"Whatever one thinks of the analysis contained in the report, its sweeping generalizations and mixing of unrelated elements may serve to cast a pall of suspicion over the entire American Muslim community," Parvez Ahmed, Board Chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said in a statement.
"While labeling almost every American Muslim as a potential terrorist, the report's authors admit that their findings offer no useful way to identify real terror suspects."
Though it recognized that American Muslims were more resistant to extremism than Muslims in Europe, the NYPD said American Muslims are "not immune to the radical message."
In a 90-page report, delivered to the White House, the CIA, the FBI and the Homeland Security Department, the NYPD suggested that Muslims aged 15-35 are particularly vulnerable to radicalization.
It suggested a four-phased process of radicalization during which personal crises such as losing a job or suffering from racism can serve as a catalyst.
The report argued that a Muslim can pivot quickly toward violence within two or three years.
"The culmination of this process is a terrorist attack."
Suspicious
CAIR ridiculed the report's suggestions that positive changes in personal behavior such as giving up smoking, drinking and gambling are signs of radicalization.
"Is Islamic attire or giving up bad habits, which is something recommended by leaders of all faiths, now to be regarded as suspicious behavior?"
The rights advocacy group also complained that the report listed sites that are likely to be visited by any American Muslim as radicalization "incubators."
"The sites listed include mosques, cafes, cab driver hangouts, student associations, nongovernmental organizations, butcher shops, and book stores."
CAIR noted that while raising suspicions against ordinary Muslims and the places they visit, the report admitted "there is no useful profile to assist law enforcement or intelligence to predict who will follow this trajectory of radicalization."
Ahmed, CAIR chairman, warned of the report backlash.
"By promoting stereotypes and unwarranted suspicions, the report's authors encourage marginalization of and hostility toward the American Muslim community."
In its 2006 annual report, CAIR documented a surge of almost 25 percent in discrimination and hate crimes against American Muslims.
It recently urged Muslims nationwide to review security procedures to protect their places of worship, citing an increase in incidents involving vandalism of mosques and several physical attacks.
It has circulated a set of guidelines designed to protect mosques and their worshippers which includes building good relationships with neighbors, having people attend the mosque regularly and consulting with the community relations officer of the local police department.
Stigmatizing
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Shora said the police report was stigmatizing the whole Muslim minority |
Christopher Dunn, of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the report risks turning law-abiding Muslims away from cooperating with the authorities.
"While aggressive counterterrorism policies are to be commended, this report appears to treat all young Muslims as suspects and to lay the groundwork for wholesale surveillance of Muslim communities without there being any sign of unlawful conduct," he said.
"To target Muslims in this way would mark a dangerous and unlawful erosion of the line separating the police from lawful religious activity."
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee said the police report was stigmatizing the whole Muslim community.
"The report is at odds with federal law enforcement findings, including those of the recently released National Intelligence Estimate, and uses unfortunate stereotyping of entire communities," said executive director Kareem W. Shora.
Since the 9/11 attacks, American Muslims have become sensitized to an erosion of their civil rights, with a prevailing belief that America was targeting their faith.
