM on 12/14/2010

In fact some go so far as to argue that the very use of that word itself (Islamism) is an insult to Islam and should be purged!

[Dunkleberger Karl]

01:49 PM on 12/14/2010

some of the faithful also proffess,that any photo or drawings of any man was an afront to God, and the proffit Mohamed ,300+ years after his death!

[Musa1]

02:20 AM on 12/15/2010

You live in an imaginary world. There is 24/7 "discussion" and threats and prejudice and misrepresentation about Islam all over American and Western culture.

And yet you divorce America's actions from reality. America's support for the invasion of Somalia by the Ethiopian dictatorship is the primary factor in turning Somalis against America. Its well known within the Somali American community that in 2006, 1000s of Somalis had hopes of returning to Somalia when the IUC ruled most of Somalia had order ahd been restored and trade and commerce had returned. Except Bush didn't like that the IUC was not sanctioned by him, so he had Ethiopia invade. Somali Americans had returned to Somalia with money and hopes of starting businesses and rebuilding property, but America's foreign policy once again caused chaos and destruction in a Muslim land.

And then you ask why are Muslims violent?

[Tamer Abouzeid]

01:04 PM on 12/14/2010

We didn't mean to single any community out. Except, you know, the real terrorists, all those Muslims and Arabs.

[ascertain the truth]

11:09 PM on 12/14/2010

you didn't have to single any community out because you just painted a broad brush to include all 1.5 billion muslims on this earth as the real terrorists. Wow, you are terrorizing me with your words of condemnation of us all and you don't even know me.

[totaldisbelief]

01:01 PM on 12/14/2010

Entrapment ...legally has been very hard to prove and makes a poor defense.

[Manny Peddy]

03:11 PM on 12/14/2010

From what I understand from discussions with experts, defense lawyers often lob those charges around for the press and in public, but in court, they almost never try to show entrapment because it is very difficult to do and almost never works.

[pricespector]

12:36 PM on 12/14/2010

Legal guidelines of entrapment for those of you who keep hareping about it without knowing any facts:

"...there is no entrapment where a person is ready and willing to break the law and the Government agents merely provide what appears to be a favorable opportunity for the person to commit the crime. For example, it is not entrapment for a Government agent to pretend to be someone else and to offer, either directly or through an informer or other decoy, to engage in an unlawful transaction with the person. So, a person would not be a victim of entrapment if the person was ready, willing and able to commit the crime charged in the indictment whenever opportunity was afforded, and that Government officers or their agents did no more than offer an opportunity."

http://www.lectlaw.com/def/e024.htm

[Tlaltecuhtli02]

12:28 PM on 12/14/2010

....and yet Canadians remember that Sikh terrorists were the reason behind the worst ter,rorist attack in Canadian history, where a b omb hidden in a stereo tore apart an airliner in mid air kllling all on board and several on the ground.....

Those responsible mainly escaped because of the botched work by Canada's secret service and their unwillingness to share information and power with the federal police. Sikh extremism still ferments in Canadian temples with the suspects still embraced by the Sikh community.

Nah, let's apologize to extremists instead...

[laucarlson]

12:26 PM on 12/14/2010

LInk to new FBI office in Portland, near PDX.
http://news.opb.org/article/19729-fbi-breaks-ground-new-portland-office/

[emmanuel goldstein]

10:19 PM on 12/17/2010

"Art Balizan: "It's the same Portland office. We happened to grab those two cases. We investigated them. But the Portland office does not change either in rank or in stature because of the new building.""
^From your article.^

I don't see why they would have done this now, since they had already been approved for the new building before the arrest. Seems like a coincidence to me. "The agency is building 35 new field offices around the nation. "... have there been any similar instances in the other 34 locations?

[emmanuel goldstein]

10:22 PM on 12/17/2010

I think it much more likely the MIC needed to get another terrorist to keep War fever high, and were pressured to close a case.

[laucarlson]

12:23 PM on 12/14/2010

Maybe they had to justify the new FBI office in Portland.

[Nosybear]

12:20 PM on 12/14/2010

Hey, when conviction is more important than justice, when the metric of the jurist's success is how many people he or she puts behind bars, entrapment becomes a perfectly rational choice as a tool for accomplishing it. Classic case of incorrect metrics influencing behavior: Think of cops judged by the number of arrests they make. They're more likely to march you downtown on some petty offense if that's the case....

[Tlaltecuhtli02]

12:42 PM on 12/14/2010

good supposition and slander. have any evidence?

[HuffPostSteveKoch]

01:47 PM on 12/14/2010

As if your postings are anything but "suppositions" and "slander" (see two above)? Ten years ago I believed the propaganda that only the arabs were filled with irrational hatred. Now I believe that the zionists are much more so.

[naschkatze]

05:51 PM on 12/14/2010

I recall Eric Holder telling the USAs that they're there to serve justice, not to further their careers. This was after the Stevens case up in Alaska.

[olmossy]

12:44 PM on 12/15/2010

What's your idea of "entrapment"?

[blueskybigstar]

12:18 PM on 12/14/2010

IMPEACH AND REMOVE ERIC HOLDER FOR OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE.

[Tlaltecuhtli02]

12:30 PM on 12/14/2010

an extremist POV. have anything to support such a view?

[blueskybigstar]

12:37 PM on 12/14/2010

Here. People who should be prosecuted for crimes that have weakened our national security that our justice department run by Eric Holder is not doing enough to try to prosecute.

1. the Bush Administra­­tion
2. Mark Rich
3. Goldman Sachs, AIG, Citibank, Bank of America, Chase to name a few banks
4. British Petroleum
5. Blackwater
6. the m u r d e r e r s of these people:

Google these names. Many of these crimes have happened under Obama. If they are not safe, why should we feel safe?

Margie Schoedinge­­r
Mark Levy
Beverly Eckert
David Kellerman
Mark Pittman
William Allen Cruse
Matt Simmons
Robert Nyman
Carol Anne Burger
Jessica Kalish
Thelma Quince Colbert
The eleven men who lost their lives in the BP explosion
Alyssa Peterson
Mike Connell
Pat Tillman
those who died in the anthrax attacks
the hundred men who were tortured to death
the million Iraqis who lost their lives because Bush lied

This is also an interestin­­g list.
http://www­.georgewal­kerbush.ne­t/bushdeat­hlist.htm

IMPEACH AND REMOVE ERIC HOLDER FOR OBSTRUCTIO­N OF JUSTICE
IMPEACH AND REMOVE THE TREASONOUS SUPREME COURT THAT DID NOT BELIEVE THAT THE VOTES IN FLORIDA SHOULD BE COUNTED
IMPEACH AND REMOVE THE JUSTICES WHO VOTED FOR THE TREASONOUS CITIZENS UNITED DECISION
IMPEACH AND REMOVE THE JUSTICES APPOINTED BY THE ILLEGITIMA­TE PRESIDENT BUSH WHO NEVER WON AN ELECTION

We will not get a government that serves us until we have transparen­cy and put away the people who are above the law.

[naschkatze]

05:52 PM on 12/14/2010

Not prosecuting the Bush administration for war crimes.