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Chronology of Islam in America (2010)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
December 2010
Anti-Muslim slurs used in attack on Oregon Muslim inmate
Dec 1: The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office is investigating whether an assault on an inmate at a Portland jail is a hate crime linked to the arrest of would-be Pioneer Courthouse Square bomber Mohamed Mohamud. Witnesses described an assault on Inverness Jail inmate Mohamed Anwar Ahmend, 23, that included slurs against Muslims, said Multnomah County sheriff’s spokeswoman Lt. Mary Lindstrand. Ahmend initially claimed he was injured in a fall while cleaning the showers. But staff did not agree that his injuries were caused by a fall; Ahmend was taken to a local hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. After his return to a different housing unit in the jail, witnesses confirmed that Ahmend was assaulted. (The Oregonian) CAIR-WA also asked the FBI and state law enforcement authorities to determine whether the assault on the inmate in a Portland jail was prompted by a recent FBI sting operation in which a Muslim teen was arrested in that city. CAIR-WA also asked the FBI and state law enforcement authorities to determine whether the assault on the inmate in a Portland jail was prompted by a recent FBI sting operation in which a Muslim teen was arrested in that city. "While the Muslim community has repeatedly condemned any and all actions that would threaten our nation's safety and security, American Muslims continue to experience backlash from events like the Portland sting operation," said CAIR-WA Executive Director Arsalan Bukhari. "Unfortunately, it appears that the sting has resulted in further stigmatization of the American Muslim community." (CAIR)
Tension grows between Calif. Muslims, FBI after informant infiltrates mosque
Dec 5: Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, the FBI has used informants successfully as one of many tactics to prevent another strike in the United States. Agency officials say they are careful not to violate civil liberties and do not target Muslims. But the FBI's approach has come under fire from some Muslims, criticism that surfaced again late last month after agents arrested an Oregon man they said tried to detonate a bomb at a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony. FBI technicians had supplied the device.
In the Irvine CA case, Craig Monteilh's mission as an informant backfired. Muslims were so alarmed by his talk of violent jihad that they obtained a restraining order against him. He had helped build a terrorism-related case against a mosque member, but that also collapsed. The Justice Department recently took the extraordinary step of dropping charges against the worshiper, who Monteilh had caught on tape agreeing to blow up buildings, law enforcement officials said. Prosecutors had portrayed the man as a dire threat. Compounding the damage, Monteilh has gone public, revealing secret FBI methods and charging that his "handlers" trained him to entrap Muslims as he infiltrated their mosques, homes and businesses. He is now suing the FBI.
Officials declined to comment on specific details of Monteilh's tale but confirm that he was a paid FBI informant. Court records and interviews corroborate not only that Monteilh worked for the FBI - he says he made $177,000, tax-free, in 15 months - but that he provided vital information on a number of cases. Some Muslims in Southern California and nationally say the cascading revelations have seriously damaged their relationship with the FBI, a partnership that both sides agree is critical to preventing attacks and homegrown terrorism. Citing Monteilh's actions and what they call a pattern of FBI surveillance, many leading national Muslim organizations have virtually suspended contact with the bureau. "The community feels betrayed," said Shakeel Syed, executive director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, an umbrella group of more than 75 mosques. (Washington Post)
Calif. mosque mole erodes trust between Muslims, FBI
Dec 6: When Farouk al-Aziz allegedly tried to incite members of a California mosque to blow up a mall, they reported him to the FBI, but nothing happened. Apparently, that's because al-Aziz was actually Craig Monteilh, a paid FBI informant and ex-convict sent to infiltrate the mosque and expose a potential terrorist. But the FBI's attempt to spy on the mosque was exposed instead, in a case that has imperiled relations between the agency and American Muslims. It has also sparked tough questions from critics who say the FBI's tactics in Muslim communities can sometimes amount to entrapment. "The question is this: Would these alleged 'plots' have taken place without active FBI involvement?" Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told AOL News today. "And too often we're seeing that they are really manufactured by the FBI and used as a way to draw in people who may not otherwise have chosen to do any kind of action on their own."
In the California case, reported by The Washington Post this weekend, the FBI paid Monteilh -- a convicted forger -- $177,000 over more than a year to help build a terror case against Ahmadullah Sais Niazi, a member of an Irvine mosque. But the case fell apart when Niazi and others in the mosque became so concerned by Monteilh's comments about violent jihad that they reported him to the FBI and even sought a restraining order against him. "They said Farouk had told them he had access to weapons and that they should blow up a mall," Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations -- Los Angeles, told the Post. "They were convinced this man was a terrorist." In September, the Justice Department dropped the case against Niazi, who allegedly had been caught on tape by Monteilh agreeing to blow up buildings, according to the Post. And now, to make matters worse for the agency, Monteilh is speaking out publicly about his story, claiming FBI agents taught him how to entrap Muslims and made offensive statements about Islam. (AOL News)
Time for FBI to stop spying on American Muslims
Dec 7: Elaborate sting operations not only risk entrapment of bogus terrorist suspects, but worse, they wreck vital community trust. The recent arrest of the potential Christmas tree bomber is reflective of the FBI's myopic strategy of using glitzy, expensive sting operations and dubious confidential informants to further erode Muslim American relations instead of concentrating on effective partnerships to combat radicalisation. The FBI is promoting the arrest of Mohamed Osman Mohamud, a 19-year-old Somali-born teenager accused of attempting to detonate a car bomb at a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony, as a triumph of effective law enforcement. Instead, the operation reeks of gratuitous self-adulation, requiring 6 months of time and precious expenditures to "uncover" a dummy terrorist plot wholly scripted and concocted by the FBI in the first place.
In a country where 60% of its citizens claim to not know a Muslim and 45% regard Islam as a religion that promotes violence, these self-aggrandizing displays of "successful" prosecutions also contribute to the volatile climate of anti-Muslim bigotry and reactionary rhetoric. Recently, Glenn Beck delved into his hyperactive, paranoid imagination to produce the utterly baseless statistic that nearly 10% of Muslims are terrorists. Although many of Beck's audience will not question the veracity of his "facts", a comprehensive study undertaken by Duke University reveals that the number of radicalised Muslim-Americans remains very small. The study reports that "Muslim American communities have been active in preventing radicalization… This is one reason that Muslim American terrorism has resulted in fewer than three dozen of the 136,000 murders committed in the United States since 9/11."
Undoubtedly, radicalization and terrorism are real threats, which afflict all US citizens, regardless of race or religion. Perhaps the FBI should now cease treating most Muslim American citizens as potential suspects, whose privacy rights and civil liberties are now curtailed in clumsy ways – such as faulty GPS tracking devices sloppily attached on their cars. Perhaps the FBI needs to spend its considerable (taxpayer-paid-for) resources to re-engage them as partners and allies – instead of contributing to the heightened climate of fear and paranoia by employing shady informants with cheesy, comic-book codenames. (The Guardian UK)
Hateful anti-Muslim group’s efforts to bring Islamophobia into the mainstream
Dec 7: Last month, Salon’s Justin Elliott published new clues about a mysterious anti-Muslim front organization called the Clarion Fund. Clarion produced “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West,” a graphic film depicting Muslims as terrorists bent on world conquest, and during the 2008 presidential campaign, distributed 28 million copies of the DVD to households in swing states like Pennsylvania and Florida. Producers of the film have taken credit for the recent surge in Islamophobia, pointing to the anti-Muslim protests sweeping the nation earlier this summer and the protests against the planned Park51 Muslim community center in downtown Manhattan as evidence of the movie’s influence. Elliott obtained a 990 tax form showing that someone named “Barre Seid” (note the spelling) financed Clarion’s distribution and media outreach in 2008 with a donation of $17 million. However, no public record exists for a millionaire named “Barre Seid,” but Salon pointed out that a Chicago-area manufacturing executive named “Barry Seid” has a long history of funding anti-Muslim groups and activists like FrontPageMag’s David Horowitz. Barry Seid denied any involvement with Clarion, despite the 990 form Elliott obtained. It’s likely that either Seid or a small set of wealthy donors underwrote Clarion effort. Reporter Pam Martens discovered that a firm called Donors Capital Trust gave $17 million to the Clarion Fund in 2008 in nine installments. Donors Capital Trust helps wealthy right-wing donors anonymously give to right-wing front groups. (Think Progress)
College drops Islam course in light of instructor’s history
Dec 7: Lane Community College (Oregon) has pulled the plug on a noncredit winter course entitled “What is Islam?” after learning about some of the controversial political views of the course’s instructor, Eugene resident Barry Sommer. Sommer has given talks at the Pacifica Forum, a discussion group forced off the University of Oregon campus following a series of presentations that critics said were anti-Semitic. He also leads the local chapter of ACT! for America, a nonprofit organization that describes itself as an issues advocacy group but that opponents describe as an Islamophobic hate group. Sommer’s proposed course caught the attention of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil liberties advocacy organization. “Unless the goal of this course is to promote anti-Muslim bigotry, Lane Community College should replace Mr. Sommer with someone who will offer students a balanced and objective analysis of the subject matter,” Arsalan Bukhari, executive director of the Washington state chapter of CAIR, said in a letter to Spilde. (The Register-Guard)
Colorado Muslim Republican switches parties over GOP 'bigotry'
Dec 9: 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 on his experience growing up Muslim in the American West and later in conversation with the Colorado Independent, 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)
New York Imam called 'camel jockey,' 'terrorist' during attack
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. The police task force has called for hate crime charges in the case. Other recent anti-Muslim incidents nationwide include an arson attack on an Oregon mosque, a bias attack on an Oregon Muslim inmate, the beating of a California Sikh mistaken for a Muslim, a bias attack on Muslim women in Seattle, a racist attack on worshipers at a Canadian mosque, an attack on a New York Muslim mother and child, the arrest of New York teens who allegedly harassed a Muslim student because of his faith, and the defacement of a South Carolina mosque. Mosques in California, Tennessee, New York, Illinois, Wisconsin, Arizona, Louisiana, Kentucky, Texas, and Florida have faced vocal opposition or have been similarly targeted by hate incidents in recent months. (CAIR)
Holder defends FBI sting operations against Muslim groups
Dec 10: Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. today strongly defended the use of string FBI operations by government informers by telling advocates of American Muslims civil rights that the tactic is an essential law enforcement tool in uncovering and preventing terror attacks and those who allege government entrapment simply do not have their facts straight. In a 20-minute speech delivered in San Francisco at the annual dinner of Muslim Advocates, a national legal advocacy and civil rights organization, Mr. Holder rejected criticism by such groups that sting operations amount to improper entrapment. The Muslim Advocates is one of several groups voicing concerns over hate crimes, alleged rights violations at the hands of law enforcement and the tactics used in anti-terrorism cases. Carefully-crafted sting operations by FBI and Justice Department officials have included plots against a Portland, Ore., Christmas celebration, Dallas skyscrapers, Washington subways, a Chicago nightclub and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. Undercover operatives in these cases have let suspects make clear they wanted to carry out an attack and gave them a chance to change their mind, according to authorities. But Holder told the group he would make "no apologies" for the handling of the case against Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, a Somali-born Muslim accused of plotting to set off a bomb in Oregon. "Those who characterize the FBI's activities in this case as 'entrapment' simply do not have their facts straight or do not have a full understanding of the law."
"We have very serious concerns about FBI surveillance tactics that are used. We believe that law enforcement has an important job to protect us as a country but they should do so mindful of the rules of justice and fairness that are at the core of our criminal justice system," said Muslim Advocates executive director Farhana Khera, who invited Holder to speak to the group. “We maintain concerns about FBI policies regarding informants in mosques and provocateurs in the community,” said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights and advocacy group based in Washington. Mr. Hooper said the outreach on Friday had been long overdue. Muslims in the United States, he said, have been disappointed with what they consider lukewarm efforts on the part of the Obama administration to follow talk with action — on subjects like closing the detainee prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and policies toward Israel, for example. Mr. Obama has also been less willing to show support for Muslims domestically, he said, never making a public visit to a mosque.
A study this year by the Center on Law and Security at New York University, which tracks terrorism cases, found that of 156 prosecutions in what it identified as the most significant 50 cases since 2001, informers were relied on in 97 of them, or 62 percent. The entrapment defense has often been raised, but as of September, it had never been successful in producing an acquittal in a post-Sept. 11 terrorism trial, the study found. (AMP Report)
General Boykin says Islam poses threat to US
Dec 10: Retired Army Lt. General William G. Boykin, a fundamentalist evangelist, who calls Islam a false religion, has again said Islam poses a threat to U.S. and the way to solve the greatest threat of our times is to change the religious belief of Muslims. General Boykin’s anti-Islam comments came during his three lectures delivered on December 10, 2010 in Owego, New York. According to Press Connects, speaking on “America and the Greatest Threat of our Time,” General Boykin said: "I believe today we face as great a threat as we faced in 1776," Boykin said. "The situation in America is much far more serious than most Americans realize, and there's no longer any excuse for not knowing." That threat, he said, is Islam. "You need to remember one thing from tonight's presentation," Boykin told the audience. "Their objective is to replace our Constitution with Sharia Law.” …… "You need to understand that this is a war of ideology -- it's not a war of Islam versus Christianity," Boykin said. "This is a war of Islam against everybody that is not submitted to Allah. Now because most of the world is Christian, it falls out that most of the people who are under persecution, or the targets of Islam, are Christians."
According to Wikipedia, General Boykin has gained notoriety for his Christian Fundamentalist views over the last few years and some public remarks. Boykin is a born-again Christian, who has cast the "War on Terror" in Biblical terms. In one speech, Boykin, an evangelical Christian, belittled a Muslim fighter who said Allah had protected him from U.S. forces. "I knew ... that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol," said Boykin, a much-decorated veteran of covert military operations. Boykin has also made several statements indicating that America's enemy was "a spiritual enemy...called Satan," and that "radical Muslims" hate the United States, "because we're a Christian nation, because our foundation and roots are Judeo-Christian and the enemy is a guy named Satan." (AMP Report)
Alabama restaurant sign says: No Muslims Inside
Dec 10: 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, said he meant the message as a joke. "I have gotten a few complaints about it, but for every one complaint about it I've had, 10 people tell me that they like it and support it," he said. He 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." When asked by The News if he understood why this sign might have gotten more attention than other racist or sexist signs he may have posted, he replied, "No, ma'am." After all, he said, 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. Not to mention, all the coverage of his repair shop from the sign is good for business. (The Daily News)
Ohio mosque received anti-Muslim e-mail
Dec 11: The Clifton, Ohio Mosque today 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." Karen Dabdoub of the Cincinnati chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said today's environment fosters a safe place to breed hate and allows anti-Muslim sentiment to go unchallenged. "When you have elected officials and other types of community leaders saying these kinds of things, it makes a lot of other people feel like well, if they can say it, then I can say it," said Dabdoub. (CAIR)
The next Congress will see terror in everything
Dec 14: Terrorism will play a key role in hearings on virtually all these topics, most dramatically, no doubt, in focusing attention on what Republicans view as a shadowy Latin network of terrorist infiltrators seeking to exploit the U.S. failure to protect its own southern border. Interestingly, though, only about 8 percent of those who cast ballots in the 2010 election cited immigration concerns as their primary motivator. Of those who did, however, nearly 70 percent were Republicans. With their new House majority, the Republicans plan to pay some major attention to that 8 percent of the motivated electorate. Immigration matters will play out largely in two key House committees, Homeland Security and Judiciary, and critical members of each committee told me they intend to investigate past actions of the Obama administration “fully and completely,” block any kind of comprehensive immigration reform, expose supposed lax enforcement of immigration laws and inadequate resources devoted to – as one Judiciary member put it – “boots on the ground.” (Stephan Salisbury – Antiwar.org)
L.A. city council resolution against Islamophobia
Dec15: The City of Los Angeles unanimously passed a resolution today against the rising tide of Islamophobia in the nation. The resolution said there has been a marked nationwide increase in acts of violence, discrimination and hostility directed at Muslim Americans on the basis of their religious identity including here in Southern California. “This rise in anti-Muslim sentiment, commonly called Islamophobia, has contributed to opposition to the lawful construction and expansion of religious centers across the United States, including in Tennessee, Wisconsin, Illinois, Connecticut and California.” The resolution pointed out that more than two dozen mosques across America have been the targets of vandalism, arson and other hateful acts in the past two years. In addition, hate crimes and incidents have increased tremendously in recent months and have led to hostile environments for many Muslim Americans. (MPAC)
End invasive religious questioning at the border: ACLU
Dec 16: Do you prefer Fox News or Al-Jazeera? Do you attend mosque? Why? How often? What mosque? Are you Shi'a or Sunni? How do you feel about the U.S. occupation in Iraq? These questions — and many others similar to it — are the kinds of invasive questions many travelers are asked by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officers as they cross U.S. borders. But given the nature of these questions, it won't surprise you that the only people being queried are Muslim, or are perceived to be Muslim. Over the past several years, at ports, land border crossings, and international airports across the country, U.S. citizens and lawful residents who are Muslim, or who are perceived to be Muslim, have been targeted by CBP officers for questioning about deeply personal beliefs, associations and religious practices protected by the First Amendment. On their way home to the U.S., these Americans have been asked about their religious identity, what mosques they attend, how often they pray, their religious charitable giving, and their views on U.S. military engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some have had their electronic devices, such as laptops and cell phones, searched and data copied. Today, the ACLU and Muslim Advocates sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner requesting an investigation into this troubling practice. We also filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection for information and records about whether and when government officials are permitted to ask citizens and legal residents about their protected beliefs, associations, and activities during border inspections. (ACLU)
About 25 percent of Arab adults in Detroit reported abuse after 9/11
Dec 17: One quarter of Detroit-area Arab Americans reported personal or familial abuse because of race, ethnicity or religion since 9/11, leading to higher odds of adverse health effects, according to a new University of Michigan study published online today in the American Journal of Public Health. Muslim Arabs also reported higher rates of abuse than Christians, said lead author Aasim I. Padela, M.D., a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar in U-M’s Department of General Medicine and clinical instructor in the Department of Emergency Medicine. Padela says those who reported abuse showed a higher probability of having psychological distress, lower levels of happiness and poorer perceptions of health status. Approximately 490,000 Arabs reside in Michigan, and more than 80 percent of those live in metro Detroit’s Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. Arabs are the third largest ethnic population in Michigan, with a history dating back multiple generations. This community is the largest concentration of Arabs outside of the Middle East. Padela and co-author Michele Heisler, M.D., associate professor of Internal Medicine and of Health Behavior and Health Education in the School of Public Health, used data from a face-to-face survey of Arab Americans administered in 2003. This is the first representative, population-based investigation of the health and psychological impacts of September 11 on Arabs and Muslims living in the United States, the researchers say. (University of Michigan)
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