A stringent monitoring program managed conducted local police departments is the key to unmasking Islamic extremists bent on staging deadly attacks in the United States, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, tells
Newsmax TV.
"That's the keyword that Sen. Ted Cruz is talking about. Monitoring," Jasser said Wednesday on "The Hard Line" with Ed Berliner.
Watch Newsmax TV on
DirecTV Ch. 349, Dish Ch. 223 and
Verizon FiOS Ch. 115. Get Newsmax TV on your cable system —
Click Here Now
"Monitoring means on the cop, cops on the beat, on the streets, knowing who lives where, knows the communities. It's not about violating civil rights. Good cops know the community. That's all we're talking about.
"Muslims should be transparent. We should have nothing to hide to encourage police to have good relationships with us and our neighborhoods. We should encourage it … There's nothing that violates our civil rights by them knowing our communities."
His remarks come a day after the U.S. and other countries around the world stepped up security measures following Tuesday's Islamic State terror attacks in Brussels. Explosives ignited by suicide bombers at an airport and a train station killed 31 people and injured as many as 270.
Jasser — author of
"A Battle for the Soul of Islam: An American Muslim Patriot's Fight to Save His Faith," published by Threshold Editions — said that unfortunately, some surveillance programs in the U.S. have been curtailed because of perceived civil rights violations.
"We have taken so many steps back. The [New York City Police Department] did great work on counterterrorism and their seminal report on homegrown terror was basically stripped and removed from their website because of political correctness," Jasser told Berliner.
"Their monitoring program was shut down because of Associated Press reporting, which was nonsense … The majority of Muslims turn in individuals they feel critical about, that they're concerned about.
"We are the primary targets — moderates and non-terrorist radical Muslims are the ones that these radicals will target first. Many cells have been broken up by Muslims who are patriotic and do turn them in."