The FBI isn't above commiting perjury if it thinks someone is guilty Original Article Terror suspect's faith a factor in FBI probe Justice condemns agency methods Dan Eggen Washington Post Jan. 7, 2006 12:00 AM WASHINGTON - FBI fingerprint examiners were reluctant to admit that they had mistakenly linked an Oregon lawyer to the 2004 Madrid train bombings in part because he was a Muslim convert and had represented a terrorism defendant in court, according to a report released Friday by the Justice Department's inspector general. The 20-page summary report by Inspector General Glenn Fine said that Brandon Mayfield's religion "was not the sole or primary cause" of the FBI Laboratory's mistaken identification of him, but it contributed to the bureau's reluctance to re-examine conclusions in the case. Several FBI and Justice Department officials acknowledged that "Mayfield's religion was a factor in the investigation," the report said, in part because officials expected that any suspect in the bombings was likely to be Muslim. "One of the examiners candidly admitted that if the person identified had been someone without those characteristics, like the 'Maytag Repairman,' the Laboratory might have revisited the identification with more skepticism and caught the error," the report said. The report also identified "troubling" wording in government affidavits submitted in federal court, "which apparently led the judge to believe that the (Spanish National Police) had agreed with the FBI's fingerprint identification." In fact, Spanish investigators had concluded from the beginning that the fingerprint did not belong to Mayfield despite concerted attempts by the FBI to convince them otherwise. Fine's report is the latest critical assessment of the FBI's treatment of Mayfield, who was arrested in May 2004 as a material witness and released two weeks later. He has since filed a lawsuit alleging, among other things, that the FBI targeted him because of his Muslim beliefs. One of Mayfield's attorneys, Gerry Spence, said Friday that Fine's report shows "the FBI acted with gross negligence" in targeting and arresting his client, and misled the federal courts in doing so. "Rather than admit its mistake, because of Mr. Mayfield's Muslim faith, the U.S. government was willing to subject Mr. Mayfield to the death penalty," Spence said, referring to the possible punishment for serious terrorism crimes. Mayfield was quoted in the statement as saying that the report confirms he was "the victim of religious profiling." The FBI disagreed, emphasizing that Fine had concluded that Mayfield's Muslim faith was not a factor in the initial identification of him by fingerprint examiners. The bureau said Mayfield's arrest "was based on an extremely unusual confluence of events," primarily the remarkable similarity between his fingerprints from military service and the latent print found in Spain, which was eventually matched to an Algerian national, Ouhnane Daoud. The FBI said it has implemented a number of reforms to ensure that such a mistake does not occur again. The document released Friday was only the executive summary of a 273-page report by Fine, which remains classified. Fine's office said it is negotiating with the Justice Department to have the entire document released publicly as soon as possible. On March 11, 2004, terrorists later linked to al-Qaida detonated bombs on several commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 people.