Your government just needs a reason to believe you may at some point want to commit a terrorist act. Some of you may say that they wouldn't do it unless someone really deserved it. One would hope our government would act with good faith. But here are some disturbing examples:
Shining Light in Dark Corners
Brandon Mayfield, an Oregon lawyer who was imprisoned for two weeks after the F.B.I. botched a fingerprint match and accused him of complicity in the Madrid railroad bombings, is suing to have parts of the Patriot Act overturned. Mr. Mayfield says federal agents invaded his home secretly, tapped his phone and seized some of his family's belongings. His name was among 20 produced by a computerized fingerprint comparison. He was the only one arrested, and Mr. Mayfield says he was singled out because he is a Muslim.
There were 20 others who matched the finger print. He was the only Muslim. The other 19 people could have included you and me.
Shining Light in Dark Corners
Several of the Muslim citizens held at the border for up to six hours on Sunday night and Monday morning told CAIR they objected strenuously to being fingerprinted, but were informed by CBP representatives that "you have no rights" and that they would be held until they agreed to the fingerprinting procedure. One person was allegedly threatened with arrest if she attempted to leave the detention area without being fingerprinted.
The only reason they were held and required to submit fingerprinting was because they were Muslim.
Teachers and Classmates Express Outrage at Arrest of Girl, 16, as a Terrorist Threat
At Heritage High School in East Harlem, where the student idiom is hip-hop and salsa, the 16-year-old Guinean girl stood out, but not just because she wore Islamic dress. She was so well liked that when she ran for student body president, she came in second to one of her best friends - the Christian daughter of the president of the parent-teacher association, Deleen P. Carr.
Now Ms. Carr, a speech pathologist who calls herself "a typical American citizen," is as outraged as the girl's teachers and classmates, who have learned that the girl and another 16-year-old are being called would-be suicide bombers and are being held in an immigration detention center in Pennsylvania.
"They have painted this picture of her as this person that is trying to destroy our way of life, and I know in my heart of hearts that this is bogus," said Ms. Carr, who welcomed the Guinean girl to her house daily and knows her family well. "I feel like, how dare they? She's a minor, and even if she's not a citizen, she has rights as a human being."
According to a government document provided to The New York Times by a federal official earlier this week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has asserted that both girls are "an imminent threat to the security of the United States based on evidence that they plan to be suicide bombers." No evidence was cited, and federal officials will not comment on the case.
Two 16 year old girls were held for 6 weeks. If there were evidence, I'm sure they would have been charged. One of them could have been your daughter.
Shining Light in Dark Corners
Confidence in the Justice Department's judgment and sense of proportion has been undermined by the government's tendency to make a huge deal out of arrests that turn out to involve unimportant people with bad attitudes but no ability - or even any apparent will - to do anything dangerous.
This comment was made in the NY Times in October 2004. Yet, there has been no change or adjustments to Bush's policy. It continues unabated.
You Can't Talk to an F.B.I. Agent That Way, or Can You? - New York Times
The government's focus on undercover sting operations and the recruitment of a network of Muslim informers has provoked the sharpest criticism. The most recent sting, which produced arrests last week in New York and Florida, has further stirred debate, although many details of the investigation, which led to charges that two American Muslim men conspired to aid Al Qaeda, remain unknown.
But, of late, perhaps no case has caused more ire than that of two teenage Muslim girls who were detained on immigration violations in March after the F.B.I. became concerned that they might be planning to become suicide bombers. After six weeks in detention the girls were quietly released, and officials have declined to comment on the case.
To more distant observers, these cases offer varying degrees of intrigue. But among Arab-Americans, they have become something of local lore, their details endlessly picked over and debated, their impact on public opinion about Muslims a source of dread.
"It's nerve-racking that every time you hear there was a sting operation you start praying it won't be an Arab," said Antoine Faisal, the publisher of Aramica, an English and Arabic newspaper in Bay Ridge. "There has been no disassociation between individuals and the community itself. It's, 'Those Arabs did it again.' "
The arrests, detentions and mass deportations of Muslim men as part of a now-suspended government program gave rise to what many Muslims describe as a culture of fear.
"When I criticize America in my Friday prayer, they say, 'Don't do that, sheik," said Sheik Tarek Youssof Saleh, 42, of the Oulel-Albab Masjid in Bay Ridge. "America is not like America before. They can arrest you."
Muslim's afraid of being victimized by an overzealous law enforcement system unfettered by the protections of due process.
But most disturbingly, the definition of "terrorism" worthy of investigation has broadened to those who advocate feeding the homeless and advocating for mistreatment of animals.
Shining Light in Dark Corners
Meanwhile, the ACLUissued a statement that said "the FBI and local police are engaging in intimidation based on political association and are improperly investigating law-abiding human rights and advocacy groups." The statement was based on information gathered from numerous Freedom of Information Act requests. The ACLU said it was filing a lawsuit in federal court to force the FBI to turn over "thousands of pages" of extra information that had been withheld."Since when did feeding the homeless become a terrorist activity?" asked ACLU Associate Legal Director Ann Beeson. "When the FBI and local law enforcement target groups like [Colorado-based] Food Not Bombs under the guise of fighting terrorism, many Americans who oppose government policies will be discouraged from speaking out and exercising their rights."
I'm reminded of the "witch hunts" of the McCarthy era. What has America come to?
Complete Article
The New York Times
June 4, 2005
You Can't Talk to an F.B.I. Agent That Way, or Can You?
By ANDREA ELLIOTT
Dressed in a navy suit and red tie, his hair parted neatly on the side, Special Agent Charles E. Frahm sat with practiced calm as Muslims rose, one after another, to hurl raw complaints at him. Mr. Frahm, who heads the counterterrorism division of the F.B.I. in New York, was at a banquet hall in the Midwood section of Brooklyn on Thursday night to listen, he had told the hundreds of residents gathered there.
And they responded. They were tired of being held for hours at airports when their names resembled those of suspected terrorists, they said. They were tired of seeing Muslims arrested on immigration charges. They were tired of having their mosques watched, their businesses scrutinized.
"America is our land!" Faruq Wadud, a Bangledeshi man, hollered hoarsely into the microphone as the room broke into a thunderous applause. "We are not foreigners! Our children, this is their motherland!"
Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the relationship between Muslims and law enforcement agents has been predictably fragile. The two groups have engaged in a delicate dance, balancing self-interest with political calculation.
People on both sides acknowledge a need for meaningful cooperation. But the relationship has frayed - and the voice of dissent among Muslims grown more audible - as a result of a series of criminal cases that have raised questions about the methods used by authorities in their fight against terrorism.
The government's focus on undercover sting operations and the recruitment of a network of Muslim informers has provoked the sharpest criticism. The most recent sting, which produced arrests last week in New York and Florida, has further stirred debate, although many details of the investigation, which led to charges that two American Muslim men conspired to aid Al Qaeda, remain unknown.
But, of late, perhaps no case has caused more ire than that of two teenage Muslim girls who were detained on immigration violations in March after the F.B.I. became concerned that they might be planning to become suicide bombers. After six weeks in detention the girls were quietly released, and officials have declined to comment on the case.
To more distant observers, these cases offer varying degrees of intrigue. But among Arab-Americans, they have become something of local lore, their details endlessly picked over and debated, their impact on public opinion about Muslims a source of dread.
"It's nerve-racking that every time you hear there was a sting operation you start praying it won't be an Arab," said Antoine Faisal, the publisher of Aramica, an English and Arabic newspaper in Bay Ridge. "There has been no disassociation between individuals and the community itself. It's, 'Those Arabs did it again.' "
The arrests, detentions and mass deportations of Muslim men as part of a now-suspended government program gave rise to what many Muslims describe as a culture of fear.
"When I criticize America in my Friday prayer, they say, 'Don't do that, sheik," said Sheik Tarek Youssof Saleh, 42, of the Oulel-Albab Masjid in Bay Ridge. "America is not like America before. They can arrest you."
Since Mr. Frahm took over New York's counterterrorism division in July 2004, he has impressed some skeptical Muslim leaders with his eagerness to make public appearances. "I think it helps the community to air their feelings," he said during a break on Thursday night. "This provides folks a forum for pent-up frustration. The emotion is real."
Mr. Frahm, 48, began the evening seated before hundreds of immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and other countries who had come to air their grievances. He shared the table with Martin Ficke, the special agent in charge of the New York office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and several Muslim community leaders, including a criminal defense lawyer, Khurrum Wahid. Mr. Wahid was among the first to speak, and began by thanking Mr. Frahm for coming to "take the heat."
By the time Mr. Faruq stepped up to declare America "our land," the temperature had risen markedly, but Mr. Frahm responded as he did throughout the evening: he rose, offered an understanding smile and stood his ground.
"I hear you, and I will continue to hear you," he said. "I can also say we make no apologies for actions we must take to protect Americans."
The relationship between law enforcement and Muslims in New York suffered immediately after 9/11, as it did elsewhere in the country. Mosques, Islamic goods stores and buildings where Muslims live came under close surveillance by undercover agents and police officers on patrol, inspiring deep fear, but little dialogue. Over time, the fear ebbed: imams invited community affairs officers to speak at their mosques; the F.B.I. began holding town hall meetings in Muslim neighborhoods; and, last year, officials of the bureau in New York agreed to meet privately with a group of Muslim activists in an effort to improve relations.
The committee has met six times, and both sides say it has dealt with substantive issues. At the urging of the Muslim members, the F.B.I. re-examined the list of scholars it relied on for information on Islam. Agents needed better cultural sensitivity training, Mr. Frahm said, so they would know, for instance, not to step on a person's prayer rug when inside a Muslim home.
"Muslims and the F.B.I. have the same problem," said Wissam Nasr, the executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations in New York, who spearheaded the effort. "They both feel they are very misunderstood."
* Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
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