FCN-(http://www.finalcall.com)--Muslims are becoming the boogey men of the new century as hundreds were rounded up the last week of December 1999 by the CIA for suspected ties to terrorism. The guilty until proven innocent Muslims were detained around the world, and some will be held until after Ramadan, according to news reports.

This worldwide round-up follows the media barrage of events surrounding the State Department�s warning to U.S. citizens traveling abroad. The warning referred to "credible information that terrorists were planning attacks" to coincide with New Year�s Eve and the Islamic month of Ramadan in which Muslims fast and pray.

The detention was described by U.S. officials as a "roundup of the usual suspects." According to the CIA, their operation was to "maintain truth, justice and the American way."

This is not the first such round-up of Muslims. It happened after the U.S. embassies were bombed in Tanzania and Kenya. "The FBI rounded up members of the Muslim community indiscriminately�imams, leaders, whoever. They even arrested the captain of a local soccer team. They really caused a lot of resentment," said Kathi Austin, a visiting scholar at Stanford University�s Center for African Studies and a former researcher for Human Rights Watch.

In the United States the FBI arrested nine suspects in Boston and New York, but news reports indicate that as many as 50 Muslims were questioned and held over a 24-hour period.

"We are investigating threats of violence and terrorism. We are trying to follow leads and to interview folks who may have information that could help on our endeavor," said FBI spokesperson Paul Bresson.

The explosion of activity was ignited with the arrest of Ahmed Ressam, who was caught carrying explosives into Washington State on December 14. He is suspected of being a member of the Armed Islamic Group. The arrest of Lucia Garofalo, a Canadaian woman who also is suspected of having ties with the group, further broadened the FBI�s search.

When the name of Abdel Ghani was found among Mr. Ressam�s possessions, Mr. Ghani was also detained for questioning.

"When you get all of these lines coming together, that tends to suggest much wider operational planning than initially suspected. There is concern that there are other people who are part of this network. That�s why there�s an effort to roust anyone who might have connections to those groups," said Vince Cannistraro, former director of counter terrorism at the CIA.

Muslims, however, are the only ones receiving this preferred treatment in response to alleged threats. Two suspected militia members were arrested in December for allegedly plotting to blow up a California propane plant. If successful, officials say the firestorm would have killed as many as half the people in a five-mile radius of the plant.

Most people don�t even know about this incident because it was so under reported. But news about Muslims is a different story.

"When militia or white supremacists are involved the story just dies. But if it is about a Muslim, the story keeps going and going like the Energizer battery," Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) told The Final Call.

A search of Lexis-Nexus and Dow Jones Interactive databases produced 129 (113 print, 16 broadcast) stories on the day of and the day following the arrest of Mr. Ressam. Twenty-one of those ran on page one.

The California propane plant case search produced 51 print stories on the day of the arrest and the following day. There were zero broadcast stories and only one story ran on page one. Many of the stories ran as news briefs. None of the stories highlighted the perpetrators� race or religion.

"I talk to reporters all the time and when I mention the California story they say, �what story�. This just proves my point that if their names were Ali or Muhammad it would have been international headlines for a month," said Mr. Hooper.

"The disparity in media coverage of terrorism-related stories involving Muslims is disturbing. Newsworthiness, not religion or ethnicity, should be the determining factor in the amount of coverage given to a particular story," said CAIR Board Chairman Omar Ahmad