No, this is not an Onion headline...

FBI Hoped to Follow Falafel Trail to Iranian Terrorists Here

Here's an excerpt:
"The idea was that a spike in, say, falafel sales, combined with other data, would lead to Iranian secret agents in the south San Francisco-San Jose area.

The brainchild of top FBI counterterrorism officials Phil Mudd and Willie T. Hulon, according to well-informed sources, the project didn’t last long. It was torpedoed by the head of the FBI’s criminal investigations division, Michael A. Mason, who argued that putting somebody on a terrorist list for what they ate was ridiculous — and possibly illegal."

While the article itself points to something so utterly offensively stupid, pointless and, yes, illegal, perhaps we should be even more concerned. The FBI doesn't know enough to realize that falafel is not a Persian dish by any means? Seriously? Our government realizes that Iran is not an Arab country, right? Well, given that our leaders apparently don't even know the difference between the Shiia and Sunni...

Wouldn't the FBI be better off tracking sales of pomegranite juice and walnuts?