The FBI has started to interview Arab-American business leaders, in light of Saddam Hussein’s threats of worldwide terrorist acts if Iraq is attacked.
Interviews with more than 100 Arab-American are centered in Southern California and the Detroit area, both with sizeable Arab-American populations, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
William Baker, the assistant FBI director, said that the interviews are voluntary and that those being questioned are not regarded as suspects in any way.
A major purpose of the program is to familiarize the Arab-American community with the FBI’s counter-terrorism mission and to obtain any information which might prove helpful to the U.S. government.
At the same time, the FBI let it be known that it will investigate any attacks against Arab-Americans, “should there be an ignorant backlash” against them after fighting starts in the Persian Gulf, Baker said.
Nevertheless, Albert Mokhiber, president of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, protested against the interview program, saying that “a fishing expedition among Arab-Americans sends us back to World War II Japanese-American concentration camps.”
Baker noted that the FBI was stepping up anti-terrorist precautions all along the line with the approach of the Jan. 15 deadline. The State Department also emphasized Monday its serious concern about possible terrorist attacks against American targets worldwide.
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