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2010 another hard year for American Muslims - II
Anti-Muslim crusaders make millions spreading fear
Spreading hate and fear about Islam is a lucrative business and anti-Islam crusaders are making millions. Muslim-basher Steven Emerson’s for-profit company — Washington-based SAE Productions — collected 3.39 million dollars in 2008 for researching alleged ties between American Muslims and overseas terrorism. The payment came from the Investigative Project on Terrorism Foundation, a nonprofit charity Emerson also founded, which solicits money by telling donors they're in imminent danger from Muslims.
Emerson is a leading member of a multimillion-dollar industry of self-proclaimed experts who spread hate toward Muslims in books and movies, on websites and through speaking appearances. Leaders of the so-called "anti-jihad" movement portray themselves as patriots, defending America against radical Islam. And they've found an eager audience in ultra-conservative Christians and mosque opponents in Middle Tennessee. One national consultant testified in an ongoing lawsuit aimed at stopping a new Murfreesboro mosque.(8)
Surveillance of mosques and FBI sting operations against Muslim groups
The American Muslim community, under siege since the ghastly tragedy of 9/11, is alarmed at the FBI sting operations and provocative surveillance of their mosques. Many defense lawyers and civil rights advocates argue that the government’s tactics, particularly since the Sept. 11 attacks, have raised questions about the possible entrapment of people who pose no real danger but are enticed into pretend plots at the government’s urging.
However, US Attorney General Eric Holder, while addressing a Muslim Advocates gathering in San Francisco on December 10, rejected criticism of some counterterrorism techniques used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, including sending informers into mosques and creating elaborate sting operations.
Wading into the most controversial recent case, Holder backed the FBI's investigation of Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, a Somali-born Muslim in Oregon charged with trying to detonate a bomb at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony. FBI technicians had supplied the device, leading many Muslims and civil libertarians to question whether agents went too far by training the man for terrorism.
President of Muslim Advocates, Farhana Khera, argues that the complex “entrapment operations” may be getting people involved in terrorism who otherwise would not have done anything while the operations divert investigators from “actual threats” and stoke “anti-Muslim sentiment.”
Law-abiding American Muslims have experienced increasing levels of discriminatory, invasive and abusive conduct by federal agents in the years since 9/11. FBI’s extraordinary tools to fight crime are being turned against millions of its own citizens, including American Muslims. Tools intended to protect the country--such as massive data collection and analysis--instead, give the FBI unprecedented and unchecked power to amass huge amounts of detailed information on innocent Americans and community groups.
The Muslim Advocates Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Justice Department, in September 2009, filed a lawsuit seeking full public disclosure of FBI investigative guidelines for when and how agents can engage in surveillance. In July 2010, 29 state chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union joined the Muslim Advocates in an ongoing legal effort to seek full disclosure of the unedited copy of investigative guidelines the FBI has issued to its agents.
Rep. Peter King plans to grill Muslims
American Muslims were hoping that the anti-Islam and anti-Muslim bigotry movements will be rolled back with time. However, no such end is coming in the near future, particularly, with Republicans taking control of the House of Representative. Alarmingly, Rep. Peter King, incoming Republican chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, has announced a witch hunt targeting the Muslim community.
In an op-ed published in Newsday, Long Island Rep. Peter King, said that as part of his duties, he intends to hold hearings on topics including the "radicalization of the American Muslim community and homegrown terrorism." "As chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, I will do all I can to break down the wall of political correctness and drive the public debate on Islamic radicalization," he wrote. (9)
Interestingly, King, an Irish-American, was involved in the Northern Ireland peace process. His stand on terrorism itself is less than consistent. He was a prosecutor when four men, including Brooklynite George Harrison, were arrested for running 2,500 guns and a million rounds of ammunition to the IRA in Belfast. We didn't see him talking about the radicalization of Irish-Americans and calling for hearings, did we?
According to Joanna Molloy of New York Daily News, Rep. Pete King's proposal to hold hearings on the "radicalization" of American Muslims is something straight out of the Bad Ideas Department. Make that the Worst Ideas Department. Just substitute the word "movie" for "Muslim" and you've got McCarthyism. As in Sen. Joe, who called in actors from Lucille Ball to Judy Holliday simply because they had had naughty liberal thoughts. McCarthy found nothing on Holliday, but ruined her life and scores of others in Hollywood. (10)
Remember that King spent much of the summer leading the opposition to the so-called Ground Zero mosque. He also labeled the project's imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf, a "radical" - even though Rauf was picked by the Bush administration to help the State Department promote American values and spread the gospel of democracy in the Middle East.
King has a long history of extremist rhetoric and baseless allegations against American Muslims, including claiming that most mosques nationwide are run by "radicals." In 2004, he claimed 80 to 85 percent of American mosques are controlled by Islamic fundamentalists."
Conclusion
As I was giving final touches to this article another serious incident of hate crime was reported in Idaho. In Twins Fall, Idaho, John C. Larsen, was arrested on Wednesday (12/23) for threatening a Muslim woman while she was shopping at a Walmart. Larsen approached the woman, who wore a headscarf and was with her two children, and asked if she was Muslim. When the woman said she was, Larsen told her he spent 2 1/2 years in Iraq and “my friends were killed by you, I was blown up by you,” according to court records. The assailant also shouted that the woman "didn't belong here in the U.S." and claimed he had killed Muslims and planned to kill more. He also told the Muslim woman that he had a concealed weapon. A loaded weapon was later found in his car. Her ordeal is part of a pattern of hatred across the nation toward Muslims living in American society. The 42-year-old man was arraigned Thursday (12/24) on a charge of felony malicious harassment. CAIR has called on state and federal law enforcement authorities to bring hate crime charges against Larsen.
It will not be too much to say, in the words of Stephen Lendman, “it's the wrong time to be Muslim in America, Washington's target of choice to hype fear and enlist public support for imperial lawlessness, no matter the cost in reckless spending and loss of personal freedoms. Increasingly, everyone is now vulnerable for speaking out, voicing dissent, and supporting equity and justify for unpopular victims.” (11)
Some mainstream articles on the plight of Muslims in post-9/11 America
In recent months dozen of articles have been published in the mainstream media discussing victims of America's war on terror for political advantage, not for threatening national security or public safety. Read excerpts
References
(1) Alabama restaurant sign says: No Muslims Inside
An Alabama electronics store put a sign reading "BBQ PORK RESTURANT IS SAFEST NO MUSLIMS INSIDE. Electronic Repair Company owner Chuck Biddinger, who put up the sign last week, told local television station ABC 33/40 that while it was meant as a lighthearted joke, it was true. "Muslims do not eat pork," he told the television station. "It's a known fact that Muslims have tried to commit crimes in this country." The Daily News quoted him as saying that he wasn't worried about people's feelings. "For the local area, if I offend a few Muslims, there will be a lot of people who support it," he said. (The Daily News – December 10, 2010)
(2) Nebrasca councilman places a sign on his property reading: "Never Trust a Man Named Mohamed"
Dakota City (Nebrasca) councilman Bob Lane placed a sign on his property reading "Never Trust a Man Named Mohamed." The sign led several residents to lodge complaints at City Hall. Lane removed the Mohamed sign after it had been up for more than a week. "It is freedom of speech. Whenever we have a problem in the nation, the first name, the middle name or the last name is often Mohamed," said Lane, a multi-term councilman who was re-elected this year. (Sioux City Journal – December 21, 2010)
(3) Ohio: Muslim woman reports attack near mosque
In Columbus, Ohio, the FBI has begun a civil-rights investigation after 20-year-old Somali native, Saida J. Said reported that she was harassed and pepper-sprayed outside a West Side mosque on December 20. The attacker told her 'All you Muslims go back to where you came from.'" The incident was caught on the mosque's surveillance camera. (The Columbus Dispatch – December 22, 2010)
(4) Ohio mosque received anti-Muslim e-mail
The Clifton, Ohio Mosque on December 11 received the following email: "You should know that you are not wanted in Cincinnati. We don't want you here. Mohammad is a joke. Go back to your desert. Beware. We may just declare Jihad on you."
(5) New York Imam called 'camel jockey,' 'terrorist' during attack
On Dec 9, the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) today called on the Manhattan District Attorney's office to prosecute an alleged bias-motivated attack on an imam, or Muslim religious leader, as a hate crime. The incident began on the A-train early yesterday morning near Canal Street. One of two suspects arrested allegedly used racial and religious slurs, including calling the imam a "camel jockey" and shouting, "F*ck all you Muslims. All of you are terrorists," during the verbal and physical assault. (CAIR)
(6) Colorado Muslim Republican switches parties over GOP 'bigotry'
Muhammad Ali Hasan, a member of the wealthy and influential Colorado Republican Hasan family and a past state House and treasurer candidate, said he is switching parties. Speaking at the University of Colorado-Boulder event on Dec 9, Hasan said he is ending his affiliation with the party for the bigotry he believes has shaped Republican politics over the last year. (Colorado Independent)
(7) Islamophobia is on the rise in the USA by Dr. Habib Siddiqui (American Muslim Perspective)
(8) Anti-Muslim crusaders make millions spreading fear By Bob Smietana - The Tennessean – October 24, 2010
(9) What's radicalizing Muslim Americans? By Peter King - The Newsday December 20, 2010
(10) Pete King's plan to grill Muslims is flashback to Joe McCarthy's Hollywood witch hunt for Communists – The New York Daily News - December 21, 2010
(11) America's War on Islam By Stephen Lendman - OpEdNews - December 18, 2010
Abdus Sattar Ghazali is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of America.
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