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AMP Comment - December 31, 2007
2007 another torment Year for American Muslims - II
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
- Amid an uproar by Muslim and civil right groups, Los Angeles Police Department shelves a program to profile Muslims under the guise of Community Mapping.
- Three Republican Presidential hopefuls Senator John McCain, Congressman Tom Tancredo and Mitt Romney use Islamophobic rhetoric in election campaign as David Horowitz, an Islamophobe, leads the Arab/Muslim-basing efforts at campuses across the nation.Â
These two episodes symbolize the dilemma of American Muslims during 2007 who remained under siege in the name of security for more than six years after the 9/11 tragic attacks.
LADP Program to profile of Muslims
Institutionalized profiling is a major issue for American Muslims since 9/11. In the latest government move to intimidate and marginalize American Muslims, the Los Angeles Police Department on October 30 unveiled a program at a Senate hearing to âMapâ (read profile) Muslim communities in southern California. Â
The intelligence-guided âMappingâ plan, which was to be carried out in conjunction with the Homeland Security Departmentâ™s National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events at the University of Southern California, was to collect information about Muslim communities in the Los Angeles area.Â
The LAPD âMappingâ program looked a pilot profiling project as there are estimated 500,000 Muslims living in the greater Los Angeles area, including Orange and Riverside Counties, which make its concentration of Muslims the second largest in the United States, after New York City. According to Downing, if this program is successful it could be implemented in other major US cities.
The LAPD Mapping program followed the last August report of the New York Police Department (NYPD) titled "Radicalization in the West and the Homegrown Threat." The report warned of "radicalization" among âotherwise unremarkable young Muslim men in the United States who grow disillusioned with life and sign on with jihadis.â
Not surprisingly, Muslim and civil rights organizations protested against the LAPD profiling program which smacked the âexclusion zonesâ created in 1942 under President Franklin Rooseveltâ™s Executive Order 9066. In an atmosphere of World War II hysteria, President Roosevelt authorized the internment of American citizens of Japanese ancestry and resident aliens from Japan. Not surprisingly, Japanese Americans expressed their solidarity with the Muslims on this issue.
Amid uproar, the LA Police Department announced on November 15 that it is abandoning the âMapping Program.â Although the LADP has announced shelving of its profiling program but many doubt that it has been abandoned for good and it may resurface in another form.
Islamophobia in US Presidential election campaign
Islamophobia is another dilemma for American Muslims. There was a surge in Islamophobia and bigotry towards Muslims this year too. The phenomenon has now become mainstream. In the closing months of 2007 we witnessed an alarming increase in bigotry by the Republican political leaders who wants to exploit this anti-Muslim atmosphere.
Republican presidential candidate Congressman Tom Tancredo reiterates considering "taking out Muslim holy sites" if another terror attack were to take place on American soil. Another Republican Presidential hopeful Senator John McCain says that the United States is a Christian nation and that his Christian faith is of better spiritual guidance than Islam. Yet another Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney rules out a cabinet position for a Muslim because of their small population.
At the same time, Republican Congressman Peter King, political advisor of another presidential hopeful, Rudy Giuliani, says that there are too many mosques in the United States and adds that the Muslims should be placed under FBI surveillance. Surprisingly, the front runner Republican Presidential hopeful endorsed his political advisor, Congressman Peter Kingâ™s statement as Giuliani refused to ask King to retract his statement. New York Congressman King is a ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee.
This rhetoric clearly seeks to exploit the anti-Islam and anti-Muslim atmosphere prevailed in the post-9/11 America thanks to the governmentâ™s internal and external policies as well as some political and religious leaders and agenda-driven media.
American Muslims were dismayed to watch 41 Republican Congressmen refusing to vote on a historic resolution that recognized âthe Islamic faith as one of the great religions of the world,â rejected âhatred, bigotry and violence directed against Muslims, both in the United States and worldwide.â
One wonders if Islamophobia, which may be defined as âalienation, discrimination, harassment and violence rooted in misinformed and stereotyped representations of Islam and its adherents,â has become a de facto Republican Party policy. Just to refresh your memories.
Muslim-bashing campaign at US campuses
Not surprisingly, other bigots are seizing this opportunity to create hatred against Islam and Muslims.
In a bid to spread fear and hatred under the guise of patriotism and freedom, David Horowitz, a neo-conservative polemicist, launched an Arab/Muslim-bashing campaign at campuses across the nation. Borrowing from President Bushâ™s terminology âIslamo-Fascists,â™ Horowitz packaged his ani-Arab/anti-Muslim campaign as âIslamo-Fascist Awareness Weekâ in October 2007.
Horowitz asked students participating in the campaign to disseminate presentations, such as âThe Islamic Mein Kampf,â (meaning the Quran). In a throwback to McCarthyism, right-wing students were encouraged to issue press releases condemning those who refused to sign for the Islamo-Fascist week. It means either you are with us or with our enemy.
But just who are the âIslamic fascists? According to Horowitzâ™s FrontPage magazine, they include the Muslim Student Association, which has chapters on hundreds of U.S. campuses--and the Council on American Islamic Relations, which advocates for civil rights and tracks hate crimes against Arabs and Muslims.
There was a collection of bigots and crackpots that Horowitz had recruited to speak for Islamophobia week. Islamophobist right wing columnist Ann Coulter was one. Other luminaries included: Rick Santorum, a former US Senator, who has compared homosexuality to incest; Robert Spencer who claims Islam is "the world's most intolerant religion"; and noted anti-Arab commentator and Islamophobe Daniel Pipes who once said that "Palestinians are a miserable peopleâŚand they deserve to be."
Some other well-known Islamophobist speakers were: Dennis Prager, Sean Hannity and Wafa Sultan. More intellectual takes came from such neoconservative icons of Middle East policy as Michael Ledeen who seeks to apply Machiavellian principles to the modern world.
Surely such a notorious lineup of racist, bigoted, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic and Machiavellian speakers did not serve to educate but to promote hatred and spread misinformation and lies.
Radio talk shows continue spitting venom against Islam and Muslims
Islamophobia has become a popular sport for many radio talk shows. One such show host is Micheal Savage whose "The Savage Nation" is aired on more than 300 radio stations nationwide. He screamed attacks on Muslims, Islam and the Quran during his October 29, 2007, program.
Savage's shouted anti-Muslim attacks included: "I'm not gonna put my wife in a hijab. And I'm not gonna put my daughter in a burqa. And I'm not gettin on my all-fours and praying to Mecca. And you could drop dead if you don't like it. You can shove it up your pipe. I don't wanna hear anymore about Islam. I don't wanna hear one more word about Islam. Take your religion and shove it up your behind. I'm sick of you."
Civil rights group Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) successfully lead an ad boycott campaign against Michael Savage's radio program. Its campaign was support by Hate Hurts America Community and Interfaith Coalition, a group of religious and civic organizations seeking to challenge hate speech on talk radio. In response to this campaign many advertisers stopped airing, or refused to air commercials on "The Savage Nation," causing it at least one million dollars loss in revenue. Â
Not surprisingly, CAIR became target of Michael Savage who retaliated by suing the civil rights group of violating his rights by wrongfully using a 4-minute segment of his Oct. 29 show in the letter-writing campaign directed against his advertisers.
Islamophobia has created an atmosphere of suspicion among the fellow Americans towards the Muslims. In this Islamophobic charged atmosphere, it is not surprising thatthirty-two percent Americans believe that their fellow citizen Muslims are less loyal to the U.S., as reported in a July 2007 Newsweek Poll. Although forty percent of those surveyed believe Muslims in the United States are as loyal to the U.S. as they are to Islam but 46 percent of Americans said the U.S. allows too many immigrants to come here from Muslim countries.
In the wake of prevailing anti-Islam and anti-Muslim atmosphere, the House of Representatives passed a resolution, in October, recognizing Islam as one of the great religions of the world and acknowledging the start of the lunar Muslim month of Ramadan. The resolution recognized âthe Islamic faith as one of the great religions of the world,â rejected âhatred, bigotry and violence directed against Muslims, both in the United States and worldwide.â
Congress regularly passes resolutions commemorating holidays such as Christmas, Kwanzaa and Hanukkah. But the Oct. 2 vote marks the first time Congress has passed a resolution recognizing the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The resolution, that marks a milestone in the history of Muslims in America, was introduced by Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) and co-sponsored by 30 legislators, including Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota. Â Ellison is the first Muslim to be elected to the U.S. Congress. The resolution was approved by a vote of 376-0. Forty-one Republicans and one Democrat refused voting on the resolution. It is an important, if symbolic, sign that they are gaining acceptance in America.
Mistrial ordered in show trials
Since 9/11 Muslim charities have become a target. Dozens of charitable groups have been investigated since 2001. Several have been shut down, without any official finding that they were aiding terrorist organizations. However, it was a matter of big relief for the Muslim community when District Judge A. Joe Fish ordered mistrial in a show case trial of the leading Muslim charity Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. After 19 days of deliberations by the Jury, on October 22, 2007, Judge Fish declared a mistrial for most former leaders of HLF charged with financing Hamas militants after jurors failed to reach a verdict. One of the defendants, former HLF Chairman Mohammed El-Mezain, was acquitted of most charges.
Tellingly, for about an hour a confusing scene was reported in the courtroom, when three former HLF leaders were initially found not guilty. But then when jurors were polled, three of them said those verdicts were read incorrectly. Judge Fish sent them back to resolve the differences. After about an hour of renewed deliberations, the judge said he received a note from jury saying 11 of 12 feel further discussion would not lead to a unanimous decision.
A juror, William Neal, later told the Associated Press that the panel found little evidence against three of the defendants and was evenly split on charges against charity's former chief executive Shukri Abu Baker and its former chairman Ghassan Elashi, who were seen as the principal leaders of the charity. Neal said the jury was split about 6-6 on counts against Baker and Elashi.
"I thought they were not guilty across the board," said the juror, William Neal, a 33-year-old art director from Dallas. The case "was strung together with macaroni noodles. There was so little evidence," Neil said adding that the government's case had "so many gaps" that he regarded the prosecution as "a waste of time."
HLF case was the second show-case trial of Muslims in 2007. In February this year, a federal jury in Chicago acquitted Muhammed Salah and his codefendant Abdelhaleem Ashqar of supporting terrorism financing charges. Muhammed Salah was charged with âterrorismâ based upon a confession extracted by torture in an Israeli jail. Salute to the jurors who had the courage and integrity not to fall for the government's much abused "terrorism" rhetoric. This reinforces our belief in the values of fairness, justice and due process.
As the American Muslims struggle to regain their civil rights in the post-9/11 America, they are shocked to see an assault on all American citizens in the name of national security. In October, the U.S. House of Representatives quietly passed the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism (read Thought Crime) Prevention Act of 2007. The bill, passed by a landslide vote of 404 to 6, has been referred to the Senate where it awaits scrutiny from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
The bill's vague and open-ended language hides its true intent as to what "violent radicalization" and "homegrown terrorism" are? It will be whatever the administration says they are. Violent radicalization is defined as "adopting or promoting an extremist belief system (to facilitate) ideologically based violence to advance political, religious or social change."
Homegrown terrorism is used to mean "the use, planned use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual born, raised, or based and operating primarily with the United States or any (US) possession to intimidate or coerce the (US) government, the civilian population....or any segment thereof (to further) political or social objectives."
Along with other repressive laws enacted after 9/11, the new law may be used against any individual or group with unpopular views - those that differ from established state policies. Prosecutors henceforth will be able to target believers in Islam, anti-war protesters, web editors, internet bloggers and radio and TV show hosts and commentators with views the bill calls "terrorist-related propaganda."
Unfortunately this bill is likely to pass and be signed into law as it purports to be part of the response to 9/11 and the global war on terror. If this legislation becomes law, which is virtually certain, any dissenting anti-government action or opinion may henceforth be called "violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism" with stiff penalties for anyone convicted.
This bill now joins the ranks of other repressive post-9/11 laws like Patriot I and II, Military Commissions, Protect America Acts and Presidential Executive Orders pursuant to which the government has engaged in massive surveillance of its own citizens, as well as detentions, extraordinary renditions and torture.
Surprisingly, there is a criminal silence in the mainstream media about the impending thought crime law. To rephrase the French Philosopher Rene Descartes, the legislation would virtually say, I think, therefore I am (a criminal).
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