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Chronology of Islam in America (2011)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
August 2011 - Page Three
Anti-Muslim sentiment clouds $1m gift to Joplin schools
Aug 10: It was one of those feel-good stories that have popped up day after day since the May 22 Joplin Tornado. The United Arab Emirates embassy pledged half a million dollars to the Joplin Schools for the One-to-One program, which is designed to give every high school student a laptop for the 2011-2012 school year. That pledge is backed by an additional pledge of another half million if other donors can match the original amount. The following passage was included in the school district news release: "The entire world was touched by the devastation caused in Joplin by the May 22 tornado. Given the scale of the disaster, including the destruction of the community's only high school, we felt it was important to provide assistance," said Yousef Al Otaiba, UAE Ambassador to the U.S. "The One-to-One initiative is a truly innovative idea that will not only give current students the tools they need to start the school year, but position future Joplin Schools students on the cutting-edge of learning."
Joplin Schools and the UAE Embassy anticipate this grant as the start of a longer-term partnership between the two organizations. JS and the Embassy hope to work together to develop programming that will deepen cultural understating and awareness between the U.S. and the UAE. At least $500,000 and probably $1.5 million being used for the benefit of students whose lives have been forever changed by the cataclysmic forces of nature. Who could argue with such an outpouring of humanity? Who could argue with the evidence of the effect Joplin has had on the world? Sadly, some of those who are arguing come from within Joplin. They lurk on the comment sections of blogs, including mine, and the local newspaper. Deep torrents of bigotry are unleashed in these comments, almost always by people who hide behind the cloak of anonymity. The first reaction on my blog, The Turner Report, was what I expected when I printed the school district's news release on the gift: The same country that brought us the 9-11 hijackers! Another one wrote: Did Joplin Schools sell their souls?
It is difficult to promote reason when our culture is dominated by conversations in which those who can shout the loudest and have the catchiest soundbites are prized more than those with the ability to discuss an issue using the force of reason. Our culture is a recipe designed to pull us apart, not bring us together. But I have watched over these past two-and-a-half months as the most horrific event in Joplin's history has brought together not only the people of Joplin, but the people of the world. The basic tenets of love, decency, and generosity are not limited to one country, one religion or one color. When someone reaches out with a helping hand, we should never respond with slurs and undisguised hatred. The correct response to the gift of the United Arab Emirates, the one which has been overwhelmingly provided by those in Joplin who do not hide their venom behind fake names or "Anonymous" is "thank you." [Randy Turner English teacher in Joplin, Missouri - Huffington Post]
State Department awards $200,000 to Elliott-Abrams-led
think tank repeatedly cited by Oslo mass murderer Breivik
Aug 11: Jim Lobe asks, How many times did mass murderer Anders Breivik refer to the Middle East Media Research Institute in his Islamophobic manifesto? Well I just went to Breivik's manifesto and I counted, 23 references to MEMRI or MEMRITV. MEMRI is an Israel lobby shop. Its directors include Elliott Abrams. Its advisers include a lot of Bush-era neocons, Bernard Lewis, Norman Podhoretz, John Bolton, not to mention Mort Zuckerman, Ehud Barak (the former Israeli P.M.) and Edgar Bronfman. Why are we asking about MEMRI? Look at this at the State Department--they're giving em money!: You connect the dots. I'm too tired! Here under is part of a Media Note from State's "International Religious Freedom" office: “The Department of States Office of International Religious Freedom in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor awarded a $200,000 grant to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) to conduct a project that documents anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial and Holocaust glorification in the Middle East. This grant will enable MEMRI to expand its efforts to monitor the media, translate materials into ten languages, analyze trends in anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial and glorification, and increase distribution of materials through its website and other outlets.” [Mondoweiss]
Michigan bill targets use of 'foreign' laws like Sharia
August 13: A state lawmaker wants Michigan to join the trend of states banning "foreign laws," but Muslim activists say the effort is a thinly veiled attack on Islam. Rep. Dave Agema, R-Grandville, is pushing a bill to bar the implementation of foreign laws. It doesn't mention Sharia — Islamic law — but he acknowledged it would be prohibited in courts under the legislation intended to prevent anyone "who tries to shove any foreign law down our throats." "No foreign law shall supersede federal laws or constitution or state laws or constitution," Agema said. "Our law is our law. I don't like foreign entities telling us what to do." Agema said his bill would protect the "vast majority" of Muslims, whom he contended "come to this country to get away from Sharia."
The legislation comes at a time of heightened debate about Sharia, a set of religious rules governing personal conduct, family relationships and religious practice for Muslims. Critics fear Sharia could supersede civil law and have an impact on divorce and child custody cases, and similar legislation has been introduced in 25 states. Some say the bills are unnecessary and pander to anti-Muslim paranoia. "Agema … is a reflection of a segment of the GOP that is openly xenophobic and Islamophobic," said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' Michigan chapter. Victor Begg, a prominent Republican and co-founder of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan, called the bill "appalling." "Some in our party find it politically opportune to target my faith by sponsoring an innocuous sounding bill, knowing well that their intent is so-called 'creeping Sharia,'" Begg said. "If anybody has a problem with this that means they don't agree with U.S. laws," Agema said. "If they don't want it passed then they have an ulterior agenda. It shows the people accusing me of that (bigotry) are guilty of it themselves." (The Detroit News)
Did U.S. trade freedom for security after 9/11?
Aug 15: Sweeping new policing powers, the tacit acceptance of torture and a backlash against Muslims that has grown fiercer 10 years after the September 11 attacks have made the United States a less free and open society. The erosion of fundamental American values along with massive — and what some see as disproportionate — expenditures on homeland security and two wars have allowed al-Qaida to accomplish at least some of its goals. Most Americans don't seem to mind. A majority of them consistently tell pollsters they are willing to give up some civil liberties in order to make the country safer and only about a quarter say torturing terror suspects is never justified. "The reason that I think a number of people haven't responded as aggressively to things like warrantless wiretapping is because they think it won't happen to them," said Andrea Prasow, senior counsel for Human Rights Watch's U.S. program. "History shows that's not true. Once government has a power they won't give it back." Congress is currently considering legislation that would allow indefinite detention without trial — something that used to be as unimaginable as a U.S. president saying "damn right" to waterboarding and other forms of "enhanced interrogation." "That's not where the U.S. was 10 years ago. It was a leader - not perfect - but a leader in promoting human rights," Prasow told AFP. "Terrorists seek to change a nation or a people, and that has happened." The war on terror granted law enforcement unprecedented power to monitor the email, phone calls, financial transactions, library records and Internet browsing of citizens and foreigners alike and store them in massive databases. Some of those "data sweeps" have reportedly gathered everything from hotel records on more than 300,000 travelers to Las Vegas to the names of anyone who took scuba diving lessons in the San Diego area. Nowhere has the intrusion of security into daily life been more obvious than in airports — the al-Qaida target of choice — where a controversial new pat-down policy made a minor hero of a man recorded telling a screener "don't touch my junk" last year. [Agence France-Presse]
Frequent flier fracas: Muslims face travel woes
Aug 15: The calls have reached a point of repetitive regularity for civil rights lawyer Gadeir Abbas: A young Muslim American, somewhere in the world, is barred from boarding an airplane. The exact reasons are never fully articulated, but the reality is clear. The traveler has been placed on the government's terror watchlist—or the more serious no-fly list—and clearing one's name becomes a legal and bureaucratic nightmare. Abbas has sent letters to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and FBI Director Robert Mueller requesting assistance for his two most recent clients. One is a resident of Portland, Ore. who is trying to fly to Italy to live with his mother. The other, a teenager and U.S. citizen living in Jordan, has been unable to travel to Connecticut to lead prayers at a mosque. All American citizens have the unqualified right to reside in the United States," Abbas wrote in a letter to secretary of State Hillary Clinton seeking a change in status for the client in Jordan. Abbas, a lawyer with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, tries to piece together the reason why a client has been placed on the list. Perhaps a person has a similar name to a known terrorist. Maybe their travels to Yemen or some other Middle East hot spot have garnered suspicion. Maybe they told the FBI to take a hike when they requested an interview. Ultimately, though, the reasons are almost irrelevant. From Abbas' perspective, the placement on the no-fly list amounts to a denial of a traveler's basic rights: U.S. citizens can't return home from overseas vacations, children are separated from parents, and those under suspicion are denied the basic due process rights that would allow them to clear their name. Abbas describes the security bureaucracy as Kafkaesque, a labyrinthine maze of overlapping agencies, all of which refuse to provide answers unless they are threatened with legal action. One lawsuit is still pending in federal court in Alexandria, Va. That case has followed what has become a familiar pattern: Abbas either files a lawsuit or exposes the case to public scrutiny through the media, and within a few days the individual in question is able to travel. Government officials then ask a judge to dismiss any lawsuits that were filed, saying the cases are now moot. "The amount of people who experience tragic, life-altering travel delays is significant," said Abbas, who estimates he gets a call at least once a month from a Muslim American in dire straits because their travel has been restricted. Exactly how many people are on the government's lists is unclear. Some of the most recent estimates, from late 2009, state that about 400,000 individuals are on the "watchlist," which requires a "reasonable suspicion" that the person is known or suspected to be engaged in terrorist activities. A much smaller number—about 14,000—is on the "selectee list," meaning they will likely have to undergo rigorous screening to travel. And officials estimated that 3,400 individuals, including roughly 170 U.S. residents, are on the no-fly list.
Michael Migliore was told by security officials last month that he is on the no-fly list after he tried to take a flight from Portland, Ore., to Italy following his college graduation. Migliore, a Muslim and a dual citizen of the U.S. and Italy, was planning a permanent move to Italy to live with his mother. Migliore, 23, suspects he was placed on the no-fly list after he refused to talk to the FBI without a lawyer in November 2010, when the bureau was investigating an acquaintance charged in a plot to detonate bomb at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony. "I feel that I did the right thing," Migliore said of his decision to exercise his rights when questioned by the FBI. "I didn't do anything wrong. ... It's very frustrating, not knowing what's going to happen, if I'm ever going to get off this list." For now, he's waiting in Portland until he can get his name cleared for travel.
In another case, an 18 year-old U.S. citizen living in Jordan with his parents was bounced from an EgyptAir flight to New York. Amr Abulrub had planned to lead Ramadan prayers at a Connecticut mosque. After a few days of confusion, Abulrub learned from airline officials that the U.S. government had instructed EgyptAir to cancel his ticket. U.S. embassy officials in Amman have subsequently told Abulrub he can travel under certain restrictions, including a requirement that his flight to the U.S. be booked on an American airline. But Abulrub is leery of traveling at all for fear that he won't be allowed to go back to Jordan. Abulrub's father, Jalal Abulrub, suspects his son has come to the attention of U.S. authorities because of his own writings. Jalal is a Salafist scholar who has sometimes written provocative articles and antagonized Christian evangelists he believed were disrespectful to Muslims. While Jalal says his family is Salafist—generally considered a fundamentalist sect of Islam—he is quick to point out that he has a long history of writing in opposition to the ideology espoused by Osama bin laden and al-Qaida. [Associated Press]
CODEPINK calls for investigation into ‘AIPAC loophole’ for Israel junkets
Aug 15: The peace group CODEPINK has filed a formal complaint with the Congressional Ethics Committee, calling for an investigation of the junkets to Israel paid for by the powerful Israel lobby AIPAC but channeled through their educational front group, The American Israel Education Foundation (AIEF), according to a COPDEPINK press release. This summer recess, a staggering 81 Congresspeople—one out of five members—are participating in these trips, the press release said adding: “According to the House Ethics Rules, Congress is prohibited from participating in any multiple-day trip that is planned, organized, requested, or arranged by a lobbyist. AIPAC skirts the law by funneling the trips through AIEF. According to the latest publicly available tax returns, in 2009 AIEF did not even have paid staff, relying on AIPAC employees to do its work. AIPAC contributed more than $3.2 million of employee salaries to cover the staff costs of AIEF in 2009. In other words, a 501(c)(4) organization with registered lobbyists is paying for the staff of a 501(c)(3) organization to run congressional delegations that cannot legally be funded by an organization that employs registered lobbyists.”
“AIPAC barely tries to hide that fact that AIEF is a front group,” says CODEPINK cofounder Medea Benjamin, who filed the complaint. “The groups are housed in the same offices, have overlapping boards of directors, share staff, employ the same Chief Financial Officer and are constantly moving funds from one entity to another. It’s time for Congress to put an end to this charade by closing the AIPAC loophole.” “Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist at Public Citizen who helped draft federal lobbying and ethics reform legislation signed into law in 2007, agrees. “The House ethic rules do not allow a non-profit group like AIEF, which is controlled and directed by the lobby group AIPAC, to pay for travel junkets for members of Congress. This AIPAC loophole is rendering the travel rules meaningless and should be stopped,” says Holman.
"With constituents facing severe economic hardships, Representatives should be home in their districts during this August recess to tell voters how they will dig us out the mess they've created,” says Josh Ruebner, the national advocacy director at the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. “Instead many of them are spending part of their recess in Israel on a lobbyist-funded trip, being pressured into even more tax-payer-funded weapons for the Israeli military, weapons used to commit human rights abuses against Palestinians." “CODEPINK, which organizes citizen diplomacy delegations to Israel and Palestine, including Gaza, believes these AIPAC trips give the participants a skewed view that hides the oppressive nature of the Israeli government. "The trips are designed to push the U.S. Congress into supporting AIPAC policies of unconditional support for the Israel government, such as continuing to give $3 billion of our taxdollars to Israel and vetoing the upcoming Palestinian call for statehood at the UN," said Benjamin. "AIPAC puts the interests of Israel before U.S. interests, which makes these Congressional junkets dangerous and downright un-American." [Mondoweiss]
Courthouse site of protest over Islamic film
Aug 19: In Cookville, Tennessee, a crowd of more than 100 peaceful protestors gathered outside the courthouse last night with signs saying "We love Muslims" and "All religions believe in justice," among many others, showing their opposition to the Tennessee Freedom Coalition's showing of what they call a highly controversial film about the Islamic religion. "A Warning to America," by Geert Wilders, a Dutch politician who has spoken out against Islam, was shown in the county commission chambers last night. DVDs of the film were also available for purchase at the event. "We're here to voice another side," Pat Handlson, minister of Cookeville First Presbyterian Church and event organizer said. "I think it's sad there's been such negativity surrounding the Murfreesboro mosque." Wilders, according to Rachel Welch, organizer of the film showing and vice-chair of the Putnam County Republican Party, has been under persecution in his country for hate speech and speaking out against Shariah law. Not long ago he was acquitted, but he still has to travel with bodyguards as he was put under a "fatwa" (call for his death) by Muslims. Handlson is concerned about this film being shown locally because Cookeville is home to a large group of Saudi Muslims. "This is a subject we need to talk about though," he continued. "My hope is that eventually a dialogue between the two sides will come about. We don't need to talk at each other and attack each other." [Herald Citizen]
Continued on page four
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