-Caveat Lector- FBI denies bias as raid shuts Arabic Web sites from REUTERS in Dallas Friday, September 7, 2001 A United States terrorism task force raided the Texas-based host of Arabic Web sites, including that of the Arab world's leading independent news channel, prompting charges on Thursday of an "anti-Muslim witchhunt". But the FBI, which took part in the raid on Wednesday at privately held InfoCom Corp, in the Dallas suburb of Richardson, denied any anti-Arab bias and said it was executing an unspecified federal search warrant. The FBI declined to specify the target of the search warrant, which is under seal in a federal court, except to say in a statement that the search was "one aspect of a more than two-year investigation that is ongoing". InfoCom's owners said the raid resulted in a temporary shutdown of Web sites it hosts for about 500 customers, including that run by Al-Jazeera television and the newspaper Al-Sharq, both based in the Gulf state of Qatar. Al-Jazeera is a major regional news source for Arabic speakers. Often dubbed "the Arab CNN", it has emerged as a major force in a region where most broadcasters operate under direct state control. The Web sites were shut down while about 80 agents copied information from InfoCom's Internet servers, said Ghassan Elashi, brother of owner Bayan Elashi. He said many of the sites were able to start up again on other servers, while the task force continued to copy computerised information on Thursday. The office remained sealed off by FBI agents. "We have nothing to hide. We are co-operating 110 per cent with the FBI," InfoCom's lawyer Mark Enoch said. Mr Enoch said whatever tips had led to the search was "bad information". "If they think they're going to find that InfoCom is associated with terrorism, they're wrong. It's not," he said. Mr Elashi said InfoCom's customers were not solely Arabic or Muslim. "They are across the board, from Dallas to California to other places around the world," he said. Several American Islamic groups condemned the search as "an anti-Muslim witchhunt promoted by the pro-Israel lobby in America," according to a statement from 10 organisations, including the Muslim Public Affairs Council. "We are deeply concerned that there is a pattern of stereotyping that permeates all these types of investigations. There is a marginalisation of the American-Muslim population," Mahdi Bray of the Los Angeles-based council said at a news conference outside the closed InfoCom office. The FBI denied the raid was any kind of witchhunt. "We were executing a search warrant as part of a criminal investigation. It had nothing to do with anti-Islamic or anti-Palestinian or anti-Middle East issues or anything like that," said special agent Lori Bailey, spokeswoman for the Dallas FBI office. The search was conducted by the North Texas Joint Terrorism Task Force, a multi-agency federal and local grouping which includes the FBI, Secret Service and the US Customs Service. It also includes the US Office of Foreign Assets Control, an arm of the Treasury Department empowered to freeze or seize the assets of individuals or organisations that have been designated by the government as terrorist. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
