http://www.freep.com/fdcp/?1286281607250
Feds should review imam shooting
A report last week from Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox that clears FBI agents of wrongdoing in the shooting death of Muslim leader Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah does not close the book.
That’s not to say Cox’s office didn’t do a thorough and honest job. But his investigation was widely perceived as tainted before it began. Cox took on the probe because Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, citing the FBI’s reluctance to provide certain classified documents, backed off.
Nothing short of a complete and independent investigation by the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice will restore credibility
to ongoing fact-finding. That investigation must examine not only the shooting, but also the use of government informants in the undercover investigation that preceded the shooting.
At issue is the credibility of local law enforcement agencies in uncovering the entire truth. They have repeatedly denied requests for information about the shooting of Abdullah, 53, who was shot 20 times on Oct. 28 after agents
say he fired at an FBI dog.
Were 66 federal agents, including 14 elite counterterrorism and hostage agents from Virginia, really needed to apprehend Abdullah? No terrorism charges were brought against him. He was to be arrested on charges of dealing in stolen goods. The question of whether Abdullah shot the dog in self-defense also needs to be examined.
As many predicted, the FBI’s dithering has weakened confidence in Cox’s report. Only a full-scale federal investigation can clear the air now.