FBI Invited Controversial Church To Talk To Agents

[rug]

The Westboro Baptist Church is infamous for picketing soldiers' funerals with signs like "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "God Hates the USA."

Yet the FBI recently invited leaders of the fundamentalist church to the Quantico Marine base in Virginia to talk to FBI agents as part of the bureau's counterterrorism training program. But after four sessions this spring, the FBI canceled the arrangement amid criticism from inside the bureau, while church leaders claimed that they had been misled.

The church group, led by Pastor Fred Phelps and based in Topeka, Kan., says its protests are intended to tell the world that God is punishing the U.S. military for America's tolerance of homosexuality. The pastor claims to be the prophet of God's wrath.

The FBI first invited the church group to address the FBI's law enforcement training classes back in 2008. And initially, there were no apparent problems. But the most recent sessions, including three at Quantico and one in Manassass, Va., stirred up controversy.

http://www.npr.org/2011/06/29/137454497/fbi-invited-controversial-church-to-talk-to-agents

[Drale]

1. I bet they did it to show their agents what a terrorist really looks like. /nt

[rug]

2. I read it twice and still can't figure it out. It's bizarre.

[Kennah]

3. FBI SAs, and cops at every level ...

... sometimes have to interview people who live in their own little world.

Some of them live in worlds that closely orbit the Earth, while others are on worlds far removed from the Earth.

In any event, a level of professional detachment when talking with loons, if said loon was a witness to something or might otherwise be useful to an investigation, seems like a good thing.

Another thought leads me back to the capture of the BTK killer, Dennis Rader. I wonder if the FBI invited in the WBC in the hopes that perhaps they would flap their gums and admit to something criminal. Or perhaps the FBI did it to collect fingerprints or DNA data on WBC members. "Hi Timothy. Can I get you a Coke? ... All done? I'll toss that in the recycle bin for you."

Just spitballing.

[leveymg]

4. Meet your own shadow. Looks and talks just like you, but know the difference.

That was the lesson.

The Bureau really needs to be paying closer attention to that sort of enemy.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. This is just "F"ed up.

[Ian David]

6. This actually looks like it may have been a GOOD move on the part of the Bush Administration.

<snip>

Law enforcement officials who attended the session said it was focused on domestic terrorism. They were told that the FBI invited Westboro members to the class so police officers and agents could see extremists up close and understand what makes them tick.

The FBI claims the church group knew this. But Phelps said he had no idea he was part of a domestic terrorism curriculum.

More:
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/29/137454497/fbi-invited-controversial-church-to-talk-to-agents

Someone is at least acknowledging that Domestic Terrorists and Westboro Baptist Church are in the same category and/or share the same ideology.

[trotsky]

7. That was my first impression.

A smart move.

[Thats my opinion]

8. Disgusting

Phelps and his tiny crew give all religion a bad name. I have personally confronted him at a church assembly.

[MikeMc]

9. +1, The Devil Loves Phelps.

Phelps is a Rove initiative.