Romney, criticized by Muslims, refuses to back down from comments

Muslim groups and civil libertarians demanded an apology from Gov. Mitt Romney on Friday for his comments about wiretapping mosques and monitoring foreign students, but the governor stood by his words, saying he was only advocating for improved homeland security.

The groups, which included the American Civil Liberties Union and various mosques and Islamic organizations, delivered a letter to Romney around noon which said "your desire to wiretap mosques is an affront to the values and principles that make America a great country."

After the letter was delivered, spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said the governor would not apologize or retract the comments.

Romney made the comments Wednesday during a speech in Washington at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank he consults on policy issues.

During the speech, Romney discussed homeland security and the need to devote resources to anti-terrorism intelligence. He referred to the state's 120 colleges and universities, and speculated about students who are from countries that sponsor terrorism, asking "Do we know where they are, are we tracking them?"

He also spoke about gathering intelligence at mosques "that may be teaching doctrines of hate and terror."

"Are we monitoring that? Are we wiretapping?" he asked. "Are we following what's going on? Are we seeing who's coming in, who's coming out? Are we eavesdropping, carrying out surveillance on those individuals from places that sponsor domestic terror?"

Romney said Friday morning he wasn't advocating for anything that wasn't already being done.

"I don't have any suggestions that are beyond the scope of what's done by the FBI today," he said after a speech at an unrelated event. "It's just the level of resources is something I think we should substantially enhance."

But some Muslims said that Romney is stereotyping all Muslims as terrorists and promoting dangerous policies that erode civil liberties.

Fehrnstrom, who retreated to the governor's office after facing angry questions from people who held the press conference, said Romney was "not advocating throwing the constitution out the window."

"What he's saying is that if there are mosques that preaching doctrines of hate and violence, they warrant more attention than the local 4H 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."