Joy in galley (sic) as Portland quits FBI task force

[0rganism]

(probably should be "gallery", not "galley", but who am I to tell the local paper of record how to do its job?)
Joy in galley as Portland quits FBI task force
The City Council votes 4-1 to leave the nationwide anti-terror effort, but the police chief will stay on a panel and get briefings
Friday, April 29, 2005
ANNA GRIFFIN

They may not have won any new friends in Washington D.C., but Portland City Council members heard mostly kudos from their constituents Thursday as they officially ended the Portland Police Bureau's involvement in the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force.

As expected, the City Council voted 4-1 to reassign the two Portland officers serving on the local, state and federal anti-terror team back to the Police Bureau within 90 days.
...
Potter and his colleagues have gotten pressure to compromise in recent days from other politicians -- who fear payback from Washington D.C. -- and business leaders worried about the message Thursday's decision sends to the rest of the country. Foxworth argued in a memo to the mayor for continuing the city's involvement. Robert King, president of the Portland Police Association, said officers he's spoken with disagree with pulling out and don't understand the City Council's stance.
...
Nationally, there are some 100 task forces -- joint local, state and federal squads assigned the duty of preventing and investigating both foreign and domestic terrorist attacks. Portland's task force is credited with the arrests and convictions of six people for conspiring against U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Yet the Portland area is also home to Brandon Mayfield, a lawyer and convert to Islam whose fingerprints were mistakenly linked to the terrorist bombings that killed 191 people in Spain last year. Mayfield, who is suing the government, spent two weeks in jail before the FBI acknowledged its mistake. His name came up several times Thursday night.
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more: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/front_page/1114768502282060.xml&coll=7&thispage=2

Gutsy move by Mayor Potter, but I suspect there will be "payback."