Shortly before US and coalition military forces entered Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced measures that would be taken in this country as part of Operation Liberty Shield. Included in the plan were changes to asylum rules, heightened security patrols at points of entry and major cities, and a campaign to interview more than 11,000 Iraqi-born people in the United States .

FBI director Robert Mueller said that the interviews have yielded valuable information about possible targets for U.S. troops in Iraq , including descriptions of bunkers, tunnel systems and Iraqi military officials, among other material. Agents said they were also trying to get information about possible terrorists in Iraq .

Arab-American and civil liberties groups denounced the interviews as profiling, but advocates, lawyers and those interviewed have given mostly positive feedback about the interviews. Last week, we included a list of the questions agents were asking in our News Bytes article. Among the questions asked were:

• Would you be willing to return to Iraq and recruit for us?
• Have you or any member of your family served in the Iraqi military?
• How did you get to the U.S. ?
• Do you know of anyone who can assist us, do you know of anyone with information that we would be interested in; do you know of anyone who is planning anything against the U.S. ?

Agents also asked about people's immigration status, their lives in Iraq , why they left, and if they attend a mosque. The interviews were held with both men and women, citizens and recent immigrants. The FBI set out to interview 11,000 people out of a pool of 50,000 Iraqis living in the United States .

Officials said about 30 of the interviewed Iraqis had been detained for immigration violations, with a few others detained for other, unreleased reasons.