A Washington state Muslim group has asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate alleged anti-Islam bias in FBI trainings of law enforcement officers and regular citizens.
In a letter mailed Monday to the department's civil rights division, the Washington Council on American-Islam Relations accused the FBI of trainings that including "false, misleading and fear-producing information."
The letter lists a number of complaints about FBI trainings, including one in Seattle last spring, where participants at a "citizens' academy" at the FBI office said they were given a handout comparing Arab/Islamic propaganda with Nazi propaganda.
The complaint also mentioned an FBI training lecture in Washington, D.C., also last spring that was critical of Islam. The bureau employee who gave the lecture contended, among other things, that the more devout a Muslim is, the more likely he is to be violent. The lecture came to light last month, at which time the FBI said it has begun a review of its training to make sure it is consistent with FBI standards.
A Muslim-American woman who participated in the Seattle training said she was surprised by the handout because everything else about the eight-session "citizens' academy" had been respectful.
The FBI in Seattle has issued a statement saying the agency is currently conducting a comprehensive review of all training and reference materials that relate to religion or culture.- KBOO