Governor resolute on remarks about Muslims

Governor Mitt Romney, facing mounting criticism from civil rights and religious groups for raising the prospect of putting certain Muslims under surveillance, refused to back down yesterday, saying he would never sacrifice the security of the country for the sake of ''political correctness."

''When it comes to protecting our citizens, there is no place for political correctness," Romney said after he was asked about the controversy during an unrelated news conference at the State House.

Romney's communications director, Eric Fehrnstrom, said the governor would neither apologize nor retract the comments on terrorism that he made earlier in the week. Fehrnstrom said Romney was ''not advocating throwing the Constitution out the window."

''What he's saying is that if there are mosques preaching doctrines of hate and violence, they warrant more attention than the local 4-H Club," he said. ''And if there are students in our country, from Syria or Iraq, and they are engaging in suspicious behavior, then they warrant more attention than a student from Newton or Middleborough."

The controversy began when Romney gave a speech Wednesday at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., suggesting that the government wiretap people associated with mosques that preach ''hate and terror." He also advocated that authorities closely monitor students at colleges and universities who come from countries known to sponsor terrorism.

Though they have drawn fire in Massachusetts, Romney's remarks were well received by the Heritage audience, and his tough talk on terrorism is sure to appeal to conservatives nationwide if he decides to seek the presidency in 2008.

But civil libertarians and Muslim groups showed up at Romney's office yesterday morning demanding an apology. They left disappointed.

The groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and several mosques and Islamic organizations, delivered a letter to the governor around noon that read, ''Your desire to wiretap mosques is an affront to the values and principles that make America a great country."

Ali Noorani, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, was one of several dozen activists who tried to confront Romney. Their biggest concern, he said, is that the governor is talking to the media about his beliefs instead of addressing the community.

''If the governor is not going to apologize, the least he could do is reach out to the Muslim and immigrant community and say, 'This is where I was coming from,' " Noorani said. ''Nobody is going to disagree that there are extremists who are looking to hurt us. We're just asking for some time around the table to have a conversation."

But Romney was resolute at the afternoon news conference. The governor said he had not read the groups' letter and added, ''This thing is just common sense."

''We have to be able to prevent attacks, and surely, if there are individuals who are teaching or preaching messages of hate and terror, we should follow, we should track, we should learn where these people are," he said. ''If they meet constitutional standards, meaning if there's sufficient evidence for wiretapping, we should wiretap them."

Romney made clear that he was not referring to all mosques or to all Muslims.

''Most mosques are teaching doctrines of love and consideration," he said, ''but there have been places of extremism. . . . Let's not pretend that's not the case. And surely we must protect ourselves by carrying out the normal intelligence and counterterrorism work that you'd expect of a land that has every right to protect itself."

Last night, Romney appeared on Fox News's ''The O'Reilly Factor" and said he was ''recognizing the reality of the fact that if we're talking about monitoring where places are going to be that people may be recruited to carry out terrorist attacks, that we should spend more time checking out a mosque than we should spend at the 4-H Club."

Jeffrey Berry, a political science professor at Tufts University, said this is further evidence that Romney, as he weighs a White House run, is not concerned about appealing to Massachusetts audiences. Upsetting religious and civil rights groups in the Bay State, Berry said, is hardly a political concern.

''There's not much of a Muslim vote to lose in Republican primaries, nor a civil liberties vote," Berry said. ''This is clearly a step in the right direction in terms of gaining national attention."

Romney's comments were picked up this week by national television and other newspapers. The remarks could get Romney in hot water if he were president, Berry said, but ''Right now his goal is to become a credible candidate for president, and I think he's actually doing that."

Imam Abdullah Faaruuq of the Mosque for the Praising of Allah in Boston urged Romney to ''stop pandering to conservatives."

''I pray . . . that this man will never reach the office of being in control of this country as a whole, and may he be limited to this term that he's in presently, because he doesn't understand what true leadership is about here in America," he said.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report. Scott Helman can be reached at shelman@globe.com.