[Vision2020] Phone call from the FBI?

[Bob Hoffmann]

At 02:46 PM 3/1/2003 -0800, aphro dite wrote:
>I'm scared that if I publish a webpage trying to explain my religion to 
>non-members, and the government suspects that religion of any possible 
>connection to anything middle-eastern I could be arrested.

A week or two ago, I received an interesting phone call.  While it can be 
hard to identify people demographically over the phone, I would say that 
the person on the other end of the phone was a white male, between 30-50 
years old, and spoke with a "neutral" American accent.

As I was telecommuting, and in the office frame of mind, I answered the 
phone with, "Hello, this is Bob."

"Hi," said the voice, "I don't know if I have the correct number.  I was 
trying to reach the Al Farooq Mosque."

A bit bewildered, I responded, "You are correct.  You do not have the right 
number."

"Oh, I found a Web site that listed your number for the Al Farooq Mosque."

"Really?  Well, I do believe that there is an Al Farooq Mosque here in 
Moscow, but this isn't the number."  (incidentally, the mosque is in Pullman).

"Oh," said the man, "I guess someone ought to correct that Web site.  I was 
just trying to track down the origin of the name 'Al Farooq.'"

"Well, I can't help you with that one.  Good luck."

I forgot about the call until the arrest at the U of I this past 
week.  Now, if you search Google for "Al Farooq Mosque," you will find the 
top hit being this page:
http://vision2020.moscow.com/Archives/2001/0109/msg00078.html

Yup, it is a posting by yours truly about an open house at the mosque.  I 
had received the information the same way that perhaps 8,000 WSU employees 
received it, through the WSU Announcements email list.  I thought it would 
be of interest to Vision 2020 subscribers, so I forwarded it to the 
list.  My email program automatically appends a signature to my messages, 
including my phone number.

I don't know if this phone call was indeed from an FBI agent investigating 
leads, or if it was just a wild coincidence.  But if I receive any visits 
from the FBI, I'll let you all know about it in this forum.

Bob Hoffmann
820 S. Logan St.
Moscow, ID  83843

Tel: 208 883-0642