It really depends, in my view.
What was the reason for driving by and sampling these particular sites? Was there anything at all to indicate that there might be a threat from any of the people there? If not, I don't think they should have done the monitoring there.
If it was a fishing expedition, then they should fish everywhere. Don't just fish where Muslims (or [link|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=238824|critics of the Iraq war]) are.
I think of this as being similar to a "sobriety checkpoint". All traffic is stopped and drivers are checked to see if they're impaired. Around here, they're in random areas. If they were only set up outside of mosques, or only checked young men with dark brown hair, I would be very concerned...
If the purpose of the monitoring was to legitimately check out other information, or maybe to get "baseline" information for subsequent investigation if necessary, then that may be fine. If it's just - "Well the last guys were Sunni Muslims who claimed to be religious, therefore we've got to keep an eye on all religious Sunni Muslims" - then it's crap and should be stopped. We should have at least learned from the [link|http://www.lib.utah.edu/spc/photo/9066/9066.htm|WWII internment camps] that singling people out because of their ethnicity or religion is unamerican.
Even if they had legitimate reasons for wanting the information, their apparent tactic of sometimes driving up in a driveway and sampling without a search warrant seems to me to be unreasonable searching. They should have requested a court order for a warrant.
If this story is true, it seems to be yet another example of the executive branch attempting to take on an unchecked power. That's not good.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
