Religious leaders sound off on spying

New Jersey Muslim leaders joined with other religious officials Thursday to demand reassurance from authorities that no one is being spied on because of his or her faith as calls for a federal inquiry into NYPD surveillance activities grew and the U.S. attorney general said he was reviewing the matter.

At an event in Jersey City featuring mosque, synagogue and church leaders, several said they were in solidarity with Muslims who felt that reports of the NYPD conducting surveillance of mosques and Muslim student groups in New Jersey, Long Island and elsewhere had crossed the line beyond acceptable counterterrorism methods.

In Washington, Attorney General Eric Holder said during questioning at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing that he was disturbed by what he'd read about the NYPD surveillance. Holder said he was reviewing the matter, including letters from New Jersey officials complaining they were kept in the dark.

The NYPD monitored Muslims in New Jersey at businesses and their mosques in a surveillance operation that was disclosed recently by The Associated Press.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as well as NYPD officials, have defended the department's activities in New Jersey as legal and warranted.

Bloomberg said Thursday at a mayors conference in Chicago that the NYPD had a "daunting task" and had to be perfect every day to prevent terrorism. He called the NYPD the best police department in the world and said 14 attacks had been stopped since 9/11, without anybody dying.

Mohamed El Filali, executive director of the Islamic Center of Passaic County who organized the interfaith news conference Thursday in Jersey City, said, "Open forums are good, but an investigation is a lot better. Hopefully the attorney general is collecting the information quick enough so a formal investigation will quench our desire for definite answers."