cair-net Digest of: get.401_500
Topics (messages 401 through 500):
CAIR-NET: Florida Muslims React to "Terror Threat" Incident
401 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Islamic Charity Indictment Dismissed
402 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Florida "Terror Scare" Detainees to Refute Charges
403 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: FL Hospital Denies Training for 3 Muslim Students
404 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Fla. Scare Raises Questions on Tips
405 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Soul of India/Ohio Mosque Attack/Fla. Scare Update
406 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Texas Muslims Protest X-Rated Film Defaming Prophet Muhammad
407 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Daniel Pipes Launches "Enemies List" Web Site
408 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: "Muslim Rodney King" Sues Michigan Police
409 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Charge Against Muslim Med Student Dismissed
410 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Fox News Allows Attack on Prophet Muhammad
411 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Gujarat's Rape Victims Face Police Inaction
412 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Vandals Hit Ohio Mosque/Inmates Search for Islam
413 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: "Thousands" Contact Fox Over Anti-Muslim Bias
414 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslim Detainees in Texas Released
415 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR Publishes Guide to Muslims in N. America
416 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Louder War Talk, Muffled Dissent
417 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Feds Arrest Fla. Man Tied to Mosque Bomb Suspect
418 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Tenn. Whirlpool Suit to Include Racial Discrimination
419 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Professors Ask to Join Daniel Pipes' "Blacklist"
420 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Attack on Nebraska Muslim Possible Hate Crime
421 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Rep. Lantos Says U.S. Will Install "Dictator" in Iraq
422 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Vandals Attack Idaho Mosque
423 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Family Defends Rabih Haddad/Alamo Prohibits Hijab
424 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Thought Crime on Campus/Imam Jamil Arraigned
425 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Martin Luther King III to Speak at CAIR Dinner
426 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Pat Robertson Gets $500K White House Initiative Grant
427 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Corrected HHS Email Address
428 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Elected Officials Attend Event With Muslim-Bashers
429 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR Rep to Debate Falwell on "Hardball"
430 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslims Protest Falwell Interview/FBI Tracks Muslims
431 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: U.S. Islamic Group Seeks Protection For Idaho Muslims
432 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Idaho Officials Confirm Murder of Muslim Activist
433 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR Official to Testify Before Congress on Religious Freedom
434 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Ask Rep. DeLay Not to Support Falwell and Robertson
435 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CIA Warns U.S. Attack on Iraq May Ignite Terror
436 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: President Asked to Repudiate Anti-Islamic Hate
437 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Gen. Zinni Says Containing Iraq Can Work
438 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Fox's O'Reilly Says Muslim Women "Most Unattractive"
439 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: U.S. Deports Respected Canadian to Syria
440 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Threatening Letter Found at Idaho Islamic Center
441 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslim Musicians Rap About Islam
442 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Ramadan to Begin Nov. 6 - Sample News Release
443 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Remarks Against Islam Spark Backlash
444 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslims Urged to Donate for D.C. Sniper Victims
445 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Fox's O'Reilly to Look at "Islamic Awareness Week"
446 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Pro-Israel Lobby Seeks to Block Muslim from NY Commission
447 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Where is Maher Arar?
448 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslims Fear Talk of Sniper Link
449 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: The Forgotten Prisoner/Fight Terrorism Fairly
450 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Join DC Rally on Iraq, Then Attend CAIR Dinner
451 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Religious Leaders Speak Out Against Starting War
452 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Hawaii Mosque Targeted by Hate Literature
453 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: USA Patriot Act: Librarians Keep Quiet
454 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: DC Security Officer Wins Right to Islamic Beard
455 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslims Pleased by Arrests, Caution Against Speculation
456 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Police Arrest 3rd Suspect in FL Mosque Bomb Plot
457 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR Dinner Sold Out, Donations Appreciated
458 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Podiatrist's Wife Arrested in Plot
459 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslims Saddened By Senator's Death
460 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: NJ Detainees to Protest "Horrific" Treatment
461 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Torture and Rape Stalk the Streets of Chechnya
462 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Dentist Agrees to Spill Details of Bomb Plot
463 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Detainee Families Offered Financial Support
464 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Canada Issues Rare Caution on U.S. Travel
465 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR Ramadan Publicity Kit Now Online
466 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Canadian Muslims Welcome Change in U.S. Profiling Policy
467 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslim Scholars Denied U.S. Visas for Ramadan
468 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: National Review Says Wrap Muslims in Pigskins
469 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Supermarket Chain Acknowledges Ramadan
470 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: U.S. Muslims Launch PR Campaigns to Defend Islam
471 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: U.S. Wants Prints Of Muslim Visitors
472 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: VA Muslim Files Discrimination Suit Against Marriott
473 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslim Students Walk Out of Ohio High School
474 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: 2 Charged in Virginia Mosque Vandalism
475 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: 6 Members of MN Muslim Family Die in Car Accident
476 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR Opens New Office in California
477 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: US Evangelist Says Muslims "Worse Than Nazis"
478 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Bush Again Urged to Repudiate Anti-Muslim Hate
479 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Daniel Pipes and the War on Academic Freedom
480 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslims Welcome President's Remarks on Islamophobia
481 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Powell Criticizes Falwell, Robertson
482 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: DC Muslims Staff Ramadan "Feed the Needy" Program
483 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: U.S. Iraqis Monitored/Daniel Pipes/Amazon and Israel
484 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Homeland Security Dept. Must be Open/Accountable
485 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: "Jihad Writings" Were Verses From The Quran
486 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Accommodation of Islam in Prison/Schools
487 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslims File Complaint Against Alan Dershowitz
488 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Pentagon to Track Consumer Purchases
489 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: NY Student Guilty of Assault on Muslim Classmate
490 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR Official Appears on C-SPAN's Washington Journal
491 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: 13 Nations Added to INS Registration Program
492 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: FBI: Surge in Crimes Against Muslims
493 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Donate to CAIR in Ramadan, Multiply Your Blessings
494 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: U.S. Muslim Hip-Hop Group Draws On Islam
495 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Sample Eid Media Advisory for Local Communities
496 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslim Mom Invents Islamic Board Game
497 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Clash Over New York Mosque
498 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Conservatives Dispute Bush Portrayal of Islam as Peaceful
499 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Editorial Cartoonist Smears Islam
500 by: CAIR
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
- MEDIA ADVISORY -
FLORIDA MUSLIMS REACT TO "TERROR THREAT" INCIDENT
WHAT: On Friday, September 13, the Florida office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-FL) will hold a news conference to
offer
the Muslim community's reaction to the detention of three people in
that
state on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack.
SEE: http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/09/13/alligator.alley/index.html
The incident began when a woman at a restaurant in Georgia reported
overhearing the "Middle Eastern" men making "alarming" comments. Law
enforcement authorities shut down a Florida interstate as they used
dogs
and a robot to search for explosives in the men's car.
WHERE: CAIR-FL's Office, 12535 Orange Drive, Davie, Florida (Davie is
close
to Miami.)
WHEN: Friday, September 13, 4 p.m.
CONTACT: CAIR-FL, Altaf Ali, 954-298-8214, E-Mail:
altafaali@cair-florida.org; Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or
202-744-7726,
E-MAIL: cair@cair-net.org; Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787 or
703-861-7294,
E-MAIL: hhassan@cair-net.org
- END -
-----
To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to:
http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 9/13/2002
HEADLINES:
* U.S. MUSLIM GROUP LAUNCHES NEW EDUCATIONAL PROJECT
- CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* ISLAMIC CHARITY INDICTMENT DISMISSED (AP)
* FLORIDA POLICE FIND NO EXPLOSIVES IN HIGHWAY CASE (Reuters)
* GROUPS PROTEST U.S. DETAINMENTS (AP)
* CLEARED TERROR SUSPECT ANGRY AT US (AP)
* AMERICANS DIVIDED OVER IRAQ (UPI)
* LACK OF TRUST TEARS AT MUSLIMS (Chicago Tribune)
- COMMUNITIES FIND UNEXPECTED SEPT. 11 BENEFITS
* IRAQI-AMERICANS DENOUNCE SADDAM BUT EXPRESS CONCERN ABOUT INVASION
(AP)
- WHY THIS WAR? (Antiwar.com)
- IRAQ ATTACK COULD ALTER WORLD RULES (Christian Science Monitor)
- EDITORIAL: CAN'T FORGET THE OTHER SIDE (Newsday)
* NETANYAHU: U.S. SHOULD ATTACK IRAN WITH TV (UPI)
* N. VA MOSQUE OPEN HOUSE
-----
U.S. MUSLIM GROUP LAUNCHES NEW EDUCATIONAL PROJECT
Associated Press, 9/13/2002
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations has
launched a
nationwide project to educate Americans about the faith and to counter
anti-Muslim prejudice.
The "Explore Islamic Civilization and Culture" effort hopes to
distribute
materials this coming year to 16,000 public libraries, following a
pilot
program in Los Angeles.
The 18-item package will include the Quran, children's books, adult
titles
like "The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?" by John Esposito of
Georgetown
University, audio cassettes and the public TV documentary "Islam:
Empire of
Faith."
Council executive director Nihad Awad said financially pressed
libraries
struggled to meet the demand for materials about Islam following Sept.
11.
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has already received 237 sponsorships for book
and
tape packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country.
Take
part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library
package."
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
ISLAMIC CHARITY INDICTMENT DISMISSED
MIKE ROBINSON, Associated Press, 9/13/02
CHICAGO (AP) - A federal judge on Friday dismissed a perjury indictment
against an Islamic charity accused of lying about its ties to Osama bin
Laden, saying the alleged conduct didn't violate the law.
U.S. District Judge Joan Gottschall's 22-page decision left no charges
pending against Benevolence International Foundation, whose assets were
frozen Dec. 14 when federal agents raided its headquarters.
The group's executive director, Enaam Arnaout, who has been jailed
since
April, acknowledges that he has met bin Laden but has denied having
anything to do with terrorism...
Benevolence attorney Matthew Piers said it was unclear when Arnaout
would
be released from the Metropolitan Correctional Center.
"He hasn't got any charges pending against him," Pier said...
Freezing the assets of Benevolence and another Islamic charity based in
the
Chicago area, Global Relief Foundation, were among the most visible
actions
of the federal government's drive to shut off the flow of U.S. dollars
to
terrorists overseas.
The government has never alleged that either group financed terrorism
but
has said that they are suspected of financing terrorism.
-----
FLORIDA POLICE FIND NO EXPLOSIVES IN HIGHWAY CASE
Jim Loney, Reuters, 9/13/02
MIAMI, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Police detained three men, shut down a major
highway and searched two cars for explosives on Friday but found
nothing
threatening after acting on a tip from a Georgia restaurant patron who
overheard three men discussing what she thought was a terrorist threat
against south Florida.
The Florida Highway Patrol closed a 20-mile (32-km) stretch of
Alligator
Alley, the main east-west highway across the Everglades in south
Florida,
for more than 14 hours after stopping two cars in what authorities
called a
"potential domestic security concern."
But by late afternoon police said they had found no explosives or other
threatening items in the vehicles.
"It appears there isn't a terrorist threat as it relates to destructive
devices in the cars," Gov. Jeb Bush told reporters in Miami.
The Miami Herald said in a report posted on its Web site that federal
sources involved in the investigation now believed the three men were
playing a "stupid joke" on another restaurant patron who gave them a
suspicious look…
-----
GROUPS PROTEST U.S. DETAINMENTS
The Associated Press, 9/13/02
WASHINGTON (AP) - Hundreds of labor and civil rights activists marched
to
the Justice Department Friday to protest the Bush administration's
policy
of investigating and detaining people, sometimes without charges, as
part
of its war on terrorism.
Some marchers challenged President Bush's assertion that the war effort
is
aimed at terrorists, not Muslims. One protester carried a sign that
accused
Bush of "targeting one billion Muslims."
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, leaning on crutches after foot surgery, said
there
could be Election Day consequences for the White House's policy.
"We march in September, we register in October and we remember in
November," he told the crowd of several hundred.
Civil libertarians said the administration's policy tramples
constitutional
protections.
-----
CLEARED TERROR SUSPECT ANGRY AT US
LELY T. DJUHARI, Associated Press, 9/13/02
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Agus Budiman says he still shakes when he
recalls
his seven months in a U.S. federal prison accused of aiding the Sept.
11
hijackers.
Now, back at home in Jakarta and cleared of involvement in the terror
attacks, the 31-year-old unemployed architect remains angry at
Washington.
After interrogation, imprisonment and court proceedings, a U.S.
district
court judge in May confirmed what Budiman had maintained all along:
There
was no evidence linking him to the attacks in any meaningful way.
The judge sentenced Budiman to seven months in jail on one count of
document fraud, a crime which he admitted to. The jail term was equal
to
the time he had already served. He was then deported back to Indonesia,
the
world's most populous Muslim nation.
Criticism is mounting in many Islamic countries and elsewhere against
the
U.S. government for allegedly curtailing the civil rights of the 1,200
mainly Muslim detainees rounded up in the United States after Sept. 11…
Budiman's lawyer, Wirawan Adnan, said his client was a victim of guilt
by
association.
"Things were blown out of all proportion," Adnan said. "He was
pilloried
and abused by the American press. Budiman was cleared of the charges
but
what kind of justice did he get from the United States?..."
-----
AMERICANS DIVIDED OVER IRAQ
MARCELLA S. KREITER, United Press International, 9/13/02
In laying out his reasons for ousting Iraq's Saddam Hussein, President
George W. Bush has declared the American people fully support his
position.
But Americans are an opinionated bunch and by Friday many were voicing
doubts about the necessity of taking action.
In an unscientific call-in survey conducted by WFLD-TV, Chicago,
immediately after Bush's Thursday address to the United Nations, 52
percent
said the United States should not take action without the backing of
the
rest of the world…
Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations for Southern California, home to 600,000 Muslims, rejects
Bush's
reasoning, saying Saddam isn't "suicidal."
"The question is: If he hasn't used it (chemical and biological
weapons)
when his own regime was about to be eliminated (during the Gulf War) by
us,
why would he use it now?" Ayloush asked.
"There's no debate that the Iraqi regime is a ruthless dictatorship.
But I
don't think it's more ruthless than what the Soviet Union was. I don't
think it's the reason for more danger or threat to us or presents more
threats to us than the Soviet Union did," said Ayoush, 32, who
emigrated
from Lebanon in 1989.
-----
LACK OF TRUST TEARS AT MUSLIMS
Julia Lieblich, Chicago Tribune, 9/13/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0209130265sep13.story
Wajeha Shah always wore a black head scarf and floor-length black robe
as a
sign of modesty and dedication to Islam. That was before a drunken
woman
accosted her at Wilson Avenue and Broadway.
"She said, 'We hate you,'" recalled Shah, 21, a bank teller who came to
the
United States from Pakistan three years ago. "She wanted to hit me, so
I
ran to the subway station. When I got home I was...really scared." Her
mother told Shah, pregnant with her first child, to take off the robe
to
avoid provoking others. "Your life is more important," she said. Now
Shah
wears the head scarf with skirts or pants, clothing she considers a
breach
of faith.
Over the last year, Muslims who prided themselves on patriotism have
been
questioning whether they can be loyal to Islam and their country, and
whether in the aftermath of a tragedy they will ever be fully accepted
as
Americans.
Fallout from the terrorist attacks has made many, if not most, Muslims
feel
all the more isolated, living in a country they love but have grown to
distrust.
For recently arrived Muslims like Shah, the tension generated after the
attacks has threatened still-tenuous ties to their new home. Even
people
who have been here for 20 or 30 years fear they may be detained by the
government or attacked by strangers…
"Now suddenly you know you may be targeted because you belong to a
group or
a mosque," said John Esposito of Georgetown University's Center for
Muslim-Christian Understanding…
-----
COMMUNITIES FIND UNEXPECTED SEPT. 11 BENEFITS
L.A. Chung, San Jose Mercury News, 9/13/02
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/4065776.htm
Seeing the cubbies for one's street shoes at the Muslim Community
Association on Wednesday night felt familiar to Kenzo Kimura, a
Japanese-American man who is accustomed to removing his shoes inside a
home.
"What an opportunity -- what we can learn about the Muslim community
and
what they can learn about Japanese-American traditions," said the
31-year-old president of the local Japanese American Citizens League,
who
was invited to the event.
There's been much talk these days about the silver linings many have
found
in the yearlong wake of Sept. 11. Beyond the staggering task of
grasping
the implications of the attacks, many have redirected their profound
sadness into activities that have had unexpected benefits.
Slowing down. Spending more time with families. Exchanging that Silicon
Valley fixation on speed for concern about your co-workers.
Volunteering
close to home.
For Kimura and others, the unexpected benefit is discovering one
another.
"The Muslim community has really embraced us, and we're embracing
them,"
said Kimura, who has learned that shoes are removed in the prayer room.
"You want to get to the point that instead of remembering to
incorporate
the Muslims in your activities, you just automatically think of them as
friends you invite."
The JACL has been reaching out to many different organizations as part
of
its mission, but this outreach, with groups like the Northern
California
Council on American Islamic Relations, is special.
``You don't just sympathize, you empathize, because to a certain extent
you, as a community, have been through it,'' Kimura said.
Both understand what it is like to be confused with the enemy. Both
understand what it is to mourn like any other American on the inside,
and
know that others don't see you as an American on the outside.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, 120,000 Japanese and
Japanese-Americans
were interned in relocation camps for up to four years of their lives,
even
with no evidence of a threat from them.
-----
IRAQI-AMERICANS DENOUNCE SADDAM BUT EXPRESS CONCERN ABOUT INVASION
Deborah Kong, Associated Press, 9/13/02
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Iraqi-American groups said they supported
President
George w. Bush's denunciation of Saddam Hussein's regime in his speech
to
the United Nations, but many feared the ramifications of an invasion of
their homeland.
Saddam "is a criminal against his own people and his region, and he's a
threat to the world," said Ala Fa'ik, an Ann Arbor, Michigan, resident
and
member of the Iraqi Forum for Democracy. "To attack Iraq for me is not
acceptable. Attacking Saddam is acceptable..."
Many Iraqi-Americans fear an invasion could harm their country and
loved
ones and fuel anti-American sentiment. While Iraqi-Americans generally
agree Saddam must be removed from power, some said they oppose U.S.
occupation of Iraq…
"Why bomb Iraq when the enemy is Saddam Hussein?" asked Nouri Sitto, a
Troy, Michigan, resident and coordinator of the Iraqi Democratic Union.
"That is not fair at all to the people of Iraq…"
Iraq's potential use of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons
"should be
dealt with through the United Nations Security Council, not through
unilateral action by the United States," the Council on
American-Islamic
Relations said in a statement…
-----
WHY THIS WAR?
Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com, 9/13/02
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/justincol.html
The President's war speech to the United Nations, delivered just a day
after the first anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in U.S.
history,
not only underscored the paucity of his case, but pointed to the great
diversion represented by this new adventure:
"We meet one year and one day after a terrorist attack brought grief to
my
country, and to the citizens of many countries. Yesterday, we
remembered
the innocent lives taken that terrible morning. Today, we turn to the
urgent duty of protecting other lives, without illusion and without
fear."
"Other lives" - and whom would they be? Amid the litany of familiar
charges
Dubya leveled at Saddam was this:
"Iraq also possesses a force of Scud-type missiles with ranges beyond
the
150 kilometers permitted by the U.N. Work at testing and production
facilities shows that Iraq is building more long-range missiles that
could
inflict mass death throughout the region."
Surely he isn't saying that Saddam Hussein has developed
intercontinental
ballistic missiles, and thus poses a threat to American lives. For
months
we have heard the phrase "weapons of mass destruction" repeated like a
mantra by the War Party, but they almost never tell us where these
weapons,
if they exist, will be aimed: not at New York, or Chicago, or even
Riyadh
and Amman, but at Israel.
So, we must go to war to save Israeli lives: that, in so many words
unspoken, is what the President is saying...
-----
IRAQ ATTACK COULD ALTER WORLD RULES
Peter Ford, Christian Science Monitor, 9/13/02
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0912/p01s03-wogi.html
PARIS - When President Bush addresses the UN General Assembly Thursday,
pressing his case against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, he will be
asking
the world to alter the founding principles of the post-World War II
international order.
Advocating preemptive military action against Baghdad before it uses
its
alleged chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons, Mr. Bush is
challenging
United Nations rules on sovereignty and the acceptable use of force
that
have underpinned global relations for three generations.
To the Bush administration, this is a matter of adapting to a new
danger.
But this argument will likely alarm the vast majority of UN members
listening to the US leader. They know that their best chance of
restraining
Bush is to meet him partway, by threatening to use force on their own
terms
against Iraq - if Mr. Hussein does not cooperate with UN weapons
inspectors
- as suggested this week by French President Jacques Chirac…
-----
EDITORIAL: CAN'T FORGET THE OTHER SIDE
Ellis Henican, Newsday, 9/13/02
http://www.newsday.com/news/columnists/ny-nyhen132922540sep13.column
Where's Saad?
I'd been asking around for weeks, and nobody seemed to know. Not the
people
on Tiemann Place, just south of 125th Street, where Saad used to run
the
city's best - OK, its only - true Iraqi restaurant. None of the other
New
York Iraqis had seen Saad either, although that's not saying all that
much.
New York is not exactly teeming with Iraqis these days...
What is Saad expecting now? Yesterday, I finally got a chance to ask
him…
"We are going to war," Saad said. "Everybody is resigned to that. They
are
preparing themselves for the war state. Making plans as well as they
can.
It's hard to know exactly how to prepare for a prolonged American
attack.
"Food is not a problem, even with the embargo," he said. "People can
store
extra food. But everything else is a problem. Medicine, equipment,
school
books, electricity. Even now, they have electricity two hours a day.
Imagine, it's 105 or 110 degrees in Baghdad, and you have electricity
only
two hours a day."
Four days ago, he said, he spoke on the phone to his nephew, Ali. "Ali
is
in the fourth grade," Saad said.
"He said to me, 'Uncle,' he said, 'school is starting again. Tell the
American children not to send us bombs and missiles. Tell them to send
us
pencils and books…'
-----
NETANYAHU: U.S. SHOULD ATTACK IRAN WITH TV
P. Mitchell Prothero, UPI, 9/12/02
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20020912-034109-6371r
WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- A former Israeli prime minister Thursday
called upon the United States to effect regime change in both Iraq and
Iran, prescribing a military invasion to topple the government in
Baghdad
and the transmission of ribald television programming via satellite
into
Persia, where he said the influx of pop culture would prove
"subversive" to
the conservative Islamic regime.
Citing the hundreds of thousands of satellite television dishes in
Iran,
Benjamin Netanyahu told the House Government Reform Committee that the
United States could incite a revolution against the conservative
Iranian
clergy through the use of such Fox Broadcasting staples as "Melrose
Place"
and "Beverly Hills 90210" -- both of which feature beautiful young
people
in varying states of undress, living, glamorous, materialistic lives
and
engaging in promiscuous sex.
"This is pretty subversive stuff," Netanyahu told the committee. "The
kids
of Iran would want the nice clothes they see on those shows. They would
want the swimming pools and fancy lifestyles…"
-----
N. VA MOSQUE OPEN HOUSE
WHEN: Saturday September 14, 2 to 5 PM
WHERE: Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center, 3159 Row Street, Falls Church, VA
22044
CONTACT: (703) 536-1030
International foods and beverages will be served.
-----
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To reach the list moderator, send a message to: cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
- MEDIA ADVISORY -
FLORIDA "TERROR SCARE" DETAINEES TO REFUTE CHARGES
Medical students deny threats, running through toll booth, being
"uncooperative"
WHAT: On Sunday, September 15, the Florida office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-FL) will hold a news conference at
which
the three Muslim medical students detained during Friday's "terror
scare"
in that state will refute charges that they perpetrated a "hoax," ran
through a toll booth or were "uncooperative" with authorities.
The men were stopped after a restaurant patron in Georgia said she hear
them making "alarming" comments about the 9/11 attacks and about a
possible
future terrorist attack. They were released without charge after being
detained for 17 hours. Since their release, CAIR-FL assisted the men in
obtaining legal representation. Their attorneys will also attend the
news
conference.
"We are very concerned that mere suspicions, possibly based on
prejudice
and stereotyping, could so damage the lives and livelihood of
hard-working
young people whose only wish is to defend their reputations and
complete
their medical education," said CAIR-FL Executive Director Altaf Ali.
Ali added that the rising tide of anti-Muslim rhetoric in our society
can
trigger discrimination by a bigoted minority. He said that just this
weekend, a mosque under construction in Northern Virginia was attacked
by
vandals.
SEE: "LOCAL MOSQUE VANDALIZED"
http://www.wtopnews.com/news/newsdetail.cfm?NewsId=636619
WHERE: CAIR-FL's Office, 12535 Orange Drive, Davie, Florida (Davie is
close
to Miami.)
WHEN: Sunday, September 15, 1 p.m.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR-FL, Altaf Ali, 954-298-8214, E-Mail:
altafaali@cair-florida.org; Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or
202-744-7726,
E-MAIL: cair@cair-net.org; Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787 or
703-861-7294,
E-MAIL: hhassan@cair-net.org
-----
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http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 9/15/2002
HEADLINES:
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT
* REMINDER: CAIR-FL NEWS CONFERENCE ON "TERROR SCARE" DETENTIONS
* HOSPITAL DENIES TRAINING FOR 3 MUSLIM STUDENTS (Sun-Sentinel)
* GOVERNMENT EFFORTS ARE PUTTING CIVIL LIBERTIES AT RISK (Newsday)
* TERROR CELL INDICTMENT HAS DETROIT ARABS WARY (Washington Post)
* USF SPEECH CANCELED IN PROTEST (St. Petersburg Times)
- GENSHAFT ALLIES CITE HER RELIGION IN AL-ARIAN CASE
* SHARON UNREPENTANT ON ISRAELI CLAIMS, ARMY CONDUCT (Reuters)
* PIPES AND DERSHOWITZ: AUTHORS WITH A BIAS (Vancouver Sun)
- PIPES SEEKS TO BLOCK ASHRAWI SPEECH (Washington Times)
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT
Take part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library package" to inform the American public about Islam and
Muslims.
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
REMINDER: CAIR-FL NEWS CONFERENCE ON "TERROR SCARE" DETENTIONS
On Sunday, September 15, the Florida office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-FL) will hold a news conference at
which
the three Muslim medical students detained during Friday's "terror
scare"
in that state will refute charges that they perpetrated a "hoax," ran
through a toll booth or were "uncooperative" with authorities.
WHERE: CAIR-FL's Office, 12535 Orange Drive, Davie, Florida
(Davie is close to Miami.)
WHEN: Sunday, September 15, 1 p.m.
CONTACT: CAIR-FL, Altaf Ali, 954-298-8214, E-Mail:
altafaali@cair-florida.org
-----
HOSPITAL DENIES TRAINING FOR 3 STUDENTS STOPPED ON ALLIGATOR ALLEY
Shannon O'Boye and Ardy Friedberg, Sun-Sentinel, 9/15/02
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-students091502.story
Local Muslim leaders and the families of the three medical students
suspected and then cleared of being terrorists were outraged to learn
Saturday that the three are no longer welcome to learn at a South Miami
Hospital.
"It was a difficult decision," said Dr. Jack Michel, president and
chief
executive officer of Larkin Community Hospital. "It's not safe for them
to
be here - for them, for the hospital or the patients."
Michel said the hospital had received more than 100 hostile e-mails
since
Friday's incident, with only one telling him to "look at all the facts"
before making a decision.
"Probably people only remember bits and pieces of what they saw on TV
and
are drawing conclusions from that," he said.
The three men, Ayman Gheith, 27, Kambiz Butt, 25, both of suburban
Chicago,
and Omer Choudhary, 23, of Independence, Mo., were detained for 18
hours
Friday after police got a tip that they might be plotting a terrorist
attack on Miami…
The men, who recently completed medical training at Ross University in
Dominica, an island in the eastern Caribbean, denied making threatening
comments at the Shoney's. They said they were driving from Chicago to
South
Miami to find an apartment before starting their nine-week clinical
rotation at Larkin on Monday and only discussed school issues at the
restaurant...
Altaf Ali, of the Florida office of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, at first said he was considering legal action against the
hospital for violating the students' civil rights. He was more measured
later after Michel, president of the 112-bed hospital located one block
from U.S. 1 and Sunset Drive, agreed to meet with him today to discuss
the
issue.
Michel has been an advocate for immigrants from South America. He is a
member of the National Association of Colombian American Organizations,
a
coalition of social service and political groups that fights for the
rights
of Colombian immigrants.
"I implored him to not make a hasty decision yet," Ali said from Tampa
on
Saturday afternoon. "I reiterated to him we cannot succumb to pressure
based on hate. If he is receiving hate and hostile e-mails, we can't
succumb to that kind of intimidation.
"If society allows this to take place, it's setting a bad precedent for
the
future," he said…
-----
GOVERNMENT EFFORTS ARE PUTTING CIVIL LIBERTIES AT RISK
Tom Brune and John Riley, Newsday, 9/15/02
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usprev0915.story
Soon after the Sept. 11 hijackings, Attorney General John Ashcroft
announced a welcomed shift in priorities for the Justice Department,
from
prosecution of past terrorist acts to the prevention of future attacks.
The shift, however, is bringing profound changes to the government and
the
nation - changes that are altering the boundaries of traditional civil
liberties and common notions of law enforcement, an examination of
Ashcroft's domestic war on terrorism has found.
Making prevention a priority means the government now operates with an
increased reliance on suspicion, a more frequent use of confidential
information and a more broadly cast policy of secrecy than before.
And it means the goals of arresting and jailing suspected terrorists
have
fundamentally changed: Obtaining information about terrorists and plots
and
removing suspicious people from the streets now are more important than
prosecuting suspects.
The impact of those changes is found in the specifics of individual
cases
as well as in the broad government policy directives issued in reaction
to
the Sept. 11 attacks…
As the Bush administration has accumulated expansive new powers,
conducted
secretive nationwide arrests and created broad plans for domestic
surveillance, a growing number of people are voicing concerns about the
perils preventing terrorism poses to civil liberties.
The uneasiness has increased following the Justice Department's arrests
and
detentions of hundreds of people - most of them noncitizen Muslims or
Middle Easterners - on suspicions of terrorist activity or knowledge.
In its most recent accounting this summer, the government said that in
its
terrorism investigation, the Immigration and Naturalization Service has
detained 752 people on immigration violations and prosecutors have
charged
131 with federal criminal offenses.
But only one man has been charged with conspiracy in the Sept. 11
hijacking
plot, and only about a dozen others have been charged with conspiracy
or
support of terrorism.
The American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for National Security
Studies, the Center for Constitutional Rights and dozens of other
rights
and liberties groups have filed a series of lawsuits challenging the
government's anti-terrorism policies, particularly its secrecy…
-----
TERROR CELL INDICTMENT HAS DETROIT ARABS WARY
Allan Lengel, Washington Post, 9/15/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19000-2002Sep14.html
DETROIT - The peculiar activity at the brick duplex on Norman Street in
this worn, working-class neighborhood piqued neighbors' curiosity.
Groups
of men sat for hours in a car in front of the house. And shortly before
last Sept. 11, a neighbor says, she saw three men in the back yard,
burning
computer paper in a trash can.
Such events were hardly worth a second thought until Sept. 17, when the
FBI
raided the home and arrested three Middle Eastern men on suspicion of
terrorism.
Nearly a year later, after countless investigations of thousands of
suspects, the trio became the first people since the terror attacks in
New
York and on the Pentagon to be accused of operating a terrorist cell in
the
United States. The indictment, which calls the detainees a "sleeper
operational combat cell," describes some of the most extensive efforts
to
date in the United States to aid the al Qaeda network. It alleges that
the
men, two of whom have been in custody since the Sept. 17 raid, operated
an
underground support unit to collect guns and intelligence, recruit
members
and produce false documents for "the purpose of engaging in violent
attacks
against persons and buildings within the territory of Jordan, Turkey
and
the United States."
Also indicted was a fourth person, the alleged cell leader, known only
by
the name "Abdella." Authorities suspect he may be overseas.
In Washington, the indictment is being hailed as an important victory
in
the war on terror. But here in Detroit, home to one of the nation's
largest
Middle Eastern populations, some are skeptical. They question whether
the
men are terrorists or simply immigrants working menial jobs who were in
the
wrong place when federal agents arrived, looking for another suspect.
The skepticism increased earlier this month when that suspect, Nabil
Almarabh, whom the government initially considered an important terror
suspect, was cleared of links to terrorism and ordered deported to
Syria.
"If they did something wrong, prosecute them. But if they didn't, don't
blow it up like it's an al Qaeda cell," said Don Unis, a Lebanese
American
and retired captain of the Dearborn Fire Department. "It sounds a
little
far-fetched to the Arab community…"
The indictment relies heavily on an informant, Youssef Hmimssa, a
former
roommate of the defendants and a suspected con artist who faces
criminal
charges in Chicago and Detroit…
Kevin Ernst, Ali-Haimoud's attorney, said his client has "no connection
to
terrorism. All the allegations are based on one single snitch who was
in
more trouble than the three men combined before he decided to cooperate
with the government…"
Nearly a year later, things have quieted on Norman Street, but the
indictment has inflamed some Arab Americans' emotions anew. "If we
catch
terrorists, God bless us," said Osama A. Siblani, publisher of the Arab
American News in Dearborn. "Let's just make sure they are terrorists."
-----
USF SPEECH CANCELED IN PROTEST
ANITA KUMAR, St. Petersburg Times, 9/14/02
http://www.sptimes.com/
TAMPA - A prominent Islamic scholar at Georgetown University has
canceled a
speech at the University of South Florida next month because of the
school's handling of the case of professor Sami Al-Arian.
John Esposito, a worldwide expert on contemporary Islam who was once
recruited by USF, was supposed to speak to students Oct. 17 as part of
the
university's annual lecture series.
"The unfortunate decision of your president makes it impossible for me
to
participate at a function at a university that so clearly violates the
academic freedom of one of its professors," he wrote in an e-mail to
USF.
"For the sake of USF, its faculty and students, I hope that situation
will
change in the immediate future." USF president Judy Genshaft accuses
Al-Arian of having terrorist ties and took the unusual step in August
of
filing suit, asking a judge to determine whether firing him would
violate
his constitutional rights. ..
Professors from across the world have written to Genshaft supporting
the
tenured computer science professor after he was first placed on leave a
year ago. The American Association of University Professors, a
respected
group influential in higher education, has threatened to censure USF if
the
school fires him.
Jorland Kurland, AAUP's associate general secretary, said Friday he
expects
more professors to decline to work for, speak at or be recognized by
USF if
the school receives a censure, a powerful force in academia that can
have a
significant impact on faculty hiring and retention.
"It's not surprising that distinguished academics pay attention to
these
controversies," said Roy Weatherford, president of USF's faculty union.
"We
do care about academic freedom."
Esposito, a professor of religion and international affairs and of
Islamic
studies, founded Georgetown's Center for Muslim-Christian
Understanding. He
is considered one of the foremost experts on Islam, and has been quoted
in
The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times and appeared on CNN and
ABC's Nightline...
SEE ALSO:
GENSHAFT ALLIES CITE HER RELIGION IN AL-ARIAN CASE
CHUCK MURPHY, St. Petersburg Times, 9/14/02
http://www.sptimes.com/
An Internet petition seeks support for her among Jewish advocacy
groups.
In the newspaper stories and court papers filed in the ongoing battle
between the University of South Florida and Sami Al-Arian, she is known
simply as USF president Judy Genshaft.
But to an increasing number of people following the controversy, she is
much more than that.
"The Jewish president of the University of South Florida, Dr. Judy
Genshaft, is under pressure to reinstate a known terrorist who she
suspended after he appeared on Fox's Bill O'Reilly show. . . ," reads a
letter attached to an Internet petition and circulated among Web sites
run
by synagogues and Jewish advocacy groups. "Please sign and forward this
to
as many of your friends as possible, they do not have to be Floridians
to
care about this!" When they were done, 15,000 petitions were submitted.
It
is impossible to tell how many of those were the result of the plea to
the
faithful.
Anyone who has followed the eight-year saga of Al-Arian and USF is
aware
that he is a practicing Muslim. But in the two years since Genshaft
became
USF president, her religion has received virtually no attention.
That could change...
Genshaft, who sits on the board of a family foundation that contributes
thousands annually to Jewish causes in her hometown of Canton, Ohio,
and
owns development bonds in Israel, said Friday that her religion has no
bearing on the Al-Arian case.
"That was never a part of this," Genshaft said. "Absolutely not..."
Gross, head of a group based in Palm Harbor called Promoting
Responsibility
in Middle East Reporting (PRIMER), is a retired professor from the
University of Rochester. He represented that school at Genshaft's
welcoming
ceremony. At the reception that followed, he pulled her aside.
"I was introduced to her in-laws, the Greenbaums, so I knew" that
Genshaft
was probably Jewish, said Gross, whose group advocates fairer treatment
of
Israeli causes in the media. "I said to her that she had a problem on
the
campus, Al-Arian. I said I think that you should look into his
activities.
Maybe it was chutzpah on my part, but I didn't think it was out of
line."
Genshaft, who does not recall that conversation with Gross, said she
was
already aware of the Al-Arian controversy. Someone, she can't remember
who,
sent her a packet of newspaper clippings about the professor between
the
time she was chosen USF president and her arrival…
Al-Arian said he has known for years that Genshaft was Jewish. He
thinks it
was mentioned during interviews she had with the faculty before she was
chosen as president.
But the embattled professor, who remains on paid leave from his job
while
the court case is pending, said he has never made an issue of
Genshaft's faith…
Genshaft is one of three family members on the board of the Genshaft
Family
Foundation, a nonprofit corporation based in her hometown of Canton,
Ohio.
The foundation was created after Genshaft's father, Arthur Genshaft,
died
in 1979. He was the former president and chairman of the board of
Superior's Brand Meats and president of Sugardale Foods in Ohio. He was
also president of a Canton synagogue.
Tax returns for the foundation for the years 1998, 1999 and 2000 show
that
it gave more than $100,000 in each of those years to Jewish causes. The
bulk of that money went to the Canton Jewish Community Federation,
which
then distributes the money to various Jewish charities in the Canton
area.
The tax returns also show that the foundation has a $10,000 stake in
bonds
from the Industrial Development Bank of Israel. That bank, based in Tel
Aviv, uses money from bondholders to loan to industries considering
investment in Israel…
Al-Arian, who until Friday was unaware of the Industrial Development
Bank
bonds and the charities associated with the Genshaft Family Foundation,
now
wonders.
"It raises the question of whether her judgment is tainted by her
ideology,
by her affiliations," Al-Arian said. "Even if she says that it doesn't,
you
still have the appearance that there is a conflict there..."
-----
SHARON UNREPENTANT ON ISRAELI CLAIMS, ARMY CONDUCT
Reuters, 9/14/05
JERUSALEM, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
rejected
Arab claims to land under Israeli occupation in an interview broadcast
on
Saturday, but said he still believed Jews and Arabs could coexist in
peace.
"The rights to the land of Israel are Jewish exclusively," Sharon told
Israel's Channel One television, referring to the state of Israel and
territories it captured in the 1967 Middle East war. "But all living
there
are entitled to rights."
-----
PIPES AND DERSHOWITZ: AUTHORS WITH A BIAS
Gary D. Keenan, Vancouver Sun, 9/14/02
http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Kudos to Tim Carter for his perceptive reviews of Militant Islam
Reaches
America by Daniel Pipes and Why Terrorism Works by Alan Dershowitz
("Two
analysts come up empty," Sept. 7).
SEE:
http://www.canada.com/search/site/story.asp?id=9AD96949-7B16-4CC1-AB19-4AAAA0C25A9B
Those familiar with their track records understand that, in writing
these
books, Pipes and Dershowitz are promoting a point of view that is
pro-Israel and anti-Arab/Muslim. As an "associate" of the pro-Israel
Washington Institute for Near East Policy, which is connected to
like-minded organizations such as the Middle East Forum, the Middle
East
Research Institute and superhawk Richard Perle's American Enterprise
Institute, Pipes has made a career of Arab- and Muslim-bashing.
As for Dershowitz, his view of Arabs is well illustrated by the fact
that
he recently urged Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to destroy
entire
Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. It comes
as
no surprise that he dwells on acts of terror committed by dispossessed
Palestinians and ignores the well-documented terrorism and massacres
carried out by the Irgun, Stern gang, Palmach and Sharon's "Unit 101."
Regarding terrorism, it should be noted that Sept. 16-18 will mark the
20th
anniversary of the massacre of at least 2,000 unarmed Palestinian and
other
Arab civilians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps during Israel's
invasion of Lebanon.
Gary D. Keenan
Vancouver
SEE ALSO:
PIPES SEEKS TO BLOCK ASHRAWI SPEECH
WASHINGTON TIMES, 9/13/02
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20020913-24232084.htm
COLORADO SPRINGS - Hundreds of protesters brought some of the furor of
the
Middle East conflict to Colorado yesterday as Hanan Ashrawi delivered
the
keynote address at a symposium on the September 11 terrorist attacks.
About 500 demonstrators, members of a coalition of Jewish and Christian
groups, waved American and Israeli flags and criticized Colorado
College
for honoring Mrs. Ashrawi, arguing that it was in poor taste to honor
the
prominent Palestinian spokeswoman at a conference on terrorism...
College President Richard Celeste, the former Democratic governor of
Ohio
and U.S. ambassador to India, defended the college's right to invite
provocative speakers and said that pro-Israeli scholar Gideon Doron
would
respond to Mrs. Ashrawi's talk with a keynote address today.
That didn't satisfy protesters, who came armed with their own keynote
speaker, Middle East scholar and author Daniel Pipes. Speaking to
demonstrators outside after Mrs. Ashrawi's address, Mr. Pipes called
her
appearance at the event "a grievous error."
"Simply put, the United States is engaged in a war on terror, and Mrs.
Ashrawi is on the side of America's enemies," said Mr. Pipes, who was
escorted to the college by state Attorney General Ken Salazar.
"We should work so that this type of anti-American spokeswoman is not
welcome on American campuses," Mr. Pipes said…
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 9/16/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: MAKE THINGS EASY
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* RESERVE OCT. 26 FOR CAIR'S ANNUAL BANQUET
* URGENT: FLORIDA "TERROR SCARE" HOSPITAL TO HOLD NEWS CONFERENCE
* FL MUSLIM STUDENTS TO APPEAR ON CNN AND FOX NEWS
* FLA. SCARE RAISES QUESTIONS ON TIPS (AP)
- FLA. MUSLIM MEN WANT NAMES CLEARED (AP)
- MEDIA ASKED TO HALT COVERAGE OF TIP-OFF (Atlanta Journal
Constitution)
* GRAFFITI MARS NEW MUSLIM CENTER (Washington Times)
* MUSLIM WOMAN INCLUDED IN POPULAR COMIC STRIP
* EDITORIAL: TESTING TOLERANCE IN QUEBEC SCHOOLS (Montreal Gazette)
* EDITORIAL: CONDEMNING HATRED (Kansas City Star)
* U.S. IMMIGRATION SYSTEM BEING USED TO DETAIN SOME SUSPECTS (Newsday)
* TRIAL OF FAITH (Houston Press)
- AFTER 9/11, NEW FRUSTRATIONS IN CHILD CUSTODY DISPUTES (Texas
Lawyer)
* EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY WITH CAIR NY
* IMC-USA CONDEMNS CAMPAIGN BY HINDU GROUPS TO BLOCK PBS DOCUMENTARY
* HOW SADDAM HAPPENED (Newsweek)
* EYEWITNESS: SABRA AND SHATILA 20 YEARS ON (BBC News)
* AN EVANGELICAL GROUP FAULTS U.S. TILT TOWARD ISRAEL (Forward)
* ISRAELIS POSED AS CANADIANS, PALESTINIAN COLLABORATOR SAYS (Toronto
Star)
* ARABS, MUSLIMS AND RACE IN AMERICA (Middle East Report)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: MAKE THINGS EASY
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "God did not send me to
be
harsh, or cause harm, but He sent me to teach and make things easy."
Sahih Muslim, Hadith 707
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has already received 275 sponsorships for book
and
tape packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country.
Take
part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library
package."
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
RESERVE OCT. 26 FOR CAIR'S ANNUAL BANQUET
CAIR invites you to its 8th annual banquet, which will take place
Saturday,
October 26, 2002 in Tysons Corner, VA. The theme this year is "From
Challenge to Opportunity"…
DATE: Saturday, October 26, 2002
TIME: 6 p.m.
LOCATION: Sheraton Premiere, Tysons Corner, VA
THEME: "From Challenge to Opportunity
COST: $50/person, $85/couple
OTHER: Seating is limited. Limited babysitting provided for $10/child
with
prior notice.
CONTACT: 202-488-8787, E-Mail registration@cair-net.org
CAIR needs you to help make our 8th annual banquet a success. If you're
interested in volunteering, please email irahman@cair-net.org, or call
202-488-8787 ext. 6050.
-----
URGENT: FLORIDA "TERROR SCARE" HOSPITAL TO HOLD NEWS CONFERENCE
Larkin Community Hospital will be holding a press conference today at
5:00PM at the Annex building across from the Hospital.
SEE: http://www.larkinhospital.com/press_releases.htm
FOR THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY'S REACTION, CONTACT:
CAIR-FL, Altaf Ali, 954-298-8214, E-Mail: altafaali@cair-florida.org;
Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-MAIL:
cair@cair-net.org;
Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787 or 703-861-7294, E-MAIL:
hhassan@cair-net.org
-----
FL MUSLIM STUDENTS TO APPEAR ON CNN AND FOX NEWS
"Larry King Live", CNN, 9pm (EST)
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/larry.king.live/index.html
Police detained three Muslim medical students for 17 hours Friday after
a
restaurant patron said their conversation indicated they were plotting
a
terrorist attack in the Miami area. Tonight, the three men join Larry
to
talk about the restaurant discussion that triggered a daylong closure
of a
Florida highway
"To the Point with Greta Van Susteran", Fox News, 10pm (EST)
-----
FLA. SCARE RAISES QUESTIONS ON TIPS
DAVID CRARY, Associated Press, 9/16/02
First, a high-profile false alarm in Florida; then the arrest of five
terror suspects in western New York. Together, the two events raise
questions about how zealous Americans should be as tipsters in the
homefront war on terrorism.
"I don't know if anyone has the perfect answer," said Khalid Qazi,
president of the American Muslim Council of Western New York, wondering
how
to strike a balance between vigilance and paranoia.
After a daylong drama on the south Florida highway known as Alligator
Alley, three Muslim medical students were released Friday without
charges.
They had been detained based on the suspicions of a woman who overheard
parts of their conversation at a Shoney's restaurant in Georgia.
Authorities commended the woman, Eunice Stone, for calling police. Even
Muslim leaders, while depicting the incident as a case of racial
profiling,
stopped short of saying Stone's action was malicious.
"I'm sure she believes she really heard some threats," Ibrahim Hooper,
spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Monday.
"But there's a problem when you basically deputize everyone in America.
Does a person reading the Koran in the airport, or a man wearing a
skullcap, constitute suspicious activity? Where does it leave us?..."
"Any time a citizen feels that they have witnessed something
suspicious, we
want them to notify the appropriate authorities," said Justice
Department
spokesman Mark Corallo. 'Citizen vigilance is an essential part of the
fight against terrorism here at home."
Yet one of the department's initiatives for expanding public vigilance
-
Operation TIPS - has run into widespread opposition, from both
conservatives and liberals. Even the U.S. Postal Service shunned the
program, in which truckers, train conductors, utility employees and
others
were supposed to report systematically on suspicious activities…
The ACLU's executive director, Anthony Romero, said utility workers and
truckers would be more prone to fall for hoaxes or to engage in racial
profiling than law enforcement officers…
Hooper urged Americans to use good judgment in deciding whether to file
a
report with police.
"If you heard someone saying, 'We're going to bomb this place tonight,'
you
should report it," he said. "But you have to keep from reacting based
on
prejudice and stereotype; you need to react based on real things."
FLA. MUSLIM MEN WANT NAMES CLEARED
Tim Reynolds, Associated Press, 9/16/02
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=514&e=4&cid=514&u=/ap/20020916/ap_on_re_us/threat_florida
DAVIE, Fla. (AP) - The three Muslim medical students detained after a
woman
said they were discussing terror plans told reporters they want to
clear
their names and study to become doctors, but a Miami hospital where
they
were supposed to train no longer wants them.
The head of Larkin Community Hospital in Miami said Sunday he had
received
more than 200 e-mails after the incident, some threatening.
"Obviously, nothing is final," said Dr. Jack Michel, president and
chief
executive officer of Larkin. "Our primary objective is to take care of
patients. I don't know how that could be done with all this media
coverage."
He said the medical school where the men are studying, Ross University,
had
agreed to transfer them to a different training program.
Kambiz Butt, 25, said Sunday that he and Ayman Gheith, 27, and Omar
Choudhary, 23, want to continue their education in the United States.
"We're medical students. We are not terrorists," Butt said, flanked by
Gheith and Choudhary. "Our concern in life is to become doctors. We
want to
help people. We do not want to hurt."
Butt, the only one of the students to speak at a news conference, said
they
were worried about their futures but have no resentment toward the
woman
who told authorities she overheard them discussing terrorist plans
Thursday
at a restaurant in Calhoun, Ga. They were detained for 17 hours, but
were
not charged with any crimes.
"We're in a state of shock and we are scared," Butt said. "But I'd like
to
tell the American people that we are not a threat…"
MEDIA ASKED TO HALT COVERAGE OF TIP-OFF
Bill Rankin, Atlanta Journal Constitution, 9/16/02
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/monday/metro_d35807cbb126c0d000e0.html
Cartersville --- Eunice Stone says she's done her duty and now just
wants
to be left alone. Stone, of Cartersville, said her life has been in
turmoil
since she told authorities Friday she'd overheard a conversation in a
restaurant by three men plotting a terrorist attack on Miami...
One of the three men involved said Sunday the entire incident was a
misunderstanding. A Miami lawyer representing the men said Stone
overhead
them talking about having a car brought down to Miami --- not any plan
to
blow up buildings.
At the men's own press conference in Florida Sunday, Kambiz Butt, 25,
said
he and fellow medical students Ayman Gheith, 27, and Omar Choudhary,
23,
just want to clear their names and be allowed to continue their
education.
"We're medical students," Butt said, flanked by Gheith and Choudhary.
"We
are not terrorists. Our concern in life is to become doctors. We want
to
help people…"
But Larkin Community Hospital in Miami, where the three students were
headed for a nine-week training program, may not be accepting them
after
all. Larkin's president, Jack Michel, said he had received more than
200
e-mails, some of them threatening, after the incident. They may be
transferred to another program and accepted at Larkin at a later date,
he
said.
Kubiliun said his clients are "not really upset with Mrs. Stone," he
said.
"They have no ill will towards her. It was something that was just
completely misconstrued."
-----
GRAFFITI MARS NEW MUSLIM CENTER
Carol Johnson, Washington Times, 9/16/02
http://www.washingtontimes.com/metro/20020915-9486464.htm
A Muslim group whose mosque was vandalized after the September 11
terrorist
attacks found hate-based graffiti yesterday on its newly built
community
center in Sterling, Va. Top Stories
Loudoun County sheriff's deputies received a call at about 8:30 a.m.
yesterday from members of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, who had
found
swastikas and ethnic slurs spray-painted on the rear entrance of its
new
community center. The center, at 46903 Sugarland Road, is expected to
open
in October or November, said society president Rizwan Jaka…
Yasir Syeed, a member of the society's community relations committee,
said
the group has been in Northern Virginia since 1983, but the center on
Sugarland Road will be its first permanent home and took a decade of
hard
work to build...
On Sept. 12, 2001 - a day after Muslim extremists flew hijacked
jetliners
into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon - someone
broke into the building and painted obscene graffiti in the worship
hall
and on the outside of the building.
"It's very disturbing that there are people out there with this sort of
hatred," said Mr. Syeed, who called the discovery yesterday "an ugly
reminder."
Last Wednesday, on the first anniversary of the attacks, the society
held
an interfaith vigil. About 70 people attended, Mr. Jaka said, most of
them
Christians and Jews.
"It was a time for us to reflect on September 11, on the victims and
families of the victims, and to let them know that our thoughts and
prayers
are with them," he said…
-----
MUSLIM WOMAN INCLUDED IN POPULAR COMIC STRIP
Lynn Johnstone, "For Better or Worse"
In today's "For Better or Worse", an illustration of a Muslim girl with
a
hijab is included in the comic strip. To view, go to:
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archive/02_09/0915.html
ACTION REQUESTED: Send a note of thanks to the author expression
appreciation at her decision to include a Muslim character. Email:
lynn@fborfw.com
-----
EDITORIAL: TESTING TOLERANCE IN QUEBEC SCHOOLS
Sheema Khan, Montreal Gazette, 9/16/02
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/editorials/story.asp?id={D2658DDC-8CB8-4BA7-BBB9-4EA7A25E6F56}
Gurbaj Singh had to go to court to win the right to wear his kirpan - a
ceremonial Sikh dagger - at school.
Serious questions about the rights of religious minorities in Quebec's
public schools overshadow this fall's back-to-the-books rituals for
some
students and their parents.
At issue is the Quebec government's decision to appeal a recent
court-mediated compromise permitting a Sikh boy, Gurbaj Singh, to wear
his
kirpan to school. The Marguerite Bourgeoys School Board has also filed
an
appeal, in spite of the fact that Gurbaj has chosen to attend a private
school that allows him to wear his kirpan.
Ostensibly, the reason for seeking the ban is safety. About 40 Sikh
students wear kirpans in Montreal area schools, and yet not a single
incident of a Sikh using it as a weapon has been reported. Recent
judgments
in Ontario, Alberta and B.C., as well as in the U.S. and Europe have
allowed kirpans. In face of this evidence, are we to conclude that
Quebec
schools are more prone to violence than those elsewhere? That the
precautions taken to sheath the kirpan are insufficient here…?
Sheema Khan is chairman of the Ottawa-based Council on American-Islamic
Relations - Canada.
-----
EDITORIAL: CONDEMNING HATRED
Kansas City Star, 9/13/02
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascitystar/4069225.htm
From the beginning, President Bush has been admirably consistent about
asking Americans not to blame last year's terrorist attacks on Islam.
He reiterated the message recently in a meeting with Arab-American and
Muslim-American leaders. It's a message he should continue to promote.
Patriotic American citizens should not be blamed for the atrocities of
zealots who claim to act in the name of Islam.
"It's important for our fellow Americans to understand," Bush said at a
gathering at the Afghanistan Embassy in Washington, "that Americans of
Muslim faith share the same grief that we all share from what happened
to
our country."
American Muslims, he said, are "just as proud of America as I am proud
of
America. They love our country as much as I love our country. They
share my
profound belief that no American should be judged by appearance, by
ethnic
background or by religious faith. I believe that strongly, and so do
they."
Many Muslims in this country may not agree with all of the president's
policies, nor should they be expected to agree.
But there is no excuse for some of the hateful acts and prejudicial
statements against American Muslims that were heard frequently after
the
terrorist attacks and that still occur from time to time. The president
is
right to keep condemning such statements.
-----
U.S. IMMIGRATION SYSTEM BEING USED TO DETAIN SOME SUSPECTS
Tom Brune, Newsday, 9/16/02
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-detain0916.story
Shakir Ali Baloch, a 40-year-old man with soft features and thinning
black
hair, insists he does not know the real reason federal agents picked
him up
at a Long Island City driving school nine days after the Sept. 11
terrorist
attacks.
A Pakistani-born Canadian citizen, Baloch said he thought it was simply
an
immigration matter, and after he admitted to officials that he was
living
illegally in a Queens Boulevard apartment, he expected he'd be deported
within days.
But the FBI labeled him a "special interest" case in its terror probe,
and
he spent the next seven months in jail -- beaten by guards, he said,
and
placed in harsh conditions so secret that U.S. officials denied it when
a
Canadian consul asked if he'd been detained...
The story told by Baloch has become familiar in the aftermath of the
FBI's
sweeps to hunt down those responsible for the Sept. 11 hijackings and
to
discover anyone who might be planning another attack. It provides a
view
into the highly secretive system of detentions established by the
Justice
Department, which refuses to release names or conditions of detainees
under
a blanket order to keep special interest cases closed to the public…
And it illustrates what some lawyers say is the Justice Department's
exploitation of the immigration system to conduct a criminal
investigation
without having to honor the safeguards of rights in the criminal
justice
system, most notably the guarantee of a lawyer.
Baloch's lengthy detention, without a hearing or a charge, suggests the
Justice Department has turned the presumption of innocence on its head,
holding noncitizens until satisfied they are not tied to terrorism,
rights
groups and immigration lawyers say…
-----
TRIAL OF FAITH
Jennifer Mathieu, Houston Press, 9/12/02
http://www.houstonpress.com/issues/2002-09-12/news.html/1/index.html
Like many custody battles, the fight over Sami Kabbani and Teresa
Lauderdale's two girls has been long and nasty. There were almost 1,000
evidence exhibits. The court transcript alone is so extensive that a
copy
costs almost $30,000. Kabbani spent nine days of the 31-day trial on
the
witness stand. But in another way, the case that concluded in May was
very
different. It ended with the American Civil Liberties Union arguing
that
the 9/11 terrorism backlash had trickled all the way down to the family
courts and with Kabbani and his supporters claiming that Judge Georgia
Dempster exhibited blatant prejudice against Muslim Americans during
the
trial.
"I was shocked," says Kristine Uhlman, an American-born Muslim who
testified on Kabbani's behalf. "In this courtroom it was like you
weren't
believed if you were a Muslim. It made my skin crawl."
Uhlman, an expert in international abduction cases, took the stand to
dispute claims by Lauderdale that Kabbani planned to kidnap his
children
and take them to his native Syria. Under cross-examination by
Lauderdale's
attorney, Tom Conner, Uhlman found herself trying to explain a part of
the
Koran that says a Muslim can lie to an "infidel." "The judge looked at
me
and said, 'Since you are a Muslim, does that mean you can lie to us
because
you don't have the same god?'" remembers Uhlman, who insisted that was
not
what the Koran meant. Uhlman says the judge later asked, "Since Sami's
god
is different, does that mean he can lie?..."
SEE ALSO:
AFTER SEPT. 11, NEW FRUSTRATIONS IN CHILD CUSTODY DISPUTES
Erica Lehrer Goldman, Texas Lawyer, 9/12/02
Achieving a harmonious child custody arrangement during divorce is
seldom
easy. But some Texans believe the terrorist attacks on America one year
ago
may have given rise to new fears, biases and frustrations in the
context of
child custody disputes between Muslims and non-Muslims. Out of a
reported
13 such cases nationwide, Texas has at least four custody suits that
resonate on a post-Sept. 11 frequency, says Laurie Jaghlit, civil
rights
coordinator for the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR), which tracks such cases. That's high compared to the
year
before Sept. 11, 2001, Jaghlit says; that year, there were three
reported
cases nationwide addressing child custody concerns in the context of
Muslim/non-Muslim relationships.
One recent Harris County case, In the Matter of the Marriage of Sami A.
Kabbani and Teresa J. Lauderdale, addressed a mother's fears of child
abduction to the Middle East by her husband, an American citizen born
in
Syria, after their relationship soured. But the husband's lawyer,
Jolene
Wilson-Glah, says "there is absolutely no evidence of any interest in,
plan
to or attempt to abduct these children." On Aug. 16, following a
three-month trial, Judge Georgia Dempster of the 308th Family District
Court in Harris County signed a final decree of divorce in the case.
The
decree deviated from the presumption under �153.131 of the Texas Family
Code that parents should be appointed joint managing conservators of
their
children…
Other Texas custody battles on CAIR's radar screen include one case in
which a woman's primary custody of a child was challenged by her
ex-husband
after she converted to Islam and married a man from Morocco, and two
cases
involving grandparents seeking custody of the children of women who
have
converted to Islam and married Muslims, Jaghlit says.
"It's hard to know how many cases are really out there," Jaghlit says.
"But
we know they are out there. And we know that many of them have been
fueled
by the events of Sept. 11."
-----
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY WITH CAIR NY
Job Title: Director
Position: Full time
Qualifications: Candidate must have a university degree. Good
organizational and management skills, excellent communication skills
both
verbal and written. Legal background is a plus.
PLEASE SEND YOUR CV AND SALARY REQUIREMENTS NO LATER THAN SEPTEMBER
20TH,
2002. EMAIL (IN THE BODY OF THE TEXT, NO ATTACHMENTS PLEASE):
nmgondal@aol.com
BY MAIL:
Nasir Gondal
President CAIR NY Chapter
41 Pelican Ct
Syosset NY 11791
-----
IMC-USA CONDEMNS MEDIA-INTIMIDATION CAMPAIGN BY HINDU GROUPS TO BLOCK
PBS
DOCUMENTARY
For Immediate Release:
Contact Person: Dr. Shaik Ubaid (516) 567-0783
PBS will be showing a documentary on the recent violence in Gujarat,
India
in which over 2000 Muslims were killed, 600 women were raped and burnt
alive and over 150,000 Muslims displaced and now residing in refugee
camps.
This violence was perpetrated by the right wing Hindu ruling party in
India
that claims the subjugation of minorities as its ideology.
The Hindu diaspora adhering to this extremist ideology is very well
organized in the United States. Recently they have launched a campaign
of
gigantic proportions to condemn and stop the showing of this PBS
documentary "Soul of India" that exposes their involvement in the
carnage.
IMC-USA urges all Americans to rise up and defend the freedom of
speech. We are urging our members and supporters to launch a counter
campaign in support of freedom of speech. For the PBS Stations in your
local area, visit:
http://www.pbs.org/stationfinder/index.html
For first hand information of the intimidation campaign by VHP-America
please visit:
http://www.vhp-america.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=26
SEE ALSO:
SOUL OF INDIA
PBS Documentary
Thurs., Sept. 19 at 9pm ET
(Check the TV schedule for local listings.)
The bloody conflict between Hindus and Muslims in northwestern India is
at
the forefront of a struggle for India's identity, led by an
increasingly
powerful Hindu nationalist movement whose goal is to turn India into a
Hindu nation. Over the last three months, at least 850 Muslims have
been
killed -- some estimates go as high as 2,000 -- in the Province of
Gujarat,
and more than 100,000 Muslims have fled to refugee camps.
This outbreak of communal violence has a long history. The recent mob
violence in Gujarat was kindled in late February, 2002, when a Muslim
crowd
in Godhra attacked a train carrying Hindu nationalists, killing 58
people.
The victims of this attack were returning from a gathering in Ayodhya,
where ten years earlier Hindu nationalists had torn down a centuries
old
Muslim temple.
-----
HOW SADDAM HAPPENED
Christopher Dickey and Evan Thomas, Newsweek, 9/23/02
http://www.msnbc.com/news/807688.asp
Sept. 23 issue - The last time Donald Rumsfeld saw Saddam Hussein, he
gave
him a cordial handshake. The date was almost 20 years ago, Dec. 20,
1983;
an official Iraqi television crew recorded the historic moment.
The once and future Defense secretary, at the time a private citizen,
had
been sent by President Ronald Reagan to Baghdad as a special envoy.
Saddam
Hussein, armed with a pistol on his hip, seemed "vigorous and
confident,"
according to a now declassified State Department cable obtained by
NEWSWEEK. Rumsfeld "conveyed the President's greetings and expressed
his
pleasure at being in Baghdad," wrote the notetaker. Then the two men
got
down to business, talking about the need to improve relations between
their
two countries.
Like most foreign-policy insiders, Rumsfeld was aware that Saddam was a
murderous thug who supported terrorists and was trying to build a
nuclear
weapon. (The Israelis had already bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor at
Osirak.)
But at the time, America's big worry was Iran, not Iraq…
On the-theory that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, the Reaganites
were
seeking to support Iraq in a long and bloody war against Iran. The
meeting
between Rumsfeld and Saddam was consequential: for the next five years,
until Iran finally capitulated, the United States backed Saddam's
armies
with military intelligence, economic aid and covert supplies of
munitions...
-----
EYEWITNESS: SABRA AND SHATILA 20 YEARS ON
Martin Asser, BBC News, 9/14/02
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2255902.stm
There's another significant anniversary this week, but not one that's
attracted the sort of attention the 11 September commemorations have.
On 16 September 1982, under the watchful eye of their Israeli allies
who
had encircled the area, Lebanese Christian militiamen entered Beirut's
Sabra and Shatila refugee camps bent on revenge for the assassination
of
their leader Bashir Gemayel.
Refugee camps like Shatila still lack the most basic services
There followed a three-day orgy of rape and slaughter that left
hundreds,
possibly thousands, of innocent civilians dead in what is considered
the
bloodiest single incident of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
If Americans approached the 11 September anniversary with trepidation,
many
residents of Shatila camp, and its more run-down neighbour Sabra, have
been
dreading the milestone on Monday which marks two decades of pain and
the
futile search for justice…
But there will be no internationally-observed minute's silence for the
innocent victims of Sabra and Shatila, or global news coverage about
the
survivors and their miserable existence at the scene of this evil
crime.
-----
AN EVANGELICAL GROUP FAULTS U.S. TILT TOWARD ISRAEL
Eli Kintisch, Forward, 9/13/02
http://www.forward.com/issues/2002/02.09.13/news3.html
WASHINGTON - A small but influential group of 60 Evangelical Christians
is
calling on the Bush administration to change Middle East policies they
say
are tilted in favor of Israel.
Meeting last month with National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice,
members
of the group reiterated their call, first contained in a July 30 letter
to
President Bush, for an "even-handed U.S. policy toward Israelis and
Palestinians [that] does not give a blank check to either side."
Their call represents a marked departure from many evangelical leaders,
who
since the start of the intifada and the September 11 attacks have been
increasingly vocal in backing the policies of Prime Minister Sharon…
The evangelicals who met with Rice, however, said they intended to
demonstrate that the American evangelical community is not of one mind
when
it comes to Israel.
"I voted for George Bush, and I will again, but I don't think anyone
has
ever accused him of being a person of nuance," said Robert Seiple, a
signatory to the July letter who served from 1998 to 2000 as the State
Department's first ambassador at large for international religious
freedom…
-----
ISRAELIS POSED AS CANADIANS, PALESTINIAN COLLABORATOR SAYS
Mitch Potter, Toronto Star, 9/16/02
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Render&inifile=futuretense.ini&c=Page&cid=968332188854&pubid=968163964505
There is little life left in the downcast eyes of Akram Zatmeh. In a
matter
of weeks, perhaps sooner, the 22-year-old Palestinian is almost certain
to
be executed by a bullet from his own people. A confessed collaborator,
Zatmeh admits he fed information to Israeli agents which led directly
to
the July 22 aerial bombing of senior Hamas operative Salah Shehada.
That
the one-tonne bomb also claimed the lives of 14 innocent Palestinians,
including nine children, Zatmeh says, adds immeasurably to his shame...
Zatmeh's claim - that he was an unwitting English student duped by
Israeli
agents posing as Canadians, who used sexual blackmail to force him to
spy
and inform at their behest - has been dismissed by Israel as a total
fabrication.
Israeli officials refuse to confirm or deny Zatmeh worked as an
informant.
But either way, they say, Israel learned well from the mistakes of
1997,
when Canada's ambassador to Israel was recalled after undercover Mossad
agents were arrested in Jordan with bogus Canadian passports in a
botched
assassination attempt…
-----
ARABS, MUSLIMS AND RACE IN AMERICA
Middle East Report, Fall 2002
For immediate release:
Among the complex and contradictory after-effects of the September 11
attacks in New York and Washington is the increased visibility of Arab
and
Muslim citizens and immigrants in the United States. Racial profiling
shed
its hard-won opprobrium in public opinion, as an FBI dragnet zeroed in
on
young Middle Eastern and Muslim men, and commentators painted Islam as
an
enemy. At the same time, genuine interest in Islam and Middle Eastern
culture has reached unprecedented levels. The fall 2002 issue of Middle
East Report, "Arabs, Muslims and Race in America," unravels some of
these
complexities and contradictions…
Subscribe to Middle East Report or order individual copies online at
www.merip.org.
For further information, contact Chris Toensing at ctoensing@merip.org.
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
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E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
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-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 9/17/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: A PATIENT PROPHET
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* ACTION ALERT: SUPPORT PBS' DECISION TO AIR "SOUL OF INDIA"
* SHOTS FIRED AT OHIO MOSQUE (Akron Beacon Journal)
* MUSLIM MED STUDENTS WILL BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE STUDIES
- 3 MED STUDENTS' TRAINING DERAILED (Miami Herald)
- EDITORIAL: HOSPITAL'S ACTION OUTRAGEOUS (Miami Herald)
- DETAINED FLORIDA MED STUDENTS SPEAK OUT (CNN)
- STATEMENT OF SUPPORT FOR FL MED STUDENTS FROM REP. MICHAEL M. HONDA
- LOCAL ARABS BLAST 'PARANOIA' (SF Examiner)
* U.S. COURT RULES AGAINST CLOSED 9/11 HEARING (Reuters)
* A YEAR LATER, THEY AWAIT EXONERATION (Philadelphia Inquirer)
* AMERICANS STILL DIVIDED ON ISSUE OF RIGHTS VS. SECURITY (LA Times)
* AL-ARIAN TO JUDGE: DISMISS USF'S SUIT
* AMERICA PLANS PR BLITZ ON SADDAM (Sunday Times)
* IT'S OPEN SEASON ON CHINA'S MUSLIM MINORITIES (Time)
* KASHMIRIS FORCED TO DEFY POLL BOYCOTT (Sunday Times)
* US VISA BAN A 'PRICE TO PAY' FOR BEING ISLAMIC, SAYS MAHATHIR (AFP)
* 5 HURT IN PALESTINIAN SCHOOL BOMBING (Associated Press)
* BEIRUT MASSACRE SURVIVORS SAY WORLD ENCOURAGES SHARON (Reuters)
- PALESTINIANS MARK 1982 MASSACRE (AP)
* MANDELA SLAMS U.S. SCEPTICISM OVER IRAQ OFFER (Reuters)
* PA FUNDRAISER FOR VICTIMS OF GUJARAT VIOLENCE
* AFGHANS GROW UNEASY OF U.S. TROOPS (AP)
* 'QUARTET' PREPARES ROAD MAP TO MIDEAST PEACE (Reuters)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: A PATIENT PROPHET
A companion of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "I served
the
Prophet for ten years, and he never said to me "Uf" (a minor harsh word
denoting impatience) and never blamed me by saying, 'Why did you do so
or
why didn't you do so?'"
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 8, Hadith 64
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has already received 305 sponsorships for book
and
tape packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country.
Take
part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library
package."
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
ACTION ALERT: SUPPORT PBS' DECISION TO AIR "SOUL OF INDIA"
http://www.cair-net.org/html/capwiz.html
SOUL OF INDIA
Thurs., Sept. 19 at 9 pm ET
(check the TV schedule for local listings)
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/about/film10.html
The bloody conflict between Hindus and Muslims in northwestern India is
at
the forefront of a struggle for India's identity, led by an
increasingly
powerful Hindu nationalist movement whose goal is to turn India into a
Hindu nation. Over the last three months, at least 850 Muslims have
been
killed -- some estimates go as high as 2,000 -- in the Province of
Gujarat,
and more than 100,000 Muslims have fled to refugee camps.
-----
SHOTS FIRED AT OHIO MOSQUE
Jim Carney and Craig Webb, Akron Beacon Journal, 9/16/02
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/2002/09/16/news/local/4084590.htm
Cuyahoga Falls police are investigating the discovery of seven bullet
holes
Sunday afternoon in a window at the Islamic Community Center.
Sgt. Dale Gramley said officers were called to the mosque on East
Steels
Corners Road at 2 p.m. when members of the religious community noticed
the
bullet holes…
Dr. Ihsan Ul Haque, president of the Islamic Society of Akron and Kent,
said the bullet holes were discovered Sunday afternoon in the window of
the
prayer hall. It appears the shooting took place between 6:30 and 9:30
a.m.
Sunday.
Haque said no one was in the mosque when the incident took place, but
at 10
a.m. Sunday about 120 children and 15 adults arrived for Sunday school…
Haque, an Akron cardiologist, said he expects area religious and
political
leaders "to take action and talk to their congregants and to the public
that this is not the kind of town we are. We are not a community of
bigots
and intolerant people and we are not going to accept this kind of
behavior…"
-----
MUSLIM MED STUDENTS WILL BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE STUDIES
(FLORIDA, 9/17/02) - The Florida office of the Council on
American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR-FL) announced today that the three Muslim medical
students
detained in a terror scare last Friday will be allowed to continue
their
studies at a Miami hospital.
Larkin Community Hospital CEO Dr. Jack Michel told CAIR-FL: "[Our
hospital]
is involved in reconstructing the students' curriculum, and I am
committed
to ensure that the students get what is required for them to fulfill
their
rotation and to prevent their education from being disrupted."
"We are very pleased that this issue is resolved. We commend Larkin
Community Hospital and Dr. Michel for keeping the doors of dialogue
open
and we thank all those who supported us in our effort to restore
normalcy
to the lives of these talented young men. Dr. Michel has shown that he
is a
man of integrity and honesty," said CAIR-FL Executive Director Altaf
Ali.
Ali also thanked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) for
agreeing to investigate and prosecute threats against Larkin Hospital
or
its personnel.
CONTACT: CAIR-FL, Altaf Ali, 954-298-8214, E-Mail:
altafaali@cair-florida.org
SEE ALSO:
3 MED STUDENTS' TRAINING DERAILED
Curtis Morgan and Tere Figueras, Miami Herald, 9/17/02
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/4089195.htm
Three medical students detained in an Alligator Alley terrorism scare
last
week apparently will quickly resume their training -- but not at a
South
Miami hospital.
Dr. Jack Michel, chief executive of South Miami's Larkin Community
Hospital, said Monday the men, scheduled to begin clinical rotations
this
week, had agreed to move elsewhere for their own good and the good of
the
hospital, which has been deluged with threatening e-mail.
"This doesn't mean they are not welcome here," Michel said. "It just
means
that for now, it's not a good time to start a rotation." While the move
was
muted by assurances that the students -- Ayman Gheith, 27, and Kambiz
Butt,
25, both of the Chicago suburbs, and Omer Choudhary, 23, of
Independence,
Mo. -- would be quickly placed elsewhere, it still left Muslim and
civil
liberties groups troubled.
Altaf Ali, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations,
said he understood the hospital's dilemma but was nonetheless
frustrated.
"We understand the hospital has a safety concern, but at the same time,
we
cannot allow mere suspicion probably based on stereotype to damage the
life
of individuals," Ali said. "We cannot allow a small, bigoted minority
to
dictate our future. The hospital is, in a sense, a victim as well..."
EDITORIAL: HOSPITAL'S ACTION OUTRAGEOUS
Robert Steinback, Miami Herald, 9/17/02
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/columnists/robert_steinback/4088348.htm
The detention of three Muslim medical students in Florida based on a
tip
from a Georgia nurse who thought she overheard them planning a
terrorist
attack is an excellent lesson in outrage -- how and when to be outraged
and
by what.
And when not to be.
There's a powerful temptation to affix blame somewhere, on someone.
Three
American citizens who happened to be of Arab descent were held in
custody
for 17 hours; an attack alert was raised at potential South Florida
terrorism targets; Interstate 75 was shut down; and hundreds of law
enforcement officers with explosives-sniffing dogs and bomb-detecting
robots were deployed. All, it turns out, for nothing. The three men,
Ayman
Gheith, Omer Choudhary and Kambiz Butt, eventually were released when
authorities determined they were, indeed, medical students on their way
to
a nine-week clinical rotation at Larkin Community Hospital in South
Miami.
No links with terrorist organizations -- and no explosives -- were
found…
Should potential tipsters be worried about being prosecuted for a bad
tip?
Yes -- or else people soon will call police every time they see two
Arab
men talking. Law enforcement needs credible tips, not irresponsible
ones…
Sadly, the most deplorable reaction to the matter comes from Larkin
Community Hospital, which canceled the men's clinical rotation because
officials were uncomfortable with the men's unasked-for notoriety.
To deprive the men for circumstances they didn't create is cowardice,
pure
and simple. And that's outrageous.
---
DETAINED FLORIDA MED STUDENTS SPEAK OUT
Larry King Live, CNN, 9/16/02
http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0209/16/lkl.00.html
---
STATEMENT OF SUPPORT FOR FL MED STUDENTS FROM REP. MICHAEL M. HONDA
9/16/02
I am concerned with the reports that Larkin Community Hospital has
denied
Ayman Gheith, Kambiz Butt, and Omar Choudhary placement in Larkin
Community
Hospital's medical training program.
As you know, Ms. Eunice Stone, a concerned citizen, said she overheard
the
three medical students discussing terror plans in a diner in
Carterville,
Georgia. On this tip, authorities detained the three students on
Friday,
September 13 for 17 hours. Authorities verified their identities,
searched
their vehicles and released them without any charges.
Ms. Stone did the right thing in reporting what she thought were
suspicious
activities. In these times of uncertainty, we must all be vigilant. I
am
proud of the coordination between law enforcement agencies. They did
their
due diligence and questioned the individuals.
However, I am concerned with Larkin's termination of the students'
internship. The students, two which are American citizens, were not
charged with a crime and cooperated with the authorities.
In America, citizens are innocent until proven guilty. My office has
been
in communication with Ross University Medical School's president, Neil
Simon, as well as a top deputy to Dr. Jack Michel, CEO of Larkin
Community
Hospital. I urged them to give the students the opportunity to
continue
their lives unfettered by their detainment.
Our Constitution is rarely tested in times of tranquility, but is
severely
tested in times of tension, turmoil, and tragedy. We must remember to
embrace the principles of our Constitution--our contract for democracy
and
freedom. We must fight and win the war on terrorism-without waging war
on
our most sacred ideals.
SEND LETTERS OF THANKS TO: mike.honda@mail.house.gov
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org
---
LOCAL ARABS BLAST 'PARANOIA'
J.K. Dineen, San Francisco Examiner, 9/17/02
http://www.examiner.com/news/default.jsp?story=n.ramziside.0917w
Be careful what you say in public.
That is the lesson local Arab Americans took away from last weekend's
mistaken arrest of three Muslim medical students who were detained
after a
woman in Georgia thought she overheard them plotting a terrorist attack
on
Miami.
"I thought it was ridiculous," said college student Zaynab Abdalquder,
a
member of the San Francisco State Muslim Student Association. "It makes
it
hard for us to speak about anything. You've got to be cautious of what
you're saying because people could take it the wrong way and mess up
your
whole life…"
Helal Omeira, executive director of the Northern California chapter of
the
Council on American Islamic Relations, said anti-Arab hate crimes have
been
on the upswing locally since last week's anniversary of the Sept. 11
attacks. His organization is investigating seven Bay Area hate-crime
complaints from the past week.
"That is what happens when you build up the level of paranoia by having
code orange alerts and encouraging nontrained professionals to spy on
their
neighbors," he said, referring to the last week's terror alerts and a
new
federal terrorism tip hotline...
-----
U.S. COURT RULES AGAINST CLOSED 9/11 HEARING
Reuters, 9/17/02
DETROIT, Sept 17 (Reuters) - A district court in Detroit ruled on
Tuesday
that the government violated the constitutional rights of a Lebanese
man
arrested after the Sept. 11 attacks by subjecting him to secret
detention
and deportation hearings.
Judge Nancy Edmunds of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District
of
Michigan also ruled that Rabih Haddad, the Michigan-based founder of an
Islamic charity who was arrested in December, 2001, for overstaying his
tourist visa, should be freed within 10 days or granted new hearings
that
are open to public scrutiny.
Legal experts have said the Haddad case, which is likely to go before
the
U.S. Supreme Court, could set a precedent for hundreds of foreign men
of
Arab and Muslim background rounded up after the attacks on the World
Trade
Center and Pentagon.
"It is well established that aliens subject to deportation are entitled
to
due process protections afforded by the Fifth Amendment of the United
States Constitution, Edmunds wrote.
"Courts have found that an open hearing is fundamental to guarantee a
fair
hearing," she said…
In the prevailing climate of fear after Sept. 11, Edmunds said the
"special
interest" designation "tainted the immigration judge's decision whether
to
release Haddad into the general public" and "inevitably suggested a
link
between Haddad and terrorists or terrorism or, more specifically, the
attacks of September 11."
No evidence of such links had been presented by the Justice Department
so
far, she said.
"The government has failed to make a particularized showing that its
interests in fighting terrorism are implicated in Haddad's case," she
said.
"An open detention and removal hearing will assure the public that the
government itself is honoring the very democratic principles that the
terrorists who committed the atrocities of 9/11 sought to destroy," she
added.
-----
A YEAR LATER, THEY AWAIT EXONERATION
Dan Hardy, Philadelphia Inquirer, 9/17/02
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/4088924.htm
The broken locks and shattered door jambs have long since been
repaired.
Seized computers, books, papers and passports have been returned.
Almost a year after FBI agents in biohazard suits raided their Chester
homes in a public antiterrorism sweep, Irshad Shaikh, his brother
Masood
Shaikh and their friend Asif Kazi, all Pakistan-born, have tried to
resume
normal lives. Never charged with any wrongdoing, the three men, all
Chester
city officials, vigorously deny any suggestion that they were involved
in
the manufacture or use of chemical or biological agents. Spokesmen for
the
FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office would not comment on the Nov. 13
raids
and subsequent investigation and have yet to clear the men's names…
"My mother is about as likely to be a terrorist as Irshad Shaikh," said
Greg Pappas, a former senior policy adviser to the U.S. Surgeon
General.
"The idea is ludicrous…"
Iftekhar Hussain, the general secretary of the American Muslim Society
of
the Tristate Area, an association formed to represent the interests of
the
local Muslim community, said that cases like that of the Shaikhs and
Kazi
"create a fear that the [Muslim] community is being set up for further
kinds of discrimination and a fear that this kind of thing will
continue."
"You investigate. That's understandable," he said, "but it's creating a
feeling that this is a general attack on Islam. It would go a long way
toward restoring trust if they would at least come up when there is a
mistake and say so."
-----
AMERICANS STILL DIVIDED ON ISSUE OF RIGHTS VS. SECURITY
Eddy Ramirez, Los Angeles Times, 9/17/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-rights17sep17.story
While Americans say they oppose airport screenings of only those
passengers
with Arabic names or Middle Eastern appearance, most agree that the
government should secretly monitor conversations between prisoners and
their lawyers, a national poll shows.
A poll released today by the National Constitution Center shows that
Americans remain deeply divided between protecting civil liberties and
ensuring national security, raising an issue at the heart of an
intensifying public debate: how to balance constitutional provisions
with
the need to ferret out those who may be plotting more terrorism...
According to the poll, 58% of Americans say they support the current
practice of randomly screening passengers, regardless of name or
background. A quarter prefer a more limited approach, picking only
those on
the list of suspects, while 11% say that only passengers of Middle
Eastern
origin should be screened.
This is a dramatic shift in public opinion from a year ago, when polls
showed that most Americans favored more intensive security
checks--including a special form of identification--for Muslims or Arab
Americans before they boarded airplanes…
Georgetown University law professor David D. Cole predicts that the
public's ambivalence will dissipate as time passes without acts of
terrorism, noting that Americans and the courts are growing
increasingly
skeptical of overreaching government actions…
-----
AL-ARIAN TO JUDGE: DISMISS USF'S SUIT
Anita Kumar, St. Petersburg Times, 9/17/02
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/09/17/TampaBay/Al_Arian_to_judge__Di.shtml
TAMPA -- Professor Sami Al-Arian asked a judge Monday to dismiss the
lawsuit filed against him by the University of South Florida and
accused
the school of denying him his legal right to resolve the dispute
outside a
courtroom.
If the case isn't dismissed, Al-Arian wants to at least postpone the
court
case until after an arbitrator has decided whether the tenured computer
science professor should be fired for his alleged ties to terrorism.
"There is no basis to ask the courts," said Robert McKee, Al-Arian's
attorney. "The courts are not in the business of giving individuals
legal
opinions."
USF president Judy Genshaft took the unusual step last month of filing
suit
in Hillsborough Circuit Court, asking a judge to determine whether
firing
Al-Arian would violate his First Amendment rights.
McKee argues that a court battle denies Al-Arian the choice of where to
appeal his firing and gives USF a tactical advantage by allowing the
school
to engage in a costly, lengthy fight that forces Al-Arian to be
deposed.
"If a court gets into this, there is no end to what this could mean in
the
employment arena," McKee said…
-----
AMERICA PLANS PR BLITZ ON SADDAM
Tim Reid, Sunday Times (UK), 9/17/02
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-418110,00.html
The Bush Administration is to launch a multimillion-dollar PR blitz
against
Saddam Hussein, using advertising techniques to persuade crucial target
groups that the Iraqi leader must be ousted.
The campaign will consist of dossiers of evidence detailing Saddam's
breaches of UN resolutions, and will be launched this week at American
and
foreign audiences, particularly in Arab nations skeptical of US policy
in
the region.
The White House is aware that it lacks substantial new intelligence on
Saddam's nuclear programme or evidence directly linking Baghdad to the
September 11 attacks. But it will build on the contents of President's
Bush's speech made to the UN General Assembly last week, in which he
listed
Saddam's violations of UN resolutions.
The campaign, which will initially receive over $200 million (�130
million), will be overseen by the Office of Global Communications,
whose
existence will not be formally announced until next month.
-----
IT'S OPEN SEASON ON CHINA'S MUSLIM MINORITIES
Matthew Forney, Time, 9/23/02
http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0,13673,501020923-351276,00.html
The Uighurs, China's Muslim minority, look to the U.S. to provide moral
support in their fight against oppression by Beijing. But Washington
may
have dealt their cause a blow in exchange for China's backing in the
war
against terror. On Sept. 11, the U.S. persuaded the United Nations to
add
to its list of international terrorist groups a little-known Uighur
independence organization, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement.
The U.S. State Department linked the group to more than 200 terrorist
acts
in China's predominantly Muslim province of Xinjiang. But according to
foreign diplomats in Beijing, ETIM is an Afghanistan-based group that
is
thought to be defunct and moreover never carried out operations on
Chinese
soil. Some of the terror strikes ascribed to ETIM were deadly bombings;
others were protest riots or attacks on police stations that don't fit
common definitions of terrorism.
'I think the U.S. made a diplomatic deal' so China won't use its U.N.
Security Council veto to block an Iraq invasion, says Enver Can,
director
of the Munich-based East Turkestan National Congress, a Uighur exile
group.
China in return can crack down on Uighur dissidents as 'terrorists'
with
less risk of censure for human rights violations, Can claims. 'China
has
the green light to do whatever it wants.'
-----
KASHMIRIS FORCED TO DEFY POLL BOYCOTT
Catherine Philp and Muzamil Jaleel, Sunday Times, 9/17/02
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-417933,00.html
MUSHTAQ and his sister were drinking tea in their family home yesterday
when the soldiers knocked. Mushtaq swung open the door to find an armed
soldier standing in his doorway.
"He said we have an order that the voter turnout here is low and we
can't
have that," his sister, Haseena, recalled. "He tried to tell them that
we
couldn't be forced to vote, but they dragged him out anyway and took
him to
the station."
When India called state elections in the part of Kashmir under its
control,
it promised that they would be fair and no one would be forced to vote.
It
promised that security forces would protect the people from militants
trying to disrupt the vote.
But the people of Aitmullah village say that, far from protecting them,
the
soldiers have brought the terrorist threat into their homes. "They said
they would come back in the evening and check our fingers for indelible
ink," said Zubaida Banu, whose brother, Qasim, was badly beaten before
being taken off by the army to vote. If there was no ink to prove they
had
voted, their fingers would be cut off…
-----
US VISA BAN A 'PRICE TO PAY' FOR BEING ISLAMIC, SAYS MAHATHIR
Agence France Presse, 9/17/02
KUALA LUMPUR - A refusal by the United States to renew student visas
for
150 Malaysians is the price the country has to pay for being Islamic,
Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Tuesday.
"When we hold to what is true, there is definitely a price to pay. We
just
accept it," Mahathir told a news conference. He was responding to
reports
that the US had barred 150 male Muslim students from continuing their
university education there, following stricter visa restrictions.
Mahathir said the government would not oppose the decision or file a
complaint with the US.
"It's their country, I suppose they have the right. We also have our
own
rules for those coming to our country.
"Of course we have to find a way of making (the students) continue with
their education. These are not terrorists..."
-----
5 HURT IN PALESTINIAN SCHOOL BOMBING
Ramit Plushnick-Masti, Associated Press, 9/17/02
JERUSALEM (AP) - A bomb exploded in a Palestinian school near the West
Bank
town of Hebron on Tuesday, injuring five students in what the
Palestinians
said was an attack by Jewish extremists.
The main Jewish settlers organization condemned the blast. The bomb
went
off near a water cooler in the courtyard of the Ziff secondary school
south
of Hebron, military officials said. A second explosive device was found
and
safely detonated by Israeli explosives experts.
At the time of the explosion, about 9:45 a.m., most of the school's 380
students were in class, said the principal, Yousef Abed Rabbo.
Palestinian officials said they believed Israeli militants planted the
explosives.
Earlier this year, police uncovered a plot by Israeli extremists to
plant a
car bomb near a Palestinian school in traditionally Arab east
Jerusalem.
Several people were arrested, but they have not been prosecuted. In
March,
a bomb went off in another Palestinian school in east Jerusalem,
injuring a
teacher and four children. Jewish militants claimed responsibility for
that
attack, but no one has been arrested.
Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said he held the Israeli
government responsible for Tuesday's bombing. Israel "failed to bring
any
of those who kill Palestinians in cold blood to justice," he said…
-----
BEIRUT MASSACRE SURVIVORS SAY WORLD ENCOURAGES SHARON
Joseph Logan, Reuters, 9/17/02
BEIRUT, Lebanon (Reuters) - Two decades after Israel's Lebanese allies
tried to slaughter them in Beirut refugee camps, survivors of the Sabra
and
Shatila massacres say the world has given Ariel Sharon a license to
kill by
forgetting their ordeal.
They say the Israeli prime minister -- architect of the 1982 invasion
of
Lebanon during which the massacres took place -- has learned from Sabra
and
Shatila that Palestinians can be killed with impunity, and warn he will
act
accordingly to crush a nearly two-year-old Palestinian uprising.
"People forgot a long time ago," says 35-year-old Maher Srour, who saw
members of the Israeli-backed Christian Lebanese Forces (LF) militia
shoot
his infant sister during the massacre, in which his father and several
siblings were also killed.
"Sharon will be this way so long as people are silent (about Sabra and
Shatila)," he says. "He'll do this and worse. There'll be a massacre
every
day."
Sharon resigned as defense minister after a 1983 Israeli inquiry found
he
bore indirect responsibility for the killings in the camps, which
Israeli
troops surrounded as members of the LF went on a 36-hour killing spree…
-----
PALESTINIANS MARK 1982 MASSACRE
Bassem Mroue, Associated Press, 9/17/02
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Billboards bearing pictures of the dead look over the
mass grave of hundreds of men, women and children slain by Lebanese
militiamen at two Palestinian refugee camps during Israel's 1982
invasion.
On the 20th anniversary of the Sabra and Chatilla massacre, the
survivors
have little hope they will ever see justice.
"Each year is worse than the one before," said Mohammed Abu Rdeina, who
lost his father, sister and other relatives in the slaughter.
On Sept. 16, 1982, pro-Israeli Lebanese Christian militiamen entered
the
Beirut camps and killed 800 civilians over the next three days. They
sought
revenge for the assassination of their leader, President-elect Bashir
Gemayel, which they blamed on Palestinian guerrillas.
Lebanon, which suffered 150,000 deaths during its 1975-90 civil war and
is
patched together by a fragile pact of coexistence between its Christian
and
Muslim communities, has never prosecuted any Lebanese for the massacre.
Many Arabs blame Israel for the slayings, noting that soldiers of its
invading army stood by just outside the camps during the killings.
An Israeli commission of inquiry found then-Defense Minister Ariel
Sharon,
the architect of the invasion, indirectly responsible for the massacre,
prompting his resignation in 1983.
When Sharon became Israel's prime minister last year, 23 survivors of
the
massacre filed a war crimes complaint against him in Belgium under a
1993
Belgian law granting its courts ``universal jurisdiction'' over war
crimes
committed elsewhere…
-----
MANDELA SLAMS U.S. SCEPTICISM OVER IRAQ OFFER
Zoe Eisenstein, Reuters, 9/17/02
JOHANNESBURG - Former South African President Nelson Mandela slammed
the
United States on Tuesday for its sceptical response to Iraq's offer to
allow U.N. arms inspectors back into the country.
Mandela, who last week branded Washington a threat to world peace, said
the
United States had no right to act unilaterally in its dispute with
Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein.
"We must condemn this because they think they are the only power in the
world. They are not and they are following a dangerous policy,"
Mandela,
84, told reporters at his home in Johannesburg.
"What right has he (U.S. President George W. Bush) to come in to say
that
offer is not genuine? We must condemn that very strongly," a visibly
angry
Mandela said.
"That is why I criticise most...leaders all over the world of keeping
quiet
when one country wants to bully the whole world," the revered African
statesman said…
In South Africa, the government welcomed Iraq's move and said it hoped
that
Baghdad's full compliance with weapons inspectors would lead to an
easing
of tensions.
"It should lead to the lifting of sanctions against Iraq," the
government
said in a statement on Tuesday...
-----
PA FUNDRAISER FOR VICTIMS OF GUJARAT VIOLENCE
WHAT: Fundraiser for the victims of Gujarat
WHERE: Villanova Masjid (Foundation for Islamic Education), 1860
Montgomery
Ave, Villanova, PA 19085
WHEN: Sept 21st, 2002, 5 p.m.
SPONSORED BY:
IMC (Indian Muslim Council)
IMRC (Indian Muslim Relief Committee)
AIM (Association of Indian Muslims)
AMS (American Muslim Society of PA, NJ &DE)
For more information: Khaleel UrRahman 610-541-0499
(khaleelu@hotmail.com)
-----
AFGHANS GROW UNEASY OF U.S. TROOPS
KATHY GANNON, Associated Press, 9/17/02
TARIN KOT, Afghanistan (AP) - A thumbs-up gesture meant as a friendly
greeting by American soldiers is misconstrued as an insult. Shows of
force
meant to intimidate Taliban and al-Qaida fugitives frighten friends,
too.
A cultural gap, more than politics, seems to be playing a large role in
the
cooling of relations between U.S. troops and the Afghans who welcomed
them
as liberators. Some former friends say it's time for the Americans to
go.
"We don't know why they stay here. They should go," said Ghulam
Distigar, a
guard at the Uruzgan provincial governor's residence.
If frictions continue, that could make the job of hunting al-Qaida and
Taliban more difficult and dangerous because U.S. troops rely heavily
on
Afghans for information and help in the search.
Discontent over the U.S. presence also could undermine support for the
government of President Hamid Karzai because it is closely identified
in
the public mind with the Americans.
Akhter Mohammed, head of security at the governor's residence, slapped
his
chest in anger as he demonstrated how American soldiers reportedly
searched
eight Afghan women aboard a bus that was stopped at a checkpoint on the
outskirts of Tarin Kot.
The governor, Jan Mohammed Khan, stepped in to demand the checkpoint be
shut down and the Americans complied, Mohammed said. But anger remains.
"This is the third time there has been a complaint that they searched
our
women," Mohammed said. "We are Pashtuns and Muslims. For us our women
are
our honor. We told the governor to stop them, that Osama (bin Laden)
and
Mullah (Mohammed) Omar were not hiding under burqas. Our women are not
al-Qaida…"
-----
'QUARTET' PREPARES ROAD MAP TO MIDEAST PEACE
Alistair Lyon, Reuters, 9/17/02
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 17 (Reuters) - A powerful "quartet" of
international
mediators outlined a broad peace plan on Tuesday that will demand
Palestinian reform and Israeli withdrawals, aiming at a final Middle
East
settlement within three years.
"We need a process that is both performance-driven and hope-driven,
because
we need both: performance and hope," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
told
a news conference.
He was speaking after talks with the other quartet members -- U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov
and
senior European Union officials...
Annan made clear that the quartet's three-phase road map would require
reciprocal action from Israel and the Palestinians, adding the group
would
monitor each party's compliance with set benchmarks.
"The first phase will see Palestinian security reform, Israeli
withdrawals
and support for Palestinian elections to be held in early 2003," he
said,
promising action to tackle the humanitarian crisis in the occupied West
Bank and Gaza Strip.
Annan said the second phase, next year, would "focus on the option of
creating a Palestinian state with provisional borders and based on a
new
constitution.
This would be a "way station" to a permanent settlement after
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in 2004 to mid-2005…
-----
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Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
- MEDIA ADVISORY -
TEXAS MUSLIMS PROTEST X-RATED FILM DEFAMING PROPHET MUHAMMAD
WHAT: On Wednesday, September 18, the Houston-area Muslim community
will
hold a protest outside an X-rated movie theater that is currently
showing a
pornographic film called "The Sex Life of the Prophet Muhammad." An
advertisement for the film appears in the Houston Press weekly
newspaper.
The decision to protest the film was made during a Monday meeting of
Muslim
community leaders at a mosque near the theater.
WHERE: Outside the Star Theater, 5607 Telephone Road, Houston, Texas
WHEN: Wednesday, September 18, 3-6 p.m.
- END -
CONTACT: Amanullah Khan, 713-628-8980; Tarek Hussein, 832-877-8109;
Ibrahim
Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-MAIL: cair@cair-net.org; Ms.
Hodan
Hassan, 202-488-8787 or 703-861-7294, E-MAIL: hhassan@cair-net.org
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 9/18/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: THE FINAL BRICK
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* DANIEL PIPES LAUNCHES "ENEMIES LIST" WEB SITE
- Who is Daniel Pipes?
- Pipes Seeks to Block Ashrawi Speech (Washington Times)
- Pipes and Dershowitz: Authors With a Bias (Vancouver Sun)
- Danish Politicians Refute Daniel Pipes' "Facts" (National Post)
- Pipes Says Enfranchisement of U.S. Muslims Threatens Jews
- The Real "Danger Within" is Religious Hatred (Boston Globe)
- Daniel Pipes' Web Site Maintained by Israeli Settler
- Daniel Pipes and the New Inquisition (Antiwar.com)
- Daniel Pipes Says "Raze" Palestinian Villages (National Post)
- Daniel Pipes Hires PR Firm for Steven Emerson (National Journal)
- Steven Emerson's Crusade (FAIR)
- Protocols of the Elders of Mecca? (San Francisco Chronicle)
* ISRAELI SETTLERS BLAMED FOR BOMBING (AP)
* ISRAELI TROOPS FIRE ON U.N. DELEGATION IN GAZA (Reuters)
* SOME ARAB, MUSLIM STUDENTS BEING MONITORED UPON ARRIVAL IN U.S.
(Newsday)
* HELD WITHOUT CHARGE (Newsday)
* JUDGE ORDERS RELEASE OR OPEN HEARING FOR DETAINEE (Washington Post)
* RALLY BACKS JAILED HEAD OF ISLAMIC FOUNDATION (Chicago Tribune)
* TARGETED COMMUNITIES TO TESTIFY IN LANDMARK POST-SEPT. 11 HEARING
* HOSPITAL ACCEPTS 3 MUSLIM STUDENTS (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
- PUPIL HELD IN FLORIDA BACKED BY MU FRIENDS (Columbia Tribune)
- EDITORIAL: JITTERS AND BIGOTRY IN CAHOOTS (Kansas City Star)
- OF TERROR SCARES AND STEREOTYPES (MSNBC)
- ASIAN-AMERICAN SUPPORTS FLORIDA MED STUDENTS
* VA FUNDRAISER FOR ISLAMIC MEDIA FOUNDATION
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: THE FINAL BRICK
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "My comparison to the
other
prophets before me is that of a man who built a beautiful house, except
for
the placement of one brick in a corner. The people go about it and
wonder
at its beauty, saying: 'But for the placement of this (final) brick
(how
splendid the house would be)!'"
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 4, Hadiths 734 and 735
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has already received 316 sponsorships for book
and
tape packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country.
Take
part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library
package."
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
DANIEL PIPES LAUNCHES "ENEMIES LIST" WEB SITE
Pro-Israel Web Site To Monitor Views Of US Academia
Daniel Golden, Dow Jones News Service, 9/17/02
http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/020917/72/32v3h.html
NEW YORK - (Dow Jones) - A pro-Israel think tank plans to start an
Internet
site Wednesday to monitor the attitudes of American professors and
universities toward Islamic fundamentalism and the Arab-Israeli
conflict.
To be launched by the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum,
www.campus-watch.org will maintain what it calls "dossiers" on
professors
and academic institutions and collect information from students
regarding
their teachers' political opinions.
Forum director Daniel Pipes, and Martin Kramer, editor of the forum's
Middle East Quarterly, have been prominent critics of Middle East
studies
as taught in U.S. universities…
Institutions the site will focus on include the University of North
Carolina, where freshmen this year were required to read passages from
the
Koran, and Harvard University, where a Muslim-American student
delivered a
commencement address originally titled, "My American Jihad."
SEE ALSO:
WHO IS DANIEL PIPES?
http://www.cair-net.org/misc/people/daniel_pipes.html
PIPES SEEKS TO BLOCK ASHRAWI SPEECH
WASHINGTON TIMES, 9/13/02
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20020913-24232084.htm
COLORADO SPRINGS - Hundreds of protesters brought some of the furor of
the
Middle East conflict to Colorado yesterday as Hanan Ashrawi delivered
the
keynote address at a symposium on the September 11 terrorist attacks.
About 500 demonstrators, members of a coalition of Jewish and Christian
groups, waved American and Israeli flags and criticized Colorado
College
for honoring Mrs. Ashrawi, arguing that it was in poor taste to honor
the
prominent Palestinian spokeswoman at a conference on terrorism...
College President Richard Celeste, the former Democratic governor of
Ohio
and U.S. ambassador to India, defended the college's right to invite
provocative speakers and said that pro-Israeli scholar Gideon Doron
would
respond to Mrs. Ashrawi's talk with a keynote address today.
That didn't satisfy protesters, who came armed with their own keynote
speaker, Middle East scholar and author Daniel Pipes. Speaking to
demonstrators outside after Mrs. Ashrawi's address, Mr. Pipes called
her
appearance at the event "a grievous error."
"Simply put, the United States is engaged in a war on terror, and Mrs.
Ashrawi is on the side of America's enemies," said Mr. Pipes, who was
escorted to the college by state Attorney General Ken Salazar.
"We should work so that this type of anti-American spokeswoman is not
welcome on American campuses," Mr. Pipes said…
PIPES AND DERSHOWITZ: AUTHORS WITH A BIAS
Gary D. Keenan, Vancouver Sun, 9/14/02
http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Kudos to Tim Carter for his perceptive reviews of Militant Islam
Reaches
America by Daniel Pipes and Why Terrorism Works by Alan Dershowitz
("Two
analysts come up empty," Sept. 7).
Those familiar with their track records understand that, in writing
these
books, Pipes and Dershowitz are promoting a point of view that is
pro-Israel and anti-Arab/Muslim. As an "associate" of the pro-Israel
Washington Institute for Near East Policy, which is connected to
like-minded organizations such as the Middle East Forum, the Middle
East
Research Institute and superhawk Richard Perle's American Enterprise
Institute, Pipes has made a career of Arab- and Muslim-bashing.
As for Dershowitz, his view of Arabs is well illustrated by the fact
that
he recently urged Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to destroy
entire
Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. It comes
as
no surprise that he dwells on acts of terror committed by dispossessed
Palestinians and ignores the well-documented terrorism and massacres
carried out by the Irgun, Stern gang, Palmach and Sharon's "Unit 101."
Regarding terrorism, it should be noted that Sept. 16-18 will mark the
20th
anniversary of the massacre of at least 2,000 unarmed Palestinian and
other
Arab civilians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps during Israel's
invasion of Lebanon.
Gary D. Keenan
Vancouver
DANISH POLITICIANS REFUTE DANIEL PIPES' "FACTS"
Elisabeth Arnold and Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen, National Post, 9/6/02
http://www.nationalpost.com/commentary/story.html?id=F477A68C-5E22-4790-922F-0A1F7EDBF021
(Scroll down.)
As Danish politicians, we are offended by the way integration problems
in
Denmark were portrayed by Daniel Pipes and Lars Hedegaard and we wish
to
set the record straight (Muslim Extremism: Denmark's had Enough, Daniel
Pipes and Lars Hedegaard, Aug. 27).
The authors claim that 40% of Danish welfare expenses are consumed by
Muslim immigrants. Denmark has a much broader spectrum of welfare costs
than countries in North America. We include not only unemployment
benefits
and social security but also substantial allocations to housing,
transport,
homecare, early retirement, protected workplaces, daycare and other
smaller
schemes. Muslim immigrants do not receive 40% of those allocations even
though they represent a substantial part of the clients. The main
reason
being: It is hard to compete on a job market not interested in
employing
immigrants.
The further assumption that more than half of all rapists in Denmark
are
Muslims is without any basis in fact, as criminal registers do not
record
religion.
Mr. Pipes and Mr. Hedegaard mention that only 5% of young Muslims in
Denmark wish to marry a Dane. A sign of self-inflicted isolation,
indeed.
We welcome the brave 5% who accept intermarriage -- they are true
pioneers
for peaceful co-existence and human contact across cultures. However,
the
new Danish government has made it extremely difficult for Danish
citizens
to bring a foreign spouse to Denmark. The ruling opinion obviously is
that
intermarriage should be avoided.
Mr. Pipes and Mr. Hedegaard also claim that Muslim violence threatens
the
6,000 Jewish citizens in Denmark. Rumours -- also hitting the front
pages
of major newspapers -- tell that identified Jewish Danes figure on a
death
list. Danish authorities consider death threats very serious, but
police
investigators have so far found no evidence of real threats.
During the coming decade, Denmark will need 100,000 new pairs of hands
in
the workforce. The Danes produce fewer children and live longer.
Integration must work better and immigrants admitted to Denmark should
be
welcomed. On this point, we take inspiration from Canadian society,
which
is open to other cultures and religions.
Elisabeth Arnold and Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen, Members of the Danish
Parliament, Copenhagen, Denmark.
NOTE: In the article referenced above, Daniel Pipes smears the Muslim
community in Denmark with several accusations eerily similar to those
leveled against the Jewish community in Europe by anti-Semitic
propagandists prior to World War II.
These include: 1) being parasites on the society, 2) being
disproportionately engaged in criminal behavior, 3) having
"unacceptable"
customs, 4) seeking to take over the country, and 5) sexual aggression
against women in the dominant culture.
PIPES SAYS ENFRANCHISEMENT OF U.S. MUSLIMS THREATENS JEWS
"I worry very much from the Jewish point of view that the presence, and
increased stature, and affluence, and enfranchisement of American
Muslims...will present true dangers to American Jews."
Daniel Pipes speaking before the convention of the American Jewish
Congress,
10/21/2001
THE REAL `DANGER WITHIN' IS RELIGIOUS HATRED
H.D.S. GREENWAY, The Boston Globe, 12/24/2001
It was with sadness, then, that I picked up a copy of Commentary last
month
to find that professor Daniel Pipes…had written an article entitled:
"The
Danger Within: Militant Islam in America."
After mocking editorial writers, politicians, and the president of the
United States for having "tripped over themselves" to describe American
Muslims as just ordinary people who "love their country," Pipes warned
that
the "Muslim population in this country is not like any other group, for
it
includes within it a substantial body of people…who share with the
suicide
hijackers a hatred of the United States…"
Thus having set the stage for the entire Muslim population in this
country
to be considered "not like any other group," Pipes goes on to
cherry-pick
statements from Muslims, not all of them Americans, that would indicate
their evil intentions…
This kind of rhetoric is the real face of the danger within.
DANIEL PIPES' WEB SITE MAINTAINED BY ISRAELI SETTLER
Daniel Pipes' web site, www.danielpipes.org, is maintained by an
Israeli
settler, http://grayson.org.il/, who is also webmaster for a settler
news
service, http://www.yeshanews.org/.
Pipes' webmaster describes his reasons for creating YeshaNews:
"My name is Grayson Levy, and YeshaNews is my personal project - one of
the
ways I try to make the world a better place. I am committed to
reporting,
in real time, all that's newsworthy from Yesha. Whether it's bad
tidings,
such as the incessant stonings, drive-by shootings, or road-side bombs,
or
good news, such as a community activity, a new housing project in a
Jewish
community, or a new bypass road opening, YeshaNews will have it first,
and
in some cases, exclusively."
Editorials published by YeshaNews go so far as to deny the existence of
the
Palestinian people:
http://www.yeshanews.org/opinionarchive.php?ID=16
"The time has come to formally recognize that there is no palestinian
people, they have never existed, they are a figment of our imagination,
the
fruit of years of Arafat deceit. The so-called palestinians are Arabs,
who
have nothing more in common than their language and religion. They have
never had a homeland, and certainly not in Eretz Yisrael. Search in
history
books from the 1940s, 50s, 60s, even 70s and find references to the
palestinian people. They will not be found, because they do not exist."
DANIEL PIPES AND THE NEW INQUISITION
By Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com, 11/14/2001
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j111401.html
A whole mini-industry has grown up in the wake of the 9/11 atrocity
dedicated to the proposition that Islam is the root of all evil in the
world. Just as anti-Communism employed and otherwise elevated a whole
cadre
of professional witch-hunters - and witch-doctors - so the rise of
anti-Islamism opens up a whole new frontier for those thrown out of
work by
the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the cold war. With
untold
billions of tax dollars being thrown into the "war on terrorism," the
market for anti-Islamists, once severely restricted, has expanded
exponentially, and this field of expertise is no longer quite so
rarefied.
The war has made formerly obscure figures, such as New York Post
columnist
and author Daniel Pipes, familiar to news junkies, and it is in Pipes
that
the anti-Islamist ideology takes on its purest, most extreme form...
Pipes believes that the international Islamist conspiracy - there is no
other way to phrase it - is out not to destroy America but to subjugate
it.
Asked by Salon whether the goal of the Islamists is to create a Muslim
state in America, his answer was "without a doubt." One can only wonder
if
he said this with a straight face. Pipes went on to explain that this
meant
a state prohibition on converting out of Islam, as well as the banning
of
pork, criminalizing adultery, and "doing away with the equality of the
sexes." How does he know this? Well, you see, he kind of divines it...
He can "sense" it! US intelligence agencies are employing the services
of
psychics in the search for Osama bin Laden, according to reports, but
Pipes' extrasensory powers are even more valuable to the war on the
home
front. For Pipes and his ilk are the attack dogs of the New
Inquisition,
whose job it is to sniff out "intimations" of treason…
The view of the anti-Islamists coincides perfectly with the perspective
of
the Israeli foreign ministry. What they want is the sort of "war on
terrorism" the Bush administration is laboring mightily to deny: a war
on
Islam. A war in which the US and its faithful ally, Israel, take on the
entire Muslim world - and US military power is utilized, albeit
indirectly,
to further the dream of a Greater Israel...
DANIEL PIPES SAYS "RAZE" PALESTINIAN VILLAGES
The National Post, 7/18/01
http://www.nationalpost.com/
Israel needs to take more active steps...Bury suicide bombers in
potter's
fields rather than deliver their bodies to relatives (who turn their
funerals into frenzied demonstrations)…Permit no transportation of
people
or goods beyond basic necessities. Shut off utilities to the PA...Raze
the
PA's illegal offices in Jerusalem, its security infrastructure and
villages
from which attacks are launched.
DANIEL PIPES HIRES PR FIRM FOR STEVEN EMERSON
A Little PR Help Never Hurts
National Journal, 12/01/2001
Prominent anti-terrorism expert Steven Emerson has received a lot of
attention recently, thanks in part to help from the PR and lobbying
firm
BKSH & Associates. The Middle East Forum [headed by Daniel Pipes],
which
helps finance Emerson's research on terrorism, hired BKSH after
September
11. BKSH played a role in arranging airtime recently for Jihad in
America,
a 1994 video that Emerson made about terrorist cells in the United
States.
The video was aired at a congressional hearing in October at which
Emerson
testified.
SEE: STEVEN EMERSON'S CRUSADE - "Why is a journalist pushing
questionable
stories from behind the scenes?" By John F. Sugg -
http://www.fair.org/extra/9901/emerson.html
PROTOCOLS OF THE ELDERS OF MECCA?
WEB PROVIDES EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR HATRED
Vlae Kershner, The San Francisco Chronicle, 8/17/00
http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
"There's plenty of narrow-mindedness against a wide variety of groups
on
the Web. Consider this on www.jewishworldreview.com, a well-designed
webzine for politically conservative Jews.
"In a column on the mixed reaction to Lieberman among Muslims,
columnist
Daniel Pipes baldly states that Muslim claims that they face
discrimination
and harassment in the United States are 'false.' He gives no supporting
evidence.
(see http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0800/luv.lieberman.html)
"Pipes goes on to write: 'all Islamists (fundamentalist Muslims) have
the
same ambition, which is what they call 'the Islamization of America.'
By
this, they mean no less than saving the US through transforming it into
a
Muslim country.'
"Where'd he find that, some pseudo-document called the Protocols of the
Elders of Mecca?"
-----
ISRAELI SETTLERS BLAMED FOR BOMBING
Nasser Shiyoukhi, Associated Press, 9/18/02
HEBRON, West Bank - Israeli police and Palestinian officials in the
West
Bank said they believe extremist Jewish settlers planted two bombs in a
Palestinian school yard Tuesday. One device exploded, injuring five
children.
Yehoshua Mor-Yosef, spokesman for the Jewish Settlers' Council, said
the
bombing was an "immoral and illegal act."
Israeli military officials said the explosion occurred near a water
cooler
in the courtyard of the Ziff junction secondary school south of Hebron.
The
second bomb was found and safely detonated. The Israeli military
controls
the junction, a remote region populated mainly by Bedouins. Israeli
Foreign
Minister Shimon Peres' office, meanwhile, said the government had
rejected
a Palestinian cease-fire proposal during a meeting at United Nations
headquarters in New York...
Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said he held the Israeli
government responsible for Tuesday's bombing. Israel "failed to bring
any
of those who kill Palestinians in cold blood to justice," he said.
Most of the violent incidents allegedly involving Jewish extremists
have
centered on the Hebron area. The most recent incident was July 28, when
a
Palestinian girl was shot and killed during the funeral of an Israeli
soldier in the divided city. Settlers are suspected, and several were
detained for questioning.
Hebron is divided in to Palestinian and Israeli-controlled zones, with
Israeli soldiers patrolling the center of the city, where about 450
Jewish
settlers, including some of the most militant in the West Bank, live in
three enclaves and clash frequently with Palestinians.
On April 28, Israeli police foiled an attack by Jewish settlers when
their
car was stopped next to a Palestinian girls school on the Mount of
Olives
in Jerusalem. A huge bomb was found in a trailer the car was towing.
Police
said the settlers intended to set off the bomb as Palestinian girls
arrived
for school.
Four Israelis from Bat Ayin, a settlement north of Hebron, were
arrested
and remain in custody.
On July 19, 2001, gunmen ambushed a car on a road west of Hebron,
killing
three Palestinians, including an infant. A shadowy Jewish extremist
group
claimed responsibility. The gunmen apparently escaped into Israel, and
no
one has been charged in the ambush.
In March this year, a bomb went off in another Palestinian school in
east
Jerusalem, injuring a teacher and four children. Jewish militants
claimed
responsibility for that attack, but no one has been charged.
There have been several other incidents, most involving settlers taking
revenge in West Bank villages after Palestinian terror attacks or
funerals
for Jewish victims…
-----
ISRAELI TROOPS FIRE ON U.N. DELEGATION IN GAZA
Reuters, 9/18/02
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - A delegation of United Nations officials
came
under fire from Israeli troops as they toured Rafah refugee camp in the
southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, forcing them to take cover.
A Reuters correspondent accompanying the U.N. delegation said no one
was
hurt in the firing by troops guarding the border fence with Egypt.
The Israeli army did not immediately comment on the shooting.
Peter Hansen, commissioner-general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency
for
Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), was standing at the time on the rubble of
Palestinian houses destroyed in Israeli military raids.
The group was in Rafah to hand over 97 houses to people left homeless
by
army demolitions.
Israel regularly demolishes homes in the area in what it says is
punishment
for attacks on its troops and on Jewish settlements in the almost
two-year-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.
-----
SOME ARAB, MUSLIM STUDENTS BEING MONITORED UPON ARRIVAL IN U.S.
Ayaz Nanji, Newsday, 9/18/02
http://www.newsday.com/mynews/ny-b2929561sep18.story
Last Wednesday, as New Yorkers honored those killed by terrorist
attacks a
year earlier, some Arab and Muslim students arriving to study in the
city
were fingerprinted and photographed by immigration officials.
This practice reflected a nationwide policy change intended to give
federal
immigration officials the ability to monitor foreign students and other
temporary visitors from certain Muslim or Arab countries…
He will be required to check in again with the Immigration and
Naturalization Service in person after 30 days and again in a year, and
he
must notify the agency within 10 days if he moves.
Once the student arrives on campus, his school will enter more personal
information into a database that is supposed to be in place by early
next
year.
The idea of a system that keeps track of everything from photographs to
course completion is likened by some students to Big Brother.
Asim Ghafoor, a Muslim who works as a spokesperson for Islamic
charities,
also finds the new approach disquieting.
"I've told my relatives to think twice about coming here to study,"
said
Ghafoor. "We should be rolling out the red carpet for these students,
not
rolling out something out of Orwell…"
-----
HELD WITHOUT CHARGE
John Riley, Newsday, 9/18/02
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-uswitn182929808sep18(0,7511482).story
ABDALLAH HIGAZY, a small silver Islamic crescent glinting proudly from
the
chain around his neck, remembers calling his parents in Cairo during a
sleepless night in his 51st floor room in lower Manhattan's Millenium
Hilton Hotel in the early morning hours of Sept. 11. He woke to a boom
and
papers fluttering outside later that morning, and fled.
Then, he remembers sitting in the FBI's Manhattan headquarters one
night a
few months later after being arrested as a "material witness" in the
Sept.
11 investigation. He worried mostly about how he would get word to
Brooklyn
Polytechnic that he might miss his final exams. He thought the arrest
was a
silly mistake that would be quickly corrected.
It wasn't.
Instead, Higazy was held without charges for nearly a month in
high-security confinement. To try to get out, he submitted to an FBI
lie-detector test that he says turned into an interrogation. Faced with
pressure he couldn't resist, he finally confessed to owning a
ground-to-air
radio that he didn't own. And then, after he was indicted for a crime
he
didn't commit, he remembers the odd greeting he got from his lawyer.
"Congratulations!" attorney Robert Dunn told the beleaguered 31-year-
old.
"You've been officially charged. Now we know what your rights are."
It turned out to be prophetic. Within five days of actually being
charged
publicly with a crime, Higazy was exonerated and released. He made
headlines as the falsely accused "radio man." And he became the poster
boy
for a simmering controversy about the government's expansive use of the
legal limbo called material witness status as a tactical linchpin in
its
war against terror…
"It turns the material witness statute on its head to use it against a
guy
for six weeks when he came to the FBI and said, 'I want to help,'" said
Alrababah's lawyer, Frank Salvato. "It was used as a tool to put
pressure
on him. Unfortunately, it created tension because he didn't think he
was
being treated fairly."
And in Evansville, Ind., in October, eight friends of Egyptian descent
-
some citizens, some visitors - were arrested on material witness
warrants
based on a report to the FBI from the new wife of one of the men that
her
husband had made a comment about committing suicide and a big crash.
Jailed
in Chicago for a week, they were released without appearing before a
grand
jury for their "testimony" before their release.
One man, Tarek Albasti, was apparently considered a flight risk
although he
had run an Evansville restaurant called the Crazy Tomato - where
several of
the others worked - for six years, had been a U.S. citizen for four
years
and lived in a house he owned with his American wife and 3-year-old
daughter, according to family members.
"All the checks on government power here seem to have been swept away,"
said John Krull, director of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, who
helped
Albasti's family locate him and press for his release. "It is a huge
blank
check…"
-----
JUDGE ORDERS RELEASE OR OPEN HEARING FOR DETAINEE
Dan Eggen, Washington Post, 9/18/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31449-2002Sep17.html
A federal judge in Detroit ruled yesterday that the Justice Department
must
release the co-founder of a controversial Muslim charity within 10 days
or
grant him an open hearing. It was the latest in a series of rulings
rejecting the Bush administration's policy of secret immigration
proceedings in the war on terror.
U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds found that the government had
failed
to prove that Lebanese national Rabih Haddad, chairman of the
now-shuttered
Global Relief Foundation, poses any threat to national security.
Edmunds
also suggested that a decision by an immigration judge to detain Haddad
since December 2001 may have been influenced by a "climate of fear" and
"unsupported allegations…"
Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller declined to comment on the
Haddad decision yesterday, saying only that officials "are reviewing
the
judge's ruling."
"It's not just the rights of the press and public that are at stake
here,"
said David D. Cole, a Georgetown University law professor who is
assisting
Haddad along with the Center for Constitutional Rights and the law firm
Arnold & Porter. "This decision says that immigrants' rights were also
violated by the government's policy, and this could mean that every
immigrant has a right to challenge that policy..."
-----
RALLY BACKS JAILED HEAD OF ISLAMIC FOUNDATION
Donna Freedman, Chicago Tribune, 9/18/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0209180199sep18(0,4165466).story
About three dozen people demonstrated Tuesday evening outside the
Metropolitan Correctional Center in support of Enaam Arnaout, the
jailed
executive director of the Islamic charity Benevolence International
Foundation.
The protest, organized by three local groups, came a day after a new
criminal complaint against Arnaout and the foundation was made public.
The
new complaint, filed Friday, a few hours after U.S. District Judge Joan
Gottschall threw out perjury charges against Arnaout, charges Arnaout
and
the charity with false statements and perjury, but under a different
statute than the original charges.
Arnaout, a Syrian-born U.S. citizen, has been in custody since April
30,
when he was arrested and charged with perjury and accused of lying
under
oath in a civil lawsuit about his group's alleged financial support for
bin
Laden and terrorist activities.
Some of Tuesday's protesters held signs with slogans such as "Free
Enaam
Arnaout Now" and "Stop U.S. Government Attacks on Civil Liberties."
Many
protesters wore blue triangles bearing the names of Muslims being
detained
by the U.S. government. About 20 Muslim protesters ended the event by
facing east and kneeling for their evening prayer.
One of the protesters, Sister Dorothy Pagosa, noticed that at least
nine
city and federal police officers stood watch over the orderly
demonstration. "Dissent is a dangerous thing nowadays," she said dryly.
The
Franciscan nun attended the protest to work for "systemic changes."
"When someone unjustifiably has their civil liberties taken away,
that's
very scary," Pagosa said. "If you take away our civil liberties, what
are
the chances of getting them back…?"
-----
TARGETED COMMUNITIES TO TESTIFY IN LANDMARK POST-SEPT. 11 HEARING
For immediate release:
Seattle, WA -- Sept. 18, 2002 -- In the year since Sept. 11, 2001, acts
of
intolerance and federal policies limiting civil liberties have
dramatically
altered life for Arab American, Muslim and South Asian communities in
the
United States.
In response to the harassment, intimidation and climate of fear, Sikh,
Muslim, East African, Arab American, Japanese American, South Asian and
Latino communities in the Northwest have come together under the
leadership
of The Hate Free Zone Campaign of Washington to organize a public
hearing.
The hearing is expected to draw 800 people and will allow targeted
individuals to testify in their own words on how hate crimes, incidents
of
bias, and discriminatory federal policies have affected them and their
families. The testimony will likely cover secret detentions, harassment
and
job bias experienced after Sept. 11.
The public hearing will feature a bipartisan commission of high-ranking
elected officials moderated by Washington state Supreme Court Justice
Charles Z. Smith. Invited commissioners include U.S. Senator Maria
Cantwell; U.S. Representatives Jay Inslee and Jim McDermott; Washington
State Assistant Attorney General Dave Horn; Seattle FBI Assistant
Special
Agent in Charge Ron Nesbitt; and INS Head District Counsel Dorothy
Stefan.
The commissioners will listen to a series of personal testimonials (3
to 5
minutes each) that will address the personal impact of federal policies
post-Sept. 11.
WHAT: Justice for All - A public hearing on the aftermath of Sept. 11
for
communities of color
WHEN: Sept. 21, 2002, 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
WHERE: Town Hall Seattle, 1119 Eighth Ave., Seattle,
www.townhallseattle.org
WHO: Community members affected by post-Sept. 11 hate crimes and
government
policies will testify before a panel of high-ranking elected officials.
Free and open to the public.
In addition to Hate Free Zone of Washington, the hearing is sponsored
by a
diverse group of nearly 100 faith-based, peace and justice, labor, and
community organizations.
CONTACT:
Pramila Jayapal
206/723-2203
pramila@hatefreezone.org
www.hatefreezone.org
-----
HOSPITAL ACCEPTS 3 MUSLIM STUDENTS
Shannon O'Boye, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 9/18/02
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-scmedschool18sep18(0,583329).story
The three medical students suspected and then cleared last week of
planning
a terror attack on Miami will do their clinical training at another
South
Florida hospital after Larkin Community Hospital turned them away, a
medical school official said Tuesday.
Dr. Nancy Perri, dean of clinical sciences at Ross University Medical
School, where the three men are students, declined to name the new
hospital
because of the backlash against Larkin. Larkin CEO and President Jack
Michel said about 200 of the 2,000 e-mails he received after the men
were
detained for 18 hours in Florida were so threatening he did not think
it
was safe to let the men train at his hospital…
Altaf Ali, executive director of CAIR, a non-profit organization of
Muslim
activists, said he understands Michel's decision. He expressed hope the
Florida Department of Law Enforcement would be able to trace some of
the
threatening correspondence…
---
PUPIL HELD IN FLORIDA BACKED BY MU FRIENDS
Nate Carlisle, Columbia Tribune, 9/17/02
http://www.columbiatribune.com/2002/Sep/20020917News024.asp
When Miriam Golomb heard the name Omer Choudhary on television, she
didn't
think it could possibly be her former student.
But then Golomb, an associate professor of biological sciences at the
University of Missouri-Columbia, saw Choudhary pictured with the other
two
men who were detained in Florida on suspicion of plotting a terrorist
attack.
That's when she realized Choudhary was, indeed, her former student and
an
MU graduate.
"No one who knows Omer would believe for a second that he would joke
about
terrorism or September 11," Golomb said.
Choudhary graduated from MU in May 2001 with a bachelor's degree in
biological sciences. Now Golomb and others at MU who know him say they
intend to write a letter asking he be reinstated at the Miami hospital
where he was supposed to be trained to become a doctor…
"It's really shameful for the hospital to bar him based on threats
against
either the students or the hospital," Golomb said. "That's like saying
you're caving into mob rule or something…"
---
EDITORIAL: JITTERS AND BIGOTRY IN CAHOOTS
Mike Hendricks, Kansas City Star
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/columnists/4095287.htm
We'll never know for certain what was said Thursday morning in that
Shoney's restaurant in Calhoun, Ga.
Eunice Stone told a radio interviewer that she suspected that
conspirators
were plotting in the next booth over. What's more, they appeared to be
Middle Easterners, she said. "One guy said, 'Do you think that will
bring
it down?' "is how Stone recalled it.
"'If that don't bring it down,' " Stone recalls another man saying, "
'I
have contacts. I'll get enough to bring it down.'
"And to me," Stone said, "that meant they were planning to blow up
something."
Turns out Stone got some of it right, anyway.
The three men, who would be held on suspicion for 17 hours down in
Florida,
were, in fact, discussing plans to bring down something in the near
future.
But it was not a building. It was a car. A car that one of the men,
Omer
Choudhary, wanted shipped down from Kansas City, the area where he grew
up
and his family still lives.
Choudhary, 23, a graduate of Truman High School and the University of
Missouri-Columbia, was not a terrorist, and neither were two fellow
medical
students on their way to Miami…
For those who happen to be Muslims, Arabs, Sikhs and Hindus, stares and
suspicions are part of day-to-day life now in the country they call
home.
"You walk in anywhere, and things stop," Choudhary said Monday night on
Larry King's TV show. "Everybody turns and looks."
As the nation mourned those who died in the attacks of one year ago, a
12-member committee issued a report last week on what it's like to live
in
Kansas City now for members of those groups listed above.
Uncomfortable. Sometimes scary. Occasionally dangerous…
---
OF TERROR SCARES AND STEREOTYPES
Hesham Hassabella, MSNBC, 9/17/02
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_email.asp?/news/809191.asp
On Sep. 13, two days after the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11
attacks, three Muslim men were detained by Florida law-enforcement
officials on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack. A customer in a
Georgia restaurant, 44-year-old Eunice Stone, told police that she
overheard a conversation in which one of the men said Americans had
mourned
on Sept. 11 and would mourn again on Sept. 13. That was enough evidence
to
move law enforcement officials to track the three medical students,
shut
down a stretch of highway in south Florida for several hours, and
search
their vehicles with both sniffer dogs and a robot…
Contrast this false alarm with another case, also from Florida. In
August,
police arrested Dr. Robert J. Goldstein and charged him with possession
of
a non-registered destructive device and attempting to use an explosive
to
damage and destroy Islamic centers.
Deputies found more than 30 explosive devices, including hand grenades
and
a 5-gallon gasoline bomb with a timer and a wire attached, and a
licensed
cache of up to 40 weapons, including .50-caliber machine guns and
sniper
rifles, during a search of Goldstein's Seminole home. They say they
also
found a typed list of approximately 50 Islamic worship centers. Almost
immediately, the judge in the case ordered that the doctor undergo
psychological testing.
Why? Is it because Muslims are considered to be violent by their very
nature, and potential acts of terrorism by non-Muslims must be, a
priori,
due to some mental deficiency? It seems so, unfortunately. Although Dr.
Goldstein openly admitted he wanted to kill, in his words, "Islamic
rags,"
his mental state has become a major issue from the very beginning of
the case.
For why else would a non-Muslim American want to terrorize other
Americans
if he were not mentally ill?
Yet, no one questioned alleged shoe bomber Richard Reid's mental
health.
Would not attempting to detonate a bomb in one's shoe be a glaring sign
of
mental illness? Not for a Muslim, apparently. The Muslim medical
students
were considered terrorists until proven innocent. It is a disturbing
double
standard, but it illustrates how entrenched is the notion of Arabs and
Muslims being terrorists…
---
ASIAN-AMERICAN SUPPORTS FLORIDA MED STUDENTS
Excerpts from an e-mail received by CAIR:
I've been keeping up with the Florida incident, and have watched
several
interviews on Donahue, Aaron Brown, Connie Chung, etc. and I can't help
seeing this victimization of yet more innocent Islamic Americans as
reminiscent of a history of profiling and overreaction toward members
of
certain groups…
As a fifth generation Chinese American, I grew up with the stories I
heard
from my parents and grandparents of how they were profiled (although it
wasn't called that back then). At the turn of the century in Seattle,
for
example, my grandfather was beaten numerous times and had his queue
(Ching
Dynasty long braid) pulled on and was called all kinds of racist
epithets…
My parents witnessed the Executive Order by President Franklin
Roosevelt of
forcing Japanese Americans to relocate to concentration camps after the
bombing of Pearl Harbor. They lost all their property and businesses.
To this day, that generation of surviving Japanese Americans still
suffer
from the trauma and humiliation. My Mom's and Dad's generation of
Chinese
Americans were terrified of being mistaken for "japs" and many felt
forced
to wear buttons that said, "I'm Chinese American." I'm sure that Korean
Americans and Filipino Americans shared the same fear of mistaken
identity.
Since I was a small child, I have been called anti-Asian epithets and
am
still discriminated against…
So when your organization advocates for an ongoing dialogue to prevent
more
tragedies such as the one with the medical students, I fully understand
and
support your efforts. I commend the med. students for going before
national
TV in an effort to clear their names instead of just hoping it'll all
pass.
The public needs to recognize that it can't keep overreacting, and
xenophobia, racism, spying and "Executive Ordered" McCarthyesque
vigilantism are the problems, not the solution.
I wish CAIR and Kambiz, Ayman, and Omar the best of luck and a bright
future ahead. The world is lucky and blessed to have you fighting for
human
rights and dignity and to be of service to humanity. I would also be
proud
to have any of you as my future physicians.
-----
VA FUNDRAISER FOR ISLAMIC MEDIA FOUNDATION
WHAT: Annual fundraiser for the Islamic Media Foundation (IMF),
producers
of the Islamic Broadcasting Network.
WHEN: Saturday, September 28 at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Sheraton Premier Hotel, 8661 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, VA
For directions, call hotel at (703) 448-1188
For more information contact IMF at (703) 241-9659
-----
TO BECOME A CAIR MEMBER, GO TO:
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/membership.asp
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http://www.cair-net.org/asp/voting.asp
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
- MEDIA ADVISORY -
"MUSLIM RODNEY KING" SUES MICHIGAN POLICE
Officer allegedly beat man after asking "Are You Arabic?"
WHAT: On Thursday, September 19, the Michigan office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) will hold a news conference to
announce the filing of a lawsuit by a "Muslim Rodney King" who alleges
being beaten by police officers in that state because of his ethnicity.
(Rodney King was the African-American motorist shown being beaten by
Los
Angeles police officers on an amateur video in 1991.)
According to the complaint filed Wednesday with the United States
District
Court - Eastern District of Michigan, a member of the Waterford
Township
Police Department's Special Operations Unit approached the plaintiff
June
20, 2002, pulled out a gun and kicked him with such force that his head
hit
the ground.
The officer then asked him, "Are you Arabic?" The plaintiff, who is
Muslim
and Arab, answered "yes." The officer then allegedly kicked him
repeatedly
while he was lying on the ground. During the one-hour ordeal, the
officer
allegedly put his gun to the plaintiff's temple.
Two relatives of the plaintiff also say they were mistreated during the
incident and are included in the lawsuit. All three plaintiffs were
subsequently released without charge or arrest.
"Bigotry and abuse by law enforcement authorities cannot be tolerated
in a
free society that cares about justice for all its citizens, whatever
their
religion or ethnic background," said CAIR-MI Executive Director Haaris
Ahmad.
WHERE: Outside Waterford Township Police Station, 5150 Civic Center
Drive,
Waterford, MI SEE: http://www.twp.waterford.mi.us/police/
WHEN: 11 a.m., Thursday, September 19
CONTACT: CAIR-MI, Haaris Ahmad, 248-569-2203, E-MAIL:
cair@cairmichigan.org; Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726,
E-MAIL: cair@cair-net.org; Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787 or
703-861-7294,
E-MAIL: hhassan@cair-net.org
- END -
-----
To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to:
http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 9/19/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: REMEMBERING GOD
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* TEXT OF PROPOSED IRAQ RESOLUTION SENT TO CONGRESS (Reuters)
* TRAFFIC CHARGE VOIDED AGAINST MUSLIM (Reuters)
- Fear and Ignorance Fueling Racial Profiling (Philadelphia Inquirer)
- Fla. Event to Focus on Balancing Civil Rights and Security
* HOUSTON MUSLIMS PROTEST RELIGIOUS-ORIENTED ADULT MOVIE (AP)
- Second Houston Protest Against Offensive Film
* ARAB-AMERICAN BROTHERS SUE COPS (Detroit Free Press)
- Arab Family Sues Mackinac Island Mayor (AP)
- Backlash Blamed for Leap in Hate Crimes (San Francisco Chronicle)
- Vandalism Won't Delay Opening of Mosque in Sterling (Washington
Post)
- Profiling Charged on 'Nightmare' Flight (Philadelphia Inquirer)
* FBI WAS AT THE DOOR (Newsday)
- A Smaller Stick (Village Voice)
- Editorial: Sorrow and Liberties (New York Times)
- Islamic Speakers Decry 'Fear' (AP)
* BLACK-JEW RIFT WIDENS AFTER SOUTHERN PRIMARIES (Fox News)
* U.S. HYPOCRITICAL ON HUMAN-RIGHTS ABUSES (Newsday)
* MOSQUE IN BOSNIA SERB AREA DESTROYED AGAIN-U.N. (Reuters)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: REMEMBERING GOD
A man came to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and said: "The
laws
of Islam seem to be a lot for me (to remember), so tell me something
that I
should stick to." The Prophet replied: "Let your tongue never cease to
be
moist with the remembrance of God."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 437
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has already received 341 sponsorships for book
and
tape packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country.
Take
part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library
package."
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
TEXT OF PROPOSED IRAQ RESOLUTION SENT TO CONGRESS
Reuters, 9/19/02
WASHINGTON, Sept 19 (Reuters) - The following is the text of a proposed
congressional resolution sent to the U.S. Congress on Thursday by
President
George W. Bush supporting an attack on Iraq…
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of
America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE
This joint resolution may be cited as the "Further Resolution on Iraq."
SECTION 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES
The President is authorized to use all means that he determines to be
appropriate, including force, in order to enforce the United Nations
Security Council Resolutions referenced above, defend the national
security
interests of the United States against the threat posed by Iraq, and
restore international peace and security in the region."
-----
TRAFFIC CHARGE VOIDED AGAINST MUSLIM
Reuters, 9/19/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-muslim19sep19(0,1885963).story
MIAMI - Police dismissed a traffic citation against one of three Muslim
medical students interrogated as terrorist suspects in a false alarm
last
week, the men's lawyer said Wednesday.
Collier County Sheriff's deputies issued a ticket Friday to one of the
three, Kambiz Butt, charging that he failed to pay a toll on Alligator
Alley, the main east-west highway through the Everglades.
The men's lawyer, David Kubiliun, said Collier Sheriff Don Hunter
notified
him Wednesday that authorities had voided the ticket after reviewing a
videotape that showed him paying the toll. "It's conclusive that Mr.
Butt
did not run that toll plaza," Kubiliun said. "This is just further
evidence
that the young men have been telling the truth all along…
Butt and two companions, Omer Choudhary and Ayman Gheith, were stopped
on
the Florida highway after a woman told police she overheard them in a
Georgia restaurant talking about what she thought was a plot against
Miami...
Choudhary and Gheith were born in the United States and Butt is a U.S.
citizen born in Iran. Kubiliun is representing them at the request of
the
Council on American-Islamic Relations, which said the three were
victims of
prejudice against Muslims.
SEE ALSO:
FEAR AND IGNORANCE FUELING RACIAL PROFILING AFTER SEPT. 11
Philadelphia Inquirer, Acel Moore, 9/19/02
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/4103022.htm
The case of the three Muslim men who were detained by authorities in
Florida for 17 hours last weekend is evidence that African American men
are
no longer the primary focus of racial profiling…
I saw a television interview with the woman who sat in a booth next to
the
Muslim men at a Shoney's restaurant in Calhoun, Ga. She heard only
"bits
and pieces" of the men's conversations, and concluded from what she
heard
and saw that they were talking about a terrorist plot.
What she saw was important. The three men were dark skinned, spoke
English,
but only one clearly could be identified as a follower of Islam in that
he
wore a beard and a Kufi, a Muslim prayer cap.
If she had closed her eyes and not looked at the men, she probably
would
not have concluded that they were plotting terrorism.
It reminded me of something singer Ray Charles said. Though I am blind,
he
said, I see better than sighted folks. Charles said that in listening,
he
sees a more accurate view of a person's character...
As an African American, I know that racial profiling - targeting people
whose skin is black or brown - is as American as the Stars and Stripes.
White men were not profiled by the police in the Birmingham case nor in
the
case of Timothy McVeigh, the white terrorist who used a truck bomb to
blow
up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The 1995
bombing
that killed 168 people had been the worst act of terrorism in this
country…
SEND LETTERS OF THANKS TO: amoore@phillynews.com
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org
---
FL EVENT FOCUSES ON BALANCING CIVIL LIBERTIES AND SECURITY
WHAT: Florida Islamic organizations host a one day summit titled, "A
United
and Secure Florida For All"
WHERE: Signature Grand, 6900 State Road 84 - Davie, FL 33317
WHEN: Saturday, September 21, 2002, from 1 P.M. - 5 P.M.
SPEAKERS:
Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shaw (by Video) - ICNA
Cherly Little - Executive Director - Florida Immigration and Advocacy
Center
Howard Simon - Executive Director - ACLU
Dr. Mohammed Qazi - AMA
Imam Khalid Salahuddin - Al-Ansar Masjid
Dr. Khalid Hamza - Professor
Dr. Parvez Ahmed - Professor
Imam Hassan Sabri - Islamic Center of S.FL
Imam Muhammad Musri - Islamic Society of Central Florida
Br. Ahmed Bedier - Islamic Society of Pinellas County
Br. Sayed Hemayed - MAS
Imam Rafiq Mehdi - Masjid Al-Iman
Dr. Doured Daghistani
Akhtar Hussain, Esq
Br. Altaf Ali - CAIR-FL
Guest - Dr. Jack Michel, CEO of Larkin Hospital
Sponsored by CAIR-FL, Major Organizations and Masjids in Florida For
more
information call CAIR-FL, 954-916-5661 or 954-298-8214
URL: www.cair-florida.org, E-Mail info@cair-florida.org
-----
HOUSTON MUSLIMS PROTEST RELIGIOUS-ORIENTED ADULT MOVIE
Mark Babineck, Associated Press, 9/18/2002
HOUSTON (AP) - About 100 Houston-area Muslims peacefully protested an
adult
cinema Wednesday, upset over a film advertised as "Sex Life of the
Prophet
Muhammad" in a weekly newspaper.
The protesters lined up along Telephone Road in front of a decaying
neighborhood theater, known decades ago as the Santa Rosa that once
featured Saturday morning cartoons and serials and classic movies of
yesteryear…
Several of the protesters acknowledged they had not seen the film,
citing
religious beliefs that prevented them from entering the building. That
didn't stop them from demonstrating outside with signs such as "Don't
Abuse
Freedom" and "Respect All Religions."
The theater's manager, who declined to give his name, said the owner
contracted an exclusive run of the film. The manager, standing behind a
glass counter that contained concessions in bygone days but now holds
sex
toys and related products, said he was harassed Tuesday in the lobby.
In the minutes leading up to the protest, the theater continued to take
phone calls demanding the film be pulled. The manager said he was
grateful
for the large police presence Wednesday's protest.
"I just worry about people's safety," said the manager, who wore a
pistol
on his left hip.
Some of the signs also targeted the newspaper that ran the ad, the
Houston
Press. Press publisher Stuart Folb said the person who phoned in the ad
misidentified the movie, wrongly adding "Muhammad" to the title.
Protesters had said they would picket the newspaper Friday if it did
not
pull the ad and apologize. Folb said he had decided to do both before
he
was aware of the demand.
"We have made the decisions not to run the ad in the future and I
definitely want to apologize if the Press has offended anyone in the
community," he said…
Some protesters agreed the theater had a right to run the movie, others
argued the government should stop it. Many said it should be considered
an
affront by non-Muslims, too...
SEE ALSO:
SECOND HOUSTON PROTEST AGAINST OFFENSIVE FILM
WHERE: Outside the Star Theater, 5607 Telephone Road, Houston, Texas
WHEN: Friday, September 20, 1:30 P.M.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: Amanullah Khan at 713-628-8980
-----
ARAB-AMERICAN BROTHERS SUE COPS
Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press, 9/19/02
http://www.freep.com/news/locoak/beat19_20020919.htm
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, three Arab-American brothers say they
were
beaten by Waterford Township police.
It's a case that Arab and Muslim civil rights groups say is a serious
example of anti-Arab bias. But police officials said the officers'
actions
were justified.
On June 20, Basim Alkhateeb was in Waterford Township to drop off an
ice-cream truck. Alkhateeb then planned to drive to Oakland University.
But an undercover detective approached him and ordered Alkhateeb to put
his
hands on the car, which he said he did. The detective then told him to
get
on the ground, according to the suit filed in U.S. District Court in
Detroit. The detective allegedly struck Alkhateeb and asked, "Are you
Arabic?" to which Alkhateeb said, "Yes, I am Arabic."
"Damn you, I'm a police officer," said the detective, who then started
to
repeatedly kick Alkhateeb, according to his attorney Shereef Akeel. He
also
allegedly pressed a gun to Alkhateeb's temple while questioning him.
Alkhateeb's two brothers, Qasim and Abedulah, say they were also
handcuffed
and beaten by other officers as they arrived at the scene. The three
natives of Jordan were never charged.
Waterford Police Chief John Dean said Wednesday his officers acted
"completely appropriately."
But Haaris Ahmad, head of the Michigan chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, said, "They abused their powers and
attacked
someone because of their ethnicity and faith."
SEE ALSO:
ARAB FAMILY SUES MACKINAC ISLAND MAYOR
David Eggert, Associated Press, 9/19/02
An Arab-American couple is suing the mayor of Mackinac Island, accusing
her
of making ethnic slurs and humiliating them in front of hundreds of
onlookers.
Bader and Abeer Alkhatib, of Detroit, made the allegations Wednesday
against Margaret Doud, who's been elected to 28 one-year terms as
mayor.
She owns and operates the Windermere Hotel and the Dog House, a hot dog
stand, on the island. The Alkhatibs alleged that on Aug. 6 Doud called
them
"trash" and ordered them and their two children to leave the island - a
popular northern Michigan vacation spot.
"For her to raise a scene like that is totally uncalled for," said
Nabih H.
Ayad, the family's attorney. "She humiliated them. It's already bad
enough
that with Sept. 11 Arab-Americans feel people don't want them around.
This
puts it right in your face and adds insult to injury..."
According to the complaint, the Alkhatibs and their 2- and 4-year-old
girls
ate dinner at a picnic table near Doud's eatery on Aug. 6. After
finishing,
the couple got up and put their trash in a garbage bin next to the Dog
House.
Then, the complaint alleged, Doud started yelling at the family. She
allegedly said: "Take your trash and your trash family and get out of
my
island. Trash people do not belong to this country."
Ayad estimated that 200 bystanders witnessed the incident.
The Alkhatibs claimed Doud, 59, also threw trash at them and called the
police. They later learned Doud is the island's mayor.
Ayad said Abeer Alkhatib, 25, was wearing a traditional Muslim
headscarf.
"It's quite embarrassing for the city to even have this mayor," Ayad
said.
"She shouldn't be there..."
---
MIDDLE EASTERN BACKLASH BLAMED FOR LEAP IN HATE CRIMES
Chuck Squatriglia, San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/09/19/BA149708.DTL
The number of hate crimes reported in California jumped 15.5 percent to
a
record high last year, fueled by anti-Arab sentiment after the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks, Attorney General Bill Lockyer said Wednesday.
The news was especially troubling, Lockyer and others said, because the
tally would have dropped 5 percent had it not been for bias against
those
who are, or appeared to be, Middle Eastern.
"Hate crimes based on religion declined or remained nearly steady in
all
categories except anti-Islamic hate-crimes, which soared," Lockyer said
as
he released his report, "Hate Crime in California 2001." Crimes
motivated
by race or ethnicity also dropped for all but Middle Easterners,
American
Indians and Alaska natives.
Californians reported 2,261 hate crimes last year, up from 1,957 in
2000.
That's the highest tally since 1995, the first year records were kept.
The crimes also grew more violent. Assault, intimidation and other
violence
-- including two homicides -- accounted for 1,658 hate crimes, almost 3
in
4. That's up from 1,293 in 2000, the report found.
Of all hate crimes, two-thirds were motivated by race or ethnicity.
Nearly
1 in 5 were because of sexual orientation. Religion prompted 13 percent
of
the crimes, the report found.
Arabs and Muslims bore the brunt of the increase. The number of crimes
against them jumped fivefold from 99 to 501, according to the report.
As sobering as Lockyer found those numbers, local Muslims said they
probably represented only a fraction of the problem.
"I think the reality is a far greater increase than has been reported,"
said Maha El Genaidi, spokeswoman for the Bay Area Islamic Network.
"While
I'm glad this report will highlight the problem, I'm afraid it
underrepresents the true tally."
Genaidi said she suspects that as few as 1 in 10 hate crimes are
reported
to the authorities. Most folks simply shrug them off, believing nothing
can, or will, be done about them, she said.
Lockyer said such crimes "tarnish the opportunities and ideals that
have
brought us all to this great state to live." He stressed the need for
continued efforts to increase tolerance and understanding of other
cultures.
"As Californians, we must unite to fight the forces that seek to divide
us
and continue to report, investigate and prosecute hate violence," his
report says…
---
VANDALISM WON'T DELAY OPENING OF MOSQUE IN STERLING
Abhi Raghunathan, Washington Post, 9/19/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31817-2002Sep17.html
Local Muslim leaders said that weekend vandalism in which racial
obscenities and swastikas were spray-painted on a wall of a new mosque
in
Sterling would not delay its opening in October.
"It's disturbing for anyone to see that this type of hatred still
exists,"
said Yasir Syeed, community relations director of the All Dulles Area
Muslim Society, known as the Adams Center. "But we're more excited to
make
sure we open in time." The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office is
investigating
the vandalism, discovered Saturday morning.
Adams Center leaders had increased security at the nearly completed
mosque
at 46903 Sugarland Run Dr. around Sept. 11 because they were concerned
about the possibility of such an incident. When nothing had happened by
Friday, they relaxed security measures. But, Syeed said, they "exhaled
too
early."
On Sept. 11, 2001, vandals spray-painted violent messages on walls,
carpets
and doors of another space that the Adams Center used at Community
Plaza
shopping center in Sterling. The center's director also received a call
the
next morning from someone threatening Muslims.
"We are investigating these crimes rigorously," said Kraig Troxell, a
spokesman for the Sheriff's Office.
Syeed said the new mosque will serve a growing Muslim community in the
area. The Adams Center currently serves as many as 1,500 families.
"To get this new, sizable home has been our dream for five, 10 years,"
he
said.
Syeed said Adams Center members had been encouraged by support from
other
religious leaders. He said several Jewish community leaders who came to
an
open house Sunday were upset, especially about the swastika painting,
and
spoke out against the incident.
Church leaders who learned about the graffiti also called to offer
help.
Martha Dahlman, a member of the Unitarian Universalists of Sterling,
said,
"I fervently wish those who still have feelings of fear and mistrust
would
allow themselves to be educated and those who know better speak out and
not
tolerate these horrible, destructive acts of prejudice."
"It was a beautiful thing to see the community's reaction," Syeed said.
---
PROFILING CHARGED ON 'NIGHTMARE' FLIGHT
Thomas Ginsberg, Philadelphia Inquirer, 9/19/02
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/4102992.htm
The incident on Delta Flight 442 was scary enough last month: U.S.
marshals
seized an unruly passenger, then one aimed a pistol at other passengers
for
a half hour and shouted at them to stay seated.
The event, however, didn't end there. Unknown to most passengers on the
Atlanta-to-Philadelphia flight, the marshals upon landing also seized
an
Indian passenger from first class and silently whisked him away in
handcuffs.
Far from being a terror suspect, the second detainee turned out to be a
former U.S. Army major and military doctor from Lake Worth, Fla., where
he
has had a family practice for two decades. Both detainees later were
released without charge, and the physician's angry account of his
ordeal
offers a glimpse at the dark side of America's war on terrorism.
Yesterday, suggesting that the line between security and civil-rights
violations is blurring, the physician, Bob Rajcoomar, filed notice in
U.S.
District Court that he may sue the U.S. government for illegal
detention
and emotional distress. His wife had been left to wander the
Philadelphia
airport for three hours during his detention, never told of his
whereabouts.
"This is blatant racial profiling," Rajcoomar, a naturalized citizen
since
1985, said by telephone from Florida. "They think they can pick up
anybody,
willy-nilly.... It's not in keeping with traditions of the United
States…"
During detention, Rajcoomar said, he was never asked anything except
his
name, address and Social Security number. He asked why he was being
held.
"One of the marshals said something like, 'We didn't like the way you
looked,' " Rajcoomar recalled."They also said something like, 'We
didn't
like the way you looked at us…' "
-----
FBI WAS AT THE DOOR
Deborah Barfield Berry and Tom Brune, Newsday, 9/19/02
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usprof192931041sep19.story
Paterson, N.J. - It was well past 10 p.m. and four of the FBI agents
who
had been rustling in the bushes in Ali Erikenoglu's backyard were
knocking
on his front door.
He remembers overlooking the late hour and inviting the agents in. But
the
mood changed when they rejected Erikenoglu's request to honor a Muslim
custom and remove their shoes before entering his home. "It ain't going
to
happen," one muttered.
Once inside, he said, two agents parked on his aqua-colored couch and
grilled the American-born Muslim. Are you anti-Semitic? Have you joined
protests? What kind of American are you? They questioned why he had a
Bible. A King James version rests on a bookcase next to the Quran.
Erikenoglu, who had attended a Catholic high school, was offended. His
prayer rugs lay near the couch.
"Not only am I terrified. I am angry," recalled Erikenoglu, who is of
Turkish descent. "You feel essentially at their mercy ... Had they had
me
in handcuffs I couldn't have felt worse.
"For the first time," said the 40-year-old construction foreman, "I
felt
like I had to justify my innocence."
Erikenoglu was one of hundreds of Muslims in the Paterson area who were
questioned by federal and local law enforcement officials last fall in
the
wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
For months, FBI agents knocked on doors in this Muslim enclave of about
100,000, visiting some people as many as two to three times and hauling
others off for further questioning. Federal immigration officials
jailed
and deported an unknown number of people, mostly from Middle Eastern
and
South Asian countries, who had violated their visas. Officials refuse
to
say how many were detained or to identify them…
The use of the federal government's sweeping new powers in Paterson
illustrates what is happening in Arab and Muslim communities across the
country, said David Cole, a Georgetown University professor and lawyer
at
the Center for Constitutional Rights, a public interest group in
Manhattan.
"It's a remarkable pattern of abuse," Cole said. "It's hard to think of
a
constitutional right they didn't violate ... It has deepened the divide
between law enforcement and the Arab-American community and it has done
so
at a time when it's more critical than ever that law enforcement build
a
bridge to that community…"
---
A SMALLER STICK
Chisun Lee, Village Voice, 9/18/02
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0238/lee.php
If terrorists remaining in the U.S. fit the profile authorities have
posited-Middle Eastern Muslim men who pose as workaday Joes-then
uncovering
them requires real finesse. The immigrant neighborhoods where the
evildoers
supposedly lurk are typically insular, if for the innocuous reasons of
shared language, job and housing networks, and simple camaraderie.
Outsiders cannot tell who is unusual as easily as insiders can. Blanket
aggression, in the form of INS sweeps and prolonged detentions, may
therefore hinder more than it helps. Apart from the moral concerns that
rights groups have raised, there is a purely practical question: Why is
the
government targeting entire classes of people, repelling the kind of
contacts it needs most?
Ahmed, for one, never wants to see a federal investigator again. An
Egypt-born U.S. citizen, he refuses publication of his real name lest
an
agent come knocking. In October 2001, he said in an interview last
week,
the FBI visited the midtown Manhattan apartment building where he
lives,
looking for his old friend and neighbor, Said Hammouda. "They were with
Said five, six hours," he said, then they left only to return about 10
days
later. "They took Said away."
A long while later, the letters started coming.
"I am now in solitary confinement for the past three months and a
half,"
Hammouda wrote on January 30 from a federal prison in Brooklyn. "By
Allah,
if it wasn't for the Qu'ran and the Salat I may lose my mind or have a
nervous breakdown. This is the picture of the situation that I am in .
. .
extreme pressure . . . and killer stillness. By Allah dear Ahmed, if
suicide was not forbidden religiously, I would have done it a long time
ago…"
Advocates in areas with large South Asian and Arab populations, for
instance in Brooklyn and Detroit, say the government's brash aggression
has
shattered faith in authorities. When Attorney General John Ashcroft
earlier
this year invited immigrants to volunteer for FBI interviews or provide
information in exchange for naturalization help, there were many
skeptics.
Today, immigrant leaders say, there are even fewer takers. In fact,
various
advocates and lawyers have told the Voice in past months of immigrants
who
approached the FBI with information, only to be detained themselves...
---
EDITORIAL: SORROW AND LIBERTIES
Bob Herbert, New York Times,
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/19/opinion/19HERB.html
Anthony Romero's first day on the job as the new executive director of
the
American Civil Liberties Union was Sept. 4, 2001. He was anxious to get
started as he strode into the A.C.L.U. headquarters at the lower tip of
Manhattan. From his 18th-floor office he had an amazing view of New
York
Harbor and, appropriately, the Statue of Liberty.
"I had spent part of the summer looking back at the history of the
A.C.L.U.," he said. "And one of the things I looked at were the Palmer
raids, which were right after the First World War."
A. Mitchell Palmer was an unsuccessful Senate candidate who was
appointed
attorney general by Woodrow Wilson in 1919. It was a tumultuous period,
with the rise of revolutionary movements overseas and tremendous social
and
political upheaval in the U.S., including a series of bombings by
suspected
anarchists.
Palmer responded to the turmoil by leading a vicious and unprecedented
campaign against alleged radicals and dissidents. Government agents in
dozens of cities rounded up thousands of individuals, most of them
immigrants. Many were brutalized and held without charge. Hundreds of
eastern Europeans were deported without benefit of due process.
The Palmer raids (with a young J. Edgar Hoover as an important
operative)
would ultimately be discredited by history. They were illegal,
unconstitutional and shameful. But at the time they had widespread
support,
so it took courage to speak out against them…
---
ISLAMIC SPEAKERS DECRY 'FEAR'
Michelle Locke, Associated Press, 9/19/02
BERKELEY, Calif. - It wasn't the best way to start a conference on
Islam in
America. The Muslim taxi driver hired to pick up guest speakers at the
airport dropped out at the last minute, fearing he would rouse the
suspicions of the FBI.
"I think that tells you the fear and oppression in the air," said Agha
Saeed, organizer of the one-day conference at the University of
California,
Berkeley. The event, titled "Islam in America: Rights and Citizenship
in a
Post 9/11 World," quickly recovered when friends pitched in as
volunteer
drivers. But Saeed, who refused to identify the cab driver involved,
said
the incident illustrated what it's like to be a Muslim in America a
year
after the attacks.
"So many people have been interrogated. People hear these stories,"
said
Saeed, national chair of the Newark-based American Muslim Alliance.
"What's
going on is the contagiousness of fear."
Conference speakers focused on what role Muslims should play now that
their
community has moved to the center of debates over such issues as racial
profiling.
"We have to be a part, an integral part of the national discourse about
American life itself," said Maher Hathout, chair of the American Muslim
Political Coordination Council, an umbrella group of several
organizations…
-----
BLACK-JEW RIFT WIDENS AFTER SOUTHERN PRIMARIES
Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, Fox News, 9/18/02
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,63370,00.html
WASHINGTON - Participants in this month's Congressional Black Caucus
conference say the defeat of two black House members in bitter
primaries
not only suggests a widening rift with Jewish Democrats, but trouble
within
the Democratic Party itself.
"People were talking retaliation," said Ron Walters, the director of
the
African American Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland, of
last week's CBC events in Washington. "They were saying [presidential
hopeful] Sen. Joe Lieberman is dead in the water, and so on and so
forth."
The anger is emanating from reports that several outside Jewish special
interest groups took a particular interest in defeating Reps. Cynthia
McKinney, D-Ga., and Earl Hilliard, D-Ala., by fueling the campaigns of
their respective Democratic primary opponents with thousands of dollars
and
an interest in seeing the incumbents defeated for their long-standing
support of Palestinians...
-----
EDITORIAL: U.S. HYPOCRITICAL ON HUMAN-RIGHTS ABUSES
Marie Cocco, Newsday, 9/19/02
http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/columnists/ny-vpcoc192930884sep19(0,7872478).column
Saddam is bad.
"Tens of thousands of political opponents and ordinary citizens have
been
subjected to arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, summary execution, and
torture by beating and burning, electric shock, starvation, mutilation
and
rape," President George W. Bush told the United Nations in seeking to
push
Saddam Hussein out of Iraq.
The evildoers are everywhere.
Mass graves are bad. Boston-based Physicians for Human Rights uncovered
one
in Afghanistan in January. The United States' chief ally in Northern
Afghanistan, the warlord Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, appears to have been
responsible for the deaths of hundreds, if not more than a thousand,
war
prisoners he was rounding up on behalf of U.S. forces and transporting
to
the Sheberghan prison…
The Pentagon says no American personnel were involved in, or aware of,
the
mass deaths, though Americans were nearby processing prisoners who
arrived
in similar containers. No one in the U.S. government has asked for an
investigation into whether forces working for the Americans committed
what
could well be a war crime. The Pentagon has rebuffed requests that the
gravesite at least be secured to preserve evidence for a future
inquiry…
Security forces that use methods of torture that include "beating,
whipping, Uzbekistan's president is brutal, and very bad.
The State Department human rights report says the former Soviet
republic
now "is an authoritarian state with limited civil rights . . . Both
police
and the National Security Services routinely tortured, beat and
otherwise
mistreated detainees to obtain confessions . . . Police also used
suffocation, electric shock, rape and other sexual abuse. Neither the
severity nor frequency of torture appeared to have decreased during the
year."
What increased was American aid. It tripled to $160 million, the payoff
for
allowing U.S. military staging areas for the war in neighboring
Afghanistan. President Islam Karimov was welcomed to the White House.
In
July, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill traveled to Tashkent and praised
Karimov's "efficient leadership…"
-----
MOSQUE IN BOSNIA SERB AREA DESTROYED AGAIN-U.N.
Reuters, 9/19/02
SARAJEVO - Attackers blew up a rebuilt mosque in a Serb area of Bosnia
just
three months after it was reopened, the United Nations said on
Thursday.
U.N. spokeswoman Kristin Haupt said the mosque in the southeastern
village
Kljuc was destroyed at around 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Wednesday, but that
no
one was injured in the blast.
The mosque had been restored after it was destroyed during the
1992-1995 war...
Hundreds of Muslims who were expelled from the village during the war
as
part of a Serb campaign of "ethnic cleansing" returned to take part in
the
re-opening of the mosque in June after it was reconstructed.
The original building was destroyed during the war, like 617 other
mosques.
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
CAIR ACTION ALERT #347
FOX NEWS ALLOWS ATTACK ON PROPHET MUHAMMAD
Sean Hannity fails to challenge Pat Robertson's Islamophobic rhetoric
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/19/02) - CAIR today expressed concern about what
it
says is a pattern of anti-Muslim bias by Fox News Channel citing
Wednesday
night's "Hannity & Colmes" program as an example of how the network
promotes anti-Muslim hate. On that program, host Sean Hannity seemed to
encourage televangelist Pat Robertson in his venomous attack on Islam
and
on the Prophet Muhammad.
About the Prophet Muhammad, Robertson said: "This man was an absolute
wild-eyed fanatic. He was a robber and a brigand. And to say that these
terrorists distort Islam, they're carrying out Islam." Instead of
challenging those hate-filled remarks, Hannity said: "Reverend, how
widespread do you think that fanatical interpretation is? Do you think
it's
mainstream? Or do you think it's the majority of Muslims?"
After Robertson replied by calling Islam "a monumental scam," Hannity
said:
"So Islam is a threat bigger than what most people are willing to say
publicly?... Do you think it's inevitable, then, that the world is
going to
be in conflict, perhaps even at war, with Islam for many decades to
come?"
In the program's second segment, Robertson said: "[The Quran, Islam's
revealed text] is strictly a theft of Jewish theology…I mean, this man
[Muhammad] was a killer. And to think that this is a peaceful religion
is
fraudulent."
"Our office receives daily complaints from concerned Muslims and people
of
other faiths who say that Fox's news and views on Islam, Muslims or the
Middle East are neither fair nor balanced. Venomous and hate-filled
remarks
like those made by Robertson, and Sean Hannity's failure to challenge
those
remarks, poison the minds of ordinary viewers and can incite acts of
violence against American Muslims," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad
Awad.
Awad added that in just the past month, there was a shooting attack on
an
Ohio mosque, vandalism at Islamic center under construction in Virginia
and
the revelation of a detailed plan to attack some 50 Florida mosques. He
also called on American religious and political leaders to repudiate
defamatory attacks on the faith of Islam.
As other examples of the network's anti-Muslim bias, Awad cited Fox's
inflammatory coverage of last Friday's "terror scare" in Florida, talk
show
host Bill O'Reilly's comparison of the Quran to Hitler's "Mein Kampf"
and
the network's tendency to ambush and abuse those Muslims who do appear
on
its programs. He did however note that Fox's "On the Record" with host
Greta Van Susteren often presents fair and balanced coverage of Muslims
and
Islam.
In a recent CAIR survey, 45 percent of Muslim respondents said Fox News
was
the media outlet that exhibited the most biased coverage of Islam and
Muslims. CAIR is seeking to counter anti-Muslim hate in American
society
with its Library Project, a campaign to encourage Muslim individuals
and
groups to sponsor 18-item "library packages" of books, videos and audio
cassettes about Islam and Muslims for distribution to as many as 16,000
public libraries nationwide. The package contains books such as
"Muhammad,"
a biography of the Prophet Muhammad by Yahiya Emerick. SEE:
www.libraryproject.org
ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE. Fox is likely to use hostile
comments to further harm the image of Islam and Muslims.)
1) Contact Fox to request that they offer fair and balanced coverage of
issues related to Islam, and that the network not promote or encourage
Muslim-bashers such as Robertson.
CONTACT:
Mr. Roger Ailes
Chief Executive Officer
Fox News Channel
1211 Avenue of the Americas, Lowr C1
New York, NY 10036-8701
FAX: 212-556-8219
E-MAIL: roger.ailes@foxnews.com
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org, brian.lewis@foxnews.com,
robert.zimmerman@foxnews.com, meade.cooper@foxnews.com,
bill.shine@foxnews.com, hannity@foxnews.com, colmes@foxnews.com,
comments@foxnews.com, Viewerservices@foxnews.com
CALL FOX COMMENT LINE: 1-888-369-4762 CALL HANNITY & COLMES:
212-301-3289
FAX HANNITY & COLMES: 212-301-4222
2) Help educate the American public about Islam by taking part in
CAIR's
Library Project.
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
- PLEASE POST, COPY AND DISTRIBUTE -
-----
TRANSCRIPT OF HANNITY & COLMES
FOX NEWS NETWORK
September 18, 2002 Wednesday
GUESTS: Pat Robertson
HOSTS: Sean Hannity, Alan Colmes
COLMES: I'm Alan Colmes. We're back on HANNITY & COLMES.
Coming up tonight, why is one prison in California denying black
inmates
their right to have visitors? Is this discrimination veiled in the
guise of
security? We'll debate that. First, joining us now, the chairman and
founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network, the Reverend Pat
Robertson.
Reverend Robertson, always good to have you on the program. PAT
ROBERTSON,
CHRISTIAN BROADCASTING NETWORK: Hey, it's a pleasure as usual.
COLMES: All right, sir. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
president,
William Gregory, said yesterday that it would be difficult to justify
preemptive attack under Roman Catholic teachings on warfare. Where do
you
stand on that?
ROBERTSON: I would tell the good bishop to read the book of Habakkuk in
the
Old Testament and see what it says about those who kill and pillage and
rape and hurt innocent people, that the judgment of the Lord needs to
come
on them. And you know, with Saddam Hussein, 500,000 innocent Iranians
killed, 5,000 to 6,000 Kurds gassed. Who knows how many Shi'ite Muslims
and
how many of his enemies? He actually boils them in oil. This man is a
horrible monster. And...
COLMES: You know, nobody denies that. Nobody is saying they love Saddam
Hussein. The question is, what is proper? What is just? Should the
United
States take a preemptive strike? And does that violate Christian
teaching
for the United States to be the one to decide we're going after this
guy?
ROBERTSON: Well, somebody has got to enforce this. You know, we've been
spending a billion dollars a year on that no-fly zone over there every
year
since the Gulf War. And we went in to help the innocent. We went in to
help
the oppressed, the Kuwaitis. And now others are being oppressed. And
the
bible says to lift the yolk of oppression from those who would hurt the
innocent and the non-combatants, if you will.
COLMES: You've come on this show many times. We've talked about members
of
the religion of Islam on this program, your view of people of that
religion. And you have often said that not enough have spoken out about
the
atrocity of September 11. And I want to show you the statement of the
Study
of Islam and Democracy, signed on by dozens and dozens of individuals
and
groups where they said, "We wish again to state unequivocally that
neither
the al-Qaeda organization nor Usama bin Laden represents Islam or
reflects
Muslim beliefs and practice. Rather, groups like al-Qaeda have misused
and
abused Islam in order to fit their own radical and indeed anti-Islamic
agenda."
And this is again signatories all over the place, dozens. They speak
for
mainstream Muslims in America and worldwide.
ROBERTSON: You know, I hate to tell you, Alan, but that is absolute
falsehood, not on your part, but on the part of those who signed it.
All
you have to do is read the writings of Mohammed in the Koran. He urges
people to attack the infidels. He urges his followers to kill
Christians
and Jews. He talks about eradicating all of the Jews. This man was an
absolute wild-eyed fanatic. He was a robber and a brigand. And to say
that
these terrorists distort Islam, they're carrying out Islam.
HANNITY: Reverend, how widespread do you think that fanatical
interpretation is? Do you think it's mainstream? Or do you think it's
the
majority of Muslims?
ROBERTSON: I think there are many Muslims, just like there are many
Catholics and there are many Jews and there are many Protestants, that
don't really understand what their religion believes. And they go
along.
And they're just kind of easy to get along with folks.
But I think that in the Muslim world, you look at where the terror is,
you
look at where the dictators are, you look at where the oppression is,
and
it's all in the Muslim world. And I think especially with Saudi Arabia
and
Syria and Iran, there is a typical Muslim state. That's a Muslim
theocracy.
HANNITY: Yes.
ROBERTSON: And look what the Taliban did in Afghanistan. I mean, these
people were carrying out fundamental Muslim teaching.
HANNITY: So Islam is a threat bigger than what most people are willing
to
say publicly?
ROBERTSON: I don't think there's any question about it. And I think the
sooner we confront the enemy and say look, this is the teaching these
people. You know, I majored in history in college. And we learned about
jihad. Mohammed declared jihad against the infidels. And he carried
that
thing all the way up to Bordeaux in Spain and the Ottomans, were all
the
way up to Hungary on the other side of Europe.
HANNITY: What is that -- what do mainstream Muslims to think when they
hear
what you're saying? Is it that -- I mean, because you're going right to
the
heart and soul of their religion. And you're saying it's predicated on
these things, take neither Christians and Jews for your friends. You
talk
about jihad, holy war. Some people have argued on this program no, no,
that's not interpreted correctly. What -- I mean, it's a pretty direct
frontal attack against them. What are they to think when they hear
that?
ROBERTSON: All I would say, if you read the teachings of Jesus, he
talks
about peace. He talks about love your enemies. He talks about do good
to
them that persecute you. You read the Koran, it says wage war against
your
enemies. Kill them if you possibly can. And destroy anybody who doesn't
agree with you.
I mean, it's all laid out in the Koran. And what is called the hadif
(ph),
the -- you know, interpretation of what Mohammed said, that this whole
thing is in my opinion, is a monumental scam, if you really understand
what
went on back there in the early days of Mohammed.
HANNITY: Do you think it's inevitable, then, that the world is going to
be
in conflict, perhaps even at war, with Islam for many decades to come?
ROBERTSON: Unless our government and the leaders recognize the threat,
the
answer is absolutely yes. And when you see what's done to Christians in
Indonesia, for example, when you see the persecution in Saudi Arabia.
Here
you look at Sudan. They killed two million plus Christians because of
Shiria (ph). In Nigeria right now, they're getting ready to stone a
woman
to death for adultery. And it just goes on and on and on, the list of
horror.
COLMES: We're going to take a quick break.
ROBERTSON: Yes.
COLMES: I want to talk to you about your statement that Islam is a sham
when we get back. More with Pat Robertson after this.
Later, since that brutal attack on three prison guards in August, black
inmates in a California prison are being punished. Is this a blatant
case
of racial profiling? That's ahead on HANNITY & COLMES tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Still to come, a brutal attack in California in a prison leads
to
a crackdown on some of the inmates. But why are some people screaming
racism? We'll debate that. We'll tell you about it.
First, we continue with the Reverend Pat Robertson.
Reverend, look, I hate to even say this, I don't want to even think
this,
but I'm really coming to the conclusion that Tom Daschle and some of
the
Democrats seem not to have learned a lot from September 11. There is
this
desire, this gullibility. They're just gullible as -- they want to
believe
Saddam Hussein after 12 years of lie after lie after lie. And I think
that
lack of wisdom makes this country vulnerable and susceptible because it
allows him, buys him time to get his weapons of mass destruction.
ROBERTSON: You know, Sean, he has violated seven clear-cut resolutions
of
the United Nations Security Council. Not one, not two, not three, but
seven
of them. Not to mention the additional internal discussions along the
way.
He stiffed the inspectors every time. He has prevented them from
discovering these weapons of mass destruction. He has an estimated 600
tons
of deadly gases and biological chemical agents. Who knows how much
nuclear
material he's got? The Ukrainians are talking about missing 200 nuclear
devices. And if they fell into his hands, we may be in deadly peril
from
this man. He's a madman.
HANNITY: But the left doesn't get that. They want one more chance.
We've
got to try to allow the inspectors in. One more time. All it does is
buy
him time to seek new weapons of mass destruction, allows himself to
create
alliances with terror groups. And if he ever gets them, he may not have
the
means of launching them from here, but he certainly can get them to
Israel.
And he certainly perhaps can get across our borders if he has, you
know,
alliance with a terrorist organization. They don't get it. They don't
get
it. They didn't get it when Reagan was fighting the Cold War. They want
to
abolish the CIA. The left in America doesn't get it.
ROBERTSON: Well, I've read books recently. And I'm sure you have too
that
go back in the history. And your own book pointed it out, some of the
terrible failings of our intelligence. There's a book just out about
the
intelligence breakdown...
HANNITY: Yes.
ROBERTSON: ...that shows how the left, as you say, opposed virtually
everything. You go back to the church...
COLMES: Oh, reverend.
ROBERTSON: ...they wanted to gut the CIA.
COLMES: First of all, Daschle and Gephardt are on the same page as the
president. I showed you quotes just a few minutes ago. They're on the
same
page. They're not even arguing with him. We had one Democrat on tonight
as
a guest, who's running for office in Chicago, who's finally speaking
out as
some -- I think most Democrats should. They're on the same page.
They're
capitulating. There's not even healthy debate in this country,
reverend. So
to say that the left, the evil horrible left is doing the wrong thing,
is
just not accurate.
ROBERTSON: Well, you know, they know how to put their finger up in the
wind
and the voters...
COLMES: Oh, come on. You didn't do any polling when you were running
for
president? You didn't do any polling when you were running for
president?
ROBERTSON: Well, of course you do polling, but they have polled. And
they've got the control of the Senate at stake. And they know they'll
lose.
COLMES: Yes?
ROBERTSON: And the Republicans are beating them up all over the
country, in
South Dakota, in Iowa, and Georgia, and...
COLMES: We'll see in a few days. Let me show you something you said,
the
last time you appeared on HANNITY & COLMES. Let's take a look.
ROBERTSON: All right.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: Liberals always lie.
COLMES: Oh, please. Come on.
ROBERTSON: They always lie.
COLMES: Come on, that's not...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLMES: What -- Pat, what would Jesus say about that kind of a comment?
Liberals always lie?
HANNITY: Amen.
COLMES: Jesus has spoken. Ladies and gentlemen, Jesus has spoken.
HANNITY: He'd say amen.
COLMES: He's come back. He's sitting next to me. We have just seen the
second coming. Go ahead.
ROBERTSON: You know, Jesus spoke to the Pharisees. He called them
whitewashed tombs. And he said you know, you always speak a falsehood.
So
he talked about the devil being a liar and the father of lies. So he
said
some pretty rough words as well.
COLMES: All right. Is that -- do you want to interpret that as anti-
liberal, bigotry? You make a blanket statement, liberals lie? Is that
--
that's not a Christian like thing to say.
ROBERTSON: Well, it's not Christian but it's true.
HANNITY: It's true.
ROBERTSON: You know...
COLMES: Come on. All liberals lie? They all lie. I'm a liar?
ROBERTSON: Oh yes, they lie from time to time. They don't necessarily
lie
in every word they say...
COLMES: Wow.
ROBERTSON: ...but their general premise is based on falsehood, so
often.
COLMES: Reverend, that seems to me like a lack of critical thinking to
make
such a blanket statement like that about an entire group of people. I
am
personally hurt. I'm very sensitive, you know. You hurt my feelings.
HANNITY: Aw.
ROBERTSON: They're diminishing -- I'm not sure, you won't even be in
that
camp. You're too nice a person to be associated with the...
COLMES: All right, this idea -- and about Islam, you say that Islam is
scam.
ROBERTSON: Yes.
COLMES: You're insulting the largest religion on the planet, an entire
group of people, when you make a statement like you did in the last
segment. Islam is a scam. Do you want to qualify that?
ROBERTSON: Can I tell you why? Can I tell you why?
COLMES: Yes.
ROBERTSON: You've heard of mecca. Mecca, there is a black stone.
Mohammed's
father and grandfather were keeper of 360 sacred rocks at mecca. And
they
said there was a meteor or something that fell out of the sky. And the
most
important deity in mecca was the moon god. And he was the same god that
was
you know, Ur of Kaldez (ph) when Abraham was up there. And his name was
Allah. And he had three daughters. And you remember that the Koran that
he
wrote into the Koran that he thinks that we should worship those three
daughters, and then disciples got after him. So he took the
(UNINTELLIGIBLE). And Salman Rushdie wrote about the satanic verses.
This whole thing was situational. It took about 20 years to write the
entire Koran. 80 percent of it comes from the Jewish and Christian
scriptures. He mentions Moses 500 times in the Koran. I mean, it is
strictly a theft of Jewish theology. And then he turned around and he
murdered all the Jews in Medina. I mean, this man was a killer. And to
think that this is a peaceful religion is fraudulent. It just is. I
wish
people would read the Koran itself and see what it says, because they'd
be
shocked.
HANNITY: All right, Reverend Robertson, always good to see you. You
know
what might be a good idea? I think maybe we should you bring back. And
I
think we need a live, maybe a half hour, an hour debate on the topic.
And I
don't know if you'd be willing to do that, but I think it would be very
informative for our viewers.
ROBERTSON: Well, I think it's one of those things we've got to wake
people
up before somebody else blows up another tower or hits another military
installation.
HANNITY: Reverend Robertson, thank you...
ROBERTSON: Thank you.
HANNITY: ...as always for being with us. Appreciate you being here.
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS 9/20/2002
HEADLINES:
* VERSE OF THE DAY: COMMUNITY OF ANIMALS
* CAIR ACTION ALERT: FOX NEWS’ ANTI-MUSLIM BIAS
* ARAB BROTHERS ACCUSE POLICE OF ETHNIC INTIMIDATION, ASSAULT (Detroit
Free
Press)
- Muslims in America Feel Eyes of Suspicion Cast Upon Them
(Knight
Ridder)
* GLIMMERS OF HOPE AND DECENCY DURING A BAD WEEK FOR ARABS IN AMERICA
(Independent)
* FAMILY FEARS FOR SAFETY OF DEPORTED DETAINEE (LA Times)
- Lebanon Deports Al-Najjar to Undisclosed Country
* GUJARAT’S RAPE VICTIMS FACE POLICE INACTION
(AFP)
* BORN-AGAIN ZIONISTS (Mother Jones)
* LET THE UN INSPECTORS IN, ISRAEL, THIS MEANS YOU! (Antiwar.com)
* DEFENSE SEEKS TO PURGE RACIST REMARKS ON JDL TAPE (LA Times)
-----
VERSE OF THE DAY: COMMUNITY OF ANIMALS
“There is not an animal (living) on the earth, nor a creature that
flies
with two wings which does not belong to a community like you (humans)”
The Holy Quran, Surah 6, Verse 38
-----
CAIR ACTION ALERT: FOX NEWS’ ANTI-MUSLIM BIAS
To contact Fox News and express your concern about the treatment of
Islam
and Muslim guests on the network, go to www.cair-net.org
-----
ARAB BROTHERS ACCUSE POLICE OF ETHNIC INTIMIDATION, ASSAULT
John Masson, Detroit Free Press, 9/20/02
http://www.freep.com/news/locway/suit20_20020920.htm
DETROIT _ An Arab-American activist stood on the lawn of the Waterford
Police Department on Thursday and said officers used their power to
"attack
and terrorize" three Arab brothers who were operating a neighborhood
ice-cream truck.
Police said the claims are outrageous.
A federal lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit
accuses
the department of constitutional rights violations, ethnic
intimidation,
assault, false imprisonment and negligence.
The suit is based on a June 20 encounter that started when Basim
Alkhateeb
dropped off his brother's ice-cream truck in a neighborhood near Dixie
Highway and Watkins Lake Road. According to Shereef Akeel, one of the
men's
attorneys, police got a call from a resident who had seen the three men
meeting two or three days in a row around the truck. Police were told
that
each day, one man would get out of the truck with a bag, and then leave
in
a car, Akeel said.
On June 20, a plainclothes officer confronted 36-year-old Alkhateeb,
Akeel
said.
According to the suit, the officer ordered Alkhateeb to the ground at
gunpoint, then struck his back so hard his head hit the ground. Then,
according to the suit, the officer asked him, "Are you Arabic?"
After Alkhateeb said yes, the officer kicked him several more times,
then
put the gun to Alkhateeb's head, according to the suit.
"Law enforcement has a lot of power and responsibility," said Haaris
Ahmad,
executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in
Michigan. "But in this case they used that power to attack and
terrorize,
because of faith and ethnicity…"
-----
MUSLIMS IN AMERICA FEEL EYES OF SUSPICION CAST UPON THEM
Karen Branch-Brioso, Knight Ridder, 9/20/02
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/4106329.htm
NEW YORK _ Ahmed Larby has been a New Yorker for 17 years. But he felt
very
much the outsider last month, when he absent-mindedly left his gym bag
on a
Manhattan subway car, then rushed back to retrieve it.
"I saw everybody running from the car and when I got there, the whole
car
was empty. They left, scared it was a bomb," said Larby, who was
wearing a
traditional knit Muslim cap at the time. "Everyone else was staring at
me
from the other cars."
In a lingering legacy of last year's terrorist attacks on the World
Trade
towers and the Pentagon, the nation has grown more jittery around
people of
Arab heritage, like Larby, a native of Morocco and a U.S. citizen for
25
years…
"I can't blame them. People are scared," said Larby, 60, who manages
the Al
Qaraween shop on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, which sells all things
Islamic _ from literature to clothing to herbal remedies that
non-Muslims
also used to buy before Sept. 11. "They're afraid to ask questions. I
just
wish they would ask me about Islam…"
Bernadette Park, a psychology professor from the University of Colorado
at
Boulder, has surveyed emotional reactions to the attacks of Sept. 11.
She
suspects recent news of sleeper cells in the United States is why the
Gallup poll is showing a greater distrust of Arabs now than right after
the
attacks.
"We have not put terrorism to rest and people know that, so when they
see
that these cells exist and there's this awareness that this element can
still be present among our society," Park said. "Right after Sept. 11,
people tended to report this enormous coming together of all people in
the
United States _ and Muslim-Americans were a part of that. Most of the
population wanted to say, 'We're not going to blame Muslim-Americans
for
this.' But now, there isn't this same public outcry that you shouldn't
target Muslims."
-----
GLIMMERS OF HOPE AND DECENCY DURING A BAD WEEK FOR ARABS IN AMERICA
Robert Fisk, Independent (UK), 9/14/02
http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story
This week was a bad week to be an Arab in America. It wasn't, frankly,
a
great week to be an English journalist either, with a message to a
university audience on the eve of 11 September about the failings and
injustice of US policy in the Middle East � especially when the 2,000
people who came to listen included relatives of those so savagely
slaughtered a year ago.
George Mason University is in Fairfax, Virginia, just across the county
line from Arlington, where Patriot missiles were positioned to ensure
America's attackers did not return.
Hanan Ashrawi, among the sanest and least radical of Palestinians, was
in
Virginia, lambasted in a co-ordinated campaign by pro-Israeli lobby
groups
and Christian fundamentalists so virulent in their remarks that the
Bush
administration gave her bodyguards.
"Never have I experienced language like this," she told me. Her
daughter
Zena � a student at George Mason � says that she did not leave home for
days after the attacks last year.
Other Arab students said they could not bear to watch television for
the
past year. "The coverage is so anti-Muslim, so anti-Arab that it is
disgusting for me to watch," a young woman � who wore an Islamic
headscarf
� announced. "You can see the effect of the television, the way people
look
at us. They don't say anything. But it's in their eyes..."
-----
FAMILY FEARS FOR SAFETY OF DEPORTED DETAINEE
Greg Krikorian, Los Angeles Times, 9/20/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-deport20sep20(0,5187633).story
A longtime California resident, who a decade ago attended flight
schools
with a now-convicted terrorist, has been deported to Pakistan, and his
whereabouts are a mystery to family, friends and U.S. officials.
Nasir Ali Mubarak agreed last month to leave the U.S. under pressure
from
federal authorities who long ago determined that his student visa had
expired.
But after being escorted to Pakistan by two INS agents, Mubarak, 35,
was
taken into custody by plainclothes Pakistani authorities, according to
the
INS. Mubarak has not been heard from again.
Mubarak's detention has angered his American-born wife and prompted
Amnesty
International to formally request that the U.S. government take steps
to
ensure his safety. "The fact is the U.S. government sent him back, and
then
they say they don't know where he is. And that is really disgusting to
me,"
said Stephanie Mubarak, who lives just outside Chico, where her husband
ran
an aircraft painting business.
In letters to U.S. officials, Amnesty International raised "grave and
pressing fears" about the well-being of Mubarak, who moved to
California
from the United Arab Emirates in 1991 and had not been in Pakistan
since he
was 3 years old.
"The U.S. has an obligation not to return anyone to a country where
they
are at risk of serious human rights abuses," wrote Ignacio Saiz, the
program director in America for the human rights organization…
---
LEBANON DEPORTS AL-NAJJAR TO UNDISCLOSED COUNTRY
Press Release, Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace, 9/19/02
(9/19/02, Tampa) Since his arrival to Beirut, Lebanon, on August 24,
2002,
Dr. Mazen Al-Najjar has been under continuous pressure by the
Lebanese
government to leave Lebanon. Obviously, as a stateless Palestinian
refugee,
he does not have a country to go to, nor residency rights in any
country in
the world.
After unconstitutionally spending much of the last 5 years in a US
detention facility (with the last 9 months in solitary confinement),
and
without any charges, Dr. Al-Najjar was desperate to leave. His family
was able to find him a job offer in South Africa provided that he
would
not go directly from the US to that country...
While Dr. Al-Najjar was stuck in the US chartered plane in Italy for 25
hours, the attorneys again pleaded with the US government not to use
the
chartered plane, but to allow him to go to Lebanon using a commercial
flight since the Lebanese government is sensitive to the idea of
Palestinians being settled in Lebanon. Once again the government
refused to
listen.
Unfortunately but predictably, Lebanese Parliament speaker, Nabih
Berri,
accused the US government of illegally "dumping" Al-Najjar in Lebanon,
and
then called for an investigation. Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri followed
through by pressuring Dr. Al-Najjar to leave within two weeks, then
delayed
it an extra week. In addition, because of the world-wide publicity,
the
job offer to South Africa was rescinded, and the family has
unsuccessfully
worked feverishly to find him yet another country…
During his asylum hearing in October 1996, Dr. Al-Najjar prophetically
told
the presiding judge: "If I leave the US, I'd probably be going from
airport
to airport." It's the story of the wandering Palestinian in the 21st
century with no end in sight. What a shameful "civilized" world in the
age
of globalization.
-----
GUJARAT’S RAPE VICTIMS FACE POLICE INACTION
Praveena Sharma, Agence France Presse, 9/20/02
AHMEDABAD, India - Months after communal mobs rampaged in India's
western
state of Gujarat, many women who were raped by the zealots have seen no
action taken against their aggressors, with police unwilling to take
their
complaints seriously.
Sultana Firoze, 24, was stripped naked by eight men in her village of
Delol. Her life was spared, she said, only because she fell unconscious
during the assault.
"The police have done nothing against the accused; they are still
scot-free. But I'm determined to get justice," said Firoze, who has
still
not returned home. Rape victims face a first obstacle in identifying
the
men who assaulted them. But perhaps the biggest barrier is the police,
who
in many cases refuse to believe the women were raped.
"In my view, it is not scientifically and psychologically possible to
have
a sexual urge when the public is rioting," said B.K. Nanavati, a deputy
superintendent of police.
Asked about Firoze's case, he acknowledged there may have been isolated
cases of rape.
New York-based Human Rights Watch and other rights groups have blasted
the
Gujarat authorities' response to the riots, charging that police not
only
failed to prevent vigilante violence against Muslims but in some cases
were
even complicit in the attacks…
-----
BORN-AGAIN ZIONISTS
Ken Silverstein & Michael Scherer, Mother Jones, Sept/Oct 2002
http://bsd.mojones.com/news/feature/2002/37/ma_109_01.html
Nearly three decades after leaving his job as a marketing manager at
Colgate-Palmolive, Ed McAteer, considered one of the godfathers of the
modern Religious Right, still sounds like a salesman…
But no subject excites the 76-year-old born-again Baptist more than his
unequivocal love for the Jewish people and the state of Israel, and his
increasingly influential role as one of the nation's leading "Christian
Zionists."
The passion of McAteer, a gregarious man with a toothy smile and
thinning
wisps of brushed-back hair, is evident during a prayer breakfast in May
for
more than 200 people at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. "I am
delighted and thrilled and just pumped up to be here," McAteer tells
the
crowd in a Tennessee drawl, nearly bouncing behind a podium backed by
brightly colored banners celebrating the biblical tribes of Israel.
Before
him sits the self-described inner circle of Christian Zionism: pastors,
preachers, and religious activists who quietly but effectively lobby
for
Israel…
They also have close ties to GOP congressional leaders and to a group
of
high-ranking hawks in the Pentagon -- led by Deputy Defense Secretary
Paul
Wolfowitz -- that some D.C. insiders call the "Kosher Nostra." "They
are
very vocal and have shifted the center of gravity toward Israel and
against
concessions," says Doug Bandow, an evangelical who serves as a senior
fellow at the conservative Cato Institute. "It colors the environment
in
which decisions are being made…"
-----
LET THE UN INSPECTORS IN, ISRAEL, THIS MEANS YOU!
Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com, 9/20/02
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/justincol.html
The recent conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
opened with an announcement that Cuba would become a signatory to the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The last three hold-outs in the world
are
Israel, India, and Pakistan. The Arab states, led by Iraq, have
proposed
that Israel should sign on as part of a framework for peace in the
Middle
East, but the Israelis want to hold on to their weapons of mass
destruction…
A better question is: why not single out Israel, a country that we know
has
nukes and the will to use them instead of Iraq, which doesn't have
fissionable material or the technology to create and deliver a nuclear
warhead?
A recent report in the [UK] Daily Mirror reveals a secret Pentagon "hit
list" of seven nations that could conceivably feel Uncle Sam's
nuclearized
ire: China, Russia, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Syria and Libya. Among the
conditions that could trigger such unspeakable horror: a generalized
Arab-Israeli conflict, or an attack by Iraq on Israel or another
neighbor.
Okay, let's see if I get this straight: the U.S. is preparing to go to
war
with Iraq because Saddam might, in the future, develop "weapons of mass
destruction" and therefore threaten the peace of the Middle East. But
the
U.S. is itself prepared to use weapons of mass destruction if the Arabs
and
Israelis should come to blows no matter who starts it or if
nuclear-armed
Israel is attacked. Perhaps those UN arms inspectors, instead of
picking
over the ruins of Iraqi military installations, should be demanding
access
to American nuclear weapons sites…
-----
DEFENSE SEEKS TO PURGE RACIST REMARKS ON JDL TAPE
David Rosenzweig, Los Angeles Times, 9/20/02
Besides denigrating Arabs, Jewish Defense League leader Earl Krugel
made
racist remarks about African Americans during secretly recorded
conversations with an FBI informant, according to defense documents
filed
in connection with his upcoming bombing conspiracy trial.
Krugel's lawyer has asked U.S. District Judge Ronald S.W. Lew to bar
prosecutors from playing the offensive portions of the tape recordings
when
the trial gets underway in mid-November.
"The racist expressions used by Mr. Krugel are irrelevant to the case
at
bar," defense attorney Mark Werksman declared in his court papers. "And
even if somehow relevant, the introduction of such evidence could
prejudice
the jury or mislead or confuse them into forming a negative impression
of
Mr. Krugel and possibly convicting him out of a distaste for his
language,
rather than because he is guilty of the offenses charged," Werksman
said.
Lew has scheduled a hearing on the motion in early November.
Krugel, 59, the JDL's West Coast coordinator, and Irv Rubin, 56, the
group's national director, are accused of plotting to blow up the
Muslim
Public Affairs Council offices in Los Angeles, the King Fahd Mosque in
Culver City and a field office of Rep. Darrell E. Issa (R-Vista), an
Arab
American…
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 9/22/2002
HEADLINES:
* VANDAL HITS DOOR OF KENT MOSQUE (Akron Beacon Journal)
* AFTER 9/11, INMATES SEARCH FOR TRUE NATURE OF ISLAM (New York Times)
* PEOPLE OF FAITH: IMAM ABD'ALLAH ADESANYA (Newsday)
* WEB SITE LISTS PROFESSORS ACCUSED OF ANTI-ISRAEL BIAS AND ASKS
STUDENTS
TO REPORT ON THEM (Chronicle of Higher Education)
* HOSPITAL MIGHT ACCEPT ALLEY TRIO (Sun-Sentinel)
- HOSPITAL REMOVES MD WHO TRIED TO PLACE MUSLIM STUDENTS (Miami
Herald)
- FLORIDA MUSLIMS TRY TO RIGHT SOME PEOPLE'S TILTED VIEW (Miami
Herald)
- EAVESDROP IF YOU MUST, BUT GET FACTS STRAIGHT (Orlando Sentinel)
- THE FAILINGS OF ARAB PROFILING (Chicago Tribune)
* PALESTINIANS PROTEST ISRAEL, 5 DIE (AP)
* USA PATRIOT ACT NEEDS DISMANTLING (Capital Times)
* LEBANON REVOKES VISA OF PROFESSOR OUSTED BY U.S. (AP)
* HIGH-PROFILE LAWYER TAKES ISLAMIC LEADER'S CASE (AP)
-----
VANDAL HITS DOOR OF KENT MOSQUE
Muslim community concerned act was hate crime
Carl Chancellor and Andrea Misko, Akron Beacon Journal, 9/21/02
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/4121501.htm
KENT - Shards of broken glass covered the front entrance to the Kent
Mosque
on Crain Avenue on Friday morning.
In the early morning hours, possibly between 4 and 6 a.m., someone
rammed
the main entrance with a piece of wood, leaving a sizable hole in the
glass
door.
It was the second time in less than a week that an area mosque has been
the
target of vandalism.
Kent police won't say it is a hate crime, noting four nearby businesses
also were vandalized. But members of the Muslim community feel
differently.
"This is no longer a random act," said Ihsan Ul Haque, president of the
Islamic Society of Akron and Kent.
He believes someone or a group is deliberately targeting the Islamic
community.
Five days earlier, bullets were fired at the Islamic Community Center
on
Steels Corner Road in Cuyahoga Falls. The bullet holes were discovered
in
the window of the prayer hall.
"We are upset and worried," Haque said of the Muslim community. "We are
a
little apprehensive, but we are defiant. We are not going to be
terrorized…"
-----
AFTER 9/11, INMATES SEARCH FOR TRUE NATURE OF ISLAM
MAREK FUCHS, New York Times, 9/21/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/21/national/21RELI.html
The mosque is in a modular building in the corner of the
maximum-security
prison's recreation yard, right next to a church named for the patron
saint
of impossible causes, St. Jude.
Under the eyes of guards on the ground and in gun towers, hundreds of
inmates, most serving long sentences, make collect calls at a bank of
pay
phones, take open-air showers, play football or enter the mosque for
afternoon prayer. Since Sept. 11, more prisoners than usual have been
stepping into the mosque.
Religion plays a central role in American prison life, with Islam the
most
influential in many prisons. At this particular prison, the Eastern New
York Correctional Facility, a castle-like structure in Ulster County,
about
a quarter of the 1,000 inmates are Muslims.
Islam has grown significantly as a factor in prison life in the past
generation, said Robert Johnson, chairman of the department of justice,
law
and society at American University, and the author of "Hard Time:
Understanding and Reforming the Prison" (Wadsworth, 1996).
The declining prison focus on rehabilitation, the increase in
minorities
behind bars and the increase, through immigration and global
communications, of Islam's influence in the West have all contributed
to
the growing importance of the religion in prisons, Dr. Johnson said.
David L. Miller, the prison superintendent, said about 150 inmates
regularly attended services or classes on Arabic language, Muslim
tradition
and the Koran.
Most of the prison's Muslims are African-Americans who are converts to
the
religion, and almost all of them converted in prison. "Not too many of
these guys were too religious before they came here," said Imam Yasin
A.
Latif, the prison's Muslim chaplain for the last two decades,
When they became religious, however, is of little concern to Mr.
Miller,
compared with the fact that they are. The superintendent is a proponent
of
religion among prisoners for what he says is its ability to "create a
community within a community, which allows an old con to put an arm
around
a young con and tell him to cool down…"
Despite the progressive fading of his outright idealism, Mr. Latif said
he
had, in his 20 years at the prison, seen the positive impact that Islam
had
with the prisoners. Islam, he said, gives the inmates an organizing
force
for their thoughts that is far superior to the ones most had on the
street.
It also gives them words and ideas to use that go beyond jail jargon,
and
it makes them members of a community in the midst of what can only be
described as a surreal existence.
So Mr. Latif sees hope in the fact that the last year has given him
many
more inmates willing to participate in services and classes...
-----
PEOPLE OF FAITH: IMAM ABD'ALLAH ADESANYA
Sheila McKenna, Newsday, 9/21/02
http://www.newsday.com/mynews/ny-pulpit2933143sep21.story
Muslim chaplain for the New York Fire Department; assistant imam at
Masjid
Abdul Muhsi Khalifah in Bedford- Stuyvesant; educational director at
Clara
Muhammad School in Corona, a Muslim elementary and secondary school.
HOME AND FAMILY
Married; seven children; lives in Bedford- Stuyvesant. BACKGROUND
Age, 54; native of San Jose, Calif.; graduated from the University of
Redlands and University of California- Berkeley School of Law; raised
as a
Baptist and converted to Islam while in law school; moved to New York
City
in 1989.
HOPES
"I'm looking forward to the continued recognition of the humanity that
we
all share as Christians, Muslims and Jews, and that humanity and
dignity
continue to be respected and supported and encouraged. As the first
Muslim
chaplain for the fire department, I have faced anger from individuals.
...
I can understand their anger and pain, and as we talk, I explain that
these
terrorists did not represent the teachings of Islam. This is a burden
that
Muslims will bear for some time in this country…"
-----
WEB SITE LISTS PROFESSORS ACCUSED OF ANTI-ISRAEL BIAS AND ASKS STUDENTS
TO REPORT ON THEM
SCOTT SMALLWOOD, Chronicle of Higher Education
Thursday, September 19, 2002
http://chronicle.com/
In an attempt to combat what it sees as anti-Israel bias in academe,
the
Middle East Forum has created a new Web site that lists faculty members
it
is monitoring and allows students to report on their professors.
Others, including the Muslim Public Affairs Council, suggest that the
project is "basically a hate Web site" and that posting "dossiers" on
faculty members amounts to a blacklist. And some professors who are
listed
on the site are denouncing it as hateful and inappropriate.
The Middle East Forum, a Philadelphia-based think tank, announced the
new
site, called Campus Watch, on Wednesday…
Eight professors are now listed on the site. The dossiers include short
biographies and reprints of a variety of materials -- articles about
the
professors, as well as letters to editors and essays written by the
professors themselves.
Some of the professors who appear on the site derided it as
fear-mongering.
Mr. Khalidi said the effort "could have a chilling effect if people
allow
themselves to be intimidated." Campus Watch is part of a "well-financed
campaign of black propaganda," he said.
Another of the listed professors, Hamid Dabashi, chairman of the
department
of Middle East and Asian languages and cultures at Columbia University,
said the project seeks to create fear that students will be spying on
professors. That won't affect him, he said, but it could be a "horrible
development" for junior faculty members. "In the tenure culture, it
could
be damaging to the healthy relationship that has to govern the
classroom,"
he said.
Juan R.I. Cole, a professor of history at the University of Michigan at
Ann
Arbor, is also listed on the site. In an e-mail message, he complained
that
the Campus Watch site had violated copyright law by reprinting some of
his
writings that he had posted on his own Web site. "This sort of arrogant
theft of other people's property is typical of the intellectual
hooligans
who run the Middle East Forum," he wrote.
-----
HOSPITAL MIGHT ACCEPT ALLEY TRIO
Noaki Schwartz, Sun-Sentinel, 9/22/02
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cmuslim22sep22.story
Davie - Less than a week after Larkin Community Hospital president
enraged
Muslim community leaders by turning away three medical students cleared
of
planning terror attacks, Dr. Jack Michel received a hero's welcome at a
Saturday afternoon Islamic conference.
"Their education is not going to be impeded," said the hospital's
president
and chief executive officer, adding that he would "personally ensure"
it.
"These kids are not going to be average doctors, but good doctors,
great
doctors." The approximately 200 people who came to hear more than a
dozen
Islamic leaders speak, hooted and cheered the doctor.
Michel would not confirm that the students would return to Larkin once
the
publicity died down, but Altaf Ali, the executive director for the
Florida
chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations that sponsored the
event, said the agreement was negotiated last week.
"The message I'm hearing is the hospital administrators, regardless of
how
many ugly, anonymous threats, have decided they're not going to turn
their
backs on the students," said Howard Simon, American Civil Liberties
Union
of Florida executive director, calling Michel a "hero." "It's my
understanding that the students will be welcomed back to the hospital
in a
few weeks."
The three men -- Ayman Gheith, 27, Kambiz Butt, 25 and Omer Choudhary,
23
-- were detained on Sept. 13 after a woman told police she overheard
them
plotting a terrorist attack. The three students were on a cross-country
journey to Florida to complete their medical studies when they were
stopped
on Alligator Alley.
Police, bomb-sniffing dogs and even a robot descended on their car but
found nothing. No charges were filed against the men, who denied making
threatening statements.
Early reports said the men drove through a toll booth without paying,
but
the Collier County Sheriff's office said Friday that the men were shown
on
a video paying the toll.
In the days that followed their detention, the hospital received more
than
200 hostile e-mails and officials decided it would not be safe for the
students or the patients if the men worked at Larkin…
SEE ALSO:
HOSPITAL REMOVES MD WHO TRIED TO PLACE MUSLIM STUDENTS
JACQUELINE CHARLES, Miami Herald, 9/22/02
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/4125413.htm
The physician charged with coordinating the education of three Ross
University medical students detained in a recent Alligator Alley
terrorist
scare says he's been removed from his position at Larkin Community
Hospital
because he tried to find another Miami-area hospital for the students
to
complete their course work.
Dr. Enrique Fernandez said he was notified on Friday that his
relationship
with the South Miami hospital -- which turned the students away
following
the scare -- had been ended. Fernandez said he learned of the decision
from
Ross University Medical School, which pays his salary and has an
agreement
to place its medical students at Larkin. Fernandez, a family
practitioner,
served as director of Ross' clinical training program at Larkin.
Fernandez, who remains employed by Ross, said neither administrators at
Ross nor a letter from Larkin explained why he was removed.
But the decision, he said, followed his attempt to place the students
at
another teaching hospital that he would not identify.
"I was told I could not place the students," Fernandez said.
The order, Fernandez said, came from Larkin's Chief Executive Officer
Dr.
Jack Michel.
Michel confirmed that the hospital ended its affiliation with Fernandez
but
denied that it had anything to do with the placement of the students.
He would not say why Fernandez was removed…
FLORIDA MUSLIMS TRY TO RIGHT SOME PEOPLE'S TILTED VIEW
CASSIO FURTADO, Miami Herald, 9/22/02
http://www.miami.com/mld/miami/news/local/4125342.htm
Officials from Islamic organizations in Florida gathered Saturday to
look
for ways they could influence some Americans' perceptions of Muslims in
the
aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.
At a conference at the Signature Grand in Davie, the officials showed
visible anger at the detention of three Muslim students on Alligator
Alley
nine days ago and the media coverage of the incident. The students were
arrested after police received a tip that they might be terrorists
planning
an attack. The officials also complained of unfair treatment toward
Muslims
in the United States, comparing the treatment they have received in the
past year to the way Japanese-Americans were treated during World War
II.
"Other ethnic groups that wanted to make America their home went
through
the same thing," said Parvez Ahmed, a professor at the University of
North
Florida at Jacksonville.
Ahmed Bedier, of the Islamic Society of Pinellas County, said that
since
the Sept. 11 attacks, "the threat to Muslims reached an all-time high."
"They are concentrating their efforts on Muslims, the most law-abiding
people in this country," Bedier said. "They don't drink, they don't
smoke,
they don't commit adultery. What's so scary about that?"
He said that if Muslims didn't act to reverse perceptions, "Alligator
Alley
is just the beginning" and urged Muslims to be proud of their religion.
"Walk in the streets with your head high, unite or we're going to
lose," he
said.
Bedier noted the discrepancy between media and police handling of the
Sept.
13 incident and the case of Robert Goldstein, a 37-year-old Tampa
doctor
arrested on charges of planning to blow up mosques.
Goldstein was arrested Aug. 23. Police found in his home more than 30
explosive devices, including hand grenades and a five-gallon gasoline
bomb
with a timer and a wire attached, prosecutors said. Also, according to
prosecutors: a cache of up to 40 weapons, including .50-caliber machine
guns and sniper rifles.
Ahmed, the professor at the University of North Florida, said
"characters
like Dr. Goldstein are a direct result of the stereotypes of Muslims in
the
media."
The burden to change "will be on our shoulders," said Altaf Ali, the
executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in
Florida…
EAVESDROP IF YOU MUST, BUT GET FACTS STRAIGHT
David D. Porter, Orlando Sentinel, 9/21/02
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-edpport21092102sep21.story
When a high-profile tip is wrong, people get hurt, and it may be
impossible
to repair the damage.
Last week, when the word went out that authorities were seeking three
young
Arab men, all sorts of wild reports followed. Initially, officials said
they stopped the men -- who were traveling in two cars -- because one
of
the vehicles went through a toll plaza without paying. A later report
said
specially trained dogs detected explosives in one of the cars.
A security-surveillance tape released a few days ago showed that both
vehicles stopped and paid at the toll plaza. Authorities didn't find
explosives in the cars, or link the men to suspicious activity.
A reader called me earlier this week and complained that the three men
warranted suspicion because they were "uncooperative" with police after
they were stopped.
If police stopped me and I knew that I had done nothing wrong, I'd be
wary
about answering their questions, too. Remember part of the Miranda
warning
that police give suspects goes like this: "Anything you say can be used
against you."
It would be awful if an overzealous officer took an innocent comment
and
twisted it into an indictment. Even though the three young men -- all
medical students -- have been cleared of terrorist activities, their
reputations have been harmed…
Remember what President Bush told us last year. We're at war against
terrorism -- not Arabs, Islam or each other.
Eavesdropping on the conversations of neighbors and strangers is risky
business. Americans are made of better stuff.
THE FAILINGS OF ARAB PROFILING
Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune, 9/22/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/printedition/chi-0209220068sep22.story
NASHVILLE - Y'know what? I'm beginning to believe those three Muslim
medical students…
But it is informative for a news junkie like me to notice how quickly
some
people have leaned toward the notion that the Shoney's customer must be
telling the truth so the men must be lying.
Actually, it is quite possible that both are telling the truth, as they
see
it, from their quite different points of view.
The reason why I am beginning to believe the students is that the one
piece
of hard evidence against them in this case appears to have collapsed: A
surveillance videotape shows they did not run the tollbooth after all.
Police informed their lawyer, David Kubiliun, on Wednesday that the
traffic
citation for running the tollbooth had been voided after police
reviewed
the tape.
"It's conclusive that Mr. Butt did not run that toll plaza," Kubiliun
told
Reuters. "This is just further evidence that the young men have been
telling the truth all along."
Yes, to paraphrase an old adage about war: The first casualty of a
major
news event is the truth, especially when it involves such high-voltage
issues as race, ethnicity and a possible threat of bodily harm.
I have heard some of my fellow African-Americans express a bitter
relief
that we are not the only people getting profiled on the highways and,
especially, in the airways these days. As such, one cannot help but
notice
ironic similarities between our situations, including the human
tendency to
presume those who look "different" to be guilty until they prove
themselves
innocent…
SEND COMMENTS TO: cptime@aol.com
-----
PALESTINIANS PROTEST ISRAEL, 5 DIE
JAMIE TARABAY, Associated Press, 9/22/02
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Thousands of Palestinians marched Sunday to
protest Israel's siege of Yasser Arafat's headquarters, and Israeli
soldiers opened fire on Palestinians who defied curfews. Four
Palestinians
were killed in the protests and a fifth died later in the day.
Palestinian leaders declared a general strike for Monday, appealed to
the
Arab world for help and called on their people to resist the Israeli
operation, which began Thursday after a Palestinian suicide bomber blew
up
a Tel Aviv bus, killing himself and six others.
In Washington, White House spokeswoman Jeanne Mamo said Sunday that
Israel's assault was ``not helpful in reducing terrorist violence or
promoting Palestinian reforms.''
France led a European wave of criticism against the Israeli assault,
calling it "unacceptable." A Greek Foreign Ministry statement said that
Arafat asked Greece to work with the United States and Europe to end
the
siege, while Britain and Russia urged Israel to end the confinement.
The
U.N. Security Council was to convene Monday about the siege.
-----
USA PATRIOT ACT NEEDS DISMANTLING
John Nichols, Capital Times, 9/17/02
http://www.madison.com/captimes/opinion/column/nichols/32339.php
Now that the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11
has
passed, the United States is fast-approaching the one-year anniversary
of
the Bush administration's assault on domestic civil liberties.
The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools
Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act, a grab bag of
police-state schemes cobbled together by Attorney General John Ashcroft
to
capitalize on 9-11 fears, was signed into law by President Bush on Oct.
26,
2001.
It had been passed with almost no debate by the House of
Representatives
two days earlier, on a 357-66 vote. Of the 66 votes against the
legislation, 62 came from Democrats, three from Republicans and one
from
Vermont Independent Bernie Sanders. Among the members of the House who
rejected Ashcroft's grab for dramatically enhanced surveillance powers
and
the ability to punish legitimate political activism were two Wisconsin
House members: Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, and Tom Barrett, D-Milwaukee.
In the Senate, only one member opposed the grotesquely misnamed "USA
Patriot Act": Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold. At the time, Feingold
described the legislation as a "truly breathtaking expansion of police
power." Almost a year later, he says, "I would cast the same vote
today,
but even more confidently, as we see how law enforcement is beginning
to
use the new powers in the bill and how the Department of Justice has
proceeded on a variety of fronts not directly addressed in the bill."
As the United States approaches the one-year anniversary, some
components
of the USA Patriot Act have already been challenged with success in the
courts. But, for the most part, the breathtaking expansion of police
power
remains every bit as breathtaking and expansive as when it was enacted…
-----
LEBANON REVOKES VISA OF PROFESSOR OUSTED BY U.S. IN WAKE OF 9/11
Associated Press, 9/21/02
TAMPA, Fla. - A Palestinian professor deported from the United States
after
Sept. 11 for visa violations and what prosecutors described as links to
terrorism is apparently without a country again.
The professor, Mazen Al-Najjar, a former University of South Florida
engineering instructor, was kicked out of Lebanon on Wednesday, his
family
said. He had been dropped off there by American immigration authorities
last month. A six-month visa granted by Lebanon apparently was revoked
after the Lebanese government raised concerns about the United States
dumping him there.
Mr. Al-Najjar's relatives said on Friday that they believed he was in
Iran
or an unspecified African country. The Lebanese newspaper As-Safir
reported
on Thursday that he had been taken to Iran.
Mr. Al-Najjar was held in jail for three and a half years based on
secret
evidence that, the authorities said, he had helped terrorists through
an
Islamic research center and charity he had set up with his
brother-in-law,
Sami Al-Arian. He was released in 2000, then arrested again in November
and
deported last month for overstaying a visa issued 20 years ago.
Mr. Al-Najjar was deported one day after the University of South
Florida
filed a lawsuit seeking to fire Mr. Al-Arian because of what it said
were
his ties to terrorism.
Both men have denied any connection to terrorists…
-----
HIGH-PROFILE LAWYER TAKES ISLAMIC LEADER'S CASE
ANDREW KRAMER, Associated Press, 9/22/02
PORTLAND, Ore. - A high-profile New York civil rights lawyer will take
the
case of an Islamic prayer leader arrested earlier this month by an FBI
terrorism task force and charged with Social Security fraud.
Stanley Cohen will assist in the legal defense of Sheik Mohamed
Abdirahman
Kariye.
"A decision was made to bring a different approach to this case," Cohen
said Saturday night. "I've handled a lot of cases like this and a
decision
was made to bring in somebody with experience with a witch-hunt.' Cohen
spoke Saturday night to about 200 Portland-area Muslims about his
decision
to take the case, which he called a case of political persecution.
The 41-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen was arrested in a dramatic
raid
Sept. 8 by federal agents at Portland International Airport as he tried
to
board a flight en route to the United Arab Emirates.
But his supporters question why the terrorism task force was even
involved,
because Kariye was charged with Social Security fraud dating from 1983
to
1995.
Federal prosecutors say they found residue of the explosive TNT on
Kariye's
bags, but he has not been charged on counts relating to the residue.
Kahlid Elolaimi, who attends the Islamic Center of Portland, said it
has
been tough finding lawyers who understand Middle Eastern culture.
"We brought this individual, he's high-profile, he has a good
background
with civil liberties," he said.
Among the attorney's current clients are Muhammad Ali Kahn, the
treasurer
of the American Muslim Council.
Kahn was pulled out of line at the Las Vegas airport on July 29 by
Northwest Airlines employees. He was then questioned by the Las Vegas
police and eventually the FBI. Kahn missed his flight to Minneapolis
and
had to take a later flight...
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 9/23/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: THE CLOSENESS OF PARADISE
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* "THOUSANDS" CONTACT FOX OVER ANTI-MUSLIM BIAS
* ISLAM ATTRACTING MANY SURVIVORS OF RWANDA GENOCIDE (Washington Post)
* ENEMY ALIENS AND AMERICAN FREEDOMS (The Nation)
* FBI TESTS ON SHEIK'S BAGS NEGATIVE (AP)
* DOJ TO SPONSOR TX COMMUNITY FORUM ON CIVIL RIGHTS
* EDITORIAL: TWENTY YEARS FOR SHAVING? (Washington Post)
* US' ETHNIC GROUPS FIGHTING TENSION FROM WAR ON TERROR (PR Week)
* FASCISM'S FIRM FOOTPRINT IN INDIA (The Nation)
* U.S. PAPERS DOWNPLAY PALESTINIAN DEATHS (Editor and Publisher)
* WHY MY FILM IS UNDER FIRE (Guardian)
* WITNESS: PALESTINIAN'S DEATH UNJUST (AP)
* SEVEN PILLARS OF JEWISH DENIAL (Tikkun)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: THE CLOSENESS OF PARADISE
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Paradise is nearer to
any
of you than the (leather strap) of his shoe..."
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 8, Hadith 495
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 370 sponsorships for book and tape
packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the Country. Take
part
in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item "library
package."
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
"THOUSANDS" CONTACT FOX OVER ANTI-MUSLIM BIAS
Islamic civil rights group requests meeting with network
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/23/02) - Fox News Channel officials tell the
Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) they are receiving "thousands" of
complaints about anti-Muslim bias in that network's news and
commentary.
The Islamic civil rights and advocacy group has requested a meeting to
discuss ways in which Fox's coverage of issues related to Islam and
Muslims
can be improved.
Last week, CAIR alerted the Muslim community to what the group said is
the
latest incident in a pattern of Islamophobic coverage by Fox. CAIR's
alert
cited the network's inflammatory reporting on the recent "terror scare"
in
Florida, the tendency to ambush and abuse those Muslims who do appear
on
its programs and a September 18th "Hannity & Colmes" on which
televangelist
Pat Robertson called the Prophet Muhammad a "killer," a "wild-eyed
fanatic…a robber and a brigand."
Robertson also called Islam "a monumental scam" and the Quran, Islam's
revealed text, "a theft of Jewish theology." He said: "I mean, this man
[Muhammad] was a killer. And to think that this is a peaceful religion
is
fraudulent." Host Sean Hannity failed to challenge, and even seemed to
encourage, these anti-Muslim slurs.
As an example of the bias promoted by the network, CAIR also cited an
e-mail message to Fox News Channel CEO Roger Ailes (that was copied to
CAIR). That e-mail, sent from the account of a Pennsylvania
businessman,
read in part (uncorrected except for obscenity): "good coverage on the
deviant cult of islam, fox news. expose those subhuman boy-b**gerers
for
what they are: murderous lowlife subhuman filth."
"This is just the kind of hate that is inspired and incited by Fox's
biased
coverage of Islam, Muslims and the Middle East. Fox is neither fair nor
balanced when it comes to these issues," said CAIR Communications
Director
Ibrahim Hooper. Hooper also thanked all those who took the time to
contact
Fox to express their concerns.
ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE. Fox is likely to use hostile
comments to further harm the image of Islam and Muslims.)
1) Contact Fox to request that network officials meet with American
Muslim
representatives on the issue of anti-Muslim bias and stereotyping. Send
a
message even if you sent one before.
CONTACT:
Mr. Roger Ailes
Chief Executive Officer
Fox News Channel
1211 Avenue of the Americas, Lowr C1
New York, NY 10036-8701
FAX: 212-556-8219
E-MAIL: roger.ailes@foxnews.com
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org, brian.lewis@foxnews.com,
robert.zimmerman@foxnews.com, meade.cooper@foxnews.com,
bill.shine@foxnews.com, hannity@foxnews.com, colmes@foxnews.com,
comments@foxnews.com, Viewerservices@foxnews.com
TO ACCESS A FORM LETTER TO FOX, GO TO:
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-----
ISLAM ATTRACTING MANY SURVIVORS OF RWANDA GENOCIDE
Emily Wax, Washington Post, 9/23/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53018-2002Sep22.html
RUHENGERI, Rwanda -- The villagers with their forest green head wraps
and
forest green Korans arrived at the mosque on a rainy Sunday afternoon
for a
lecture for new converts. There was one main topic: jihad.
They found their seats and flipped to the right page. Hands flew in the
air. People read passages aloud. And the word jihad -- holy struggle --
echoed again and again through the dark, leaky room.
It wasn't the kind of jihad that has been in the news since Sept. 11,
2001.
There were no references to Osama bin Laden, the World Trade Center or
suicide bombers. Instead there was only talk of April 6, 1994, the
first
day of the state-sponsored genocide in which ethnic Hutu extremists
killed
800,000 minority Tutsis and Hutu moderates.
"We have our own jihad, and that is our war against ignorance between
Hutu
and Tutsi. It is our struggle to heal," said Saleh Habimana, the head
mufti
of Rwanda. "Our jihad is to start respecting each other and living as
Rwandans and as Muslims."
Since the genocide, Rwandans have converted to Islam in huge numbers.
Muslims now make up 14 percent of the 8.2 million people here in
Africa's
most Catholic nation, twice as many as before the killings began…
Many converts say they chose Islam because of the role that some
Catholic
and Protestant leaders played in the genocide. Human rights groups have
documented several incidents in which Christian clerics allowed Tutsis
to
seek refuge in churches, then surrendered them to Hutu death squads, as
well as instances of Hutu priests and ministers encouraging their
congregations to kill Tutsis…
In contrast, many Muslim leaders and families are being honored for
protecting and hiding those who were fleeing. Some say Muslims did this
because of the religion's strong dictates against murder, though
Christian
doctrine proscribes it as well. Others say Muslims, always considered
an
ostracized minority, were not swept up in the Hutus' campaign of
bloodshed
and were unafraid of supporting a cause they felt was honorable.
"I know people in America think Muslims are terrorists, but for
Rwandans
they were our freedom fighters during the genocide," said Jean Pierre
Sagahutu, 37, a Tutsi who converted to Islam from Catholicism after his
father and nine other members of his family were slaughtered. "I wanted
to
hide in a church, but that was the worst place to go. Instead, a Muslim
family took me. They saved my life…"
-----
ENEMY ALIENS AND AMERICAN FREEDOMS
David Cole, The Nation, 9/23/02
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020923&c=1&s=cole
>From his very first speeches following the horrifying events of
September
11, President Bush has maintained that the terrorists attacked us
because
they hate our freedoms. Hence the war on terrorism's official
title--"Operation Enduring Freedom." But one year later, it appears
that
the greatest threat to our freedoms is posed not by the terrorists
themselves but by our own government's response.
With the exception of the right to bear arms, one would be hard pressed
to
name a single constitutional liberty that the Bush Administration has
not
overridden in the name of protecting our freedom. Privacy has given way
to
Internet tracking and plans to recruit a corps of 11 million private
snoopers. Political freedom has been trumped by the effort to stem
funding
for terrorists. Physical liberty and habeas corpus survive only until
the
President decides someone is a "bad guy." Property is seized without
notice, without a hearing and on the basis of secret evidence. Equal
protection has fallen prey to ethnic profiling.
Conversations with a lawyer may be monitored without a warrant or
denied
altogether when the military finds them inconvenient. And the right to
a
public hearing upon arrest exists only at the Attorney General's
sufferance.
Administration supporters argue that the magnitude of the new threat
requires a new paradigm. But so far we have seen only a repetition of a
very old paradigm--broad incursions on liberties, largely targeted at
unpopular noncitizens and minorities, in the name of fighting a war.
What
is new is that this war has no end in sight, and only a vaguely defined
enemy, so its incursions are likely to be permanent. And while many of
the
most troubling initiatives have initially been targeted at noncitizens,
they are likely to pave the way for future measures against citizens…
-----
FBI TESTS ON SHEIK'S BAGS NEGATIVE
Andrew Kramer, Associated Press, 9/23/02
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Tests that found explosive residue on the bags of
a
Muslim cleric arrested at Portland's airport on document fraud charges
have
been thrown out after they were reviewed at an FBI crime lab, the man's
lawyer said.
Stanley Cohen, a New York civil rights attorney who took the case of
Sheik
Mohamed Abdirahman Kariye, said the FBI tests showed the bags were free
of
explosives residues.
"I'm talking to the government about a bail package," Cohen said
Saturday.
If that doesn't happen, he said, the defense would request another
detention hearing.
Kariye, who served as an imam at the Islamic Center in Portland, was
arrested Sept. 8 as he tried to board a flight at Portland
International
Airport to the United Arab Emirates with his brother and four children.
Kariye, 41, is accused of using false information - including a changed
name - while applying for and receiving three different Social Security
cards between 1983 and 1995. The federal indictment also alleges Kariye
used an altered birth date in a 1998 asylum application.
He has pleaded innocent to felony charges of unlawful use of a Social
Security number and unlawful possession of a U.S. government document.
He
was ordered held without bail. A trial is scheduled for Nov. 5…
At a detention hearing Sept. 10, prosecutor Charles Gorder cited the
luggage tests in arguing Kariye should be held in jail until trial...
Cohen, who took Kariye's case over the weekend, said the FBI sent a
letter
explaining the negative test results to the U.S. attorney's office
Wednesday and was then forwarded to the judge.
Police have not said they suspect Kariye of terror-related offenses,
other
than to say that he was detained by the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task
Force.
Kariye's supporters question why the task force was even involved,
because
Kariye has been charged only with Social Security fraud.
-----
DOJ TO SPONSOR TX COMMUNITY FORUM ON CIVIL RIGHTS
WHAT: The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice will host
a
community forum on civil rights protections in Houston, Texas. The
forum,
open to the public, will bring together officials From the Department
of
Justice's Civil Rights Division and various other federal agencies.
They
will address discrimination based on national origin, as well as
information on how to file a complaint
WHEN: Thursday, September 26, 2002, 7 - 9 P.M. (Doors open at 6:30
P.M.)
WHERE: Hilton Hotel, University of Houston, Alumni Hall (Room S-104)
4800 Calhoun Street, Houston, Texas 77204
The program will include presentations by the participants, followed by
a
question and answer session. Complaints forms and other relevant
materials
in different languages will be available. Spanish and Vietnamese
language
interpreters will be provided.
For further information, call (202) 616-2777
-----
EDITORIAL: TWENTY YEARS FOR SHAVING?
Washington Post, 9/23/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53322-2002Sep22.html
"An individual on an aircraft…who, by assaulting or intimidating
a…flight
attendant…interferes with the performance of the duties of
the…attendant…shall be…imprisoned for not more than 20 years."
We are fairly certain that the drafters of this perfectly reasonable
federal law did not have the heinous acts of shaving one's face or
taking
too long in the bathroom in mind when they wrote the word
"intimidating."
Yet if the Justice Department has its way, a man named Gurdeep Wander
could
face hard time for disregarding a flight attendant's request to stop
shaving and return to his seat on a Northwest Airlines flight from
Memphis
to Las Vegas on Sept. 11.
The incident itself, which caused the flight to make an emergency
landing
in Arkansas, appears to have been a regrettable example of
understandable
but excessive vigilance on the anniversary of the attacks. But charging
Mr.
Wander with interfering with a flight crew is oppressive and absurd…
In a climate of fear, people get suspicious. But it is critical that
people
be willing to back down when an error becomes clear. Instead, all too
often, the scrutiny carries significant costs even for people against
whom
no charges are brought -- like the three Muslim medical students
recently
denied a scheduled rotation at a Florida hospital after they were
stopped
in a terrorism scare. The case of Mr. Wander is particularly ugly,
because
although he clearly is not a terrorist, he is being charged like one.
The
grand jury that hears this case would do a great service by refusing to
indict. Shaving is not a crime -- not even on an airplane on Sept. 11.
-----
US' ETHNIC GROUPS FIGHTING TENSION FROM WAR ON TERROR
Anita Chabria, PR Week, 9/23/02
http://www.prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=158775
As the country moves forward in its war on terrorism, some cultural
public
relations professionals are preparing battle plans of their own, aimed
at
educating Americans about issues from Islam to INS practices. Many feel
that they are the public face of communities trapped by fear and even
violence, and that the messages they are spreading are keys to helping
the
country heal in positive ways. But the pressure seems to be mounting
and
the challenges growing for these public affairs specialists, spreading
already thin resources to the breaking point. Now they are seeking help
by
joining together, telling their stories in the ethnic media, and
finding
savvier ways to reach out to mainstream America.
'One of the biggest trends we're seeing is the rise in anti-Muslim
rhetoric,' says Ibrahim Hooper, communications director for the Council
on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Washington, DC-based Islamic
advocacy
group, about the challenges his organization faces. 'We've seen a shift
from raw bigotry to a growing general hostility of Islam in society.'
Hooper spent last weekend in a way that has become familiar over the
past
months: helping media and authorities handle the story of Islamic
Americans
suspected of terrorist activities. This time, it was three young
medical
students traveling by car to Florida to reach their internships at a
community hospital…
Hooper - one of only two communications staffers at CAIR's national
headquarters - has worked nonstop with investigators and the press to
accurately find and disseminate the truth about the incident before the
idea of Arabs as terrorists is further ingrained in the American
psyche.
'We did an initial news conference on Friday ... and had another news
conference on Sunday,' says Hooper, who also monitored the media during
that period.
'Now we're booking (the men) on the morning shows and Larry King…'
While many ethnic communicators have risen to the challenges of the
past
year, it is a situation with no end in sight. But the mainstream press
has
also risen to the occasion and struggled to tell inclusive stories.
While that means more work, it is also a hopeful sign that America is
interested in learning about its ethnic citizens, and that the messages
of
organizations like SMART and CAIR are showing results. 'The level of
activity has skyrocketed,' says CAIR's Hooper. 'We've got more media
requests than we can handle sometimes…'
-----
FASCISM'S FIRM FOOTPRINT IN INDIA
Arundhati Roy, The Nation, 9/30/02
Gujarat, the only major state in India with a government headed by the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has for some years been the petri dish in
which Hindu fascism has been fomenting an elaborate political
experiment.
In spring 2002, the initial results were put on public display.
On the evening of February 27, Hindu nationalists in the Vishva Hindu
Parishad (VHP, the World Hindu Council) and the Bajrang Dal movement
put
into motion a meticulously planned pogrom against the Muslim community.
Press reports put the number of dead at just over 800. Human rights
organizations have said it is closer to 2,000. As many as 100,000
people,
driven from their homes, now live in refugee camps. Women were stripped
and
gang-raped, and parents were bludgeoned to death in front of their
children…
While the parallels between contemporary India and prewar Germany are
chilling, they're not surprising. (The founders of the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh [RSS], the National Volunteer Force that is the moral
and
cultural guild of the BJP, have in their writings been frank in their
admiration for Hitler and his methods.) One difference is that here in
India we don't have a Hitler. We have instead the hydra-headed,
many-armed
Sangh Parivar--the "joint family" of Hindu political and cultural
organizations, with the BJP, the RSS, the VHP and the Bajrang Dal each
playing a different instrument. Its utter genius lies in its apparent
ability to be all things to all people at all times…
-----
U.S. PAPERS DOWNPLAY PALESTINIAN DEATHS
Ahmed Bouzid, Editor and Publisher, 9/23/02
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/editorandpublisher/features_columns/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1705398
Despite the evidence, the simple view that Palestinians slaughter
civilians
and Israelis at worst unintentionally or mistakenly kill them (with
"stray
bullets" and "errant shells") still prevails, unshaken, in the
reporting of
the conflict by all the major U.S. newspapers. The result is coverage
that
reports, as a matter of routine, suicide bombings by Palestinians with
blaring headlines and Page One photographs, while the killing of
Palestinian civilians (even children) is covered with little fanfare.
This occurs even though human-rights organizations on the ground report
that Israel does target civilians, deliberately and systematically.
Physicians for Human Rights concluded that Israeli soldiers "are
specifically aiming at peoples' heads"; and Human Rights Watch issued a
report May 3 concerning actions in Jenin, stating, in part, that
Palestinian civilians there "were killed willfully or unlawfully" by
the
Israeli military, which "used Palestinian civilians as 'human shields'
and
used indiscriminate and excessive force."
Yet coverage of the conflict continues to sketch a far different
reality.
Some examples:
On June 21, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers opened fire on the
Jenin
marketplace in broad daylight, killing four Palestinians -- three
children
and a schoolteacher -- and wounding dozens. The IDF claimed that the
soldiers erred in firing the shells and said it was opening an
investigation. In a survey of 20 U.S. papers, Palestine Media Watch
discovered that only The Seattle Times ran a Page One photo of the
attack.
Of the 20, 11 did run a front-page story on the shelling, but of that
number, five reported in their headlines as a matter of fact that the
shelling was "a mistake" -- as in the San Francisco Chronicle's
"Israeli
tanks mistakenly kill 4 civilians in West Bank." Of the 11 that ran a
front-page story, only four mentioned in the headline that most of the
victims were children…
Or take the Gaza bombing July 22, when a Hamas leader was killed along
with
nine sleeping children and five more civilians. Of the 17 papers whose
July
23 front page was examined by Palestine Media Watch, only six ran a
Page
One picture above the fold depicting the aftermath of the attack, and
only
two (the Los Angeles Times and The San Diego Union-Tribune) mentioned
in
the headline that children were among those killed…
Ahmed Bouzid is president of Palestine Media Watch and head of the
Philadelphia chapter of the National Association of Arab American
Journalists.
-----
WHY MY FILM IS UNDER FIRE
John Pilger, Guardian, 9/23/02
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,797084,00.html
An unforeseen threat to freedom of speech in British broadcasting
emerged
last week. It was triggered by the showing of my documentary, Palestine
is
Still the Issue, on ITV. The film told a basic truth that is routinely
relegated, even suppressed - that a historic injustice has been done to
the
Palestinian people, and until Israel's illegal and brutal occupation
ends,
there will be no peace for anyone, Israelis included….
Our historical adviser, Professor Ilan Papp�, the distinguished Israeli
historian. He wrote to Carlton Television that "the film is faultless
in
its historical description and poignant in its message". None of this
deterred the chairman of Carlton, Michael Green, a supporter of
Israel's
policies, from abusing the programme makers in the Jewish Chronicle,
calling the film "inaccurate", "historically incorrect" and "a tragedy
for
Israel"…
So what does "balance" mean? A film approved by the Israel lobby? This
lobby is currently orchestrating an email campaign against my film;
curiously, many of the emails are coming from America, where it has not
been shown.
At the heart of this is a failure to acknowledge the overwhelming
imbalance
in the British media in favour of the Israeli point of view…
This general bias is verified by a remarkable study of the television
coverage of the Middle East, conducted last May by the Glasgow
University
Media Group. The conclusions ought to shame broadcasters. The research
shows that the public's lack of understanding of the conflicts and its
origins is actually compounded by the "coverage". Viewers are rarely
told
that the Palestinians are victims of an illegal military occupation.
The
term "occupied territories" is rarely explained. Only 9% of young
people
interviewed know that the Israelis are both the occupiers and the
illegal
"settlers"...
-----
WITNESS: PALESTINIAN'S DEATH UNJUST
Associated Press, 9/23/02
NABLUS, West Bank Sept. 23 - A British volunteer working with
Palestinians
in the West Bank said Monday she witnessed an Israeli soldier shoot
dead a
Palestinian teen-ager, deliberately and without provocation.
The Israeli military said the death of 13-year-old Baha Albahsh is
under
investigation. Military officials initially said he set himself alight
while handling a fire bomb, but a Palestinian doctor said he was killed
by
a gunshot in the chest.
Ewa Jasiewics, 24, of London, said Albahsh tagged along with her group
as
usual on Sunday as the foreigners walked in the town of Nablus to
observe
Israeli troops' behavior toward youngsters breaking a military curfew
to
get to school…
"An armored personnel car came and stopped on the left of the street,"
Jasiewics said. "A soldier popped up from inside. I saw him with his
rifle
and he aimed at some kids on the street. There was no stone-throwing or
shooting going on at the time."
Jasiewics said that in the month she has spent with Palestinians in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip she has often seen soldiers train their
gunsights
on people without further incident; this time was different.
"This soldier fired," she said. "I saw Baha lying on the ground, with
blood
coming out of his chest...I saw blood oozing from his mouth. We called
an
ambulance and the ambulance came and took him."
"It wasn't accidental," Jasiewics said. "The soldiers decided to kill
him..."
-----
SEVEN PILLARS OF JEWISH DENIAL
Kim Chernin, Tikkun, 9/23/02
http://www.tikkun.org/magazine/index.cfm/action/tikkun/issue/tik0209/article/020911a.html
I am thinking about American Jews, wondering why so many of us have
trouble
being critical of Israel. I faced this difficulty myself when I first
went
to Israel in 1971. I was an ardent Zionist, intending to spend my life
on a
kibbutz in the Galilee and to become an Israeli citizen. Back home,
before
leaving, I argued almost daily with my mother, an extreme left wing
radical, about the Jews' right to a homeland in our historical and
therefore inalienable setting. However, once established on my kibbutz
on
the Lebanese border, I began to notice things that disrupted my
complacency.
We used to ride down to our orchards on kibbutz trucks with Arab
workers
from the neighboring villages and were occasionally invited to visit.
We
liked sitting on a rug on a dirt floor, eating food cooked over an open
fire, drinking water from the village well. Above all, we loved the
kerosene lamps that were lit and set in a half circle around us as it
grew
dark. But walking home it occurred to me that our kibbutz had running
water, electricity, modern stoves. Our neighbors were gracious,
generous,
and friendly, although I had learned by then that the land the kibbutz
occupied had once belonged to them. We were living on land that was
once
theirs, under material conditions they could not hope to equal. I found
this troubling.
The path from this troubled awareness to my later ability to be
critical of
Israel has been long and complex. Over the years I have spoken with
other
Jews who have traveled this same path, and to many more who haven't. In
each of us I have detected mental obstacles that make it hard,
sometimes
impossible, for us to see what is there before our eyes. Our inability
to
engage in critical thought about our troubled homeland is entangled by
crucial questions about Jewish identity. Why do American Jews find it
difficult to be critical of Israel…?
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 9/24/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: GOD'S FORGIVENESS
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
- SPONSORS NEEDED FOR THREE SENIOR CITIZEN LIBRARIES IN VA.
* GOOD NEWS: MUSLIM DETAINEES IN TEXAS RELEASED
- FAMILY'S HOPE DIMS FOR STAYING IN U.S. (Houston Chronicle)
* IN DEFENSE OF PAT ROBERTSON (Beliefnet)
* THE LEGACY OF ABRAHAM (Time)
* NOTHING DOING (Guardian)
- PLO REPORT HIGHLIGHTS DOUBLE STANDARDS OF INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
- HOW ISRAEL'S OCCUPATION AFFECTS PALESTINIAN CHILDREN (HNN)
- ISRAEL KILLS NINE IN GAZA, UN SAYS SIEGE MUST STOP (Reuters)
* ACADEMICS SPEAK OUT AGAINST PIPES' "BLACKLIST"
* GORE DENOUNCES BUSH'S IRAQ EFFORTS (AP)
- EDITORIAL: CULTURE WAR WITH B-2'S (New York Times)
- EDITORIAL: THE DAY AFTER (New York Times)
* CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS OF INCIDENT RECOUNTED (San Jose Mercury News)
* EDITORIAL: VANDALS, OR WORSE? (Akron Beacon Journal)
- MOSQUE TO BE BUILT ON OK CAMPUS (University of Tulsa)
* CANADA SAYS MALAYSIAN VISITORS NOW NEED VISAS (Reuters)
* CAIR-NY EVENT EXAMINES CIVIL LIBERTIES POST 9-11
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: GOD'S FORGIVENESS
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "God says, 'O son of
Adam
(humankind), even if your sins were to reach up to the clouds in the
sky,
and then you were to ask for My forgiveness, I would forgive you and
think
nothing of it.'"
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 739
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 383 sponsorships for book and tape
packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the Country. Take
part
in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item "library
package."
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
SPONSORS NEED FOR THREE SENIOR CITIZEN LIBRARIES IN VA
CAIR has received a special request for sponsorship of Library Packages
for
three senior citizen libraries in Northern Virginia. The materials in
the
packages would be available to more than a dozen senior centers in that
area.
CONTACT CAIR at: publications@cair-net.org or 202-488-8787, ext. 6054
-----
GOOD NEWS: MUSLIM DETAINEES IN TEXAS RELEASED
CAIR received a call late today from Sharif Kesbeh of Houston, Texas,
saying he and his son had been released from INS detention and thanking
CAIR and the Muslim and Arab community for their support.
That move by the INS came after Senator Robert Torricelli (D-NJ)
introduced
a bill to provide the Kesbeh family with an opportunity to stay in the
United States.
Sharif Kesbeh and his son have been in INS detention for almost six
months.
His entire family faces imminent deportation because they overstayed
their
visas. The introduction of the bill, S. 2991, triggers an automatic
delay
of deportation.
Congresswomen Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas had earlier introduced a
similar
bill (H. R. 4662) in the House of Representatives, but House bills do
not
allow for a delay in deportation.
The Kesbeh family has lived in Houston for 11 years. The father is a
successful businessman. This is only one step in securing the Kesbeh's
permanent residency in the US.
SEE: FAMILY'S HOPE DIMS FOR STAYING IN U.S.
EDWARD HEGSTROM, Houston Chronicle, 9/21/02
http://www.chron.com/
Search the Archives using the term "Kesbeh."
Sharif and Asmaa Kesbeh, who have Jordanian citizenship, came to
Houston as
tourists in 1991. They came with six children and had a seventh child
here.
The family requested asylum, but it was denied and they were ordered
deported in 1998. However, they ignored the order and stayed on as
illegal
immigrants.
The family established a flag distribution business and the kids did
well
in school.
But after Sept. 11, the Kesbehs again came to the attention of
immigration
authorities, who took Sharif Kesbeh and his eldest son into custody
last
spring and ordered the others to prepare for deportation.
-----
IMPORTANT NOTE: Before you get angry about this article, read the
second
page. You will miss the whole point of the article if you do not click
on
the "Citations and documentation" link at the bottom of the first page.
To comment on Pat Robertson's attack on Islam, go to:
http://www.cair-net.org/html/capwiz.html
IN DEFENSE OF PAT ROBERTSON
Pat Robertson and others are right about Islam being a violent
religion.
Look at the evidence for yourself.
Steven Waldman, Beliefnet.com, 9/24/02
FIRST READ: http://www.beliefnet.com/story/113/story_11347_1.html
THEN READ: http://www.beliefnet.com/story/113/story_11347_2.html
Pat Robertson recently drew attacks from Muslim groups for calling
Muhammad
a "wild-eyed fanatic," among other things. Robertson, as usual, states
the
case in excessively inflammatory terms.
But it must be said that Robertson's basic critique of Islam as an
inherently violent religion is accurate. This may not be politically
correct to say, but one need only examine evidence. Islam is not only
violent in its current practice but at its core--which is to say in its
sacred text, the Qur'an.
Remember that Muhammad was a military leader and as such involved
personally in a great deal of brutality. In the course of one battle,
Muhammad's troops raid a village and kill everyone "until there was no
survivor left." [Full citations provided below.] During another battle,
Muhammad's troops killed many men but the "prophet" is disturbed that
male
infants weren't murdered too--and sends the troops back to finish the
job.
The early Muslims are shown to be not only brutal but treacherous (a
fact
worth remembering as we consider peace treaties with Muslim nations).
In
one battle, the Muhammadans promised peace to a tribe nearby. Then,
when
the other tribe members were lulled into complacency, Muhammad
massacred
"all the males." They kept the women as slaves.
The hatred for other faiths that we see in modern Islam has its roots
in
the Qur'an. The book tells how the Jews of the area had offered peace
and
Muhammad invited them to a ceremony to declare peace. Instead, Muhammad
massacred the 950 of them.
Muhammad even countenances brutality against his own people. When a
group
in the region reputedly insulted Allah by worshiping an idol, Muhammad
led
the slaughter of 3,000 people in a single day. When some of his
followers
strayed by following non-Islamic sex practices, Allah literally directs
Muhammad to slaughter another 24,000: "take all the heads of the people
and
hang them up before Allah against the sun."
Under the Sharia, the Islamic law, even the slightest infractions are
punished with brutal violence. Some foods were not cooked according to
Halal laws? Two men were immediately executed…
Finally, if there's any doubt about the fanatical nature of the faith,
it
should be dispelled with this chilling passage: "Happy shall they be
who
take your little ones [babies] and dash them against the rock."
If you are skeptical, I urge you to read the passages and citations
yourself. It's there in black and white.
---
Hmmm, I seem to have made a few errors with the attributions. The
passages
you've just read are not from the Qur'an; they're from the Bible. Where
I
say Muhammad, I actually meant either Moses, Joshua, David, or another
biblical figure. "I have not come to bring peace but a sword" was
uttered
by Jesus. When I say "Allah," I actually meant God of the Hebrew Bible.
And
when I refer to Muhammed's troops, I actually meant the Hebrews.
There are obviously many other examples of brutality in the Bible (the
best
summary I've seen is Gregg Easterbrook's "Beside Still Waters").Forgive
my
sloppiness, but it seemed useful to make a point, which is not that
Christianity or Judaism are inherently violent but rather that the
exercise
of scanning ancient texts and pulling out passages depicting violence
is of
dubious value. Men and women of that earlier day were violent, and so
was
the God of their sacred book.
-----
THE LEGACY OF ABRAHAM
David Van Biema, Time, 9/30/02
http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020930/index.html
My first real experience of the patriarch Abraham's crossover appeal
came
on the splendid sun-spangled day in June when I took a crosstown cab to
arrange my son's circumcision…
We slowed behind traffic on one of the roads through Central Park, and
I
found myself tapping my foot. The tune on the cab's stereo was Arabic
but
with a catchy, bubbling horn section. I asked who was playing. A
Moroccan
group, said the cabbie. He told me its name. Did I want to know what it
was
singing? Certainly. It was a plea to Israel from the Arab people. The
chorus was, "We have the same father. Why do you treat us this way?"
Who
might the father be? I asked. "Ibrahim," he said. "The song is called
Ismail and Isaac," after his sons. We have the same father. Why do you
treat us this way?
What did that scrap of a song hint at? First of all, it gave witness
that a
figure beloved by Jews and Christians has a Muslim constituency,
suggesting
a connection between Islam and the West that might surprise most
Americans
in this tense season. But second, it acknowledged that despite this
apparent bond, there is still turmoil among the sons of
Abraham…
No faith is as self-consciously monotheistic as Islam, and its embrace
of
Abraham is correspondingly joyful. If many Jews know him best as a
dynastic
grandfather whose grandson Jacob actually founds the nation of Israel,
Muslims regard him as one of the four most important prophets. So pure
is
his submission to the One God that Muhammad later says his own message
is
but a restoration of Abrahamic faith. The Koran includes scenes from
Abraham's childhood in which he chides his father for believing in
idols
and survives, Daniel-like, in a fiery furnace to which he is condemned
for
his fealty to Allah. And in the Koranic version of Abraham's ultimate
test,
Abraham tells his son of God's command, and the boy replies, "O my
father!
Do that which thou art commanded. Allah willing, thou shalt find me of
the
steadfast." Notes the Koran approvingly: "They had both surrendered,"
using
the verb whose noun form is the word Islam. For passing such trials,
Allah
tells Abraham, "Lo, I have appointed thee a leader for mankind!..."
-----
NOTHING DOING
Brian Whitaker, Guardian, 9/24/02
http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,798021,00.html
In his speech to the United Nations earlier this month, President
George
Bush emphasized the need for action rather than words.
"We created the United Nations security council, so that, unlike the
League
of Nations, our deliberations would be more than talk, our resolutions
would be more than wishes," he said.
"All the world now faces a test, and the United Nations a difficult and
defining moment," he continued. "Are security council resolutions to be
honoured and enforced, or cast aside without consequence? [...] Right
now
those resolutions are being unilaterally subverted by the Iraqi
regime."
The same could be said of various other countries, but most notably
Israel.
Throughout its history, the security council has never once taken
enforcement action over Israel's flouting of UN resolutions or its
violations of international law.
Largely as a result of American pressure, criticisms of Israel in
security
council resolutions also tend to be softer than the criticisms of other
countries for similar offences.
Not only that. Thirty-two draft resolutions criticising Israel since
1972
have never seen the light of day because the US used its security
council
veto to block them.
A report published today by the PLO's negotiations affairs department
looks
at a series of UN resolutions relating to Israel, Bosnia, Kosovo, East
Timor, Rwanda and Iraq - and compares the follow-up action taken in
each case…
SEE ALSO:
PLO REPORT HIGHLIGHTS DOUBLE STANDARDS OF INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
Press release, PLO Negotiations Affairs Department, 9/24/02
For Immediate Release:
A report issued today by the PLO's Negotiations Affairs Department
highlights the double standards that have been applied to the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict by the international community. A summary
of
the report is set forth below. For the full report, visit
www.nad-plo.org.
The report highlights that in similar conflicts, the international
community has both condemned violations of international law and taken
enforcement action to ensure that the violations cease. Recently, U.S.
President Bush highlighted the need to ensure that U.N. Resolutions are
respected…
---
HOW ISRAEL'S OCCUPATION AFFECTS PALESTINIAN CHILDREN
Juan Cole, History News Network, 9/23/02
http://hnn.us/articles/987.html
Over one in five Palestinian children in the West Bank and Gaza (22.5
percent) now suffers from chronic or acute malnutrition. About one in
five
is anemic. This mass of hungry humanity amounts to a population the
size of
Minneapolis, about 380,000 kids.
Malnutrition in children makes them more likely to contract
life-threatening diseases. It permanently reduces intelligence and
vastly
increases the rate of attention deficit disorder. Women who were
malnourished in their youths have increased rates of premature birth
and
high blood pressure in pregnancy.
The occupying power in the territories, Israel, enjoys a per capita
income
of some $17,000 per year, higher than Spain. In contrast, half of
Palestinian families must now borrow money just to buy food.
Palestinian terrorists certainly bear a great deal of the blame for
this
tragedy, insofar as their horrific actions against innocent Israeli
civilians have understandably led Israel to close its borders to
Palestinian laborers. Unemployment is a prime source of the problem.
Yet, while the scourge of terrorism in Israel has been unspeakable,
none of
it has been committed by toddlers or infants. Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon's
current lockdown of the entire population of the West Bank is a massive
form of collective punishment that has worsened the problem. As the
occupying power, Israel cannot escape responsibility for seeing that
its
colonial subjects are at least fed…
---
ISRAEL KILLS NINE IN GAZA, UN SAYS SIEGE MUST STOP
Nidal al-Mughrabi, Reuters, 9/24/02
GAZA, Sept 24 (Reuters) - The Israeli army killed nine Palestinians on
Tuesday in one of its biggest raids in the Gaza Strip and faced
international isolation over its siege of Yasser Arafat's base after
the
U.N. Security Council said it must stop.
The United States abstained in the vote rather than veto it, signalling
the
growing impatience of Israel's ally and the main Middle East
peacebroker.
Washington seeks calm in the region and Arab support for its
preparations
for possible war with Iraq...
The raid met fierce resistance and triggered gunfights. Palestinian
hospital sources and families said six civilians and three militants
were
killed and more than 20 people hurt.
It was the bloodiest day in Gaza since Israel killed Hamas's military
commander, his lieutenant and 14 civilians in an air strike on Gaza
City on
July 23.
---
ACADEMICS SPEAK OUT AGAINST DANIEL PIPES' "BLACKLIST"
Dear friends and colleagues,
As you may already know, Daniel Pipes and his Middle East Forum have
established a "Campus Watch" to monitor teaching and other activity
relating to the
Middle East on campuses. www.campus-watch. http://www.campus-watch.org/
Several individuals and institutions, including Stanford, have been
"targeted." Judith Butler of UC Berkeley has suggested that colleagues
who
object to this McCarthyite-style practice step forward and identify
themselves in solidarity with those named on the web site. Here is the
text
of the message she sent to them info@campus-watch.org:
"I have recently learned that your organization is compiling dossiers
on
professors at U.S. academic institutions who oppose the Israeli
occupation
and its brutality, actively support Palestinian rights of
self-determination as well as a more informed and intelligent view of
Islam
than is currently represented in the U.S. media. I would be enormously
honored to be counted among those who actively hold these positions and
would like to be included in the list of those who are struggling for
justice during these times."
You may not wish to put yourself on the record in such overtly
political
terms, in which case you might formulate things any way that makes you
feel
comfortable. I do think it is important to respond to this effort to
delegitimize critical thinking about the Middle East and urge you to
consider some response.
My apologies if you get this more than once.
Best wishes for the new academic year,
Joel Beinin
Professor of Middle East History
Department of History
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-2024
President, Middle East Studies Association of North
America, 2001-02
Tel: 650-723-4956
Fax: 650-725-0597
beinin@stanford.edu
---
I hope my colleagues will not mind if I speak up, as one of those under
surveillance by the Middle East Forum.
First of all, I hope everyone will realize that this technique is not a
new
development.
The ADL, which has behind the scenes ties to the MEF, spied on and
harassed
protesters of Apartheid and of Israeli policies in the occupied
territories
in San Francisco, and that case was only recently finally settled:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/02/23/MN169812.DTL
I am also sorry to report that, whether intended or not, the Pipes
watch
list has resulted in massive repetitive spamming of the email addresses
of
all the scholars on it, as well as of many others. In one instance one
of
the academics received repeated telephone death threats. In today's
world,
singling someone out for opprobrium and monitoring has immediate
effects in
cyberspace, which a reasonable person could have foreseen. Obviously,
denying academics use of their email facilities is a key interference
with
their research, scholarly communication, and career effectiveness.
What to do for now? I believe that an Amnesty-International-type
approach
may be the best response to the Middle East Forum watch list.
Those concerned that this move damages academic freedom and who object
to
the technique of keeping dossiers on and encouraging others to spy on
teachers and writers should write letters.
If you hold such concerns, it would be legitimate to write letters of
protest to the major news and cable networks protesting that they give
Daniel Pipes a great deal of air time. As journalists, surely they are
concerned that he is heading up a McCarthy-like campaign of watch lists
and
so fostering un-American values and attitudes. They will want to be
sure to
know that he is considered by many to be on the far right and to
espouse
views which ordinary Muslims often feel foster attitudes of hatred
toward
them; and that they should be sure, if they have him on the air, to
balance
those appearances with alternative views…
Sincerely,
Juan Cole
Professor
Department of History
University of Michigan
-----
GORE DENOUNCES BUSH'S IRAQ EFFORTS
Ian Stewart, Associated Press, 9/24/02
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - In his first major speech about Iraq, former Vice
President Al Gore issued a harsh criticism of President Bush for
wanting to
go to war with Saddam Hussein, warning of ominous and untold
consequences.
Like other leading Democrats, Gore has expressed reservations in recent
months about military action against Iraq, suggesting the diplomatic
costs
would be extremely high.
But his speech Monday at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco was
much
more critical.
The former presidential candidate said Bush's concentration on Iraq has
eroded world confidence in the United States and diminished the war on
terrorism.
"After Sept. 11, we had enormous sympathy, good will and support around
the
world," Gore said. "We've squandered that, and in one year we've
replaced
that with fear, anxiety and uncertainty, not at what the terrorists are
going to do but at what we are going to do..."
Gore accused the current president of abandoning the goal of a world
where
nations follow laws.
"That concept would be displaced by the notion that there is no law but
the
discretion of the president of the United States," he said.
"If other nations assert the same right, then the rule of law will
quickly
be replaced by the reign of fear," and any nation that perceives itself
threatened would feel justified in starting wars, he said…
---
EDITORIAL: CULTURE WAR WITH B-2'S
Maureen Dowd, New York Times, 9/22/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/22/opinion/22DOWD.html
WASHINGTON - Don't feel bad if you have the uneasy feeling that you're
being steamrolled. You are not alone.
As my girlfriend Dana said: "Bush is like the guy who reserves a hotel
room
and then asks you to the prom."
As the Pentagon moves troops, carriers, covert agents and B-2 bombers
into
the Persian Gulf, the president, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld
continue
their pantomime of consultation.
When Senator Mark Dayton of Minnesota asked the defense chief on
Thursday,
"What is compelling us to now make a precipitous decision and take
precipitous actions?" an exasperated Mr. Rumsfeld sputtered: "What's
different? What's different is 3,000 people were killed."
The casus belli is casuistry belli: We can't cuff Saddam to 9/11, but
we'll
clip Saddam because of 9/11.
Mr. Rumsfeld offered sophistry instead of a smoking gun: "I suggest
that
any who insist on perfect evidence are back in the 20th century and
still
thinking in pre-9/11 terms."
Ah, Rummy. Evidence, civil liberties, debating before we go to war . .
.
it's all sooo 20th century.
Anyway, how can we have evidence when we learned last week that our
evidence-gathering snoozy spooks are even more aggressively awful than
we
thought?
The administration isn't targeting Iraq because of 9/11. It's
exploiting
9/11 to target Iraq. This new fight isn't logical - it's cultural. It
is
the latest chapter in the culture wars, the conservative dream of
restoring
America's sense of Manifest Destiny…
---
EDITORIAL: THE DAY AFTER
Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times, 9/24/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/24/opinion/24KRIS.html
NAJAF, Iraq - As soon as American troops are rolling through Saddam
Hussein's palaces, the odds are that this holy Shiite city 100 miles
south
of Baghdad will erupt in a fury of killing, torture, rape and chaos.
The Shiite Muslims who make up 60 percent of Iraq -- but who have never
held power -- will rampage through the narrow streets here. Remembering
the
whispers from the bazaar about how Saddam's minions burned the beard
off
the face of a great Shiite leader named Muhammad Bakr al-Sadr, then
raped
and killed his sister in front of him, and finally executed him by
driving
nails through his head, the rebels will tear apart anyone associated
with
the ruling Baath Party.
In one Shiite city after another, expect battles between rebels and
army
units, periodic calls for an Iranian-style theocracy, and perhaps a
drift
toward civil war. For the last few days, I've been traveling in these
Shiite cities -- Karbala, Najaf and Basra -- and the tension in the
bazaars
is thicker than the dust behind the donkey carts.
So before we rush into Iraq, we need to think through what we will do
the
morning after Saddam is toppled. Do we send in troops to try to seize
the
mortars and machine guns from the warring factions? Or do we run from
civil
war, and risk letting Iran cultivate its own puppet regime? In the
north,
do we suppress the Kurds if they take advantage of the chaos to seek
independence? Do we fight off the Turkish Army if it intervenes in
Kurdistan?
Unless we're prepared for the consequences of our invasion, we have no
business invading at all…
-----
CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS OF INCIDENT RECOUNTED
Sean Webby, San Jose Mercury News, 9/24/02
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/4139735.htm
An 18-year-old man charged with assault with intent to commit rape of a
15-year-old co-worker at a Palo Alto drugstore appeared in court
Monday.
The girl's father and others were there for the next development in a
case
that has drawn the attention of Hindus and Muslims across the Bay Area.
In the end, Sanjay Nair said nothing. His case was postponed until Oct.
23
so his new lawyer can have time to prepare. But shortly after he was
arrested, Nair sat before his parents in their East Palo Alto apartment
and
told the Mercury News that he's innocent. His alleged victim offers a
very
different account of what went on that night.
Nair said what happened in the women's employee restroom at Longs was a
furtive sexual tryst, not a surprise sexual attack. "I didn't rape this
girl," Nair said. "I did not force sex on her."
The girl's account -- told in court documents -- describes a sexual
assault
built upon months of ethnic taunts. Nair is Hindu; the girl, Muslim.
Nair's
account -- told in an interview and police reports -- describes a
teasing
but friendly relationship that turned hostile when it didn't work out…
-----
EDITORIAL: VANDALS, OR WORSE?
Akron Beacon Journal, 9/24/02
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/editorial/4139308.htm
Jim Goodlet, a captain in the Kent Police Department, concluded that a
19-pound piece of wood hurled through the glass door of the Kent Mosque
was
likely "a random act of mischief." He noted that four businesses within
three blocks of the mosque reported incidents of property damage early
Friday morning. The vandals may not have targeted the place of worship.
They may not have engaged in a hate crime. Still, the timing has
further
and understandably unsettled members of the Muslim community in
Northeast
Ohio. Five days earlier, bullets pierced the window of the prayer hall
at
the Islamic Community Center in Cuyahoga Falls.
When terrorists struck a year ago, turning four hijacked airliners into
missiles, killing thousands in a morning, the country responded in
horror
and anger. Americans also proved resilient, performing heroic acts and
reaffirming core principles.
One of those principles involves religious tolerance. Those who first
settled here sought the freedom to practice their beliefs. The founders
ensured that no religion would dominate in the form of an edict from
the
state. The assumption was, and the reality has proved true, that a
diversity of views supplies uncommon strength…
---
MOSQUE TO BE BUILT ON OK CAMPUS
University of Tulsa News, 9/23/02
http://www.utulsa.edu/news/article.asp?Key=771
Ground was broken Friday, Sept. 20, for a long-awaited mosque on the
campus
of The University of Tulsa. Supporters, including TU students who
raised
the money for the building, say it is rare for a mosque to be located
on a
college campus.
The 3,900-square-foot mosque will have room for 100 people in the
first-floor men's prayer hall and 50 in the second-floor balcony
serving as
the women's prayer hall. The building's estimated cost is $330,000 and
is
scheduled to be finished by May 2003.
"The University of Tulsa's covenant relationship with the Presbyterian
Church USA facilitates understanding and acceptances of all faith
traditions," said TU President Bob Lawless. "The provision of a space
for
the Islamic students to pursue their faith is in keeping with the broad
view consistent with the purpose of higher education."
The mosque will include a large dome over part of the men's prayer
area,
where the imam, or prayer leader, will stand, and a small dome above
the
entry. The men's prayer area will have a two-story-high ceiling. The
university retains ownership of the land.
"This project has been in the dreaming and working stage for the 21
years
that I've been on campus," said Pam Smith, dean of international
services
and programs. "Our Muslim students have gathered to pray in any nook
they
could find…"
-----
CANADA SAYS MALAYSIAN VISITORS NOW NEED VISAS
David Ljunggren, Reuters, 9/24/02
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/reuters/asia-126663.html
OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Canadian government on Monday said that for
security
reasons Malaysian visitors would now need visas to enter the country, a
decision which an angry Kuala Lumpur said would only stoke "anti-Muslim
hysteria."
Ottawa, which has come under persistent U.S. pressure to tighten
security,
imposed the same visa measures earlier this month on visitors from
Saudi
Arabia. Most of the hijackers who took part in the September 11 suicide
attacks had Saudi passports.
Canadian Immigration Minister Denis Coderre said Ottawa considered both
the
Malaysian passport itself and the country's passport issuing system to
be
vulnerable to abuse. The new rules take effect on Wednesday…
Malaysian citizens had hitherto been able to enter Canada on a visa
waiver
programme. Malaysians and Saudis already need visas to enter the United
States.
Malaysia's high commissioner to Canada condemned the move.
"I think the decision is more a response to pressure coming from
external
sources rather than to any specific concerns. It is not helpful and
merely
adds to the general anti-Muslim hysteria that is out there," Dennis
Ignatius told Reuters.
Ignatius said he was "completely bewildered" by the idea that there was
a
problem with Malaysian passports. He said Canada had never raised this
matter with either him or authorities in Kuala Lumpur…
-----
CAIR-NY EVENTS EXAMINES CIVIL LIBERTIES POST 9-11
WHAT: A Year of Loss: Reexamining Civil Liberties Since September 11
WHERE: The Interchurch Center Lounge, 475 Riverside Drive at 120th
Street
(Entrance on Claremont Avenue) New York City /Take trains #1 or #9 to
116
St./Columbia University
WHEN: Friday, September 27, 2002 from 6 to 9 P.M.
Scheduled speakers include:
* Omar T. Mohammadi, Esq.
* Norman Siegel, Esq. - Freedom, Legal Defense & Education Project and
Former Executive Director, NY Civil Liberties Union
* Rebecca Thornton, Esq. - Equal Justice Works Fellow U.S. Law &
Security,
Lawyers Committee for Human Rights
* Adem Carroll - ICNA Relief, Islamic Circle of North America
-----
TO BECOME A CAIR MEMBER, GO TO:
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/membership.asp
TO TAKE PART IN CAIR'S VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE, GO TO:
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/voting.asp
-----
To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to:
http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
- MEDIA ADVISORY -
CAIR PUBLISHES GUIDE TO MUSLIMS IN NORTH AMERICA
Book offers first in-depth look at Islamic community and its response
to 9/11
WHAT: On Monday, September 30, the Council on American-Islamic
Relations
(CAIR), a prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group,
will
hold a news conference in the nation's capital to announce the
publication
of a first-of-its-kind guide to the North American Muslim community.
The 350-page book, called "The North American Muslim Resource Guide:
Muslim
Community Life in the United States and Canada [Routledge]," is the
first
comprehensive analysis of the structural make-up of Muslim communities
in
both countries. It provides an in-depth look at the history of Islam on
this continent, an introduction to Islamic institutions and an
assessment
of North American Muslims' perception of themselves.
Along with an outline of the response of Muslim media outlets,
charities
and community support structures to the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01,
the
book also offers an analysis of population statistics, immigration,
participation in the political process, and a 127-page directory
listing
contact information for Muslim organizations in North America. (Charts
from
the book will be on display at the news conference.)
"The North American Muslim Resource Guide is an indispensable road-map
for
any reader who hopes to move past the boundary of ethnic and religious
stereotypes to view the human face behind one of the fastest-growing
and
most vital populations in North America," said Research Director Dr.
Mohamed Nimer, the book's author.
WHEN: 10 a.m., Monday, September 30
WHERE: CAIR's Capitol Hill Office, 453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.,
Washington,
D.C. (Near South Capitol Metro stop.)
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-MAIL:
cair@cair-net.org; Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787 or 703-861-7294,
E-MAIL:
hhassan@cair-net.org; PUBLISHER: Elizabeth Sheehan, 212-216-7800,
E-MAIL:
esheehan@taylorandfrancis.com
NOTE: CAIR offers an e-mail list designed to be a window to the
American
Muslim community. Subscribers to the list, called CAIR-NET, receive
news
releases and other materials dealing with American Muslim positions on
issues of importance to our society.
To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to:
http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS 9/25/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: STANDING ON THE DAY OF JUDGMENT
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* LOUDER WAR TALK, AND MUFFLED DISSENT (Washington Post)
- The Dishonesty of This So-Called Dossier (Independent)
* ISRAEL UNMOVED BY U.S. PLEA TO END ARAFAT SIEGE (Reuters)
- Editorial: Rolling the President (Washington Post)
- New Jewish Settlement Established (AP)
- Middle East Feud is Carried to a New Land (Montreal Gazette)
* TWO LAWMAKERS ASSAIL ARMEY FOR COMMENTS ABOUT JEWISH VOTERS
(Washington Post)
* KENT STANDS UP FOR MOSQUE (Akron Beacon Journal)
- Anti-Arab Incidents Hikes Number Of Hate Crimes In Mass.
(AP)
* INS SYSTEM TO TRACK FOREIGN STUDENTS BY JANUARY (Knight Ridder)
* IMC-USA CONDEMNS THE MASSACRE OF WORSHIPPERS IN GUJARAT
* LETTER: A WITCH-HUNT MENTALITY IS UN-AMERICAN (St. Petersburg Times)
- Letter: Truth Gets Too Little Coverage (St. Petersburg
Times)
- Letter: Friends of Islam (Washington Post)
* FL WORKSHOP TO EXPLORE ISLAM AND AMERICAN MUSLIMS
* VA FUNDRAISER FOR ISLAMIC MEDIA FOUNDATION
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: STANDING ON THE DAY OF JUDGMENT
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "On the Day of Judgment,
every servant of God will remain standing (before Him) until he is
questioned about his life and how he spent it; about his knowledge and
how
he utilized it; about his wealth, from where he acquired it and in what
(activities) he spent it; and about his body as to how he used it."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 148
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 390 sponsorships for book and tape
packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the Country. Take
part
in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item "library
package."
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
LOUDER WAR TALK, AND MUFFLED DISSENT
Jim VandeHei, Washington Post, 9/25/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62793-2002Sep24.html
Dozens of congressional Democrats are frustrated with their leadership
for
rushing to embrace President Bush's Iraqi war resolution and fostering
an
impression the party overwhelmingly backs a unilateral strike against
Saddam Hussein.
Some are now looking to former president Jimmy Carter and former vice
president Al Gore to help generate significant public opposition to
unilateral action in Iraq, which they concede is an uphill and likely
unwinnable battle. They also are drafting alternative congressional
resolutions that would require Bush to win United Nations approval
before
attempting to oust the Iraqi leader.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said her party leaders are making it
"very
hard" for rank-and-file Democrats to alert the public to widespread
concerns about Bush's Iraq policy, most notably his demand for the
power to
strike Baghdad unilaterally.
"I think we as a nation are better served right now by some patience to
see
if the United Nations can in fact compel compliance," she said. "It's
much
better to root out chemical and biological weapons with inspectors than
it
is to drop bombs. One of the dismaying things is there is a prevailing
view
that the votes are there, so let's just do it."
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) said the outspoken support of Bush by
House
Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) belies grave concerns about
the
administration's Iraq policy among most rank-and-file Democrats he has
spoken to.
"It's not as though there's some great rush inside the party to support
war," Kucinich said. "The problem is our leadership has been so
outspoken
in favor of Bush . . . it causes Democrats to be characterized as
favoring
the war." Last night, he distributed leaflets asking those who share
his
concerns to convene for a strategy session…
---
THE DISHONESTY OF THIS SO-CALLED DOSSIER
Robert Fisk, Independent (UK), 9/25/02
http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=336404
Tony Blair's "dossier" on Iraq is a shocking document. Reading it can
only
fill a decent human being with shame and outrage. Its pages are final
proof
- if the contents are true - that a massive crime against humanity has
been
committed in Iraq. For if the details of Saddam's building of weapons
of
mass destruction are correct - and I will come to the "ifs" and "buts"
and
"coulds" later - it means that our massive, obstructive, brutal policy
of
UN sanctions has totally failed. In other words, half a million Iraqi
children were killed by us - for nothing.
Let's go back to 12 May 1996. Madeleine Albright, the US Secretary of
State, had told us that sanctions worked and prevented Saddam from
rebuilding weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Our Tory government
agreed,
and Tony Blair faithfully toed the line. But on 12 May, Mrs Albright
appeared on CBS television. Leslie Stahl, the interviewer, asked: "We
have
heard that half a million children have died. I mean, that's more than
died
in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?" To the world's
astonishment, Mrs Albright replied: "I think this is a very hard
choice,
but the price, we think the price is worth it…"
Now we know - if Mr Blair is telling us the truth - that the price was
not
worth it. The price was paid in the lives of hundreds of thousands of
children. But it wasn't worth a dime. The Blair "dossier" tells us
that,
despite sanctions, Saddam was able to go on building weapons of mass
destruction. All that nonsense about dual-use technology, the ban on
children's pencils - because lead could have a military use - and our
refusal to allow Iraq to import equipment to restore the water
-treatment
plants that we bombed in the Gulf War, was a sham…
Now maybe Saddam has restarted his WMD programme. Let's all say it out
loud, 20 times: Saddam is a brutal, wicked tyrant. But are "almost
certainly", "appears", "probably" and "if" really the rallying call to
send
our grenadiers off to the deserts of Kut-al-Amara…?
-----
ISRAEL UNMOVED BY U.S. PLEA TO END ARAFAT SIEGE
Matt Spetalnick, Reuters, 9/25/02
http://reuters.com/news_article.jhtml;jsessionid=D11P1KPPJKXD2CRBAEZSFFA?type=worldnews&StoryID=1495884
JERUSALEM - Israel stood defiant on Wednesday in the face of U.S.
pressure
to comply with a U.N. resolution demanding an end to its siege of
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's battered West Bank compound.
The United States abstained rather than veto Tuesday's Security Council
vote, but then asked Israel to heed the U.N. call, signalling the
growing
impatience of the Jewish state's ally and the main Middle East
peacebroker.
Washington, which has rarely gone public with criticism of Israel, is
seeking to calm the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to avoid inflaming the
Arab world amid preparations for a possible U.S. military strike on
Iraq.
But Israel was unmoved by the U.S. request as its tanks and troops kept
up
a five-day-old siege of Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah after
pounding to
rubble every other building in the presidential complex…
---
EDITORIAL: ROLLING THE PRESIDENT
Washington Post, 9/25/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62891-2002Sep24.html
For 18 months Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon responded to
Palestinian
terrorist attacks by systematically destroying the infrastructure and
institutions of the Palestinian Authority, all the while insisting that
his
intention was to pressure the very forces he targeted into cracking
down on
the terrorist groups. Three months ago his government moved beyond that
strategy: It invaded the West Bank, crushed the remaining Palestinian
forces there and assumed control over security itself. With the support
of
the Bush administration, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was declared
irrelevant…
The gratuitous siege in Ramallah grabbed the attention of the U.N.
Security
Council as Mr. Bush was seeking its support for a new resolution on
Iraq;
and Israel's refusal yesterday to respond to the council's order to
pull
back its forces, if sustained, will complicate U.S. attempts to win
Arab
and European backing for the enforcement of U.N. resolutions against
Saddam
Hussein. Administration spokesmen -- yesterday joined by the president
himself -- have openly expressed chagrin at Mr. Sharon's "unhelpful"
actions…
It's hard to tell whether Mr. Bush genuinely supports the peace plan
his
State Department signed on to; his principal goal seems to be to avoid
engagement in the Arab-Israeli conflict, or any hint of trouble with
the
Israeli government, whenever possible. Yet at least on paper, the
Quartet
process has aligned the United States, the United Nations, Russia, the
European Union and most Arab governments behind a process opposed only
by
Mr. Sharon and Mr. Arafat. Mr. Sharon's latest attack on his nemesis
has
succeeded in freezing the process; if he continues, he may effectively
block it altogether. That he is stepping on Mr. Bush's toes is unlikely
to
deter the Israeli warrior: His experience has taught him that this is a
president he can push around.
---
NEW JEWISH SETTLEMENT ESTABLISHED
Ramit Plushnick-Masti, Associated Press, 9/25/02
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-israel-settlement0925sep25,0,1059105.story
JERUSALEM (AP) - A new Jewish settlement with 14 homes has been
established
in the heart of the West Bank, settlers said Wednesday, at the start of
a
day of festivities to be attended by Israeli legislators.
Successive Israeli governments, including that of Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon, have said they would expand settlements to accommodate natural
population growth, but not establish new ones on land claimed by the
Palestinians for a future state…
However, settlers said they have transformed a hilltop outpost near the
Palestinian city of Nablus into the Rehalim settlement of 14 homes with
small backyards and red-tiled roofs. Twenty-four families are to live
in
Rehalim. There are also three mobile-home neighborhoods in the
settlement.
“This is very symbolic at a time like this, when people are talking
about
dismantling settlements, and illegal and legal outposts,” Yisraeli
said,
referring to a Defense Ministry plan to dismantle several outposts it
says
were illegally established.
“Maybe Rehalim is a symbol that it is possible to form new settlements
because it was the first outpost,” Yisraeli added. Several legislators
were
to attend festivities later Wednesday, he said.
Palestinians charge that Israeli settlements are an illegal
encroachment on
land they want for a state. More than 200,000 Jewish settlers live in
the
West Bank and Gaza Strip in communities that prevent continuity between
towns and villages that are home to more than 3 million Palestinians…
---
MIDDLE EAST FEUD IS CARRIED TO A NEW LAND
Mark Abley, Montreal Gazette, 9/25/02
"Muslims," remarks Syed Naseer, a librarian at McGill University, "are
going through the same nightmare that Jewish people went through in the
last century. We have to prove that we don't carry bombs. We have to
prove
our loyalty…"
When Naseer arrived at McGill, Montreal had no permanent mosques. On
Fridays he joined 15 to 20 people for midday prayers in the
university's
Institute of Islamic Studies. Most people in the city knew nothing
about
Islam: when he told a prospective landlady he was a Muslim, she said,
'What
part of the Catholic religion is this?'
Today, Muslims in the city can worship in more than 30 mosques and
prayer
spaces. Every Friday, hundreds attend the prayer centre at McGill.
Naseer
is glad of this - and yet he also feels profoundly hurt.
"We are constantly in a pressure cooker," he says. "It is not as bad as
the
U.S., where Muslims have terrible harassment - on national television,
a
commentator compared the Koran to Hitler's Mein Kampf. But even in
Montreal, since Sept. 11 last year we have been feeling great
hostility."
In many ways, the interests of Canadian Jews and Muslims should
coincide.
Members of both groups want their culture and religion to thrive in the
midst of a consumer society. Members of both groups are at risk from
white
supremacists.
But with an overwhelming percentage of Jews supporting a strong Israel,
and
an overwhelming percentage of Muslims supporting the embattled
Palestinians, common interests have largely faded away…
Attacks on Muslims have become far more common, according to a new
report
by the Canadian branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR).
Its survey suggested that 60 per cent of Muslims in Canada have endured
bias or discrimination in the past year.
That figure may be somewhat inflated, yet it attests to an undeniable
pattern: a fear of Muslims that can extend to loathing.
Even at Concordia - better-known for the difficulties faced by Jews -
the
Muslim Students Association has received more than two dozen reports of
harassment and discrimination…
-----
TWO LAWMAKERS ASSAIL ARMEY FOR COMMENTS ABOUT JEWISH VOTERS
Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post, 9/25/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62438-2002Sep24.html
Surely, the comments House Majority Leader Richard K. Armey (R-Tex.)
made
during a campaign stop in Florida for congressional candidate Katherine
Harris are not part of the Republican Party's script to reach out to
Jewish
voters.
"I always see two Jewish communities in America," Armey told the
audience
of Harris supporters last week. "One of deep intellect and one of
shallow,
superficial intellect."
Armey's remarks came in response to a question from a self-identified
Democrat about growing support for the GOP from Jewish voters, who
traditionally have aligned with Democrats.
Jewish Democratic Reps. Martin Frost (Tex.) and Nita M. Lowey (N.Y.)
issued
a scathing news release yesterday assailing Armey for the comments,
which
were first reported in the Bradenton Herald. The two lawmakers called
the
remarks "absolutely breathtaking in their ignorance. This is another
reminder why the GOP's countless 'outreach' efforts to minority
communities
always fail…"
-----
KENT STANDS UP FOR MOSQUE
Andrea Misko, Akron Beacon Journal, 9/25/02
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/4146439.htm
Some children are raising money to support their beleaguered neighbor
--
the Kent Mosque.
On Tuesday, several Kent children and their parents began going door to
door to gather money and words of support for the mosque, which vandals
attacked early Friday.
"The mosque has been a good neighbor," said David Odell-Scott, whose
children are taking part in the effort. "We just wanted them to know
that
we care, and they have our support. And, as parents, we are looking at
how
we can educate our kids to be good citizens." Between 4 and 6 a.m.
Friday,
someone threw a log through a glass door of the mosque. It was among
five
locations vandalized that morning, according to Kent police.
While police aren't calling the incident a hate crime, area Muslims
feel
differently.
It was the second act of vandalism at a Muslim building in less than a
week. On Sept. 15, someone shot at the Islamic Community Center in
Cuyahoga
Falls, leaving bullet holes in the prayer hall.
Odell-Scott, who is an associate professor of philosophy and
coordinator of
religion studies at Kent State University, lives just blocks from the
Kent
mosque. He and his family are among about nine neighborhood families
participating in the door-to-door effort.
Scott has called the effort a lesson in character and civic
responsibility
for the children.
Word of the fund-raiser reached Ihsan Haque, president of the Islamic
Society of Akron and Kent, late Tuesday.
"I am impressed and really thankful," Haque said. "The true American
spirit
is in place."
Haque said his neighbors' message is loud and clear. It is a message of
love and understanding, not of hate and misunderstanding, he said…
---
ANTI-ARAB INCIDENTS HIKES NUMBER OF HATE CRIMES IN MASS.
Associated Press, 9/25/02
BOSTON - The number of hate crimes in Massachusetts rose sharply in the
wake of Sept. 11, with Muslims and Arabs the new targets.
A total of 576 incidents were reported in 2001, up 24 percent from the
463
reported in 2000, according to the Governor's Task Force on Hate
Crimes.
Between September and December 2001, there were 86 reported anti-Arab
and
anti-Muslim incidents, compared to five in the eight months before the
terrorists attacks in New York City and Washington. Ninety percent of
those
incidents were directed at people older than 21, whereas only 30
percent of
other hate crimes that year involved adult victims.
"Unfortunately, the victimization did not end on Sept. 11 (with the
murder
of civilians," said Aamir Rehman of the Islamic Society of Boston.
"There
are some who sought to divide our country ... and scapegoat innocent
people."
Among the total number of hate crimes in 2001, 133 were motivated by
religious bias, up 43 percent over 2000. There was a tenfold increase
in
anti-Islamic incidents…
-----
INS SYSTEM TO TRACK FOREIGN STUDENTS BY JANUARY
Ben Finley, Knight Ridder, 9/25/02
WASHINGTON -- The Immigration and Naturalization Service told Congress
on
Tuesday that its system for tracking foreign students will be
operational
by its January deadline. However, members of Congress and university
leaders are concerned about the system's effectiveness.
The Student Exchange and Visitor Information System will have
difficulty
preventing student visa fraud and cannot account for the significant
number
of international students who have overstayed their visas, an INS
official
acknowledged.
Universities contend the INS won't be able to process the information
that
SEVIS will collect every semester on more than 500,000 international
students who are studying in this country. Rep. Howard McKeon,
R-Calif.,
noted that a Georgia professor was indicted earlier this year on
charges of
creating 17 fake student visas, and asked whether SEVIS could safeguard
against such occurrences.
"No system is completely fraud-proof," said INS spokeswoman Janis
Sposato.
She said it would be difficult to detect fraud by a school official who
was
using legitimate documents…
-----
IMC-USA CONDEMNS THE MASSACRE OF WORSHIPPERS IN GUJARAT
Press Release, Indian Muslim Council USA, 9/24/2002
For Immediate Release:
(Washington D.C,)- Indian Muslim Council USA condemns in the strongest
terms the killing of innocent worshippers in Gujarat, India. Commenting
on
the tragic event, IMC-USA Vice President, Mr. Rasheed Ahmed said, "Such
senseless acts of violence can never be justified by any cause. We
extend
our sincerest condolences to the families of the thirty men, women and
children who were killed and we stand in firm opposition against any
further terrorist activity against innocents in India."
According to news reports, several unidentified gunmen stormed into the
Akshardham Temple in Gandhinagar, Gujarat and went on a killing spree
that
resulted in the deaths of 30 worshippers and several injuries.
In the state of Gujrat where thousands of Muslims were brutally
massacred
in sectarian violence, the attack on Akshardham Temple in Gandhinagar
aggravates an already tense atmosphere in the state. IMC-USA urges the
government of India to quickly apprehend the culprits and make sure
that
fascist and communal forces in the state do not use this unfortunate
incident as a pretext for violence against the Muslim population.
IMC-USA, a United States based organization, represents the interests
of
Muslims of Indian origin in preserving and promoting the pluralistic
and
democratic essence of the Indian society.
Contact Person:
Rasheed Ahmed
708-466-0244
Indian Muslim Council - USA (IMC-USA)
PO BOX 34637
Washington DC 20043-4637
-----
LETTERS: A WITCH-HUNT MENTALITY IS UN-AMERICAN
St. Petersburg Times, 9/25/02
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/09/25/Opinion/A_witch_hunt_mentalit.shtml
Recent events have caused me great concern. This business with the
three
men of Arab descent who were "mistaken" for terrorists and the
subsequent
negative reactions against them are exactly the type of thing I'm
writing
about.
It sickens me that there are so many "Americans" who are so quick to
rush
to judgment. This witch-hunt mentality is not only dangerous, but is
itself
un-American. Why should these innocent men be made to suffer threats of
violence and be asked not to return to medical school? Because they
were
"mistaken" for terrorists? Is this the type of society we have become?
I
certainly hope not! It's a sad, scary and pathetic example ignorant
behavior gone unchecked.
We as a nation need to be very careful that we do not let ourselves get
caught up in this frenzy of racial stereotyping and turning America
into an
Orwellian society. We need only to look back to World War II to see how
we
treated Asian-Americans and how wrong that was, or how Hilter went
after
the Jews. Have we learned nothing in the 60 years since? Finally, the
action that needs to be taken here is for Americans to educate
themselves.
We need to understand our Arab neighbors better and see them for the
people
they are, not the people we believe them to be. The mistakes of the
past
must not be repeated today.
Robert L. Lewis II, St. Petersburg
---
LETTER: TRUTH GETS TOO LITTLE COVERAGE
St. Petersburg Times, 9/25/02
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/09/25/Opinion/A_witch_hunt_mentalit.shtml
The major media sources are now reporting that the three U.S. citizens
who
were "accused" of a terrorist plot, did indeed pay the toll that they
were
accused of evading. This is a small accusation when compared to the
rest of
the story. The basis of the accusation is the bigger problem.
Truth seems to be on the verge of extinction in our lives, along with
some
of the other important founding principals of this self-proclaimed
great
nation.
That the Times did not use the front page to relay this story to the
public
is a very disturbing practice that seems only too common. The paper had
no
problem using the front page to alter the lives of these U.S. citizens.
The
Times does a fine job of undermining its own credibility when news is
presented in this fashion.
The concept of "truth, justice and the American Way" must mean
something
different from what I was taught.
Jason LaCroix, St. Petersburg
---
LETTER: FRIENDS OF ISLAM
Washington Post, 9/25/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62899-2002Sep24.html
Joseph Kenary [letters, Sept. 18] disputed Karen Armstrong's assertion
that
hatred of Jews and Christians is "against the clear and unequivocal
teachings of the Koran" ["Fostering a Democratic Islam," op-ed, Sept.
10].
To make his point, he quoted Sura 5, Verse 51, which states, "Take not
the
Jews and the Christians as friends." If he had read on he would have
found
these words in Verse 82: "And you will certainly find the nearest in
friendship to those who believe [to be] those who say: We are
Christians."
To understand any religious text, whether it be the Bible or the Koran,
one
has to know the context in which the verses were revealed, and why and
to
whom the statements were being made. The contents of Sura 5 are chiefly
concerned with Jews' and Christians' violations of their covenants,
with an
exhortation to Muslims to remain true to their own. The chapter was
revealed at Medina and deals with those who had assumed open enmity to
Islam during the early Medinan period.
BILAL M. RASCHID
Bethesda, MD
-----
FL WORKSHOP TO EXPLORE ISLAM AND AMERICAN MUSLIMS
WHAT: The St. Petersburg Islamic Center will be hosting a weekend of
dynamic workshops and lectures on Islam and the Muslim American
Society.
WHEN: Friday, September 27, through Sunday, September 29.
WHERE: St. Petersburg Islamic Center, 3762 18th Avenue South, St.
Petersburg, FL
Workshops will take place on Saturday and a banquet Saturday evening.
For more information please call Imam Wilmore or Bahiyyah Sadikki at
(727)
447-6592, Allene Gammage-Ahmed at (727) 542-2278 or call the Masjid at
327-8483.
-----
VA FUNDRAISER FOR ISLAMIC MEDIA FOUNDATION
WHAT: Annual fundraising dinner for the Islamic Media Foundation (IMF),
producers of the Islamic Broadcasting Network.
WHEN: Saturday, September 28 at 7 P.M.
WHERE: Sheraton Premier Hotel, 8661 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, VA
Keynote speaker: Br. Salam Al-Maryati, Director of the Muslim Public
Affairs Council (MPAC)
Tickets are $40 (includes dinner)
Children’s tickets (ages 10 and under) are $10 and includes meal and
babysitting.
For Tickets Contact: Islamic Media Foundation at (703) 241-9659 or
Visit the Islamic Broadcasting Network online at http://www.ibn.net
-----
TO BECOME A CAIR MEMBER, GO TO:
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/membership.asp
TO TAKE PART IN CAIR'S VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE, GO TO:
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/voting.asp
-----
To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to:
http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 9/26/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: SEVEN GOOD DEEDS
* ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITY AT CAIR'S ANNUAL FUNDRAISING DINNER
* FEDS ARREST FLA MAN TIED TO MOSQUE BOMB SUSPECT (AP)
* NBC'S LAW AND ORDER TO FOCUS ON MUSLIM "FANATIC"
* UJAAMA'S FAMILY DECRIES IMPRISONMENT CONDITIONS (AP)
- Bomb Suspect's Detention Without Charges is Challenged (New York
Times)
- FBI Agents Meet With Muslim Community Leaders (OC Register)
- Justice Behind Closed Doors (Salon.com)
- Detainee to Get Open Immigration Hearing (Washington Post)
* EDITORIAL: 9/11 FEARS TURN CHANCE REMARK INTO VISIT BY MOUNTIES
(Toronto
Star)
* CAMPUS WATCH: THE VIGILANTE THOUGHT POLICE (Counterpunch.org)
* ROW ERUPTS OVER ISRAELI MINISTER "SNAKE" REMARK (Reuters)
* POLL: NO RUSH TO WAR (CBS)
- Cultural Icons Call Attacking Iraq 'Immoral' (Ottawa Citizen)
* FEAR GRIPS MUSLIMS IN INDIA'S GUJARAT AS HINDU HARDLINERS CALL STRIKE
(AFP)
* FIRST ANNUAL MUSLIM AMERICAN HERITAGE DAY
* ISLAMIC STUDIES TEACHING POSITION OPEN AT UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: SEVEN GOOD DEEDS
A companion of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "The
Prophet
asked us to do seven things: to visit the sick, to follow funeral
processions, to seek God's mercy for someone who sneezes, to return
greetings, help those who are wronged, accept invitations, and fulfill
our
oaths and promises."
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 3, Hadith 625
-----
ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITY AT CAIR'S ANNUAL FUNDRAISING DINNER
Those interested in advertising their organization or business at
CAIR's
annual fundraising dinner on October 26, 2002, should contact Isra
Rahman
at: irahman@cair-net.org. The event is an excellent opportunity to
reach
active and dynamic members of the American Muslim community.
-----
FEDS ARREST FLA MAN TIED TO MOSQUE BOMB SUSPECT
CONTACT: CAIR-FL, Altaf Ali, 954-298-8214, E-Mail:
altafaali@cair-florida.org; Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or
202-744-7726,
E-MAIL: cair@cair-net.org
Agents arrest man whose firearms were recovered at home of Seminole
podiatrist
Rachel La Corte, Associated Press, 9/26/02
TAMPA, Fla. - Federal authorities charged a man who they say owned five
of
the high-powered firearms recovered at the home of a podiatrist accused
of
plotting to blow up Islamic mosques and centers around the state.
Samuel Valiant Shannahan of Dunedin was arrested Wednesday night by
agents
with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and charged with
illegally transferring firearms, according to the criminal complaint
filed
in federal court in Tampa on Thursday.
Shannahan was first questioned by investigators on Aug. 23, the day
Robert
Goldstein was arrested. Police say the Seminole podiatrist had drawn up
plans to destroy an Islamic education center and dozens of mosques.
Detailed, written plans referred to a "Val." Shannahan, a federally
licensed firearms dealer, told investigators he didn't know why he was
named in Goldstein's document.
Shannahan's home number rang unanswered Thursday. A first court
appearance
was scheduled at 2 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Thomas McCoun III.
Goldstein, 37, was charged last month with possessing a non-registered
destructive device and attempting to use explosives to damage Islamic
centers. The explosives were found in his townhouse the St. Petersburg
suburb of Seminole, police said.
Deputies found more than 30 explosive devices, including hand grenades
and
a cache of up to 40 licensed weapons, at Goldstein's home last month.
They
also found a list of about 50 Islamic worship centers in the state and
a
detailed plan for bombing an undisclosed Islamic education center…
-----
NBC'S LAW AND ORDER TO FOCUS ON MUSLIM "FANATIC"
http://www.nbc.com/Law_&_Order/index.html
The following is an advertisement for the upcoming "Law and Order"
season
premiere on October 10th at 10 pm:
LAW AND ORDER: AMERICAN JIHAD
SEASON PREMIERE -- PERVERSION OF RELIGION AND POLITICS RESULTS IN
DOUBLE
HOMICIDE -- When Professors Hugh and Louise Murdoch are found shot dead
in
their apartment, Detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Green (Jesse L.
Martin) must determine if Hugh Murdoch's controversial work in
stem-cell
research could have motivated a religious zealot to commit the murders.
But
it soon becomes apparent that it was Louise Murdoch's volunteer work
raising money and awareness for women's issues in the Middle East that
attracted the attention of a troubled young man, Greg Landen aka Mousah
Salim (guest star Wil Horneff). A.D.A.'s McCoy (Sam Waterston) and
Southerlyn (Elisabeth Rohm) are left to grapple with Landen's
interpretation of the Muslim religion, which may have led him to take
extreme measures to exorcise his own personal demons. S. Epatha
Merkerson
and Fred Thompson also star. TV-14
ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE. Hostile comments can and will
be
used to further defame Islam and Muslims.)
E-MAIL COMMENTS TO: LawOrder@nbc.com
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org
WRITE TO:
NBC Viewer Relations
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112
-----
UJAAMA'S FAMILY DECRIES IMPRISONMENT CONDITIONS
Gene Johnson, Associated Press, 9/25/02
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WST%20Attacks%20Ujaama
SEATTLE -- Supporters of an American Muslim charged with trying to
establish a terrorist training camp in Oregon demanded his release
Wednesday, saying the government has offered no reason for keeping him
in
"appalling" conditions at a federal jail.
James Ujaama, a U.S. citizen who recently lived in London, has been
kept in
solitary confinement at the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac, south
of
Seattle. He's been barred from contacting his mother or the rest of his
family, and has been granted just one phone call to his lawyers in the
past
two weeks.
There has been so much secrecy surrounding his case that officials at
the
Federal Detention Center routinely say they have no public record of
him.
Even his lawyers were told that.
"We were told that he wasn't there," Seattle lawyer Peter Offenbecher
said
Wednesday. "And it's certainly true that he has not been able to call
or
visit with his family. These conditions are unwarranted and
unnecessary..."
"What threat does the government feel that I am, that I present, that
they
deny me the right to meet with my son?" asked Ujaama's mother, Carolyn
Peggi Thompson.
She said she received a letter from him on Saturday saying that he was
in
good spirits.
King County Councilman Larry Gossett said Ujaama volunteered with black
youth while growing up in Seattle's Central Area. "I'm concerned about
the
appalling way the federal government is treating Mr. Ujaama," Gossett
said.
"... What's happened to him has happened to a lot of other citizens
caught
up in the war on terrorism…"
---
BOMB SUSPECT'S DETENTION WITHOUT CHARGES IS CHALLENGED
Benjamin Weiser, New York Times, 9/26/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/26/national/26DIRT.html
The American Civil Liberties Union said that it would file legal papers
today in United States District Court in Manhattan challenging the
government's decision to detain Jose Padilla in a military jail without
charges or trial.
Mr. Padilla, a former Chicago gang member who is also known as Abdullah
al-Muhajir, has been accused by the government of plotting to explode a
radioactive bomb in the United States. A lawyer for the A.C.L.U. said
the
organization planned to argue that holding Mr. Padilla without charges
or a
lawyer violates the Constitution's guarantee of due process. "If the
government has a case against Padilla it should charge him and try
him,"
said Steven R. Shapiro, the A.C.L.U.'s legal director. He said the
group
would be joined in its friend of the court brief by its state
affiliate,
the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Mr. Padilla was first detained as a material witness in Chicago in May.
He
was then brought to New York, where the grand jury investigation into
the
Sept. 11 terror attacks is based, and in June, after President Bush
declared him an enemy combatant, he was placed in military custody. He
is
in a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C…
---
FBI AGENTS MEET WITH MUSLIM COMMUNITY LEADERS
Bill Rams, Orange County Register, 9/26/02
http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=4375§ion=LOCAL
SANTA ANA, Calif. - Why do members of the community refuse to be
interviewed? What's the structure of the leadership? What is being done
to
educate people about the American judicial system?
Those were among the questions FBI agents asked two Muslim community
leaders Wednesday during a diversity training seminar, the first of its
kind for FBI agents since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, officials
said.
"I thought it was very positive," said Salem Mayorati, director of the
Muslim Public Affairs Council. "This is about fighting terrorism
without
forfeiting constitutional rights and civil liberties. We want to
understand
each other."
More than 100 agents from Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside and Los
Angeles
counties attended the private meeting.
Mayorati said a handful of community members had complained of agents
harassing them. He _ and Ri'ad Faraj, spokesman for the Council on
American-Islamic Relations _ wanted to address the issue with the
agents.
They also wanted to let them know that their organizations are
interested
in helping them as they seek local links to terrorist organizations.
Stephen Steinhauser, an FBI assistant special agent in charge, said it
was
also a good opportunity for community leaders to hear from agents about
how
they feel they've been treated.
"There were some people we would go to speak to and they were very
apprehensive," he said. "We need assistance and cooperation from the
Muslim
and Arab community. Help us. That's the key here."
Faraj said he will do everything he can.
"We want the community to cooperate with the FBI," he said afterward.
"There was some mistrust or suspicion. This was definitely a step in
the
right direction, and we appreciate the FBI's stand."
---
JUSTICE BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
Dave Lindorff, Salon.com, 9/26/02
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2002/09/26/deport/index_np.html
Federal immigration agents came knocking at the door of Rabih Haddad in
Ann
Arbor, Mich., last Dec. 14 when he was home with his four children.
Armed
and grim-faced, they immediately searched and secured his house,
demanding
to know if he had any weapons. He showed them some ceremonial Chinese
swords on the mantelpiece and a shotgun he owned for hunting, which
they
confiscated. He was then led off to jail, leaving his children, aged 8
through 15, terrified.
Today, after more than nine months in solitary confinement, Haddad is
moving uncertainly toward a hearing that could result in his
deportation to
Lebanon. He doesn't know what evidence the government will use against
him.
He had long ago notified the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization
Service of
his tourist visa status, and he had filed an application with the INS
under
the last Clinton-era amnesty for a green card. But for Haddad and other
Muslim immigrants caught in the post-Sept. 11 crackdown, none of that
seems
to matter.
More than 1,000 are in custody, deemed to be "terrorist connected."
Some
600 have already been deported after hearings closed to the press, the
public and even the immigrants' families. But now two federal appeals
courts, one in Philadelphia and the other in Cincinnati, are about to
present the U.S. Supreme Court with the question of whether the federal
government has a right to deport whole classes of people in such secret
hearings…
---
DETAINEE TO GET OPEN IMMIGRATION HEARING
Steve Fainaru, Washington Post, 9/26/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3121-2002Sep25.html
The Justice Department announced last night that it would comply with a
federal court order and grant an open detention hearing to a Muslim
activist who has been in custody for nine months because of suspected
links
to terrorism.
"We're glad that Rabih Haddad will finally receive an open bond
hearing,"
said Nancy Chang, senior litigation attorney for the Center for
Constitutional Rights, which has represented Haddad. "It's far later
than
we would have wished, but we believe that the openness of these
proceedings
will serve to increase their fairness."
Haddad, a Lebanese national, has come to personify the battle between
civil
liberties advocates and the Bush administration over the handling of
hundreds of detainees, most of Arab and South Asian descent, swept up
in
the investigation of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and
the
Pentagon. Hundreds of detainees have been subjected to secret
immigration
hearings after Justice Department officials determined the cases were
of
"special interest" to the investigation…
-----
EDITORIAL: 9/11 FEARS TURN CHANCE REMARK INTO VISIT BY MOUNTIES
James Travers, Toronto Star, 9/26/02
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1026145676184&call_page=TS_Opinion&call_pageid=968256290124&call_pagepath=News/Opinion&col=968350116695
Canada isn't the kind of country where a strongly held, strongly voiced
political opinion leads to a midnight visit by police. At least that's
what
a Toronto couple believed before the RCMP knocked on their Nova Scotia
hotel room door.
What was said and done in the intimate lobby of a small town inn about
an
hour's drive north of Halifax is still hidden in contentious debate a
month
later. What is clear is that the Aug. 26 incident falls uncomfortably
into
the no man's land that, since the attack on the World Trade Center, has
separated the need for security from the right to privacy. According to
Joseph Delbert Adams he says he is willing to pay for a polygraph to
prove
the truth a disparaging, private comment to his wife Jane about U.S.
President George W. Bush's plan to attack Iraq and an innocent
videotaping
of hotel memorabilia led to an unsettling early-hours interview with
Constable Darrell McDow of the nearby New Minas RCMP detachment. Adams
was
asked and refused to hand over the videotape that, along with his
comments,
were reported as threatening by Andrew Honey, a part-time desk clerk.
Adams says his words were a harmless response to a television news clip
then airing in the lobby. He remembers his comment as: "There goes Bush
and
the boys again. They aren't happy if they aren't killing someone."
In an interview this week, Adams said the issue is civil liberty.
"There
were no grounds to investigate me for my political views..."
Since Sept. 11, official encouragement, particularly in the U.S., is
spawning a culture of finger-pointing that can catch the innocent along
with legitimate suspects…
-----
CAMPUS WATCH: THE VIGILANTE THOUGHT POLICE
Will Youmans, Counterpunch, 9/23/02
http://www.counterpunch.org/youmans0922.html
A Philadelphia-based pro-Israeli organization with the seemingly
innocuous
name, the Middle East Forum, began a website to monitor US college
campuses
for academic pro-Palestinian bias and happenings. Campus-Watch
(http://www.campus-watch.org) publishes dossiers on professors, as well
as
some examples of their writings. It describes itself as a group of
"highly
qualified American academics that have banded together in defense of US
interests on campus, which includes the continued support of Israel."
This
statement is misleading since all the content of the website centers on
criticism of Israel and concerns no other supposed "US interest." ...
While the website dresses their monitoring as a purely academic
exercise,
it generates hostile phone calls and e-mails to listed professors and
their
families, as a profiled academic told me. Not only is this website
inflammatory, but it clearly seeks to bring political pressure to bear
on
the professors and institutions…
Campus-Watch encourages students to snitch on their professors. It has
a
whole section dedicated to student reports. Campus-Watch is essentially
forming a paramilitary thought police, a private TIPS program for
pro-Israeli advocates. What the site omits is more interesting than
its
transparent goal to quiet public expression of support for the
Palestinian
cause…
-----
ROW ERUPTS OVER ISRAELI MINISTER "SNAKE" REMARK
Reuters, 9/26/02
CAIRO, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Remarks by an Israeli minister allegedly
calling
Muslim worshippers in Jerusalem "snakes and scorpions" sparked outrage
on
Thursday in Egypt's media, which accused the rightwing Israeli
government
of racism.
Egyptian papers said Health Minister Nissim Dahan "described Muslims
praying in the al-Haram al-Sherif" as "foxes who evolved gradually to
become snakes and scorpions."
The al-Haram al-Sherif, the complex which Jews call Temple Mount,
contains
one of Islam's holiest sites…
The state-owned al-Akhbar said in an editorial that Dahan's comments
reflected a "racist" rightwing culture in the Israeli government, which
includes ministers who have called for the mass deportation, or
"transfer,"
of Palestinians to Jordan…
-----
POLL: NO RUSH TO WAR
CBS News, 9/24/02
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/09/24/opinion/polls/main523130.shtml
(CBS) Americans very much want Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein out of
power,
and see him as a threat - a feeling that has not changed in over ten
years.
And while many Americans now believe that Hussein is a greater threat
than
Osama bin Laden, there is still no great rush to go to war in Iraq.
Americans want the U.S. to wait and build an international coalition,
and
follow the recommendations of the United Nations, even though they are
not
sure the U.N. can make a difference. They want the Congress to ask even
more questions about military actions - and most now say it's okay to
criticize the president's military decisions. And, contrary to the
Administration's arguments, many feel that a new war with Iraq would
not
lessen the threat of terrorism against the U.S. - if anything, it might
increase that threat…
---
CULTURAL ICONS CALL ATTACKING IRAQ 'IMMORAL'
Paul Gessell, Ottawa Citizen, 9/26/02
http://www.canada.com/national/story.asp?id={7B3D9AEA-874C-4BFB-A692-1643637CFAC8}
A galaxy of Canadian stars -- Margaret Atwood, Pierre Berton, Robert
Bateman, Buffy Sainte Marie, Bruce Cockburn, David Suzuki and scores of
others -- has united to declare that a military attack on Iraq would be
"unprovoked" and "immoral."
One hundred prominent writers, artists, musicians, labour leaders,
politicians, clergy, academics, environmentalists and others have
signed a
sharply worded statement on Iraq that was released yesterday and, in
the
next few days, is to be delivered to all MPs.
Some signatories to the statement equated the anticipated U.S. attack
on
Iraq with the Sept. 11 attacks and declared the current regime of
economic
sanctions against Iraq to be "weapons of mass destruction" that are
killing
thousands of Iraqis, especially children.
"The way to deal with (Iraqi president) Saddam Hussein is not by
killing
thousands of Iraqi civilians, any more than the way to deal with
American
foreign policy was by killing thousands of American civilians on Sept.
11,"
law professor Michael Mandel told a Toronto news conference yesterday
as he
unveiled the statement…
-----
FEAR GRIPS MUSLIMS IN INDIA'S GUJARAT AS HINDU HARDLINERS CALL STRIKE
Jay Deshmukh, Agence France Presse, 9/26/02
AHMEDABAD, Sept 26 - Many Muslim families in this western Indian city
Thursday fled their homes fearing a violent backlash as Hindu
hardliners
called a one-day strike to protest an attack on a temple that left 31
people dead.
Several families sought safety in mosques and community halls across
the
commercial city of Ahmedabad, which was worst affected during sectarian
violence which hit Gujarat state earlier this year.
Other people went to the sites of what had been relief camps set up
after
the riots in March when more than 1,000 people -- mainly Muslims --
were
killed following an attack on a train carrying Hindu activists which
killed
58.
Human rights groups put the toll at 2,000 and have accused the state
government of not doing enough to prevent the riots. No violence was
reported so far Thursday in the city, where members of the rightwing
Vishwa
Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council, VHP) enforced a general strike
called
to protest what they say is Pakistan's hand in Tuesday's temple attack…
But Muslims said they were frightened of what could happen despite a
heavy
police and army presence.
"Although everything is peaceful in the city, our hearts are heavy with
fear and persistent tension as anything can trigger violence," said
Parveenabanu Chamanbabu, who has sought safety in the Shahalam mosque
in
the city, along with many others.
"I had lost everything in the riots. My house was destroyed, my
brothers
killed and my savings burnt. I do not want that to happen now as the
March
riots had also started when the VHP had called a strike on February 28
after the train attack…"
-----
FIRST ANNUAL MUSLIM AMERICAN HERITAGE DAY
WHEN: Sunday October 6th, 2002, 9 A.M. to 6:30 P.M.
WHERE: Freedom Plaza, Washington D.C.
Fun for the whole family - activities for adults and children
For further information, go to http://www.islam-day.org/
Send inquiries on sponsorships or volunteering to info@islam-day.org
-----
ISLAMIC STUDIES TEACHING POSITION OPEN AT UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
Position: Assistant Professor, Political Islam
Institution: University of Washington at Seattle
The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, at the University
of
Washington, invites applications for a tenure-track position at the
assistant professor level in Political Islam to begin Autumn 2003.
The successful candidate will have research and teaching interests in
Islam
in contemporary Central and/or South Asia. Applicants should have
strong
linguistic preparation, broad interests and training in the history,
politics, culture, or society of either one or both of these regions as
well as expertise in a social science discipline, including any of the
following: anthropology, economics, geography, history, political
science,
or sociology. The successful candidate will be expected to contribute
to
the School's area studies programs, its social science oriented
international studies program, and to teach four courses per year over
three quarters.
Salary is commensurate with experience and qualifications.
Qualifications:
Ph.D. or equivalent by time of appointment. Send letter of application
describing research and teaching interests, CV, list of courses taught
and
those prepared to teach, and three letters of reference to Toni Read,
Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, Box
353650, Seattle, WA 98195.
Preference will be given to applications received prior to December 31,
2002.
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE.)
Contact Whirlpool to request that they provide reasonable accommodation
for
workers' religious practices.
E-MAIL: thomas_e_kline@email.whirlpool.com,
thomas_c_filstrup@email.whirlpool.com
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org
-----
TENN. WHIRLPOOL SUIT TO INCLUDE RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
New plaintiffs allege climate of racial and religious hostility at
plant
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/27/02) - Muslim workers in Tennessee have added
new
charges of racial discrimination to a lawsuit against a Whirlpool
Corporation plant in that state. In an amended complaint filed with the
court, seven new plaintiffs joined 16 other current and former
employees,
primarily Somali immigrants, who last April sued the household
appliance
giant's plant in La Vergne, Tenn., alleging religious discrimination.
SEE: "Muslims charge discrimination at Whirlpool plant in La Vergne"
http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/02/05/17022232.shtml
The new plaintiffs include Kurdish immigrants who say Whirlpool
supervisors
and employees created and fostered a hostile and humiliating work
environment for Muslim, African and Middle Eastern workers. One
plaintiff
claims a Whirlpool supervisor told her she could "dance on her break"
but
that she could not use it as an opportunity to offer mandatory Islamic
prayers.
The original lawsuit was initiated after one of the employees contacted
the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Washington-based
Islamic
civil rights and advocacy group. Repeated attempts at mediation were
rejected by Whirlpool.
"Whirlpool has been unresponsive to the legitimate religious needs of
its
Muslim employees, despite the claim on its web site that 'broad
diversity
of our people and their ideas is the fundamental foundation for the
future
success of our company.' These noble words need to be matched with
practical actions," said CAIR Communications Coordinator Hodan Hassan.
The suit seeks an order forcing Whirlpool to provide reasonable
accommodation for the plaintiffs' religious practices, as well as
compensatory and punitive damages for the emotional pain and suffering
caused by the discrimination.
Whirlpool Corporation is the world's leading manufacturer and marketer
of
major home appliances. Headquartered in Benton Harbor, Mich., the
company
manufactures in 13 countries and markets products under 11 major brand
names in more than 170 countries. CAIR offers a booklet, called "An
Employer's Guide to Islamic Religious Practices," designed to prevent
these
types of incidents from occurring.
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-MAIL:
cair@cair-net.org; Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787 or 703-861-7294,
E-MAIL:
hhassan@cair-net.org
-----
To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to:
http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 9/27/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: AVOID BACKBITING
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* QUOTES OF THE DAY: ANN COULTER RECOMMENDS NUKES
- Franklin Graham: U.S. "Islams" Don't Practice "True" Islam
* PROFESSORS ASK TO JOIN DANIEL PIPES' "BLACKLIST" (New York Times)
* U.S. MUSLIMS FEEL MARGINALIZED AGAIN (Los Angeles Times)
- Evangelist Franklin Graham Says America is Being 'Islamized' (AP)
- 2nd Man Jailed In Mosque Threat (St. Petersburg Times)
* MUSLIM WORLD LOSES PIONEER SCHOLAR
- Dr. T.B. Irving Passes Away (Soundvision)
* MUSLIM HOLIDAY CELEBRATES TIES TO JERUSALEM (Columbus Post-Dispatch)
* EDITORIAL: FOLLOWING IRAQ'S BIOWEAPONS TRAIL (Chicago Sun-Times)
- Politicize The War! (Antiwar.com)
- U.S. Lawmakers In Iraq Oppose War (AP)
- UN's 'Two Standards' Under Fire (Christian Science Monitor)
- Saudi Prince Slams U.S. For "Anti-Muslim" Bias (Reuters)
* SHARON: INCURSION CRITICISM FADING (AP)
- Israeli Closures Harm Palestinians' Health - U.N. (Reuters)
* NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MUSLIM LAWYERS TO HOLD 3RD ANNUAL CONFERENCE
* TORONTO CAIR-CAN FUNDRAISER WITH SHAIKH ABDALLA IDRIS
* MUSLIM FOUNDATION OF AMERICA PARADE IN NY
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: AVOID BACKBITING
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Do you know what
backbiting
is? Backbiting is to say anything about your brother (behind his back)
that
he would not like." Someone then asked: "But what if he is as I say?"
The
Prophet replied: "If he is as you say, then you are guilty of
backbiting,
and if he is not, you are guilty of slander."
Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1183
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 406 sponsorships for book and tape
packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the Country. Take
part
in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item "library
package."
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
QUOTES OF THE DAY: ANN COULTER RECOMMENDS NUKES
Why We Hate Them
Ann Coulter, WorldNetDaily, 9/25/02
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29061
Americans don't want to make Islamic fanatics love us. We want to make
them
die. There's nothing like horrendous physical pain to quell angry
fanatics.
So sorry they're angry - wait until they see American anger. Japanese
kamikaze pilots hated us once too. A couple of well-aimed nuclear
weapons,
and now they are gentle little lambs. That got their attention…
FRANKLIN GRAHAM: U.S. "ISLAMS" DON'T PRACTICE "TRUE" ISLAM
http://cgi.citizen-times.com/cgi-bin/story/news/20730
"Now, the Muslims in this country do not practice true Islam. They are
not
allowed to have four wives. They are not allowed to beat their wife. So
a
lot of Islams in this country don't understand."
-----
PROFESSORS ASK TO JOIN DANIEL PIPES' "BLACKLIST"
Web Site Fuels Debate on Campus Anti-Semitism
Tamar Lewin, New York Times, 9/27/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/27/education/27COLL.html
A web site started last week by a pro-Israel research and policy group,
citing eight professors and 14 universities for their views on
Palestinian
rights or political Islam, has opened a new chapter in a growing debate
over campus anti-Semitism.
In a show of solidarity with those named on the Web site, nearly 100
outraged professors nationwide - Jews and non-Jews, English professors
and
Middle East specialists - have responded to the site by asking to be
added
to the list.
The Web site, Campus Watch (www.campus-watch.org), with "dossiers" on
individuals and institutions and requests for further submissions, is a
project of the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum, whose director,
Daniel
Pipes, has long argued that Americans have not paid sufficient
attention to
the dangers of political Islam…
The response from Judith Butler, a comparative literature professor at
Berkeley, circulated on the Internet, providing boilerplate for many
other
professors: "I have recently learned that your organization is
compiling
dossiers on professors at U.S. academic institutions who oppose the
Israeli
occupation and its brutality, actively support Palestinian rights of
self-determination as well as a more informed and intelligent view of
Islam
than is currently represented in the U.S. media. I would be enormously
honored to be counted among those who actively hold these positions and
would like to be included in the list of those who are struggling for
justice."
Those named on the site said they were heartened by the support.
"It's a new genre springing up, and I'm especially glad that it
includes
Jewish scholars," said Professor Dabashi, who heads Columbia's
department
of Middle Eastern and Asian language and cultures. "This is about
McCarthyism, freedom of expression. It's very important that it not be
made
into a Jewish-Muslim kind of thing…"
SEE ALSO: WHO IS DANIEL PIPES?
http://www.cair-net.org/misc/people/daniel_pipes.html
-----
U.S. MUSLIMS FEEL MARGINALIZED AGAIN
Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times, 9/27/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/timespoll/la-me-muslim27sep27.story
A year after the Sept. 11 attacks, American Muslim leaders increasingly
fear their community is being pushed to the margins of the American
political system…
Many Muslim activists blame what one called "a troika of evangelical
Christians, right-wing conservatives and the pro-Israel lobby" for
their
plight.
Indeed, the Times poll showed that unfavorable impressions of Muslims
are
stronger among Republicans than among either Democrats or political
independents.
Many Muslims say they have found greater acceptance among ordinary
Americans than among political or religious leaders…
Among the Muslim community's new friends is Japanese American activist
Kathy Masaoka of Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress. Listening to the
radio after the terrorist attacks, Masaoka said fears expressed by
Muslims
struck an instant emotional chord, reminding her of her own family's
ordeals after Pearl Harbor. Two weeks after Sept. 11, she helped
organize a
candlelight vigil for the victims of terror and to express support for
innocent Muslims, Arabs and South Asians. Since then, she has helped
form a
committee to forge friendships with her community through picnics,
dinners,
cultural exchanges and Buddhist-Muslim dialogues.
"I don't think they should have to feel responsible for all of the
actions
done by others from other countries who don't represent them," Masaoka
said, adding that her Muslim friends have shown her a faith of
compassion
and good deeds. "We weren't responsible for Pearl Harbor, and we don't
have
to prove our loyalty any more than anyone else. They shouldn't have to,
either…"
Activists like Ayloush say they already have made the switch, spending
far
more time on community events than traditional political ones. "Gaining
acceptance in America won't come through ad campaigns or meetings with
elected officials," Ayloush said. "It's by winning the minds, hearts
and
trust of our neighbors."
---
EVANGELIST FRANKLIN GRAHAM SAYS THAT AMERICA IS BEING 'ISLAMIZED'
Tim Whitmire, Associated Press, 9/27/02
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina - America is gradually being "Islamized" even
while Islamic countries squelch religious freedom within their borders,
evangelist Franklin Graham claims.
Graham spoke in an interview published Thursday by the Asheville
Citizen-Times. Graham, 50, is the son of well-known evangelist Billy
Graham
and is his father's named successor. "Our country is slowly being, very
quietly, being Islamized by huge contributions from Saudi Arabia to our
universities to pay for Islamic studies, to support Islamic causes in
this
country," Graham told the paper's editors. "I don't have a problem with
that, but I can't go to Saudi Arabia and take even a Bible. I can't go
to
Saudi Arabia with a Bible. They will confiscate it."
SEE: http://cgi.citizen-times.com/cgi-bin/story/news/20730
A Temple University professor of Islamic studies and comparative
religion
expressed concern about the comments.
"It's really the tone of Mr. Graham's remarks and his general kind of
sweeping statements that are most disturbing," Professor Mahmoud Ayoub
said
Thursday.
Saudi money donated to American universities usually comes from
individuals
who have studied in the United States and is not directed at spreading
Islam, said Ayoub, a native of Lebanon.
"In fact, I have argued to donors like the Saudis and others that they
should have a little more say in how their money is spent," Ayoub said.
"They don't have any say."
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, Franklin Graham has made repeated comments
on
Islam, calling it "a very evil and wicked religion…"
---
2ND MAN JAILED IN MOSQUE THREAT
Leanora Minai, St. Petersburg Times, 9/27/02
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/09/27/TampaBay/2nd_man_jailed_in_mos.shtml
TAMPA - Several years ago, Samuel "Val" Shannahan met a podiatrist at a
gun
show and struck up a friendship. They swapped guns, shot off rounds and
spent a Christmas evening together. Federal agents now believe
Shannahan is
the "Val" whom Seminole podiatrist Robert Goldstein referred to in a
written plan to damage or destroy 50 Islamic centers and mosques in the
Tampa Bay area and Florida.
Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms arrested
Shannahan,
42, at his Dunedin apartment Wednesday night. He is charged with
illegally
giving Goldstein two machine guns and other firearms accessories…
"My son had no knowledge of (the plot)," Shannahan's father, Samuel
Shannahan Jr., said after testifying Thursday during a detention
hearing in
U.S. District Court in Tampa.
During the hearing, a federal prosecutor argued that Shannahan should
be
held in jail, saying he is a risk to flee the area and a danger to the
community. They said he has not been truthful during interviews.
A judge will decide in the coming days whether Shannahan should be
released
from the Pinellas County Jail on bond…
Shannahan, a licensed firearms dealer and former Circuit City employee,
has
had several contacts with Pinellas County sheriff's deputies. Last
month,
Shannahan's neighbor visited the Sheriff's Office and told deputies she
was
concerned Shannahan might be a "terrorist."
On Aug. 22, two weeks after the woman visited the Sheriff's Office,
Pinellas deputies came upon Goldstein and his arsenal. They were called
to
Goldstein's home because he was despondent over his wife wanting to end
their marriage.
Inside Goldstein's townhome, deputies found two light antiarmor
rockets, a
.50-caliber sniper rifle, hand grenades, assorted guns and assault
rifles
and 20 homemade bombs, among other lethal weapons.
Five of the items were registered to Shannahan - two machine guns, two
silencers and a component that converts a weapon to fully automatic.
Authorities also found a typed list of 50 Islamic worship centers in
the
Tampa Bay area and Florida. The plans seized by officials made
reference to
accomplices by the name of "Val" and "Mike." In the paperwork, Val's
name
is crossed out and replaced with Mike.
Goldstein, 37, was charged with possessing 20 illegal bombs and
plotting to
damage or destroy Islamic centers and mosques. He is being held in the
Orient Road Jail in Hillsborough County. No one else has been arrested
in
connection with Goldstein's alleged plot…
-----
PIONEER MUSLIM SCHOLAR PASSES AWAY
Author and scholar, T.B. Irving (also known as Talim Ali), passed away
on
September 24 in Mississippi. He was translator of the Quran, author of
tens
of books including "alcon of Spain."
His funeral will be held 2 p.m. tomorrow, Saturday September 28, at:
Jackson County Funeral Services
9721 Highway 63
Escatawpa, MS 39552
Tel: 228-475-9861
SEE ALSO:
DR. T.B. IRVING PASSES AWAY
Abdul Malik Mujahid, Soundvision, 9/27/02
http://soundvision.com/info/scholars/irvingdeath.asp
Our brother, Dr. T.B. Irving has passed away. Inna lillahi wa inna
ilayhi
rajiun. To Allah we belong and to Him we return.
Dr. Irving was once a fixture at Muslim conventions. This author,
professor, and translator of the first American English translation of
the
Quran who accepted Islam over 50 years ago passed away peacefully on
the
morning of September 24, 2002 in his Mississippi home. He had been
suffering from Alzheimer's disease…
Born in Preston, Ontario in 1914, this professor, writer, translator
and
activist is best known for his translation of the Quran entitled, The
Quran: First American Version (1985).The work is an attempt to make the
English translation of the Quran more readable to an audience not used
to
the old style of English common in most translations…
Irving was particularly concerned about making the Quran accessible to
Muslim youth in North America…
Irving's other books in English include: Growing Up In Islam; The
Quran:
Basic Teachings, which he co-authored with Dr. Khurshid Ahmad and
Muhammad
Manazir Ahsan; Had You Been Born a Muslim; Religion and Social
Responsibility; Tide of Islam; Islam Resurgent; Islam in its Essence;
Polished Jade; Stories of Kalil and Dimna; The Mayas Own Words, as well
as
various articles on Central American Literature.
-----
MUSLIM HOLIDAY CELEBRATES TIES TO JERUSALEM
Felix Hoover, Columbus Post-Dispatch, 9/27/02
http://www.dispatch.com/news/religion/faith-story.php?story=dispatch/news/features02/sep02/1508151.html
Sundown Thursday marks the beginning of a Muslim holiday commemorating
the
Prophet Muhammad's ascent to heaven and return to earth on the same
night.
Muslims believe the stone from which Muhammad rose is in the Dome of
the
Rock mosque in Jerusalem. The holiday is known as the Night of the
Journey
and the Ascent, or Laylat al-Isra' wa al-Mi'raj.
Before the ascension, Muhammad is said to have prayed with Moses, Jesus
and
all the prophets back to Abraham and Adam, said Ahmad Al-Akhras, an
Islamic
scholar and president of the Ohio chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations.
All the Abrahamic religions -- Judaism, Christianity, Islam and
Zoroastrianism -- are thus connected by belief in the one God,
Al-Akhras said.
The rock links Mecca, Jerusalem and heaven, he said.
"The whole area is holy for Muslims because it was the first kiblah,"
he
said, referring to the point toward which Muslims turn in prayer. After
Muhammad's migration to Medina, he received a commandment to pray
toward
the black stone at Mecca in Saudi Arabia, today's kiblah.
Muslims regard Jerusalem as their third holiest place, after Mecca,
Muhammad's birthplace, and Medina, the site of his tomb. The Dome of
the
Rock mosque was built about 1,300 years ago…
-----
EDITORIAL: FOLLOWING IRAQ'S BIOWEAPONS TRAIL
Robert Novak, Chicago Sun-Times, 9/26/02
http://www.suntimes.com/output/novak/cst-edt-novak26.html
Sen. Robert Byrd, a master at hectoring executive branch witnesses,
asked
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld a provocative question last week: Did
the
United States help Saddam Hussein produce weapons of biological
warfare?
Rumsfeld brushed off the Senate's 84-year-old president pro tem like a
Pentagon reporter. But a paper trail indicates Rumsfeld should have
answered yes.
An eight-year-old Senate report confirms that disease- producing and
poisonous materials were exported, under U.S. government license, to
Iraq
from 1985 to 1988 during the Iran-Iraq war. Furthermore, the report
adds,
the American- exported materials were identical to microorganisms
destroyed
by United Nations inspectors after the Gulf War. The shipments were
approved despite allegations that Saddam used biological weapons
against
Kurdish rebels and (according to the current official U.S. position)
initiated war with Iran…
---
POLITICIZE THE WAR!
Justin Raimondo, 9/27/02
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/justincol.html
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle is shocked - shocked! - that
President
Bush and the Republicans are playing politics with the onrushing war.
In an
emotional speech on the Senate floor, Daschle demanded an apology from
the
White House for remarks cited in a Washington Post story that accused
the
(Democratic-controlled) Senate of not caring about national security…
The idea that a war must not be "politicized" is like decreeing that a
child must not resemble its parents. For the causes of the Iraq war,
like
all wars, are the result of the internal political dynamics of the
aggressor regime - in this case, the U.S. Why an American President
would
interrupt a war against non-state terrorists who have killed 3,000 of
our
citizens to go after Saddam Hussein is a mystery to those who fail to
examine the politics of the President's misdirection.
The core of the GOP's activist base is an unholy alliance of
neoconservatives and "born again" Christian fundamentalists - who both
believe, for different reasons, that Israel must be unconditionally
supported and that a war of the West against Islam is inevitable.
Beholden
to his power base, the President, in opting for this war, is appeasing
Ariel Sharon and catering to the Israeli lobby.
A war with Iraq will pit the U.S. and Israel against the entire Arab
world
- and give Sharon the kind of cover he needs to finally expel the
Palestinians from their homeland, into Jordan. A U.S. military
occupation
of Iraq would eliminate a major threat to Israel - and focus the anger
of
the Arab world on the Americans, leaving Ariel Sharon free to become
the
architect of a Greater Israel…
This war will cost anywhere from $50 billion to $200 billion, according
to
some estimates, but in reality the price of "victory" is going to be so
high as to be incalculable. Since there is no way to know what
businesses
might have been created, how wealth seized by the government in taxes
might
have been productively invested, there is no way to know how much World
War
IV is going to cost us...
---
U.S. LAWMAKERS IN IRAQ OPPOSE WAR
Sameer N. Yacoub, Associated Press, 9/27/02
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Three U.S. lawmakers - all Democrats - arrived in
Baghdad
Friday to gauge the possible effects of war on ordinary Iraqi citizens.
Russia said it was unconvinced by U.S. and British claims that Iraq had
both links to al-Qaida and weapons of mass destruction...
One of the visiting U.S. lawmaker, Rep. Jim McDermott of Washington,
called
for a peaceful resolution to the Iraqi crisis.
"We want every diplomatic effort made to resolve this without war,
which
should be the last option," McDermott said upon arriving at Saddam
International Airport. "We have no interests in having a war…"
McDermott urged Saddam to grant inspectors unfettered access to search
for
banned weapons in Iraq…
Friday's visit by McDermott and fellow House Democrats David Bonior of
Michigan and Mike Thompson of California follows a Sept. 14 visit by a
delegation led by Rep. Nick Rahall, a West Virginia Democrat.
---
UN'S 'TWO STANDARDS' UNDER FIRE
Michael J. Jordan, Christian Science Monitor, 9/27/02
http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2002/0927/p01s04-wogi.html
UNITED NATIONS - As the Bush administration drums up support to
arm-twist
Iraq into complying with UN Security Council resolutions, some critics
are
turning the tables on Washington, accusing it of "double standards" for
not
being as tough on its ally, Israel.
Israel has flouted 29 Council resolutions, say critics. Iraq has
ignored
16. Israel's supporters call this an apples-and-oranges comparison. But
even UN advocates say the two cases put the flaws of the international
system into sharp relief.
"In the case of both Iraq and Israel, the Security Council has passed
resolutions that are generally in line with the aspirations of the
international community," says James Paul, executive director of the
Global
Policy Forum, a UN watchdog…
One week after Washington riveted UN attention onto Iraq, Israel was
hauled
into the spotlight early Tuesday morning: prodded by Syria, the
Security
Council overwhelmingly passed a resolution that demanded Israel end its
siege of Yasser Arafat's headquarters and withdraw from Ramallah. The
US
abstained, and Israel soon after indicated it would spurn the
resolution.
Arab diplomats are venting their frustration.
"Why do we target one country, and at the same time, why is there no
outcry
about Israel not implementing its resolutions. Why?" asks Yahya
Mahmassani,
the permanent UN observer for the League of Arab States. "Why should
Israel
be above the law? Because some members of the Security Council - or one
member, maybe - is all the time protecting Israel. If the UN is to be
fair,
there should not be double standards..."
---
SAUDI PRINCE SLAMS U.S. FOR "ANTI-MUSLIM" BIAS
Reuters, 9/27/02
RIYADH - Saudi Arabia's interior minister, clearly frustrated with the
kingdom's superpower ally, has attacked the United States for showing
enmity to Arabs and Muslims and applying different standards to Iraq
and
Israel.
Prince Nayef said his country was committed to fighting terrorism, but
was
being treated unfairly in the West because of the influence of the
Jewish
lobby in the United States.
"The superpower that controls the world today harbours hostility
towards
Arabs and Muslims because of the influence of the Zionist lobby in the
United States which seeks to distort the image of Arabs and Muslims and
accuse them of terrorism," the London-based Arabic daily al-Hayat
quoted
him as saying.
Al-Hayat said the prince, who is a brother of the ailing King Fahd and
a
half-brother of de facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah, was speaking to
reporters in Riyadh on Wednesday.
He said Saudi Arabia would keep up financial aid to families of
Palestinians killed in the two-year-old uprising against Israeli
occupation
of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, rejecting Israeli charges that this
amounted to supporting terrorism…
-----
SHARON: INCURSION CRITICISM FADING
Mark Lavie, Associated Press, 9/27/02
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel is escalating military strikes against the
Palestinians but moving gradually to deflect world criticism, Israeli
Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon said in an interview published Friday…
The prime minister said that when Israel moved troops 300 yards into
Palestinian-controlled Gaza in April 2001, there was an international
outcry. Now, after dozens of Israeli incursions, such operations are
considered routine. "Therefore this gradual approach in my view is the
proper one," he said.
During two years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, Israel has escalated
tactics against Palestinian militants, with world criticism of each
successive move eventually fading.
Measures that began as precedent-setting but have gradually become
routine
include attacking with helicopter gunships and F-16 fighter planes,
destroying Palestinian security installations and government buildings,
daily incursions into Palestinian towns and villages and taking over
Palestinian-controlled areas.
Sharon said Israeli troops are now posted in all of the West Bank
territory
supposed to be under Palestinian control under interim peace accords.
In
mid-June, after two suicide bombing attacks in Jerusalem, the Israeli
army
moved into most of the main Palestinian cities and towns, establishing
control and imposing curfews, confining Palestinians to their homes…
---
ISRAELI CLOSURES HARM PALESTINIANS' HEALTH - U.N.
Reuters, 9/27/02
GENEVA - The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday Israeli
closures in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have led to more child
malnutrition and stillbirths and interrupted vaccination campaigns.
In a report, WHO director-general Gro Harlem Brundtland again appealed
to
be allowed to visit Palestinian territories to assess the medical needs
of
3.29 million people living there.
"There have been explicit restrictions on population movements, which
hinder the delivery of health care services," said Brundtland, a former
Norwegian prime minister and trained doctor.
"Nutritional status assessments, particularly of children, do show a
deterioration in recent months," she added. "We are concerned that the
communities in the occupied Palestinian territory have been in
considerable
distress and will continue to suffer ill health as long as hostilities
continue…"
Two nutritional surveys -- carried out by U.S. Agency for International
Development and CARE, and by the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the
Palestinian Authority -- revealed higher rates of child malnutrition
and
anaemia among children and women than before the current crisis,
Brundtland
said...
-----
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MUSLIM LAWYERS TO HOLD 3RD ANNUAL CONFERENCE
WHAT: The National Association of Muslim Lawyers (NAML) third annual
conference "Human Rights and Constitutional Rights: Where Do We Stand?"
WHEN: Friday, October 11 to Sunday, October 13
WHERE: Columbia University Law School in New York City
For more information, go to: www.namlnet.org
-----
TORONTO CAIR-CAN FUNDRAISER WITH SHAIKH ABDALLA IDRIS
WHAT: Shaikh Abdalla Idris will be speaking at CAIR-CAN's upcoming
fundraiser in Toronto.
WHERE: Toronto, Candles Banquet Hall: 1224 Dundas St. E., Missassauga
WHEN: Sunday, October 20th, 2002 at 5 P.M.
Tickets are $20.00. For more information, please see our flyer at
www.caircan.ca or call Ibrahim Danial at 416-601-8272 or Sarah Attia at
647-271-5049.
See flyer at: http://www.caircan.ca/pdfs/Fundraiser_flyer.pdf
-----
MUSLIM FOUNDATION OF AMERICA PARADE IN NY
WHEN: Sunday, September 29 at 1 P.M.
WHERE: Madison Avenue, from 41st Street downtown to 27th Streets.
-----
TO BECOME A CAIR MEMBER, GO TO:
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/membership.asp
TO TAKE PART IN CAIR'S VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE, GO TO:
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/voting.asp
-----
To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to:
http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 9/29/2002
HEADLINES:
* CAIR NORTHERN CALIF. BANQUET 0CT. 12
* ATTACK ON CAFE OWNER POSSIBLE HATE CRIME (Omaha World-Herald)
* FEW MUSLIMS PURSUING ELECTED OFFICE THIS YEAR (Mercury News)
* 9-11 HAS AMERICA PARANOID, PRONE TO RACIAL PROFILING (Orlando
Sentinel)
* HINDUS, MUSLIMS DISAGREE ABOUT PALO ALTO INCIDENT (Mercury News)
* NETANYAHU PROTESTERS WILL PAY (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
* SHRINER CLUBS AMEND THEIR IMAGE TO APPEASE SENSITIVITIES (Mercury
News)
* BRITONS MARCH AGAINST WAR WITH IRAQ (AP)
- CASE AGAINST IRAQ - FACT OR FICTION? (AP)
- MR. BUSH'S UNEVEN LEADERSHIP (Post-Dispatch)
* 3 FLA TV STATIONS REFUSE TO AIR ARAFAT AD (Times-Union)
* PROFESSORS WANT OWN NAMES PUT ON MIDEAST BLACKLIST (SF Chronicle)
- PRO-ISRAEL WEB SITE CAUSES FUROR (AP)
* MISGUIDED FOREIGN POLICIES BREED MUSLIM RESENTMENT (Columbus
Dispatch)
* BILL'S LANGUAGE ON JERUSALEM IS A BREAK FROM U.S. POLICY (Washington
Post)
* JOAN JETT ROCKS AFGHANISTAN (AP)
* ARAFAT CALLS ISRAELI PULLBACK "COSMETIC" (Reuters)
* U.S. ADVISES EGYPTIAN VISITORS (AP)
* ISLAMISTS TREBLE SEATS IN MOROCCO'S ELECTION (Reuters)
-----
CAIR NORTHERN CALIF. BANQUET 0CT. 12
Reserve your seats at the largest Muslim Political event in Northern
California. Join community leaders and public officials at the CAIR
Northern California Banquet on Oct. 12. Confirmed guests: Congressman
David
Bonior (MI), Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (CA) and Congressman Mike Honda
(CA).
ORDER ONLINE AT: www.cair-california.org
E-MAIL: cair_nca@cair-california.org
-----
ATTACK ON CAFE OWNER INVESTIGATED AS POSSIBLE HATE CRIME
KAMAHRIA HOPKINS, Omaha World-Herald, 9/28/02
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=36&u_sid=517674
Farhan "Sid" Siddiqui's face was covered in blood. Twelve stitches were
needed in his eyebrow. And a bone was fractured under his eye.
He sustained the injuries when he was attacked early Thursday in an
incident that is being investigated as a possible hate crime.
Siddiqui, co-owner of Indian Cafe and Groceries, 1320 S. 72nd St., said
he
stopped by the cafe sometime between midnight and 1 a.m. Thursday. He
noticed two young men outside, kicking the cafe's door. After locking
up to
go home, he stopped to talk to the men, described as being in their
mid-20s.
When they wouldn't agree to quit kicking the door, he tried to call 911
on
his cell phone, and they started hitting him, he said.
The men yelled such statements as "You're al-Qaida," "Go back to Iran"
and
"Taliban" as they struck Siddiqui, according to police reports.
Siddiqui, a Muslim, is a native of Pakistan. He has been in the United
States for 15 years, including 10 in Omaha…
Siddiqui has an appointment Monday with a plastic surgeon to see
whether he
needs surgery for the fracture.
The possibility of future assaults don't worry him.
"I'm not afraid of anything like that," he said. "I'm afraid of the
future
of these people."
-----
FEW MUSLIMS PURSUING ELECTED OFFICE THIS YEAR
Lisa Fernandez, San Jose Mercury News, 9/29/02
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/4175574.htm
The number of Muslims running for elective office across the United
States
has dropped by 85 percent in two years because potential candidates
fear
the post-Sept. 11 anti-Muslim backlash would doom their campaigns.
That's the conclusion reached by the Newark-based American Muslim
Alliance,
the nation's largest Muslim political organization, which found the
number
of Muslim candidates dropped from about 700 in 2000 to about 100 this
year.
"People are still pointing fingers at us," said Sayed Inamdar, a
retired
Bechtel engineer and Indian-born president of the Islamic Society of
East
Bay. "We have to be sure we are also in the limelight and explain to
people
that we highly deplore it and are not connected to that."
Inamdar is one of a handful of Bay Area Muslims defying the national
trend
by running for office in November -- he is seeking a seat on Fremont's
Washington Township Hospital District.
Agha Saeed, founder of the American Muslim Alliance and a lecturer of
political science and ethnic studies at California State
University-Hayward
and the University of California-Berkeley, said the drop in the number
of
candidates is disappointing because Muslims need more representation at
every level of government.
He and other leaders said Muslim politicians can fight anti-Muslim
backlash
and educate the general population on issues important to the
community.
They say it's also imperative for Muslims to prove to the world they
are
active contributors to society…
Still, many politically active Muslims are optimistic.
"Sept. 11 may have done short-term damage on our ability to participate
fully," said Omar Ahmed of Santa Clara, founder of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, a national civil rights and media watch
group.
"But in the longer term, the effect will be positive. No one is saying
that
we should not participate. The question is now, 'How are we going to do
it?'"
-----
9-11 HAS AMERICA PARANOID, PRONE TO RACIAL PROFILING, EXPERTS SAY
Jeff Kunerth and Pedro Ruz Gutierrez, Orlando Sentinel, 9/29/02
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
Search using the term "paranoid."
On Friday, it was a tip from people who thought they heard terrorists
plotting to bomb Orlando's Immigration and Naturalization Service
offices.
Thursday, it was passengers on a Spirit Airlines plane who mistook a
dark-skinned man heading to the bathroom for a terrorist. Before that,
it
was three Muslim medical students stopped on Alligator Alley in South
Florida because a woman in Georgia thought she overheard them planning
a
terrorist attack in Miami.
As residents respond to the government's charge that national security
is
the responsibility of all Americans, people are quick to act -- and
overreact. Casual comments and ordinary actions are interpreted as
suspicious and threatening in a climate of ambiguous terrorist alerts,
daily al-Qaeda updates and threats of impending war against Iraq.
Psychologists say it is the compound effect of a nation still
traumatized a
year after the 9-11 attacks, the uneasy anticipation of another attack
and
real incidents of would-be terrorists caught before they could strike…
On Friday, two callers contacted the U.S. Border Patrol's Orlando
office to
warn of possible bomb attacks on the INS' south Orlando offices.
"Apparently, there was an unknown caller at a grocery store in
Kissimmee
who overheard three individuals saying what he perceived to be threats
against the INS," said Lt. Danny McCoy of the Orlando police's airport
unit.
McCoy said an alert bulletin was distributed to all law-enforcement
agencies and the domestic homeland-security units of the Orlando police
and
Orange County Sheriff's Office. In part, it said, three men described
as
"Indian" or "Middle Eastern" and wearing floor-length gowns were seen
leaving a Kissimmee Winn-Dixie about 9 a.m. in a blue Toyota wagon.
The calls were enough to prompt two INS facilities to temporarily
suspend
work and beef up security during the morning into lunchtime…
On Thursday, a Spirit Airlines flight from Orlando to New York returned
to
the airport shortly after takeoff when passengers became alarmed by the
actions of two men.
Laura Bennett, a Spirit Airlines spokeswoman, said the onboard dispute
began when one of two young men -- who appeared "Middle Eastern" to
some
passengers -- got up to use a restroom. The passenger headed toward the
cockpit instead of the rear, where the bathrooms are, and that prompted
a
passenger to alert a flight attendant.
The flight attendant told the cockpit crew, who notified OIA's tower,
which
decided to turn the flight around. The two Orlando-area residents
singled
out by their fellow passengers sat away from the rest of the travelers
for
the rest of the flight to Orlando, Bennett said, and took a different
flight to New York.
Orlando police boarded the plane to disembark passengers, and an FBI
agent
began an investigation. No one was detained; no charges were filed…
Reports of "Middle Eastern-looking men" have appeared with more
frequency
in recent weeks, a spokesman for a Muslim advocacy group said.
Altaf Ali, head of Florida's Council on American Islamic Relations
office,
said the public may be overreacting to government initiatives for a
homeland network set on fending off the next imminent attack.
In Florida alone, Ali said, his organization has documented 30 cases of
profiled passengers asked to leave planes, harassed or discriminated
against at airports since 9-11.
Ali blames government efforts such as Operation TIPS -- Terrorism
Information and Prevention System -- for overreaction. The national
network
of anti-terror tipsters was to begin last month but is on hold.
Still, "the effects of it are creeping into the community at large,"
Ali
said. "What we're seeing is a result of authorities asking people to
report
anything that looks suspicious."
Ali said the government should be as forceful in speaking out against
bias
and hoaxes as it is in asking people to report suspicious activities…
-----
HINDUS, MUSLIMS DISAGREE ABOUT PALO ALTO INCIDENT
Matthai Chakko Kuruvila, San Jose Mercury News, 9/29/02
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/editorial/4175623.htm
Nearly a month after a Hindu man allegedly tried to rape a Muslim girl
while spewing hateful epithets, many Bay Area Indo-American Muslims and
Hindus are still divided over the significance of the crime.
Within the somewhat estranged communities, the meaning of the Palo Alto
incident has transcended the facts stated by police and prosecutors and
taken on a life of its own. The sharp divide in how the two groups have
interpreted events underscores decades-old grievances, and shows how
global
politics play out in microcosm in the Bay Area.
The disputed incident took place Aug. 30, when Sanjay Nair, an
18-year-old
East Palo Alto resident, allegedly assaulted a 15-year-old Muslim girl
in
the bathroom of the Palo Alto Longs Drugs where they both worked.
Police,
citing comments that Nair, a Hindu, allegedly made about her faith,
initially booked him on rape and hate-crime charges. Prosecutors
reduced
the charges a week later to an assault with intent to rape, which Nair
denies. No hate-crime charges were filed.
Some Indian Muslims have seized upon the attempted-rape allegations as
proof of the global reach of the same Hindu nationalist political
parties
that allowed Hindu mobs to savagely rape, torture and kill scores of
Muslim
women in Gujarat, India, this past spring…
-----
NETANYAHU PROTESTERS WILL PAY
STEVE LEVIN, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/29/02
http://www.post-gazette.com/
The organizers of a planned protest surrounding Tuesday's visit by
former
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will pay $650 to the city of
Pittsburgh to hire two off-duty police officers for traffic control.
Reluctantly.
"We're going to pay, but under protest. We're going to pass a big hat
around, ask individuals and organizations to contribute, since we've
already spent all our money on publicity. We think the city should pay
for
it," said Peter Shell, a spokesman for the Committee for Peace in the
Middle East, a loose coalition of local student, Muslim and peace
organizations opposed to Netanyahu's hard-line stance on disputed West
Bank
territory.
"We don't think we should have to pay because we have the
constitutional
right to speak even if we can't afford it."
But city officials say they aren't discriminating against the
protesters on
First Amendment grounds, since they bill other organizations the same
fee
for traffic control…
-----
SHRINER CLUBS AMEND THEIR IMAGE TO APPEASE MODERN SENSITIVITIES
Shawn Neidorf, San Jose Mercury News, 9/29/02
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/4175588.htm
Middle Easterners and those mistaken for them have faced insults,
threats
and, in a few cases, violence since last year's terrorist attacks. This
misplaced retaliation has even tapped the shoulder of the Shriners,
whose
philanthropic fraternity runs charitable hospitals for children with
burns
and orthopedic problems.
For more than a century, the social club has been steeped in
faux-Middle
Eastern practices and trappings, right down to the fezzes they wear in
parades. In the past year, they have sometimes been mistaken for a
Muslim
organization, leading to harassment and vandalism…
The San Mateo-based chapter, whose territory stretches from Petaluma to
Kings County, had been known as the Islam Temple since it was
established
in 1883. Now it is the Asiya Shrine Center. The Palestine Shriners
became
the Rhode Island Shriners…
The Palestine Temple changed its name after receiving threatening phone
calls and having a motorcyclist harass the driver of a van emblazoned
with
the chapter's old name. The van is used to ferry sick children to
Shriners
hospitals. That happened on Sept. 12, 2001. Even before Sept. 11,
Palestine
Shriners sometimes had their fezzes knocked off their heads in public,
especially when traveling outside their home territory, said Leon
Knudsen,
the chapter's recorder…
Helal Omeira, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations for Northern California, saw the redirected imagery as a form
of
flattery. Omeira, whose roots stretch to Damascus, Syria, as well as
Oklahoma, has a grandfather who is a Shriner. He saw the borrowing of
culture as, "in essence, what America is: a proverbial melting pot. As
long
as people borrow from cultures in respect and dignity and not use it in
a
pejorative manner, I think everybody's OK with that."
-----
BRITONS MARCH AGAINST WAR WITH IRAQ
AUDREY WOODS, Associated Press, 9/29/02
LONDON (AP) - More than 150,000 Britons from all regions, ages and
social
backgrounds, marched in central London Saturday, urging Prime Minister
Tony
Blair and President Bush not to invade Iraq.
As they wound their way from Embankment on the River Thames to Hyde
Park,
many of the marchers stopped to shout through the gates of Blair's 10
Downing St. residence…
Tam Dalyell, a senior Labor Party legislator, said the confrontation
with
Iraq was the most dangerous standoff since the Cuban missile crisis.
"We are sleepwalking to disaster," he said, to thunderous applause from
the
crowd.
Streams of people poured out of subway stations near the march's
starting
point and demonstrators at the back of the march were still setting off
from Embankment after those at the front had reached Hyde Park, more
than a
mile away.
Scotland Yard said more than 150,000 demonstrators took part in the
march.
The Stop the War Coalition, which helped organize the march, estimated
that
400,000 people took part…
SEE ALSO:
CASE AGAINST IRAQ - FACT OR FICTION?
CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press, 9/28/02
http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=4775§ion=NEWS
WASHINGTON – In making the case for war, the Bush administration has
delivered a bill of particulars against Saddam Hussein that includes
al-Qaida terrorist links yet to be demonstrated and weapons he may or
may
not have within reach.
Publicly, President George W. Bush's officials are touting reports that
al-Qaida operatives have found refuge in Baghdad and that Iraq once
helped
them develop chemical weapons. Privately, government intelligence
sources
are hedging on that subject, suggesting there might be less than meets
the eye…
MR. BUSH'S UNEVEN LEADERSHIP
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 9/29/02
http://home.post-dispatch.com/channel/pdweb.nsf/TodaySunday/86256A0E0068FE5086256C43002618F0?OpenDocument
PRESIDENT George W. Bush has tightened his war resolution and cut back
on
partisan rhetoric. But his leadership continues to be uneven and his
case
for war unconvincing.
The new evidence presented last week -- Tony Blair's dossier and claims
about links between al-Qaida and Iraq -- added little to Mr. Bush's
case
for war. Mr. Blair's file on Iraq's weapons made a strong case for
disarmament, but did not show Iraq to be an immediate threat…
Much of last week's debate over Iraq was about politics, not substance.
Mr.
Bush charged that Democrats "were not interested in the security of the
American people" because they hadn't passed the Homeland Security bill.
That was a low blow and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle reacted
angrily,
insisting that the president apologize...
If the United Nations passes a new resolution requiring unfettered
weapons
inspections and Saddam refuses, the president will have a stronger case
for
war. For now, however, he undercuts his argument with bellicose
rhetoric,
political jabs and exaggerations of the Iraqi threat. During the
Vietnam
War, Congress quickly capitulated to a president who was stretching
intelligence claims and exaggerating threats. It should take care not
to
make the same mistake.
-----
3 FLA TV STATIONS REFUSE TO AIR ARAFAT AD
Mary Maraghy, Times-Union, 9/28/02
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/092802/met_10567152.shtml
Three Jacksonville television stations are rejecting a commercial that
portrays Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as a terrorist.
"It's 30 seconds of pure hate," said Sherry Burns, vice president and
general manager of WJXT TV-4. "It crossed the line in a very big way."
The commercial accuses Arafat of plotting hijackings, murdering Olympic
athletes and assassinating American diplomats. It was part of a
national
advertising campaign sponsored by Free Nations United, a non-profit
organization that chose Jacksonville as the starting point.
"By censoring this ad, the station managers only aid Yasser Arafat and
other terrorists who would have us believe they are not what they
really
are," said Keith Appell, a spokesman for Free Nations United, whose
advisers include U.S. House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, U.S. Rep. Eric
Cantor
of Virginia, former U.S. Sen. Rudy Boschwitz of Minnesota and former
U.S.
Rep. Randy Tate of Washington.
Susan Adams Loyd, general manager of WAWS TV-30 and WTEV TV-47, said
because the commercial wasn't labeled clearly, it appeared as if it was
a
part of a morning news segment.
"We aren't taking a political stand. Loyd said. "It simply didn't meet
the
standard…"
-----
PROFESSORS WANT OWN NAMES PUT ON MIDEAST BLACKLIST
Tanya Schevitz, San Francisco Chronicle, 9/28/02
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/09/28/MN227890.DTL
In an effort to counter what they label as a McCarthyesque hunt by a
pro-Israel think tank, about 100 professors from across the country
have
asked to be added to a "Campus Watch" Web site that singled out eight
professors because of their views on Palestine and Islam.
The Web site lists "dossiers" for the eight university professors and
teachers, including a graduate student instructor from UC Berkeley, and
portrays them as preaching dangerous rhetoric to students. The site
also
calls them "hostile" to America.
Run by the Middle East Forum, a Philadelphia think tank, the site,
www.campus-watch.org, also asks for people to snitch on Middle East
lectures, classes and demonstrations…
But Judith Butler, a UC Berkeley professor of rhetoric and comparative
literature, said it is an intimidation tactic.
The professors listed on the site have been spammed with tens of
thousands
of racist, obscene and threatening e-mails.
"If a group establishes a Web site and says, 'We are watching you,'
that
has a very chilling impact on academic freedom," said Butler, who was
one
of the first to ask to be added to the list. "The more people who
actively
volunteer themselves for such a list, the less that power of
intimidation
works…"
But Butler, who is Jewish, said there is "a very fundamental mistake in
assuming that any position critical of contemporary Israeli policy is
anti-Semitic. One can be pro-Israel and be extremely critical of (Prime
Minister) Ariel Sharon and the occupation…"
SEE ALSO:
PRO-ISRAEL WEB SITE CAUSES FUROR
RON TODT, Associated Press, 9/27/02
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-israel-web-site0927sep27,0,2709072.story
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A pro-Israel organization has set up a Web site to
monitor professors and universities for pro-Arab, anti-Israel bias - a
move
some academics are decrying as campus McCarthyism and attempted
intimidation.
The Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum said it organized the Campus
Watch
site to counter pervasive bias in universities' Middle Eastern studies.
The site names schools and specific professors. Forum director Daniel
Pipes
said the think tank hopes eventually to monitor 250 North American
academic
institutions...
Opponents immediately called the effort "McCarthy-like" and an attempt
to
stifle opposition to U.S. policy in the Middle East. Professors listed
on
the site said they were bombarded with e-mail over the weekend.
In a show of support for those named on the site, about 100 other
academics
have asked to be added to the list.
Judith Butler, a gender theorist at Berkeley, wrote that she would like
to
be included in the list of U.S. academics "who oppose the Israeli
occupation and its brutality, actively support Palestinian rights of
self-determination" and support an informed view of Islam…
The Campus Watch site accuses American Middle Eastern scholars of
generally
being biased against the United States and being apologists for
unfriendly
regimes.
University of Chicago historian Rashid Khalidi, who is quoted on the
Web
site as sympathizing with the Palestinian cause, called the site
"slimy"
and intended to chill opposition.
"What they're trying to do is exclude from public debate opinions that
go
against the neo-conservative consensus that dominates discussion of
policy
on Iraq or policy on the Israeli conflict by smearing us and calling us
aliens," he said.
Pipes said he will not remove a "Keep Us Informed" page on the site
that
opponents say is an attempt to get students to turn in their
professors. He
said it gives students a place to complain about mistreatment.
-----
MISGUIDED U.S. FOREIGN POLICIES BREED MUSLIM RESENTMENT
Riad Z. Abdelkarim, Columbus Dispatch, 9/27/02
http://libpub.dispatch.com/cgi-bin/documentv1?DBLIST=cd02&DOCNUM=42254&TERMV=170:4:79159:4:
Riad Z. Abdelkarim, M.D., is Western Region communications director for
the
Council on American-Islamic Relations.
One of the most widely asked questions after last September's terrorist
attacks against our nation has been, "Why do they hate us?" -- they
ostensibly being the world's Arabs and Muslims.
Many in our country, among them Muslims, initially were reluctant to
answer
this question. They feared being labeled unpatriotic, un-American or
worse
-- apologists for terrorists -- by some of the talking heads who
vociferously attacked anyone who dared pose this question in the
immediate
aftermath of the attacks.
Now the question finally should be addressed. And yet I stilI hesitate
because of concern that my loyalty, and that of our nation's 7 million
Muslims, again will be questioned. The question persists even though
every
major American Muslim organization and leader has condemned the
horrible
events of last Sept. 11 and those responsible for them. We have
repeatedly
and unequivocally stated that there is no possible justification for
these
acts on the basis of our faith, and that those who claim to commit such
crimes in the name of Islam have heinously twisted its teachings.
And yet, if we dare to explore the roots of this evil, our loyalties
become
immediately suspect in the eyes of some cynical pundits searching for
an
excuse to brand all Muslims, and indeed Islam, as civilization's new
enemy.
Indeed, I would argue that "Why do they hate us?" is a misleading
generalization, based on an erroneous assumption. The vast majority of
Muslims and Arabs do not hate America, per se. In fact, a great many
would
cherish the opportunity to immigrate to the United States and enjoy the
political, religious, economic and educational freedoms that many of us
take for granted.
Immigrants to the United States from the Arab and Muslim worlds, and
their
descendants, have been successful, educated, productive members of our
society. We are the objects of envy among our friends and relatives
overseas.
Of course, some aspects of our society are frowned upon by the
generally
conservative communities of the Muslim world. Many express displeasure
with
the excesses of our overly materialistic culture, with a presumed
emphasis
on money, sex and entertainment. This might be a stereotype, but it is
the
image of America exported by Hollywood. Similar complaints have been
heard
from all corners of the world, and within our own nation as well.
All societies have fringe elements who do not see shades of gray, but
rather only the contrast of black and white, good and bad. These
elements
are prone to rejecting everything American as inherently corrupt and a
danger to their way of life.
In a way, these individuals are the counterparts of extremists in our
country who clamor that Islam itself poses a danger. Ironic, isn't it?
Yet most Muslims are sophisticated enough to know that America, like
any
other society or culture, has its strengths and faults -- and they hope
to
emulate the former in their own societies while avoiding the latter.
Muslims' and Arabs' resentment grows exponentially when they consider
many
U.S. foreign policies that they perceive as directed against them.
Chief
among these: the blind, unconditional support for Israel's brutal
military
occupation of Palestinian lands. Daily on Al-Jazeera they view images
of
American Apache helicopter gunships and U.S.-provided tanks, fighter
jets
and missiles wreaking death and destruction on Palestinian towns and
refugee camps. And they hear the somber pronouncements of American
officials condemning "Palestinian terrorism" while failing even to
acknowledge Palestinian suffering…
-----
BILL'S LANGUAGE ON JERUSALEM IS A BREAK FROM U.S. POLICY
Glenn Kessler Washington Post, 9/28/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13500-2002Sep27.html
In a bill that cleared Congress this week authorizing spending for
State
Department programs, lawmakers approved language that symbolically
recognizes Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel and urges the
president to impose sanctions against the Palestinians if they do not
comply with signed agreements.
The bill withholds $10 million of $35 million in economic aid to
Lebanon
for failing to assert its authority against Hezbollah guerrillas
fighting
Israel. It also provides for an additional $300 million in aid to
Israel,
including $100 million in munitions as it prosecutes its campaign in
the
West Bank and Gaza, while rejecting additional equivalent aid for
Egypt.
The language, some of which only emerged in the final days of
negotiations,
reflects the pro-Israel stance of Congress but comes at a delicate
moment
in the Middle East. The U.N. Security Council has demanded that Israel
withdraw from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah,
while the Bush administration is trying to win Arab support for an
attack
against Iraq…
While the passport requirement appears highly technical, a
congressional
staff member said it would unambiguously recognize all of Jerusalem as
part
of Israel. "This will be symbolically a major change in U.S. policy,''
he said.
An administration official agreed that "there are many in the region
who
would view this with grave concern, because it suggests we have
abandoned
our traditional impartial role…"
-----
JOAN JETT ROCKS AFGHANISTAN
The Associated Press, 9/28/02
BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP) - Wearing black boots, camouflage pants and a
fishnet top, American rocker Joan Jett performed for several hundred
soldiers at the U.S. military headquarters in Afghanistan.
About 500 coalition troops, mostly Americans, attended a concert Friday
night in an airplane hangar with automatic weapons slung behind their
backs.
Some soldiers stood atop stacked boxes of MREs - or Military Meals
Ready To
Eat - to catch a glimpse. A giant U.S. flag was draped behind Jett
while
she sang…
Dano Goforth, Jett's tour manager, said she performed for about 2,000
U.S.
troops on Sept. 25 in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.
-----
ARAFAT CALLS ISRAELI PULLBACK "COSMETIC"
Reuters, 9/29/02
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Sept 29 (Reuters) - A pale Palestinian President
Yasser Arafat said on Sunday Israel's troop withdrawal from his
headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah was "cosmetic" and aimed
at
"deceiving the world."
"This is not withdrawal. This is only moving a few metres away. They
are
trying to deceive the world," Arafat told reporters after Israeli
forces
left his compound...
It was not clear how far the troops would withdraw. At least one army
vehicle was seen near the perimeter of the compound. Israeli officials
said
the withdrawal was still underway and had not been completed.
-----
U.S. ADVISES EGYPTIAN VISITORS
The Associated Press, 9/29/02
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - The United States on Sunday began advising
Egyptians
traveling to America they may be fingerprinted, photographed and
questioned
on their U.S. arrival for reasons of national security.
So far, the program requiring registration of foreign visitors included
those from Iran, Iraq, Sudan and Libya - the countries listed by the
State
Department as state sponsors of terrorism.
According to an Immigration and Naturalization Service memo obtained by
The
Associated Press earlier this week, the program was expanded to include
men
ages 16 to 45 from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Yemen, starting Oct. 1.
The U.S. Embassy in Cairo said in a press release "the new system will
require the digital fingerprinting and photographing of selected
(Egyptian)
travelers upon arrival in the United States, as well as responses to
questions posed by immigration officials."
Among other things, inspectors will be told to consider registering
foreign
visitors who previously overstayed a U.S. visa or whose behavior,
demeanor
or answers indicate that the person may be a security threat, the memo
says.
-----
ISLAMISTS TREBLE SEATS IN MOROCCO'S ELECTION
Ali Bouzerda, Reuters, 9/29/02
RABAT, Sept 29 (Reuters) - An Islamist party promoting a moderate view
of
Islam nearly trebled its number of seats in Morocco's parliamentary
elections, provisional unofficial results showed on Sunday.
The Justice and Development Party (PJD) looked to have at least 37
seats in
the 325-seat lower house, up from 14 in the outgoing Chamber of
Representatives elected five years ago…
The strong showing of the PJD, while not radically shifting the balance
of
power in the moderate Muslim country of 30 million, could spark concern
among its Western allies.
However, Benkirane, 47, a founding leader of the PJD, was quick to
discount
reports in the foreign media that his party would push for a strict
application of Islamic law (Sharia).
While it favoured a gradual implementation of Sharia in Moroccan daily
life, such as a ban on alcoholic drinks, casinos and lotteries,
amputating
thieves' hands, for example, was not on its agenda.
"What we want is to give a job to the millions of unemployed, not cut
the
hands of thieves," Benkirane told Reuters.
Islamists have found fertile ground among the illiterate poor and
unemployed in many low-income neighbourhoods...
-----
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-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 9/30/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: GOD IS WATCHING HOW YOU BEHAVE
* "ISRA AND MIRAJ" TO BE RECALLED THIS WEEK
* LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE: FL ISLAMIC CENTER SPONSORS 15 LIBRARIES
* VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR CAIR'S ANNUAL DINNER
* REP. LANTOS SAYS U.S. WILL INSTALL "PRO-WESTERN DICTATOR" IN IRAQ
(Haaretz)
- US Congress Forces Bush's Hand on Israel capital (Reuters)
- The Lie Machine (Antiwar.com)
* CAMPUS WATCH: MAU-MAUING THE MIDDLE EAST (Salon.com)
- Professor Calls Daniel Pipes "Failed Academic"
* PROFESSOR HELPS BUILD AFGHAN SCHOOL (AP)
* EDITORIAL: FALSE GUARANTEES OF INDIVIDUAL LIBERTIES (Washington
Times)
- Human Rights Body Rules Against U.S. For Detention Tactics (PR
Newswire)
- No-Fly Blacklist Snares Political Activists (San Francisco
Chronicle)
* DISCRIMINATION CLAIM FILED AGAINST WORCESTER ART MUSEUM (AP)
* WHITE SUPREMACY MAKES COUNTRIES IGNORE UN - MANDELA (Reuters)
* U.S. TROOPS ACCUSED OF ABUSES IN AFGHANISTAN (Newsweek)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: GOD IS WATCHING HOW YOU BEHAVE
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "The world is green and
delightful, and God has put you in charge of it and is watching how you
behave."
Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1274
-----
"ISRA AND MIRAJ" TO BE RECALLED THIS WEEK
This week, Muslims in America and worldwide will recall "Isra and
Miraj,"
the Prophet Muhammad's night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, and from
the
rock now located in the Dome of the Rock, to heaven.
The Quran, Islam's revealed text, states: "Glorified be He (God) who
took
his servant (Muhammad) for a journey by night from al-Masjid al-Haram
(in
Mecca) to al-Masjid al-Aqsa (in Jerusalem), whose precincts we have
blessed..." ("Masjid" is the Arabic word for "mosque.") Masjid Al-Aqsa
and
the Dome of the Rock are located on "Haram Al-Shareef," or the "noble
enclosure" in Jerusalem's Old City.
Jerusalem is one of Islam's holiest sites, after Mecca and Medinah in
the
Arabian Peninsula. It was home to many prophets of Islam, including
David,
Solomon and Jesus. It was Islam's first "Qibla," or direction to which
Muslims turned in prayer.
-----
GOOD NEWS
LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE: FLORIDA ISLAMIC CENTER SPONSORS 15 LIBRARIES
Alhamdullilah (praise be to God), the Islamic Society of Brevard County
in
Florida sponsored library packages for all 15 libraries in that county.
What about the libraries in your area?
CAIR's Library Project has received 412 sponsorships for book and tape
packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the Country. Take
part
in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item "library
package." Our goal is to send library packages to more than 16,000
public
libraries in America. CAIR urges Islamic centers and organizations to
sponsor at least 10 local libraries.
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR CAIR'S ANNUAL DINNER
CAIR's 9th annual fundraising dinner is fast approaching (October 26)
and
as always, the success of the event is due in large part to the
valuable
contribution of dedicated volunteers. Past volunteers have commented
that
working at the annual dinner is not only rewarding, but a lot of fun.
If
you can spare a few hours or several days, your assistance is greatly
appreciated.
Volunteer in making CAIR's 2002 Dinner a success by:
- Selling tickets
- Distributing flyers to local merchants and mosques
- Tele-marketing
- Registering guests at the event
- Ushering guests to their seats
- Dinner set-up
For more information, please send an e-mail to hhassan@cair-net.org
-----
REP. LANTOS SAYS U.S. WILL INSTALL "PRO-WESTERN DICTATOR" IN IRAQ
They're jumping in head first
Akiva Eldar, Haaretz, 9/30/02
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=214159
"My dear Colette, don't worry," said Tom Lantos, the California
congressman, as he tried to calm MK Colette Avital of the Labor Party,
who
was visiting Capitol Hill last week as part of a delegation of the
Peace
Coalition. "You won't have any problem with Saddam," the Jewish
congressman
continued. "We'll be rid of the bastard soon enough. And in his place
we'll
install a pro-Western dictator, who will be good for us and for you
[Israel]."
Lantos explained to his guest from Israel that there's no lack of Iraqi
opposition figures in exile, but until they learn how to run a state,
"we'll be there." According to Lantos that interim period, with an
American-sponsored dictator in power, should last between five to six
years.
NOTE: Ironically, Lantos is Founding Co-Chair of the Congressional
Human
Rights Caucus. SEE: http://www.house.gov/lantos/
SEE ALSO:
US CONGRESS FORCES BUSH'S HAND ON ISRAEL CAPITAL
Jonathan Wright, Reuters, 9/30/02
WASHINGTON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress has voted to make the
administration identify Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and
President
George W. Bush is expected to sign the provision into law this week, a
U.S.
official said on Monday.
The requirement is part of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for
2003, which gives the administration more than $4 billion for running
the
State Department.
The section on Jerusalem goes further than previous requirements by
Congress, which for years has pressed successive administrations to
move
the U.S. Embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem…
The new legislation, passed last week, does not go beyond urging the
administration to start immediately the process of moving the embassy
to
Jerusalem.
But it adds three mandatory provisions which change the way the United
States treats Jerusalem.
Firstly, it says that the administration cannot spend money on the U.S.
consulate in Jerusalem unless the consulate is under the supervision of
the
U.S. ambassador to Israel. The U.S. consul general in Jerusalem, who
deals
mainly with Palestinians, now reports directly to the State Department.
Secondly, any U.S. government document which lists countries and their
capitals will have to identify Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Thirdly, in official U.S. documents such as passports, birth
certificates
and nationality certifications, U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem may
insist
that the documents record their place of birth as Israel…
---
THE LIE MACHINE
Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com, 9/30/02
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/justincol.html
Haven't all the wars of modernity been framed in terms of universal
principles and self-defense? That's true for a good reason. We don't
like
to think of ourselves as conquerors, and the War Party - ever since the
debate over the Spanish American war - has draped its rationale for
slaughter in the pristine garments of "democracy," "freedom," and just
retaliation against an unprovoked attack. We don't intend to conquer
our
enemies, but yearn to "liberate" them. Now, however, we are claiming
the
"right" of "preemption," and this is clearly a war of conquest, not
self-defense, no matter how loudly our war birds squawk about phony
"weapons of mass destruction…"
Lies, lies, and more lies - that is the methodology of the War Party,
and
they just keeping flinging them at us, hoping that at least some of it
will
stick. They're in a very great hurry, you see, and can't afford to be
too
noble and "epochal" in their approach. The clock is ticking, people are
beginning to wake up to their game, and the antiwar opposition mounting
a
surprisingly strong counteroffensive. Thousands of phone calls are
flooding
the offices of our congressional representatives, and it's
overwhelmingly
those expressing their opposition to this frightening and fateful rush
to war…
An all-important aspect of the War Party's tactics is the launching of
a
smear campaign, designed to attribute "anti-Semitism" to any and all
manifestations of antiwar sentiment. It then becomes the intellectual
equivalent of Kristallnacht to say aloud what geography and common
sense
tell us: that this war, if not in America's best interests, is
certainly of
great benefit to Israel…
-----
CAMPUS WATCH: MAU-MAUING THE MIDDLE EAST
Michelle Goldberg, Salon.com, 9/30/02
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2002/09/30/campus/index_np.html
On Sept. 18, the conservative Middle East Forum launched Campus Watch,
a
Web site designed to "monitor and gather information" on academics who
are
not sufficiently pro-Israel. There are "dossiers" on eight professors
of
Middle Eastern studies, six of them Arabs. Since appearing on the list,
all
have been deluged with hostile e-mail and one has been threatened by
phone.
There's also a page on Campus Watch for students to submit complaints
about
their teacher's pedagogical treason. The project is designed, says
Middle
East Forum director Daniel Pipes, to push ideas that are "outside the
bounds of mainstream discourse" off college campuses. His message to
professors of Middle East studies: "Be careful. You should behave
yourself…"
Rashid Khalidi, an Oxford-trained University of Chicago professor who
is
one of Campus Watch's targets, calls Pipes and his associates
"intellectual
thugs." They're "bitter at the fact that their extreme views are not
shared
by most people in the field," Khalidi says, "and they're taking revenge
...
They don't want to have certain things said. They want to make sure the
people who try and say them are intimidated…"
Speaking at Memorial Church last week, Lawrence Summers, Harvard's
president, said that some protests against Israel are "anti-Semitic in
their effect if not their intent..."
It's perfectly fair for Summers to argue that Tutu, like the 59 Harvard
professors who signed the divestment petition, is misguided, even
stupid,
that Israel is nothing like racist South Africa. But to charge Tutu
with
anti-Semitism -- to assume that his criticism of Israeli policy can be
motivated by nothing but bigotry -- is to say such ideas don't belong
in a
civilized institution.
Which, in the end, is exactly what Pipes is saying. "I want Noam
Chomsky to
be taught at universities about as much as I want Hitler's writing or
Stalin's writing," he says. "These are wild and extremist ideas that I
believe have no place in a university."
Amid all this name-calling, though, hope for academic openness remains.
Rather than responding to Pipes' animosity with escalating hysteria,
many
academics are simply laughing at Pipes' enemies list. "It's truly
shameful...that I'm not yet on the list," deadpans Finkelstein. Dozens
of
others have written to Pipes saying the same thing.
"In the last analysis, people don't like thought police," says Khalidi,
explaining why he thinks Pipes' project is doomed. "The idea of
un-Americanism has been discredited in American culture."
SEE ALSO:
PROFESSOR CALLS DANIEL PIPES "FAILED ACADEMIC"
MSNBC's 'Donahue' Program for Sept. 27
http://www.msnbc.com/news/815063.asp
Guests: Daniel Pipes, Hamid Dabashi
PHIL DONAHUE: He's on the list. The one we're talking about, that some
are
calling a black list, of professors supporting, how shall we say this?
In
the company of Mr. Pipes, who says, hey, we're just calling attention
to
some people in Middle Eastern courses who are what? Speaking out
against
Israel? What do you understand?
How would you, Professor-I should say, Hamid Dabashi, who is chair of
the
Department of Middle Eastern and Asian Culture and Language at Columbia
University. How do you read this?
HAMID DABASHI, COLUMBIA UNIV. PROF.: Let me just answer to two points
that
Mr. Pipes has made in his conversation. No. 1, he says that he is like
an
auditor taking care of the problem in Enron. So far as I understand the
term auditors, they are to be better accountants than accountants.
Mr. Daniel Pipes is a failed academic. He has no credentials whatsoever
in
any academic context to see what we are doing in the Middle East
institutes, or Middle East departments.
No. 2, he says this spam that we have reported targeting us, "so we are
told."
DONAHUE: You speak of the clutter of the e-mail.
DABASHI: Exactly. The hacking of our computers, and the fact that our
e-mails are flooded with e-mails following his attack on us, and
putting us
on his Web site, is now documented that Columbia University security,
NYPD,
intelligence division of the New York police department, so as in
Chicago
and Michigan.
DONAHUE: You mean documented with the police?
DABASHI: With the police. That is, we are being attacked by hackers and
by
those who, following his attack on me-his initial attack on me was in
the
"New York Post" on June 26. Immediately after that, I received tons of
death threats, racist, obscene and threatening voice mails.
And immediately after that, the last week of August, tons of e-mails -
hundreds, thousands of e-mails, to the point that Columbian security
could
not increase my quota enough.
-----
PROFESSOR HELPS BUILD AFGHAN SCHOOL
Michele Besso, Associated Press, 9/30/02
NEWARK, Del. - Religion used to be a largely private matter for
University
of Delaware professor Ismat Shah, a Muslim who was born in Pakistan.
But that changed after Sept. 11.
Shah, an associate professor of materials science engineering and
physics
and astronomy, found himself being called on to discuss his faith on
campus
and in the community.
Though he said it was unnerving at first, Shah embraced the
opportunity. He
has organized community support into a relief effort that is building
an
elementary school for Muslim girls in a refugee camp on the
Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
"I always considered myself a representative of the Muslim faith - more
so
now than before," Shah said. "I'm conscious of the fact that people
recognize me as a Muslim, and I need to behave a certain way. I feel
more
responsibility to educate people…"
Shah's efforts to start a school in the Afghan refugee camp began after
Sept. 11, when he gave a talk in Wilmington. Members of Creative
Grandparenting Inc., which teams adults with children who need special
care, approached him to discuss ways to help the Afghan people.
Afghanistan/Delaware Communities Together was formed.
"We decided to focus on education because young girls' education
suffered
most due to the Taliban," Shah said. "They wanted the girls to stay at
home
and not go to school."
The new school will serve girls in grades one through five. Between 200
and
500 girls will attend the school when it opens later this month.
The building will have brick floors, mud walls and a thatched roof.
Students will be given uniforms and one meal a day. Shah also wants to
establish libraries and provide medical clinics in the refugee camp.
Jim Patton, co-vice chairman of Creative Grandparenting and a member of
the
new group's steering committee, said Shah has been a huge help with the
refugee camp.
"He was instrumental in providing the right contacts and information
about
transferring funds to the camps safely," he said. "In fact, he made a
trip
to personally inspect the camps and the people involved so the money
would
be spent the way that we wanted..."
-----
SHIFTING LANDSCAPE FOR ISLAMIC EXPERTS
Yonat Shimron, Religion News Service, 9/30/02
http://www.ucc.org/news/r081602f.htm
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Since Sept. 11, 2001, universities throughout the
United
States have been scrambling to hire experts on Islam to bolster
departments
of religion or Middle East studies -- part of a reconfiguration of the
American academic landscape.
This fall, Prof. Ihsan Bagby began teaching at the University of
Kentucky
in Lexington, augmenting his rising reputation as one of the nation's
leading scholars of Islam. [NOTE: Dr. Bagby is a CAIR board member.]
The quest to build more depth in the academic study of Islam involves
many
schools across the U.S. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
recently added a second Islamicist to its department of religious
studies.
Edward Curtis will teach about Islam among African-Americans…
Although about 325 U.S. colleges and universities offer courses in
Islam,
most are taught by people trained in other disciplines. Of the 1,200
religious studies departments across North America, about 120 have
faculty
who claim Islam as their prime expertise, according to the Council of
Societies for the Study of Religion.
"Fifty years ago, the study of religion was Bible and theology," said
Carl
Ernst, a professor of religion who specializes in Islam at the
University
of North Carolina -- Chapel Hill. "In the 1960s, Eastern religions were
added. But Islam is extremely underrepresented in the academy. Things
have
improved, but it's still a very neglected subject."
Those now finishing doctorates in Islam probably will get multiple
offers
from good schools. Those already in the field, even at smaller schools,
have never been more in demand.
Bagby is benefiting from this new interest. But this professor with
salt-and-pepper hair has taken a more circuitous professional route.
Bagby not only studies Islam, he is a convert. Born a Methodist to a
white
mother and black father in Cleveland, he became involved in the civil
rights struggle as a student at Oberlin College in the 1960s. There, he
helped found the black student union on campus, a department of black
studies and two black student dormitories...
He went to the University of Michigan, not because he wanted to be an
academic but because he wanted to study Arabic -- the language of the
Quran, the Muslim holy scriptures. Once there he rediscovered his
passion
for learning and kept going until he had earned his doctorate. He spent
a
year at American University in Cairo, Egypt, perfecting his Arabic
before
deciding he wanted to return to the United States to continue his work
as a
civil rights activist -- first with the Indiana-based Islamic Society
of
North America and later with Islamic Resource Institute in California…
Last year, Bagby joined forces with Hartford Seminary's Institute for
Religion Research to undertake one of the largest U.S. surveys of
interfaith congregations, called Faith Communities Today. Bagby's part,
which included a survey of American mosques, earned him instant
authority
on the subject of American Islam.
"There are a lot of good scholars," said Carl Dudley, the co-author of
the
survey and a professor at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Conn. "But
there
are none that cross more boundaries and work as effectively with a wide
variety of religious groups. He's a remarkably versatile scholar..."
-----
EDITORIAL: FALSE GUARANTEES OF INDIVIDUAL LIBERTIES
Nat Hentoff, Washington Times, 9/30/02
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20020930-29356396.htm
On Sept. 8, the Journal-Gazette in Fort Wayne, Ind., published, for the
first time in nearly 20 years, a full-page editorial, "Attacks on
Liberty."
In five long columns, the newspaper charged, "In the name of national
security, President Bush, Attorney General John Ashcroft and even
Congress
have pulled strand after strand out of the constitutional fabric that
distinguishes the United States from other nations.
"Actions taken over the past year are eerily reminiscent of tyranny
portrayed in the most nightmarish works of fiction. The power to demand
reading lists from libraries could have been drawn from the pages of
Ray
Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451.' The sudden suspension of due process for
immigrants rounded up into jails is familiar to readers of Sinclair
Lewis'
'It Can't Happen Here…' "
Is the word "tyranny" excessive with regard to Messrs. Bush and
Ashcroft
taking liberties with the Constitution? The Journal Gazette's editorial
includes this quotation from James Madison in the Federalist Papers No.
47,
"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive and judiciary,
in
the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many . . . may justly be
pronounced the very definition of tyranny..."
I hope the teachers in Fort Wayne open this editorial for discussion
and
debate in their civics classes, also bringing in the many vigorous
assurances by the president, the defense secretary and the attorney
general
that everything they are doing to protect us is "within the bounds of
the
Constitution..."
---
HUMAN RIGHTS BODY RULES AGAINST UNITED STATES FOR ITS DETENTION TACTICS
OF
POST 9/11 DETAINEES
WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- The Inter-American Commission on
Human
Rights today invoked an emergency procedure that orders the United
States
to take immediate steps to protect the rights of individuals taken into
immigration detention as part of the massive post-September 11 sweep of
immigrant communities.
Gay McDougall, Executive Director of the International Human Rights Law
Group, the Washington-based human rights organization that filed the
case,
stated that "the Commission issued a strong warning to the United
States,
putting our government officials on notice that no person under the
authority and control of a state is devoid of legal protections, even
in
times of national emergency."
In a letter to McDougall dated September 26, 2002, the Commission
acknowledged that detainees may be suffering irreparable harm and that
the
United States has failed to adequately respond to its requests for
information that could prove otherwise. The Commission further stated
that
the United States has provided neither evidence that there is basis
under
domestic or international law for the detainees' continued detention
nor
has it provided information concerning the conditions of detention or
mechanisms by which those conditions are supervised, and noted that
former
detainees have made claims of verbal and physical abuse. The United
States
must respond within 30 days with measures to protect the detainees and
implement the terms of the decision…
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is a seven-member panel
of
the Organization for American States that monitors human rights abuses
in
the Americas. The United States is a member the OAS and is bound by
the
Commission's actions.
The International Human Rights Law Group has in its twenty-five year
history defended the rights of individuals around the world and has
litigated numerous cases before the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. For more
information
visit http://www.hrlawgroup.org
For a copy of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights decision,
"Post-September 11, 2001 INS Detainees Request for Precautionary
Measures,"
go to: http://www.hrlawgroup.org International Human Rights Law Group
Executive Director, Gay McDougall, is available for interview.
---
NO-FLY BLACKLIST SNARES POLITICAL ACTIVISTS
Alan Gathright, San Francisco Chronicle, 9/27/02
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/09/27/MN181034.DTL
A federal "No Fly" list, intended to keep terrorists from boarding
planes,
is snaring peace activists at San Francisco International and other U.
S.
airports, triggering complaints that civil liberties are being
trampled.
And while several federal agencies acknowledge that they contribute
names
to the congressionally mandated list, none of them, when contacted by
The
Chronicle, could or would say which agency is responsible for managing
the
list.
One detainment forced a group of 20 Wisconsin anti-war activists to
miss
their flight, delaying their trip to meet with congressional
representatives by a day. That case and others are raising questions
about
the criteria federal authorities use to place people on the list -- and
whether people who exercise their constitutional right to dissent are
being
lumped together with terrorists.
"What's scariest to me is that there could be this gross interruption
of
civil rights and nobody is really in charge," said Sarah Backus, an
organizer of the Wisconsin group. "That's really 1984-ish..."
-----
DISCRIMINATION CLAIM FILED AGAINST WORCESTER ART MUSEUM
DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press, 9/30/02
BOSTON (AP) - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a
lawsuit Monday against the Worcester Art Museum alleging that the
museum
wrongly fired an Afghan-American Muslim security guard because of
post-Sept. 11 discrimination.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, claims Zia Ayub was
ostracized
by his co-workers and eventually fired on the basis of his religion and
national origin. One of Ayub's co-workers falsely reported him to
authorities as a suspected terrorist, according to the suit.
The museum fired Ayub in January, allegedly for taking excessive time
to
complete security rounds on three separate occasions. He was replaced
by a
non-Muslim who was not of Afghan or Middle Eastern origin, according to
the
complaint…
The EEOC complaint seeks monetary damages, including back wages,
compensatory damages and punitive damages.
"The experience of Zia Ayub represents an unfortunate example of how
reactive anger can give rise to unlawful employment discrimination
against
innocent individuals," said EEOC Chairwoman Cari M. Dominguez…
-----
WHITE SUPREMACY MAKES COUNTRIES IGNORE UN - MANDELA
Reuters, 9/30/02
JAKARTA, Sept 30 (Reuters) - South African elder statesman Nelson
Mandela
fired a fresh salvo on Monday at the idea of the United States or
anyone
else acting against Iraq without U.N. sanction, and tied such
unilateralism
to racist attitudes.
Asked what he thought about a possible attack on Iraq, which Washington
has
threatened to carry out on its own if U.N. backing is not forthcoming,
Mandela said, without naming any specific nation:
"No country, however powerful it may be, is entitled to act outside the
United Nations...The United Nations is here to promote peace in the
world,
and any country that acts outside (it) is making a serious mistake."
Mandela is on a private five-day visit to Indonesia, the world's most
populous Muslim nation where many people have expressed disquiet about
the
possibility of an attack on Iraq.
The former South African president has spoken out repeatedly against
unilateral intervention in Iraq but he seemed to go further than
previously
in linking himself to the view that racism could be a factor behind
taking
the U.N. lightly.
"When the (U.N.) secretaries-general were white, we never had the
question
of any country ignoring the United Nations but now that we have got the
black secretaries-general like...Kofi Annan, certain countries that
believe
in white supremacy are ignoring the United Nations," he told reporters
at
the airport on his arrival…
-----
U.S. TROOPS ACCUSED OF ABUSES IN AFGHANISTAN
'I YELLED AT THEM TO STOP'
Colin Soloway, MSNBC, 10/07/02
http://www.msnbc.com/news/814576.asp
Oct. 7 issue - One afternoon in August, a U.S. Special Forces A team
knocked at the door of a half-ruined mud compound in the Shahikot
Valley.
The servicemen were taking part in Operation Mountain Sweep, a weeklong
hunt for Qaeda and Taliban fugitives in eastern Afghanistan.
The man of the house, an elderly farmer, let the Americans in as soon
as
his female relatives had gone to a back room, out of the gaze of
strange
men. Asked if there were any weapons in the house, the farmer proudly
showed them his only firearm, a hunting rifle nearly a century old.
When
the team had finished searching, carefully letting the women stay out
of
sight, the farmer served tea. The Americans thanked him and walked
toward
the next house.
They didn't get far before the team's captain looked back. Six
paratroopers
from the 82d Airborne, also part of Mountain Sweep, were lined up
outside
the farmer's house, preparing to force their way in. "I yelled at them
to
stop," says the captain, "but they went ahead and kicked in the door."
The
farmer panicked and tried to run, and one of the paratroopers slammed
him
to the ground. The captain raced back to the house. Inside, he says,
other
helmeted soldiers from the 82d were attempting to frisk the women. By
the
time the captain could order the soldiers to leave, the family was in a
state of shock. "The women were screaming bloody murder," recalled the
captain, asking to be identified simply as Mike. "The guy was in tears.
He
had been completely dishonored..."
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
VANDALS ATTACK IDAHO MOSQUE
Islamic center had been receiving threatening calls
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 9/30/02) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) tonight reported that vandals attacked a mosque in Idaho
following a
series of threatening phone calls to that religious institution.
A representative of the Islamic Center of Boise told the Islamic civil
rights and advocacy group that vandals used a rock and a cinder block
to
break four windows in the center and to damage a computer printer. The
attack apparently occurred sometime between midnight and 6 a.m. on
Monday
and was noticed when worshipers came to the mosque.
Both the Boise Police Department and the FBI have been notified, and
both
CAIR and mosque officials are asking that the incident be investigated
as a
hate crime. The mosque had reportedly been receiving harassing and
threatening phone calls since the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01. The
frequency of the calls increased around the one-year anniversary of the
attacks.
Callers allegedly made comments such as, "Get the hell out of this
country," and, "Your religion is all about hate." A threat was also
made to
burn down the mosque.
Ironically, a meeting with local police to discuss safety issues was
already scheduled for Tuesday at the center. There are an estimated
5,000
Muslims in the Boise area.
CAIR reports that this incident is just one of several recent actual or
planned mosque attacks in the United States. Just since August, mosques
in
Virginia, Ohio and Florida have been vandalized. Florida law
enforcement
authorities also uncovered a detailed plan to blow up some 50 Islamic
institutions in that state. The alleged perpetrator had already
assembled a
number of explosive devices.
"As with past incidents of this type, we firmly believe they are
triggered
by the rising tide of anti-Muslim rhetoric coming from right wing,
pro-Israel and evangelical commentators. We once again call on
mainstream
religious and political leaders to challenge Islamophobic hate speech.
Bigots see silence as a tacit endorsement of their views," said CAIR
Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper.
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726
E-MAIL: cair@cair-net.org
-----
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To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/1/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: GOD TESTS THOSE HE LOVES
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* FAMILY DEFENDS ISLAMIC CHARITY HEAD (AP)
* ALAMO ACCUSED OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST MUSLIM EMPLOYEE (AP)
* FICTIONS EMBRACED BY AN ISRAEL AT WAR (New York Times)
- Manufacturing Anti-Semites (Gush Shalom)
- U.S. Move on Jerusalem Antagonizes Arab World (Reuters)
* VANDALS BREAK WINDOWS AT BOISE ISLAMIC CENTER (Idaho Statesman)
- Idaho mosque attacked by vandals (UPI)
- Resources: DOJ Initiative to Combat Post-9/11 Backlash
* CHANGE OF HEART, SOUL ON ISLAM (Arizona Republic)
- Shore Muslim Community Seeks To Be Understood (Asbury Park Press)
* BALTIMORE SUN SLAMS DANIEL PIPES' BOOK
- Pipes Folds on Campus Blacklist "Dossiers"
* THE PRESIDENT'S REAL GOAL IN IRAQ (Atlanta Journal)
- U.N., Iraq Agree on Inspection Terms (AP)
- Report: Seized Material Not Uranium (AP)
- Pentagon Adviser Seeks "Regime Change" In Germany (Reuters)
* DOUBTS SET IN ON AFGHAN MISSION (BBC)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: GOD TESTS THOSE HE LOVES
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Great rewards are given
for
great trials, and when God loves a people, He tests them. Whoever
accepts
the trial cheerfully earns His good pleasure, and whoever resents it
earns
His displeasure."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 479
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 424 sponsorships for book and tape
packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the Country. Take
part
in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item "library
package." Our goal is to send library packages to more than 16,000
public
libraries in America. CAIR urges Islamic centers and organizations to
sponsor at least 10 local libraries.
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
FAMILY DEFENDS ISLAMIC CHARITY HEAD
DAVID RUNK, Associated Press, 10/1/02
DETROIT (AP) - The wife and brother of a detained co-founder of an
Islamic
charity testified Tuesday in support of his release on bond, saying he
does
not pose a threat to national security.
Rabih Haddad has been jailed for more than nine months on a visa
violation.
The 41-year-old Ann Arbor resident and Lebanese citizen helped create
the
Global Relief Fund, which the government says has received substantial
funds from a suspected financier of al-Qaida's worldwide efforts.
"I don't think my husband is a threat to American society. He is an
asset
to American society," Salma al-Rushaid said, citing her husband's years
of
humanitarian work.
Immigration Judge Robert Newberry in Detroit heard testimony Tuesday at
an
open bond hearing. Haddad's attorney, Ashraf Nubani, said he expected
his
client to testify later in the day.
Previous detention hearings for Haddad were held in secret, prompting
lawsuits from the American Civil Liberties Union, several newspapers
and
Rep. John Conyers, Democratic of Michigan. Tuesday's was open in
compliance
with a court order from last month to hold such a hearing or release
Haddad…
-----
ALAMO ACCUSED OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST MUSLIM EMPLOYEE
Associated Press, 10/1/02
MESA, Ariz. (AP) - The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued
a
rental car agency, accusing it of discriminating against a Muslim woman
who
was told she couldn't wear a head scarf at work.
The lawsuit against Alamo Rent-A-Car and its Florida-based parent, ANC
Rental Corp., is based on a complaint by Bilan Nur of Phoenix. She had
been
a customer service representative at the Phoenix airport since 1999.
In 1999 and 2000, Nur was allowed to wear a head scarf, or hijab, in
observance of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. But she was told not to
wear a scarf in December 2001, said Mary Jo O'Neill, acting regional
attorney for the Phoenix EEOC office.
Nur believes it was in reaction to her being Muslim in the wake of the
Sept. 11 terror attacks, O'Neill said. Nur's offer to wear an Alamo
company
scarf was refused, O'Neill added…
The EEOC lawsuit seeks monetary relief, reinstatement and an injunction
prohibiting future discrimination.
SEND POLITE COMMENTS TO: crelations@goalamo.com
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org
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-----
FICTIONS EMBRACED BY AN ISRAEL AT WAR
David Grossman, New York Times, 10/1/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/01/opinion/01GROS.html
JERUSALEM - A dangerous and deceptive plot line has become superimposed
on
the story that Israeli society tells itself about its conflict with the
Palestinians. Since the outbreak of the current intifada two years ago,
it
is as if the Israeli mind has turned to a new page in the chronicle of
the
conflict and, at the same time, erased many of the pages that preceded
it.
It's as if the 33 years of repression, occupation and humiliation that
Israel imposed on the West Bank and Gaza between June 1967 and
September
2000 vanished with the wave of a magic wand. The majority of Israelis
take
comfort today in believing that the horrifying deeds committed by
Palestinian terrorists in the last two years somehow "balance the
books"
for those long years of subjugation and that all the guilt for the
current
state of affairs rests on Palestinian shoulders.
Furthermore, they believe, the suicide bombings, and the broad support
they
have received from the Palestinian population, have revealed things
about
the Palestinians that ex post facto justify the injustices of the
occupation. In a contorted way, many Israelis believe that the new wave
of
Palestinian terrorism has granted their country absolution for its
problematic past…
It's as if there were never long months of closures in cities and
villages,
as if there had been no humiliations, no incessant harassment, no
searches
of houses, no bulldozing of hundreds of homes, no uprooting of
vineyards
and olive groves, no filling up of wells and, especially, no
construction
of tens of thousands of housing units in settlements and large-scale
confiscation of land, in violation of international law…
SEE ALSO:
EDITORIAL: MANUFACTURING ANTI-SEMITES
Uri Avnery, Gush Shalom, 9/28/02
http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/article213.html
The Sharon government is a giant laboratory for the growing of the
anti-Semitism virus. It exports it to the whole world. Anti-Semitic
organizations, which for many years vegetated on the margins of
society,
rejected and despised, are suddenly growing and flowering.
Anti-Semitism,
which has hidden itself in shame since World War II, is now riding on a
great wave of opposition to Sharon's policy of oppression.
Sharon's propaganda agents are pouring oil on the flames. Accusing all
critics of his policy of being anti-Semites, they brand large
communities
with this mark. Many good people, who feel no hatred at all towards the
Jews, but who detest the persecution of the Palestinians, are now
called
anti-Semites. Thus the sting is taken out of this word, giving it
something
approaching respectability.
The practical upshot: not only does Israel not protect the Jews from
anti-Semitism, but quite on the contrary - Israel manufactures and
exports
the anti-Semitism that threatens Jews around the world. For many years,
Israel enjoyed the sympathy of most people. It was seen as the state of
the
holocaust survivors, a small and courageous country defending itself
against the repeated assaults of murderous Arabs. Slowly, this image
has
been replaced by another: a cruel, brutal and colonizing state,
oppressing
a small and helpless people. The persecuted has become the persecutor,
David has turned onto Goliath…
Every few years, the Jewish lobby "eliminates" an American politician
who
does not support the Israeli government unconditionally. This is not
done
secretly, behind the scenes, but as a public "execution". Just now this
was
done to the black Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, a young, active,
intelligent and very sympathetic woman. She has dared to criticize the
Sharon government, support Palestinians and (worst of all) Israeli and
Jewish peace groups. The Jewish establishment found a
counter-candidate, a
practically unknown black woman, injected huge sums into the campaign
and
defeated Cynthia. All this happened in the open, with fanfares, to make
a
public example - so that every Senator and Congressperson would know
that
criticizing Sharon is tantamount to political suicide…
---
U.S. MOVE ON JERUSALEM ANTAGONIZES ARAB WORLD
Alistair Lyon, Reuters, 10/1/02
http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=topnews&StoryID=1520243
LONDON (Reuters) - Arabs bitterly denounced on Tuesday U.S. legislation
requiring President Bush's administration to identify Jerusalem as
Israel's
capital.
Some of Washington's Arab allies acknowledged that Bush had stated that
U.S. policy on Jerusalem was unchanged despite the provisions inserted
by
Congress into the act that provides over $4 billion to run the State
Department in 2003.
But most Arab reactions reflected anger at what was seen as fresh
evidence
of U.S. bias toward Israel, which annexed Arab East Jerusalem,
encompassing
one of Islam's holiest shrines, after capturing it in the 1967 Middle
East war.
"This is an act against peace, an act of incitement," Palestinian
Planning
and International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath told Reuters in the
West Bank city of Ramallah.
"It is against the commitment of the United States, contrary to
international law, contrary to agreements signed by the United States.
This
is really totally unhelpful and obstructs any move toward the peace
process," he said, calling the U.S. legislation "an insult to the Arab
and
Muslim world…"
-----
VANDALS BREAK WINDOWS AT BOISE ISLAMIC CENTER
Gerry Melendez, Idaho Statesman, 10/1/02
http://www.idahostatesman.com/Story.asp?ID=21859
Shards of glass cover a prayer rug inside the Islamic Center of Boise
as
Bob Burnett replaces a window that was shattered by an act of
vandalism.
Two windows were destroyed by rocks, with the glass spilling inside the
center. Boise police are investigating the case…
"We were hoping that we wouldn�t come to this stage," said Furqan
Mehmood,
the center�s education director. "But that�s where we are today - one
year
after (the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks)..."
Mehmood said he received an obscene threatening call at the center on
Sunday night.
The person on the other line told him to leave the United States,
Mehmood
said. It was similar to several other calls received by the center
since
the attacks on the East Coast last September…
"Parents are very scared to send their children for very obvious
reasons,"
Mehmood said. "They are the people that faced persecution from where
they
came. They don�t want to put their kids through that again…"
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations,
said violence directed at Muslims in America had begun to decline after
a
huge spike following the September 2001 attacks.
But that trend changed around the one-year anniversary of 9/11, he
said.
"We�ve recently seen an uptick in incidents, particularly at mosques,"
Hooper said.
Hooper said mainstream leaders need to take vocal stands against
hateful
actions aimed at Islam. "As long as no one�s speaking out, these people
see
it as a sign of approval," Hooper said.
SEE ALSO:
IDAHO MOSQUE ATTACKED BY VANDALS
ANWAR IQBAL, United Press International, 10/1/02
Vandals attacked a mosque in Idaho following a series of threatening
phone
calls to that religious institution, the Council on American-Islamic
Relations said Tuesday.
A representative of the Islamic Center of Boise, Idaho, told the
Islamic
civil rights and advocacy group that vandals used a rock and a cinder
block
to break four windows in the center and to damage a computer printer.
The
attack apparently occurred sometime between before dawn Monday and was
noticed when worshipers came to the mosque. Both the Boise Police
Department and the FBI have been notified. The council and mosque
officials
have asked that the incident be investigated as a hate crime.
The mosque had reportedly been receiving harassing and threatening
phone
calls since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks last year. The frequency of
the
calls increased around the anniversary of the attacks, mosque officials
said.
Callers allegedly made comments such as, "Get the hell out of this
country," and, "Your religion is all about hate," they said. A threat
was
also made to burn the mosque…
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said this incident was one of
several recent actual or planned mosque attacks in the United States.
Since
August, mosques in Virginia, Ohio and Florida have been vandalized…
"As with past incidents of this type, we firmly believe they are
triggered
by the rising tide of anti-Muslim rhetoric coming from right-wing,
pro-Israel and evangelical commentators. We once again call on
mainstream
religious and political leaders to challenge Islamophobic hate speech,"
said Ibrahim Hooper, the council's communications director…
SEE ALSO:
RESOURCES: DOJ INITIATIVE TO COMBAT POST-9/11 BACKLASH
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/nordwg.html
-----
CHANGE OF HEART, SOUL ON ISLAM
Daniel Gonz�lez, Arizona Republic, 9/29/02
http://www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/articles/0928b2profile28.html
Deedra Abboud, the new president of the Council on American Islamic
Relations of Arizona, was raised Christian in Arkansas, the buckle of
the
Bible Belt.Her mother was Methodist, her father a Southern Baptist.
Then how did this strong-willed feminist who once considered Islam a
form
of oppression against women wind up becoming a Muslim?
It's a question Abboud is often asked.
"I grew up in a very pro-woman household. My mom and dad were divorced
and
my sisters weren't married. We were brought up with the attitude, 'What
do
we need men for?,' "Abboud said recently during an interview at the
Tempe
Islamic Cultural Center, her face framed by a beige-colored hijab. A
hijab
is the head scarf worn by most Muslim women as a symbol of modesty...
"The only thing I really knew about Islam was what I learned in
seventh-grade social studies class," she said. "I was taught that Islam
was
Mohammedism; that they worshipped Mohammed, and that women always had
to
walk one-step behind men and they always had to look down and they
always
had to wear black."
She started reading every book about Islam she could find, starting
with
the Koran. None of the bookstores in Little Rock carried it, so Abboud
drove all the way Houston, six hours, just to get one.
Then something happened. The more she read about the religion, the more
she
became attracted to it…
Abboud didn't really consider becoming a Muslim, however, until she
moved
to Arizona in 1998. Climbing the career ladder as a woman in
conservative
Arkansas would be hard enough, she figured, let alone as a Muslim women
wearing a hijab.
In Arizona, Abboud settled in Tempe and got a job working for a
collection
agency. She read in the newspaper that October that the Tempe mosque
was
having an open house. Soon she was coming to the mosque regularly.
Later
that year, she decided to convert…
As president of the Council on American Islamic Relations of Arizona,
Abboud is frequently invited to speak to community groups about Islam.
The
audiences are often surprised when a blue-eyed, fair-skinned woman
arrives
wearing a head scarf…
SEE ALSO:
SHORE MUSLIM COMMUNITY SEEKS TO BE UNDERSTOOD
Andrea Alexander, Asbury Park Press, 9/30/02
http://www.app.com/app2001/story/0,21133,623888,00.html
Mohammed Mosaad, vice president of the Islamic Society of Monmouth
County,
descends the stairs in the society's $1.5 million mosque being built in
Middletown to meet the needs of the area's growing Muslim community.
The Red Hill Road house, converted in 1995 into a mosque with room for
up
to 250 people to pray, is now too small for the area's growing Muslim
community, said Mohammad Mosaad, vice president of the society…
As the number of Muslim families in the Shore area increases, so have
their
efforts to reach out to the community and dispel misconceptions about
their
religion.
"It is new to the area," said Dr. Hassan El Mansoury, the society's
president. "There are more and more Muslim women in Muslim dress. Our
children go to the public schools. We owe it to the community to know
what
we are about."
Mohamed Ismael Ali, Aberdeen, co-founder of the United Muslim Family
Association, attributes the growth in the Muslim population to the
booming
technology industry in the state…
Leaders of the Islamic center in Old Bridge and the Lakewood center
said
they have done the same to educate the public about their faith.
Once construction of the new mosque in Middletown is complete, El
Mansoury
said, the society plans to invite area school children for tours…
"Muslims and the Islamic faith doesn't support what happened on Sept.
11,"
said the Rev. Kathleen Hepler, of the Unitarian church in Lincroft.
"It is a small group of people who happen to be Muslim who misinterpret
their faith, and it is important for people to know that for the health
of
our community," she said…
The Rev. Gary Costa of the Cross of Glory, a Lutheran church in
Aberdeen,
said meetings with Ali helped his congregation under-stand the growing
Muslim population in the area.
"I think it was helpful to combat the idea, that sounds absurd to me,
that
all Muslims are the enemy," Costa said. "The interaction led us to a
better
understanding of the faith and what it means to be a Muslim."
-----
BALTIMORE SUN SLAMS DANIEL PIPES' BOOK
'MILITANT ISLAM' -- IGNORING HISTORY AND CURRENT REALITY
Robert Ruby, Baltimore Sun, 9/29/02
http://www.baltimoresun.com
Daniel Pipes, the author of 10 previous books about Islam and the
Middle
East, stridently contends in Militant Islam Reaches America that the
history is mostly irrelevant, that Islamic fundamentalists are in fact
the
heirs of fascists and communists. In his telling, all three movements
have
sought to create a radical utopia incompatible with democracy.
Largely a collection of previously published articles, Militant Islam
is
not a subtle book. Pipes weakens his own case about the genuine dangers
of
militant Islam by seeing its tentacles everywhere, and suggesting that
the
United States is threatened nearly as much by open political debate as
by
bin Laden and the angry young men of the Muslim world.
He advocates the United States pressure Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to
revise
textbooks that teach intolerance of non-Muslims, somehow bring order to
Somalia, somehow steer democratic change in Iran. The danger at home,
he
writes, "is no less ominous than the danger abroad." Steps must be
taken:
"And it means military tribunals where needed; restrictions on
lawyer-client privilege in certain cases; and, when appropriate, the
serious use of 'profiling to uncover sleepers and other terrorists.' "
A polemic has license for exaggeration, but Militant Islam makes
indefensible claims. Citing Iran's eight-year war against Iraq, Pipes
suggests that Islamic states are inherently war-like, ignoring the fact
that the war was started by secular Iraq. Afghanistan's civil wars are
blamed on militant Islam, a gross simplification ignoring the venality
and
murderousness of the warlords who opened the way for the Taliban…
A chapter devoted to the unmasking of Islamic sleeper cells could be
mistaken for self-parody. Clues to search for include, "Sending or
receiving large amounts of money; criminal activity, especially
reliance on
counterfeited money and smuggling; a promising career that failed,
descent
into drugs and alcohol, then redemption through Islam; an offer to work
for
the enemy's intelligence service…"
The United States faces clear and present dangers, but their source is
not
militant Islam. The angry young men of the Persian Gulf states, Central
Asia and the Middle East want a present better than their pasts --
education, a job, prospects for their families...
SEE ALSO:
PIPES FOLDS ON CAMPUS BLACKLIST "DOSSIERS"
"Campus Watch" Alters Website Format
http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/181
Philadelphia - The Middle East Forum announced today it has altered the
format of its website, www.Campus-Watch.org. The site has elicited
overwhelming support from the public - but a furious response from
academics who focused almost exclusively on the site's dossiers on the
work
of specific instructors.
The new format eliminates the "dossiers" and instead folds the analysis
of
instructors within the "Survey of Institutions." Campus Watch monitors
and
critiques Middle East studies, with the goal of improving a failing
field.
It collects media reports and original information, then makes its work
available to university administrators, trustees, alumni, students,
prospective students and their parents, as well as government officials
and
legislators.
"We launched the site to draw attention to the condition of Middle
Eastern
studies," explains Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum.
"But
rather than address the problems we raise, Middle East specialists -
joined
by their colleagues in other fields - have talked about nothing but the
format of the site…
-----
EDITORIAL: THE PRESIDENT'S REAL GOAL IN IRAQ
Jay Bookman, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 9/29/02
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/opinion/0902/29bookman.html
The official story on Iraq has never made sense. The connection that
the
Bush administration has tried to draw between Iraq and al-Qaida has
always
seemed contrived and artificial. In fact, it was hard to believe that
smart
people in the Bush administration would start a major war based on such
flimsy evidence.
The pieces just didn't fit. Something else had to be going on;
something
was missing.
In recent days, those missing pieces have finally begun to fall into
place.
As it turns out, this is not really about Iraq. It is not about weapons
of
mass destruction, or terrorism, or Saddam, or U.N. resolutions.
This war, should it come, is intended to mark the official emergence of
the
United States as a full-fledged global empire, seizing sole
responsibility
and authority as planetary policeman. It would be the culmination of a
plan
10 years or more in the making, carried out by those who believe the
United
States must seize the opportunity for global domination, even if it
means
becoming the "American imperialists" that our enemies always claimed we
were…
In an interview Friday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld brushed aside
that suggestion, noting that the United States does not covet other
nations' territory. That may be true, but 57 years after World War II
ended, we still have major bases in Germany and Japan. We will do the
same
in Iraq…
Among the architects of this would-be American Empire are a group of
brilliant and powerful people who now hold key positions in the Bush
administration: They envision the creation and enforcement of what they
call a worldwide "Pax Americana," or American peace. But so far, the
American people have not appreciated the true extent of that ambition.
Part of it's laid out in the National Security Strategy, a document in
which each administration outlines its approach to defending the
country…
In essence, it lays out a plan for permanent U.S. military and economic
domination of every region on the globe, unfettered by international
treaty
or concern. And to make that plan a reality, it envisions a stark
expansion
of our global military presence…
SEE ALSO:
U.N., IRAQ AGREE ON INSPECTION TERMS
WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press, 10/1/02
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - The chief U.N. weapons inspector for Iraq said
on
Tuesday that tentative agreement has been reached with Baghdad on the
return of his team to check for the presence of illegal, nuclear,
chemical
or biological weapons.
The Iraqi representatives have said "that they accept all the rights of
inspections that are laid down" in previous resolutions authorizing
U.N.
inspections, said the chief inspector, Hans Blix.
Iraq said an advance party of inspectors was due in Baghdad in two
weeks…
---
REPORT: SEIZED MATERIAL NOT URANIUM
Associated Press, 9/30/02
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-turkey-uranium1001sep30,0,1420147.story
ANKARA, Turkey -- Atomic energy officials said Monday that a substance
seized by police near the Syrian border was not weapons-grade uranium
as
Turkish officials first reported, according to the Anatolia news
agency.
Atomic Energy Institute chief Guler Koksal said the material was
harmless,
containing zinc, iron, zirconium and manganese.
The announcement ended days of speculation that the substance might
have
been destined for neighboring Iraq, which the United States accuses of
trying to smuggle in nuclear material for a secret weapons program.
Police, acting on a tip, recovered the material in a taxi last week in
Sanliurfa province, near the Syrian border. Two Turks who were trying
to
sell the material as uranium were released from custody.
The seizure alarmed intelligence agencies around the world when the
Turkish
police said it weighed 35 pounds last week. On Monday, police said the
material weighed only 5 ounces.
The disparity occurred because authorities initially included the
weight of
the lead container in which the material was placed, police said.
---
PENTAGON ADVISER SEEKS "REGIME CHANGE" IN GERMANY
Reuters, 10/1/02
BERLIN - A Pentagon adviser was quoted as saying on Tuesday that the
best
thing German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder could do to ease strained
relations with Washington over Iraq would be to quit.
"It would be best if he (Schroeder) resigned. But he's obviously not
going
to do that," Pentagon adviser Richard Perle said in an interview with
Wednesday's Handelsblatt daily, released ahead of publication.
U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said relations have been
poisoned by strident German criticism of U.S. policy towards Iraq
during
the recent election campaign. Schroeder's anti-war rhetoric is credited
with helping him win re-election.
Perle, a leading voice in U.S. efforts to oust Saddam Hussein, told
Handelsblatt that Schroeder's stance on Iraq would set back Berlin's
desire
to win a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council "for a
generation…"
-----
DOUBTS SET IN ON AFGHAN MISSION
Rupert Wingfield Hayes, BBC, 9/28/02
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/from_our_own_correspondent/2285638.stm
In the months since I'd first been there, stories had begun circulating
that the US operation in Afghanistan was descending into farce. They
had
come to hunt down Osama Bin Laden and his al-Qaeda gang. But months of
combing the mountains had turned up little. Mistakes had begun to be
made -
some of them bad ones. In the worst, in July, a US air strike killed
more
than 40 Afghans at a wedding party. The guests had been firing their
guns
into the air - a common way to celebrate in Afghanistan. There had been
no
US apology...
I was hailed by two young soldiers lounging in one of those huge
American
Humvee jeeps. Clearly these two were not part of the guided tour.
"Excuse
me sir," they asked. "But do we really have to say this baloney?" The
actual word they used was a little more colourful. "What baloney?" I
asked.
They handed me a small laminated card. On it were instructions on how
to
deal with journalists. Every soldier had been given one.
These were not just general ground rules. It actually listed suggested
answers: "How do you feel about what you're doing in Afghanistan"?
Answer:
"We're united in our purpose and committed to achieving our goals."
"How
long do you think that will take?" Answer: "We will stay here as long
as it
takes to get the job done - sir!" Call me naive, but I was amazed. What
could they be afraid of? Perhaps of a bit too much honesty…
-----
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Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
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In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/2/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: A GOOD FRIEND
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* ACTION ALERT: OPPOSE RECOGNIZING JERUSALEM AS ISRAEL'S CAPITAL
* THOUGHT CRIME ON CAMPUS (Creative Loafing)
- Daniel Pipes Presents a Danger To Academic Freedom (Oklahoma Daily)
* A PRO-ISRAEL TV CAMPAIGN DRAWS FIRE (New York Times)
- Perles of Wisdom for the Feithful (Haaretz)
- Israel Curfews Hurt Palestinians' Schooling-UNICEF (Reuters)
* VA. PROGRAM HELPS MUSLIM WOMEN COPE WITH POST-9/11 RAIDS (Washington
Post)
- Muslims Feel Targeted (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
* FORMER BLACK PANTHER ARRAIGNED (Montgomery Advertiser)
* DETAINEE HAS HIS DAY IN COURT (Chicago Tribune)
- Muslim Leader Testifies He's No Threat (Detroit Free Press)
* NEW U.S. ENTRY RULES WORRY ASIA'S MUSLIMS (Reuters)
- U.S. Regrets "Inappropriate Treatment" Of Malaysian Leaders (AFP)
* U.S. PLANNING FOR REGIME CHANGE HAS QUIETLY BEGUN (LA Times)
- U.S. Lawmakers Defend Iraq Trip, Decry Rush to War (Reuters)
- U.S. Faulted Over Its Efforts to Unite Dissidents (New York
Times)
- U.S. Threatens to Thwart Inspectors' Return to Iraq (London
Times)
- Excerpts of US Draft UN Resolution on Iraq (Reuters)
- U.S. Shipments of Pathogens to Iraq (AP)
- Why Jim Mcdermott Is A Hero (Antiwar)
* ARAB-AMERICAN LOBBY FINDS SMALL VICTORIES SWEET (Atlanta Journal
Constitution)
* A SPANISH BRIDGE TO ISLAM (Christian Science Monitor)
* WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT ISLAM (Publishers Weekly)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: A GOOD FRIEND
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "A good friend and a bad
friend are like a perfume-seller and a blacksmith: The perfume-seller
might
give you some perfume as a gift, or you might buy some from him, or at
least you might smell its fragrance. As for the blacksmith, he might
singe
your clothes, and at the very least you will breathe in the fumes of
the
furnace."
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 3, Hadith 314
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 437 sponsorships for book and tape
packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the Country. Take
part
in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item "library
package." Our goal is to send library packages to more than 16,000
public
libraries in America. CAIR urges Islamic centers and organizations to
sponsor at least 10 local libraries.
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
ACTION ALERT: OPPOSE RECOGNIZING JERUSALEM AS ISRAEL'S CAPITAL
https://www.cair-net.org/html/capwiz.html
-----
THOUGHT CRIME ON CAMPUS
John Sugg, Creative Loafing, 10/2/02
http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/2002-10-02/fishwrapper.html
Last month, the blitzkrieg (and that word was chosen precisely for its
Nazi
allusion) against academia roared into high gear. Daniel Pipes, one of
America's most notorious Arab-haters and Islamophobes (qualities held
in
high esteem in Washington these days), launched a website,
www.campus-watch.org, that solicits students to spy on their teachers…
Pipes is best known for his strident and often racist denunciations of
Arabs and Islam. In an effort to divide Americans -- one that if you
inserted "blacks" for "Muslims" and "whites" for "Jews," would be
vigorously damned as KKK-speech -- he told the American Jewish Congress
a
year ago that he worries "the presence and increased stature, and
affluence, and enfranchisement of American Muslims...will present true
dangers to American Jews."
I contacted Pipes, and he not only confirmed his quote but, incredibly,
added: "It is accurate in itself but you must note that this was spoken
to
a Jewish audience. I make the same point respectively to audiences of
women, gays, civil libertarians, Hindus, Evangelical Christians,
atheists,
and scholars of Islam, among others, all of whom face 'true dangers' as
the
number of Muslims increases..."
SEE ALSO:
DANIEL PIPES PRESENTS A DANGER TO ACADEMIC FREEDOM
Oklahoma University Daily, 10/1/02
http://www.oudaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2002/10/01/3d991bd1e134e
Daniel Pipes is scheduled to speak on "militant Islam" tonight. Pipes
is
the director of the Middle East Forum and a member of the Defense
Department's Special Task Force on Terrorism Technology.
But Daniel Pipes is also the co-founder of Campus Watch, a recently
established internet Web site that has begun to "monitor" American
universities (including Harvard University, the University of North
Carolina and the University of Chicago) along with leading scholars
whose
work focuses on the Middle East and who are suspected of harboring an
anti-Israel bias. Students and colleagues are invited to contribute to
these online "dossiers" and to help establish new ones.
The professors listed on the site have reported massive e-mail
harassment;
one has reportedly received death threats over the phone…
Our commitment to academic freedom leads us to welcome Dr. Pipes to OU.
That same commitment leads us to condemn the tactics of his Web site,
Campus Watch.
-----
A PRO-ISRAEL TV CAMPAIGN DRAWS FIRE
Nat Ives, New York Times, 10/1/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/01/business/media/01ADCO.html
The first television advertising campaign intended to drum up support
for
Israel in the United States begins its nationwide run this week, nearly
three weeks after CNN refused to broadcast one of the ads. But the
commercials, created and paid for by two Jewish groups, have already
ignited criticism from Arab-Americans.
The ads' sponsors - Israel 21C, a group of Silicon Valley executives
and
other wealthy sponsors, and the American Jewish Committee in New York -
said the campaign aimed to show Americans a side of Israel beyond the
bloody conflict that dominates the news media while reinforcing its
image
as a democratic nation...
SEE ALSO:
PERLES OF WISDOM FOR THE FEITHFUL
Akiva Eldar, Haaretz, 10/1/02
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=214635
In 1996, Richard Perle and Doug Feith joined a small group of
researchers
who were asked to help Benjamin Netanyahu in his first steps as prime
minister. They could not have known that four years later that the
working
paper they prepared, including plans for Israel to help restore the
Hashemite throne in Iraq, would shed light on the current policies of
the
only superpower in the world. The document, prepared by the Institute
for
Advanced Strategic and Political Studies, with offices in Washington
and
Jerusalem, appears at the institute's Web site,
http://www.israeleconomy.org/strat1.htm, and has been mentioned in the
American press.
The current Israeli and Iraqi connection, and the key role Feith and
Perle
play in the Bush administration, make the document a treasure trove.
Perle
heads the Defense Department's Policy Board and is considered one of
the
most important strategic thinkers in the American establishment. Feith
is
the deputy defense minister - No. 3 in the Pentagon's hierarchy. The
document presents an ambitious plan for a "U.S.-Israeli partnership
based
on self-reliance, maturity and mutuality - not one focused narrowly on
territorial disputes."
The new partnership drawn up by Perle, Feith and five other
researchers,
has interests in all sorts of directions in the region…
---
ISRAEL CURFEWS HURT PALESTINIANS' SCHOOLING-UNICEF
Reuters, 10/2/02
RAMALLAH, West Bank - The United Nations children's fund (UNICEF) said
on
Wednesday Israeli army curfews on Palestinian cities in the West Bank
had
seriously disrupted the education of hundreds of thousands of children.
The Israeli army has re-occupied West Bank cities since June after a
spate
of Palestinian suicide bombings and it has imposed military curfews as
a
measure it says is necessary to prevent further attacks. Palestinians
call
it collective punishment.
"Right now the Israeli military is preventing thousands of Palestinian
children and teachers from attending school," said Pierre Poupard,
UNICEF
special representative in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in a statement.
"A generation of Palestinian children is being denied their right to an
education."
He said more than 226,000 children and over 9,300 teachers were unable
to
reach their formal classrooms and at least 580 schools have been closed
due
to the army curfews and closures…
-----
VA. PROGRAM HELPS MUSLIM WOMEN COPE WITH POST-9/11 RAIDS
(Byline withheld by work action at newspaper.), Washington Post,
10/2/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30047-2002Oct1.html
Aysha Unus was home with her 18-year-old daughter when armed men
dressed in
black broke down her door. As her daughter tried to call 911, Unus
said,
the men ordered the teenager at gunpoint to put down the phone, then
kept
both of them handcuffed for nearly five hours.
The March 20 raid by federal agents, one of 14 search-and-seizure
operations carried out at Muslim homes and organizations across
Northern
Virginia that day, was aimed at gathering information on possible
financial
links to Middle Eastern terrorist groups. No one was arrested in what
federal counterterrorism officials dubbed Operation Green Quest, and
the
results of the searches have not been made public.
But while much about the operation remains murky, one aspect is drawing
increased attention: the trauma that women who were home at the time
say
they suffered when their houses were raided.
Now the psychological damage allegedly inflicted by one branch of the
federal government is being treated with funding from another. Under a
federal grant to help people affected by Sept. 11 and its aftermath,
Fairfax County has been offering group counseling to Muslim women whose
homes were searched last March…
The six-hour search-and-seizure operation at her Herndon home
"terrorized
me and my 18-year-old daughter," Unus told about 60 people who attended
the
GMU gathering. The federal agents "humiliated us" and "treated us as
criminals," she complained.
Unus, who said she came to the United States in 1970 and long ago
became a
naturalized citizen, described Sept. 11, 2001, as "a horrible day" and
said
she supported President Bush's fight against terrorism…
Kareema Altomare, an American woman who converted to Islam 10 years
ago,
said she remains shocked and puzzled by the raid on the Graduate School
of
Islamic and Social Sciences in Leesburg, where she was working in the
dean's office. The school is authorized by the Defense Department to
train
Muslim chaplains and has gradated 10 of the 14 such chaplains currently
serving in the Armed Forces, she said.
Altomare complained that when she was questioned during the raid, a
Customs
agent asked her why "an intelligent woman like yourself" would choose
to
become a Muslim and wear the traditional style of dress for women…
SEE ALSO:
MUSLIMS FEEL TARGETED; RAIDS, OTHER ACTIONS CITED AT FAIRFAX MEETING
Paul Bradley, Richmond Times-Dispatch, 9/29/02
http://www.timesdispatch.com/
Fairfax, VA - Muslims who live and work in Northern Virginia fear that
the
country's war on terrorism has become a war on American Muslim
institutions, sweeping up innocent victims as authorities search for
links
to terrorist groups.
Last week, during a town hall-style meeting for the Muslim community at
George Mason University, a group of Muslims complained they have been
targeted because of their faith and victimized by heavy-handed tactics
from
overzealous law enforcement officials.
The meeting was organized by Azizah al-Hibri, a professor at the
University
of Richmond and widely known advocate of equal rights for Muslims, and
the
Constitution Project, a legal rights outreach organization based at
Georgetown University…
Armed with a post-9/11 law broadening the power of the FBI to
infiltrate
and monitor religious organizations, the bureau has swept up other
suspects
who have been detained for months without being charged, provoking
outcries
of a new kind of McCarthyism against Arabs.
Critics of the approach warn that authorities, in their zeal to shut
down
al-Qaida, may be alienating their best allies in the war on terror by
lumping the innocent with the guilty…
-----
FORMER BLACK PANTHER ARRAIGNED
Alvin Benn, Montgomery Advertiser, 10/02/02
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/NEWS/StoryAlabamarap02w.htm
Jamil Al-Amin was arraigned Tuesday in Federal District Court in
Montgomery
as prosecutors sought to add more jail time for the former Black
Panther
Party leader now serving life without parole for killing a deputy
sheriff
in Atlanta.
Al-Amin, once known as H. Rap Brown, was convicted earlier this year on
the
more serious charge and has filed an appeal.
Selma lawyer J. L. Chestnut, who represented Al-Amin before U.S.
Magistrate
Judge Charles Coody, said after the arraignment that "it's the position
of
the federal government that if you shoot at one of their people, they
will
prosecute."
"Personally, I think it's an insurance policy," said Chestnut, who
accompanied Atlanta lawyer John R. Martin at the arraignment. Martin
was
Al-Amin's lead lawyer during his murder trial.
Chestnut said the federal government wants to gain a second conviction
against Al-Amin in case he wins his appeal on the murder charge. If he
should be set free in Georgia and convicted in Alabama, he would remain
behind bars…
-----
DETAINEE HAS HIS DAY IN COURT
Kim Barker, Chicago Tribune, 10/2/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0210020175oct02,0,5289672.story
Detroit - A Muslim activist who has been locked up for 9 1/2 months
because
of suspected terrorism links testified in public for the first time
Tuesday, saying he should be released from federal custody because he
poses
no threat to national security and no flight risk…
Rabih Haddad, 42, was arrested in his Ann Arbor, Mich., home on a visa
violation on Dec. 14, as part of the government's investigation into
the
terrorist attacks. On the same day, federal agents also froze the bank
accounts and raided the Bridgeview, Ill., office of the Global Relief
Foundation, an Islamic charity that Haddad helped found and that
federal
officials say is linked to terrorism.
No criminal charges have been filed against Haddad or Global Relief...
At the hearing, Haddad's brother and wife also testified, saying that
Haddad was not dangerous and was an asset to the community.
"He's wonderful," said his wife, Salma al-Rushaid, who has four
children
with Haddad.
Haddad, a Lebanese national, has become the public face for the
hundreds of
people detained since Sept. 11 in connection with the terrorism
investigation. All the detainees' names were supposed to be secret; all
their hearings were supposed to be secret, to protect national
security.
Most have been deported…
SEE ALSO:
MUSLIM LEADER TESTIFIES HE'S NO THREAT, SHOULD BE GRANTED BOND
Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press, 10/2/02
http://www.freep.com/news/metro/haddad2_20021002.htm
DETROIT - Speaking in an open court for the first time since his
detention
nearly 10 months ago, Rabih Haddad, the Muslim leader accused by the
federal government of helping fund terrorism, defended his time in
Pakistan
as legitimate charity work…
Haddad testified he was only involved in charity work for Muslims.
"The reason I'm in this line of work is to please God," said Haddad.
Wednesday's hearing often was tense, as government and defense
attorneys
verbally sparred throughout the 8-hour-plus hearing…
-----
NEW U.S. ENTRY RULES WORRY ASIA'S MUSLIMS
Jane Macartney, Reuters, 10/2/02
SINGAPORE, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Whether to press an inky fingerprint for
an
indelible record and gain entry to the United States is a question
facing
many Asians after Washington imposed tight new rules this week.
Some may wonder whether doing business, even taking a holiday to see
the
Statue of Liberty, is worth the tedious, time-consuming and probably
humiliating process of entering a United States gripped by fears of a
new
wave of September 11-style attacks.
"I promised myself that I would not travel to the U.S. until they learn
the
difference between terrorists and Muslims," veteran former Malaysian
newspaper editor Datuk Kadir Jasin told Singapore's Straits Times after
three hours of interrogation this year at Des Moines International
Airport
in the central state of Iowa.
At the very least the new U.S. policy could prompt allegations of
racism.
Such charges could slice through the international support that
Washington
needs to retain and nurture in its fight against terror and that is
already
being put to the test as it seeks backing around the world for a war
against Iraq…
Jasin, former editor-in-chief of Malaysia's New Straits Times newspaper
group, said he had dropped the United States from his travel plans and
urged other Malaysians to go elsewhere to holiday or study.
"Muslims just see themselves as being targeted," said the Asia-based
political analyst.
"Anything (U.S. President George W.) Bush says that this is a war not
against Muslims but against terrorism is seen as a load of hogwash…"
SEE ALSO:
US REGRETS "INAPPROPRIATE TREATMENT" OF MALAYSIAN LEADERS
Agence France Presse, 10/2/02
KUALA LUMPUR - The United States Wednesday expressed regret for any
"inappropriate treatment" of Malaysian leaders after it was revealed
that
the deputy prime minister had to remove his shoes for a security check
on
arrival in Los Angeles.
"The US embassy sincerely regrets any inconveniences or inappropriate
treatment that senior Malaysian government officials may have
experienced
during their visits to the US," the Kuala Lumpur embassy said in a
statement.
The use of the plural "officials" is understood to include a complaint
by
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad about the "rough" attitude of a
security
agent who boarded his aircraft on arrival in New York. "When I arrived
in
New York on the way to Washington, an officer who boarded the jet said
in a
rough manner that nobody should move until we were all checked,"
Mahathir
told reporters Tuesday...
-----
U.S. PLANNING FOR REGIME CHANGE HAS QUIETLY BEGUN
Robin Wright and Sebastian Rotella, Los Angeles Times, 10/2/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fg-plan2oct02.story
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has quietly begun planning the
transition to a new government in Baghdad, built around a leader
emerging
from inside Iraq and a foreign military presence flexible enough to
meet
challenges in the country's three distinct regions, according to senior
administration officials.
In contrast to military plans that are already on President Bush's
desk,
the transition planning is still in a very early stage. But it reflects
the
growing sense of inevitability about both a conflict with Iraq and a
regime
change, even though Bush has not yet made the decision to go to war.
It also reflects growing pressure from Congress and U.S. allies to
address
problems that might come up after a conflict in the historically
unstable
country. "Militarily, it may not be that difficult for the United
States.
The problems will start afterward. It will be a lot more difficult than
in
Afghanistan," said Remy Leveau, a former French diplomat in the Middle
East
now at the Institute for Political Studies in Paris...
SEE ALSO:
U.S. LAWMAKERS DEFEND IRAQ TRIP, DECRY RUSH TO WAR
Laura MacInnis, Reuters, 10/2/02
WASHINGTON, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Two Democratic congressmen defended on
Wednesday their trip to Iraq against charges of being unpatriotic and
"un-American," saying they just wanted the United States to avoid a
rush to
war.
Reps. David Bonior of Michigan and James McDermott of Washington state
held
a news conference on Capitol Hill to discuss their findings during
their
five-day trip to Iraq, for which they were sharply criticized by
numerous
lawmakers.
California Democratic Rep. Mike Thompson, who accompanied them on the
trip,
did not attend the news conference.
Bonior, who until January held the No. 2 post in the House of
Representatives Democratic leadership, said the trip was meant convey
to
Iraq the severity of U.S. war threats.
While Congress was preparing a resolution authorizing President George
W.
Bush to use force against Iraq, Bonior said such an attack would put
American lives at risk -- soldiers in the war as well as U.S. embassy
personnel in the Arab world.
"Going to war is a very, very, very serious business," Bonior said.
"The
implications here are broad, they are staggering and they need to be
looked
at soberly, deliberately, and they need to be looked at in a way which
reflects the seriousness of war itself…"
---
U.S. FAULTED OVER ITS EFFORTS TO UNITE IRAQI DISSIDENTS
Judith Miller, New York Times, 10/2/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/02/international/middleeast/02OPPO.html
While endorsing "regime change" and democracy in Iraq, the Bush
administration is stumbling in its efforts to forge a cohesive
opposition
to Saddam Hussein. According to Iraqi opposition leaders and experts on
Iraq, its approach remains plagued by differences over who should lead
the
dissidents and who would rule the country most effectively if Mr.
Hussein
were overthrown.
In August, the administration sponsored a meeting of the six main Iraqi
opposition groups, trying to help them establish a united front. Yet,
according to the opposition groups and analysts on Iraq, this effort
has
been undercut by clashes between the Pentagon, on one side, and the
State
Department and Central Intelligence Agency on the other, over the role
of
the Iraqi National Congress.
That group has served for many years as the umbrella group for the
Iraqi
opposition. The tensions, critics of American policy say, have
seriously
complicated Washington's effort to prove that there is a popular,
democratic alternative to Mr. Hussein's dictatorship…
---
US THREATENS TO THWART INSPECTORS' RETURN TO IRAQ
Richard Beeston, London Times, 10/2/02
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-433359,00.html
Progress between Iraq and the United Nations hit an immediate snag last
night when Washington said that it would work to block the swift return
of
weapons inspectors.
Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, said that the inspectors
should
not go back to Iraq until they had received new instructions from the
UN
Security Council.
His intervention came after Iraqi officials in Vienna reached a
comprehensive agreement with Hans Blix, the UN's chief weapons
inspector,
that could see inspectors back in Baghdad within two weeks after a
four-year absence.
The deal, to be presented to the Security Council tomorrow, put Britain
and
the United States on the spot. London and Washington want a new UN
resolution to authorise force if President Saddam Hussein obstructs the
inspections. They are fighting France, China and Russia, all with a
veto on
the Security Council, who want inspectors to return as soon as
possible…
---
EXCERPTS OF US DRAFT UN RESOLUTION ON IRAQ
Reuters, 10/2/02
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Following are the operative sections
from
a U.S.-drafted U.N. Security Council resolution on Iraq. The four-page
document, obtained by Reuters on Tuesday and subject to revision, is
expected to be introduced later this week to the 15-nation body.
1. DECIDES that Iraq is still, and has been for a number of years, in
material breach of its obligations under relevant resolutions,
including
resolution 687 (1991), in particular through Iraq's failure to
cooperate
with United Nations inspectors and the IAEA (International Atomic
Energy
Agency) and to complete the actions required under paragraphs 6 to 13
of
resolution 687 (1991)
2. DECIDES that in order to begin to comply with its disarmament
obligations, the Government of Iraq shall provide to the Security
Council
prior to the beginning of inspections and not later than 30 days from
the
date of this resolution an acceptable and currently accurate, full and
complete declaration of all aspects of its programs to develop
chemical,
biological and nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, and unmanned aerial
vehicles, including all holdings and precise locations of such weapons,
components, subcomponents, stocks of agents, and related material and
equipment; the locations and work of its research, development and
production facilities, as well as all other chemical, biological and
nuclear programs, including any which it claims are for purposes not
related to weapon production or material;
3. DECIDES that Iraq shall provide UNMOVIC (the U.N. Monitoring,
Verification and Inspection Commission) and IAEA immediate,
unconditional
and unrestricted access to any and all areas, facilities, buildings,
equipment, records, and means of transport which they wish to inspect
as
well as immediate, unimpeded, unrestricted and private access to all
officials and other persons whom UNMOVIC or IAEA wish to interview
pursuant
to any aspect of their mandates; further decides that UNMOVIC and the
IAEA
may at their discretion conduct interviews inside or outside Iraq or
facilitate the travel of those interviewed and family members outside
of
Iraq, and that such interviews shall occur without the presence of
observers from the Iraqi government, and instructs UNMOVIC and requests
the
IAEA to resume inspections by (date left blank);
4. To that end, demands that Iraq immediately comply with its
obligations,
decides that Iraq shall submit to UNMOVIC all outstanding biannual
declarations, and decides that any permanent member of the Security
Council
can recommend to UNMOVIC and IAEA sites to be inspected, persons to be
interviewed, the conditions of such interviews, and data to be
collected,
and receive a report on the results;
5. DECIDES that, in view of the prolonged interruption by Iraq of the
presence of UNMOVIC and IAEA and in order for them to accomplish the
tasks
set forth in paragraph 3 above, the Security Council hereby establishes
the
following revised procedures, notwithstanding prior understandings, to
facilitate their work in Iraq: UNMOVIC and IAEA shall determine the
personnel on their inspection teams, except that any permanent member
of
the Security Council may request to be represented on any inspection
team
with the same rights and protections accorded other members of the
team, shall have unrestricted rights of entry into and out of Iraq,
the
right to free, unrestricted and immediate movement to and from
inspection
sites, and the right to inspect any sites and buildings,
including unrestricted access to presidential sites, notwithstanding
the
provisions of resolution 1154 (1998), shall be provided regional bases
and
operating bases throughout Iraq, including offices for inspection teams
in
regions outside Baghdad, shall have the right to the names of all
personnel
associated with Iraq's chemical, biological nuclear and ballistic
missile
programs and the associated research, development and production
facilities;
Teams shall be accompanied at their bases by sufficient U.N. security
forces to protect them; shall have the right to declare for the
purposes of
this resolution no-fly/no-drive zones, exclusion zones and/or ground
and
air transit corridors which shall be enforced by U.N. security forces
or by
member states; shall have the free and unrestricted use and landing of
fixed and rotary winged aircraft, including unmanned reconnaissance
vehicles; shall have the right at their sole discretion verifiably to
remove, destroy or render harmless all prohibited weapons, subsystems,
components, records, materials and other related items and the right to
impound or close any facilities or equipment for the production
thereof;
shall have the right to unrestricted voice and data communications,
including encrypted communication; shall have the right to free import
and
use of equipment or materials for inspections and to seize and export
any
equipment, materials, documents taken during inspections; and shall
have
access to any information that any member state is willing to provide.
Further decides these procedures shall be binding on Iraq.
6. DECIDES further that Iraq shall immediately cease, and shall not
take or
threaten hostile acts directed against any representative or personnel
of
the United Nations or of any member state taking action pursuant to any
Security Council resolutions.
7. REQUESTS the Secretary General immediately to notify Iraq of the
foregoing steps in paragraph (5) and decides that within seven days
following such notification, Iraq shall state its acceptance of these
steps
and the provisions of paragraph 2,3,4 and 6 above.
8. REQUESTS all member states to give full support to UNMOVIC and the
IAEA
on the discharge of their mandates, including by providing any
information
on Iraqi attempts, including since 1998, to acquire prohibited items;
9. DIRECTS the executive director of UNMOVIC and the director general
of
the IAEA to report immediately to the council any interference with or
problems with respect to the execution of their mission;
10. DECIDES that false statements or omissions in the declaration
submitted
by Iraq to the council and failure by Iraq at any time to comply and
cooperate fully in accordance with the provisions laid out in this
resolution, shall constitute a further material breach of Iraq's
obligations, and that such breach authorizes member states to use all
necessary means to restore international peace and security in the
area."
---
U.S. SHIPMENTS OF PATHOGENS TO IRAQ
Associated Press, 10/2/02
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/politics/4186725.htm
Shipments from the United States to Iraq of the kinds of pathogens
later
used in Iraq's biological weapons programs, according to records from
the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Senate Banking
Committee
and U.N. weapons inspectors…:
The American Type Culture Collection, a biological samples repository
in
Manassas, Va., sent two shipments of anthrax to Iraq in the 1980s.
Three
anthrax strains were in a May 1986 shipment sent to the University of
Baghdad, which U.N. inspectors later linked to Iraq's biological
weapons
program. A 1988 shipment from ATCC to Iraq also included four anthrax
strains…
ATCC sent six strains of Clostridium botulinum to the University of
Baghdad
in the May 1986 shipment. The September 1988 ATCC shipment to Iraq also
contained one strain of Clostridium botulinum.
In March 1986, the CDC sent samples of botulinum toxin and botulinum
toxiod
(used to make a vaccine against botulinum poisoning) directly to Iraq's
al-Muthanna complex, a center for Iraq's chemical weapons program and
the
site where Iraq restarted its dormant biological weapons program in
1985...
---
WHY JIM McDERMOTT IS A HERO
Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com, 10/2/02
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/justincol.html
There was Colette Avital, a Labor Party member of the Israeli Knesset,
on a
trip to Capitol Hill, worried about the prospect of war in the Middle
East.
Rep. Tom Lantos, the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on
International Affairs, took her by the hand, and, according to
Ha'aretz,
tried to reassure her with these soothing words:
"My dear Colette, don't worry. You won't have any problem with Saddam.
We'll be rid of the bastard soon enough. And in his place we'll install
a
pro-Western dictator, who will be good for us and for you."
Good for us, and for Israel - but not so good for Iraq. Oh well, c'est
la vie!
I can't really say I'm shocked - shocked! - at such a display of brazen
cynicism: and neither, I trust, are you. But I fear Ms. Avital was a
bit
taken aback by this confidence, and seemed hardly assuaged as Lantos
explained that this "interim period" of pro-Western autocracy "should
last
between five to six years." Yes, but…
The war hysteria is already building. Look at the crazed brouhaha over
the
visit of congressmen David Bonior, Jim McDermott and Mike Thompson to
Iraq.
They went on a humanitarian mission, in Iraq at the request of U.S.
church
groups, and McDermott said in a live interview on ABC's "This Week"
what
everyone knows to be true:
"I think the president would mislead the American people. It would not
surprise me if they came with some information that is not provable."
McDermott has become a lightning rod in the political storm over Iraq.
The
War Party wants to turn him into another Cynthia McKinney - but it
won't work.
This, after all, is the same gang that proposed an "Office of Strategic
Information" whose primary function - aside from the care and feeding
of
numerous Washington bureaucrats - was to lie to the media so as to
confuse
"the enemy" (and, incidentally, the American people - or do I repeat
myself?)...
-----
ARAB-AMERICAN LOBBY FINDS SMALL VICTORIES SWEET
Scott Shepard, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/wednesday/atlanta_world_d3a9a7fbe5c121eb001a.html
Washington --- The Arab-American lobby is no match for the American
Israel
Public Affairs Committee, in membership or money.
Yet while the lobby lost political contests with AIPAC this year, the
leaders of the far-flung alliance of Arab-American organizations
believe
they have never held a stronger hand in American politics.
"We try to be the little thorn in the side of the big elephant that is
called AIPAC," said Khalid Turaani, executive director of the
Washington-based American Muslims for Jerusalem, part of the loosely
knit
pro-Arab and pro-Muslim lobby. Where AIPAC's staff is counted by the
score,
Turaani's staff can be counted on one hand. Where AIPAC spends an
estimated
$13 million to $15 million a year, Turaani's organization spends less
than
$100,000 annually. The best funded of the more than 20 Arab and Muslim
lobbying organizations is the Arab American Institute, with an annual
budget of just over $1 million.
Consequently, said Turaani, the Arab-Muslim lobby often relies on
"grass-roots" organizations to publicize its concerns, groups such as
the
Southern Region arm of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
and
Atlanta Palestine Solidarity, the primary organizers of the protest
aimed
at the AIPAC national summit in Atlanta.
"We used to never be on the radar screen," he said. "Now we are."
The Arab-Muslim lobby sees reasons for celebrating, even in the
political
setbacks it suffered this year --- the passage of congressional
resolutions
of support for Israel and the loss of two sympathetic congressional
Democratic incumbents, Earl Hilliard of Alabama and Cynthia McKinney of
Georgia…
-----
A SPANISH BRIDGE TO ISLAM
Sara B. Miller, Christian Science Monitor, 10/2/02
http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2002/1002/p07s01-woeu.html
MADRID - As a teenager, Elena Rodriguez Arteaga visited the Alhambra,
Granada's great Moorish citadel, and became intrigued with Spain's
Muslim
past. She studied its role in her overwhelmingly Catholic country, and
the
more she learned, the more she wanted to know.
Three years ago, she converted to Islam. Now Ms. Arteaga, a nurse at a
public hospital in Madrid, uses her understanding of both the Western
and
Muslim worlds to help new immigrants - particularly women and children
-
adapt in Spain. As in much of the rest of Europe, politicians here
continue
to link immigration with increasing delinquency, and efforts to tighten
immigration laws are gaining ground as tensions between the native and
new
communities rise…
In the pueblo of Rio de Almodovar on Cordoba's outskirts, Kamila Toby,
an
American convert who married a Spanish convert, works with the
organization
A-Nisa, which stands for "woman" in Arabic, and helps give Islamic
women a
voice. She organized a conference for these women last spring, which
included such touchy subjects as birth control, and has organized trips
for
single women to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. She also helps run a
magazine
and website called Verde Islam, devoted to Islamic topics and to
explaining
cross-cultural misunderstandings…
The rejection of Spain's growing Muslim community is ironic, some here
say,
since the historic hybrid of Islam and Catholicism is one of the most
celebrated aspects of Spanish culture. It is not uncommon to find a
portrait of the Virgin Mary next to Arabic baths built during the 800
years
of Muslim rule. "Islam is very much a part of Spanish history, but it
is
very close and yet very far," says Abdel Bari, a history professor at
the
Ibn Rushd Islamic University, a private university founded in 1995 in
Cordoba. "People love it and reject it vigorously at the same time…"
-----
WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT ISLAM
Publishers Weekly, 9/30/02
John L. Esposito. Oxford, $17.95 (222p)
ISBN: 0-19-515713-3 (Islam/Introduction)
Georgetown professor Esposito has written an excellent primer on all
aspects of Islam. The question-and-answer format allows readers to
skip
ahead to areas that interests them, including hot button issues such as
"Why are Muslims so violent?" or "Why do Muslim women wear veils and
long
garments?" In his answers, which are anywhere from a paragraph to
several
pages long, Esposito elegantly educations the reader through what he
Qur'an
says, how Muslims are influenced by their local cultures, and how the
unique politics of Islamic countries affects Muslims views.
All three elements contribute to a fuller understanding of Islam. For
instance, in answering the question on veiling, Esposito accurately
clarifies that though the Qur'an instructs believers to be modest, it
does
not require head coverings. He continues by describing how the custom
of
veiling gained popularity in and after Muhammad's time as a status
symbol. He ends by pointing out how some women who veil today feel
they
are making a social protest against judgment based on appearance as
much as
they are fulfilling the modesty requirement. Occasionally Esposito
excludes some key information…
-----
TO BECOME A CAIR MEMBER, GO TO:
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/membership.asp
TO TAKE PART IN CAIR'S VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE, GO TO:
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/voting.asp
-----
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-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
CAIR ACTION ALERT #348
---
ACTION REQUESTED: Register online at
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/conference.asp, or fill out the form
below.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: CAIR needs volunteers to help organize this
important
event. Anyone who would like to offer his or her time and expertise
should
contact Hodan Hassan by calling 202-488-8787, or e-mail
hhassan@cair-net.org
---
MARTIN LUTHER KING III TO SPEAK AT CAIR DINNER
The Council on American-Islamic Relations cordially invites you to
attend
its Eighth Annual Fundraising Banquet:
"MUSLIMS IN AMERICA:DEFENDING FREEDOM, PROMOTING JUSTICE"
SPECIAL GUESTS:
Martin Luther King III
Dr. John Esposito
Imam Siraj Wahhaj
Rep. Cynthia McKinney
Other Special Guests Including
Elected Officials Who Stood By Muslims
2002 Islamic Community Service Awards
WHEN: Saturday, October 26, 2002
Registration begins at 6 p.m., program at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Sheraton Premiere at Tysons Corner
8661 Leesburg Pike, Tysons Corner/Vienna, VA
COST: Tickets: $55/$85 per couple R.S.V.P. by Oct. 22, 2002
No children please. (Limited babysitting with prior notice only - $10
per
child.) For information, call 202-488-8787
Register online at https://www.cair-net.org/asp/conference.asp, or fill
out
the form below.
--- CLIP AND E-MAIL, FAX OR MAIL ---
___ YES, I will attend. Enclosed is my payment, payable to CAIR, in the
amount of $______ for _____ seats.
___ SORRY, I will not be able to attend. But I would like to support
CAIR's
important work defending and promoting the image of Islam and the
rights of
Muslims by sending a donation of $______. Kindly reply by October 22,
2002.
Person Purchasing Tickets:
Address:
City:
State:
Zip:
Daytime Phone:
Evening Phone:
Names of Other Attendees:
Payment: ___Check ___VISA ___MasterCard ___Discover ___Money Order
Credit Card Number:
Exp. Date:
Name as on Card:
Signature: ________________________________________________
- PLEASE POST, COPY AND DISTRIBUTE -
-----
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To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
BREAKING NEWS: FALWELL CALLS PROPHET MOHAMMED A "TERRORIST"
http://www.drudgereport.com/flash.htm
The Rev. Jerry Falwell will call Islam's founder and most sacred
figure,
Mohammed, "a terrorist" on 60 MINUTES this Sunday night, the DRUDGE
REPORT
has learned.
"I think Mohammed was a terrorist. I read enough…by both Muslims and
non-Muslims, [to decide] that he was a violent man, a man of war,"
Falwell
tells CBS. "In my opinion…Jesus set the example for love, as did Moses,
and
I think Mohammed set an opposite example."
-----
CAIR ACTION ALERT #349
PAT ROBERTSON TO RECEIVE $500,000 WHITE HOUSE INITIATIVE GRANT
Evangelical called Prophet Muhammad a "killer," Muslims urged to
contact HHS
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/3/02) - CAIR today said televangelist Pat
Robertson
is unworthy to receive one of the first "faith-based" government grants
because of his attacks on the faith of Islam and its Prophet Muhammad
and
asked that the decision to give his group a grant be reconsidered.
Operation Blessing International, a charity created by Robertson, is
scheduled to receive $500,000 in the first wave of grants to be
distributed
under President Bush's faith-based initiative, a program that Robertson
himself denounced earlier this year. The Operation Blessing grant is
one of
25 to be announced today by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy
G.
Thompson.
SEE: "Robertson Charity Wins 'Faith-Based' Grant"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35217-2002Oct2.html
SEE: http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/faith-based/
In a recent appearance on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes"
program,
Robertson smeared both Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. About Muhammad,
Robertson said: "This man was an absolute wild-eyed fanatic. He was a
robber and a brigand. And to say that these terrorists distort Islam,
they're carrying out Islam…I mean, this man [Muhammad] was a killer.
And to
think that this is a peaceful religion is fraudulent." Robertson also
called Islam "a monumental scam" and claimed the Quran, Islam's
revealed
text, "is strictly a theft of Jewish theology."
Robertson has in the past repeatedly defamed Islam and Muslims on his
Christian Broadcasting Network "700 Club" program. He called Islam the
"religion of the slavers" and said Americans who converted to Islam
exhibited "insanity."
"Anyone who exhibits such bigoted, hate-filled views is unworthy to
receive
tax-payer dollars. Mr. Robertson should be repudiated, not rewarded,
for
his Islamophobic hate speech. The White House initiative must not
finance
those who would defame Islam and divide our nation," said CAIR
Executive
Director Nihad Awad. Awad added that it is hypocritical for Robertson
to
condemn the faith-based initiative on one hand, and then apply for and
accept a grant from that same program.
ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE.)
1) Contact HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson and the White House to ask
that
the decision to offer Robertson's group a grant be reconsidered.
CONTACT:
Sec. Tommy G. Thompson
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
FAX: 202-690-7203 E-MAIL: hhsmail@hhs.gov
COPY TO: president@whitehouse.gov, cair@cair-net.org
2) Help counter the attacks on Prophet Muhammad and Islam by taking
part in
CAIR's Library Project. Muslim individuals and groups to are urged to
sponsor 18-item "library packages" of books, videos and audio cassettes
about Islam and Muslims, which will then be distributed to as many as
16,000 public libraries nationwide. (One of the books in the package is
a
biography of the Prophet.) Some 445 library packages have already been
sponsored.
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
- PLEASE POST, COPY AND DISTRIBUTE -
-----
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http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
CORRECTION: The e-mail address for Sec. Thompson distributed earlier
was
incorrect. The actual address is: lynda.gyles@hhs.gov
Please re-send any comments.
-----
CAIR ACTION ALERT #349
PAT ROBERTSON TO RECEIVE $500,000 WHITE HOUSE INITIATIVE GRANT
Evangelical called Prophet Muhammad a “killer,” Muslims urged to
contact HHS
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/3/02) CAIR today said televangelist Pat
Robertson is
unworthy to receive one of the first “faith-based” government grants
because of his attacks on the faith of Islam and its Prophet Muhammad
and
asked that the decision to give his group a grant be reconsidered.
Operation Blessing International, a charity created by Robertson, is
scheduled to receive $500,000 in the first wave of grants to be
distributed
under President Bush’s faith-based initiative, a program that Robertson
himself denounced earlier this year. The Operation Blessing grant is
one of
25 to be announced today by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy
G.
Thompson.
SEE: “Robertson Charity Wins 'Faith-Based' Grant”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35217-2002Oct2.html
SEE: http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/faith-based/
In a recent appearance on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity & Colmes”
program,
Robertson smeared both Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. About Muhammad,
Robertson said: “This man was an absolute wild-eyed fanatic. He was a
robber and a brigand. And to say that these terrorists distort Islam,
they're carrying out Islam…I mean, this man [Muhammad] was a killer.
And to
think that this is a peaceful religion is fraudulent.” Robertson also
called Islam “a monumental scam” and claimed the Quran, Islam’s
revealed
text, “is strictly a theft of Jewish theology.”
Robertson has in the past repeatedly defamed Islam and Muslims on his
Christian Broadcasting Network “700 Club” program. He called Islam the
“religion of the slavers” and said Americans who converted to Islam
exhibited “insanity.”
“Anyone who exhibits such bigoted, hate-filled views is unworthy to
receive
tax-payer dollars. Mr. Robertson should be repudiated, not rewarded,
for
his Islamophobic hate speech. The White House initiative must not
finance
those who would defame Islam and divide our nation,” said CAIR
Executive
Director Nihad Awad. Awad added that it is hypocritical for Robertson
to
condemn the faith-based initiative on one hand, and then apply for and
accept a grant from that same program.
ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE.)
1) Contact HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson and the White House to ask
that
the decision to offer Robertson’s group a grant be reconsidered.
CONTACT:
Sec. Tommy G. Thompson
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
FAX: 202-690-7203 E-MAIL: lynda.gyles@hhs.gov
COPY TO: president@whitehouse.gov, cair@cair-net.org
2) Help counter the attacks on Prophet Muhammad and Islam by taking
part in
CAIR’s Library Project. Muslim individuals and groups to are urged to
sponsor 18-item “library packages” of books, videos and audio cassettes
about Islam and Muslims, which will then be distributed to as many as
16,000 public libraries nationwide. (One of the books in the package is
a
biography of the Prophet.) Some 445 library packages have already been
sponsored.
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
- PLEASE POST, COPY AND DISTRIBUTE -
-----
To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to:
http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/4/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: THOSE WHO KNEW HIM, LOVED HIM
* GOOD NEWS: DONOR SPONSORS 65 LIBRARY PACKAGES
* REGISTER FOR CAIR'S ANNUAL DINNER
* MUSLIM AMERICAN HERITAGE DAY SUNDAY IN DC
* TX POLITICIANS TO ADDRESS MUSLIMS AT VOTER REGISTRATION PICNIC
- Resources: State Voter Registration Deadlines
* ELECTED OFFICIALS ATTEND EVENT WITH MUSLIM-BASHERS
- Jerry Falwell Calls Islam's Prophet a 'Terrorist' (AP)
- Robertson's Operation Blessing Receives $500,000 Federal Grant (AP)
* TOLERANCE PLEA IS STIRRING CONTENTION (New York Times)
- Divestment Petition Is Not Anti-Semitic (Boston Globe)
* ISRAELI OFFICIAL DENIES REPORT THAT MOSSAD FOLLOWED 9/11 TERRORISTS
(Ha'aretz)
- 9/11: What Did Israel Know? (Antiwar.com)
* AL-AQSA MOSQUE 'MAY COLLAPSE' (Guardian)
- Israeli Police Storm Muslim Compound (AP)
- Troops Critically Wound Palestinian Boy-Witnesses (Reuters)
* EDITORIAL: THE STONES OF BAGHDAD (New York Times)
* EID STAMP TO BE ISSUED (Philadelphia Inquirer)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: THOSE WHO KNEW HIM, LOVED HIM
A companion of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) described him
by
saying: "Anyone who saw him suddenly stood in awe of him, and anyone
who
made his acquaintance loved him. Those who described him said they had
never seen anyone like him before or since."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1524
-----
GOOD NEWS: DONOR SPONSORS 65 LIBRARY PACKAGES
Alhamdulillah (praise be to God), one donor sponsored 65 library
packages.
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 539 sponsorships for book and tape
packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the Country. Take
part
in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item "library
package."
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
REGISTER FOR CAIR'S ANNUAL DINNER
Registration is open for CAIR's 8th Annual Dinner in Washington, D.C.,
may
call (202) 488-8787, email register@cair-net.org or fill out the form
below. There will an opportunity to register for the dinner at CAIR's
Muslim Heritage Day booth this Sunday in Washington, D.C. (See below.)
--- CLIP AND E-MAIL, FAX OR MAIL ---
___ YES, I will attend. Enclosed is my payment, payable to CAIR, in the
amount of $______ for _____ seats.
___ SORRY, I will not be able to attend. But I would like to support
CAIR's
important work defending and promoting the image of Islam and the
rights of
Muslims by sending a donation of $______. Kindly reply by October 22,
2002.
Person Purchasing Tickets:
Address:
City:
State:
Zip:
Daytime Phone:
Evening Phone:
Names of Other Attendees:
Payment: ___Check ___VISA ___MasterCard ___Discover ___Money Order
Credit Card Number:
Exp. Date:
Name as on Card:
Signature: ________________________________________________
-----
MUSLIM AMERICAN HERITAGE DAY SUNDAY IN DC
WHAT: First Annual Muslim American Heritage Day
WHEN: Sunday October 6th, 2002, 9 A.M. to 6:30 P.M.
WHERE: Freedom Plaza, Washington D.C.
Fun for the whole family - activities for adults and children
For further information, go to http://www.islam-day.org/
Sponsored by: Muslim American Society
-----
TX POLITICIANS TO ADDRESS MUSLIMS AT VOTER REGISTRATION PICNIC
WHAT: The Austin chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
on
Saturday will hold a picnic where Muslim voters can hear from
candidates.
The event is the first of its kind in Austin. Statewide and local
candidates are expected to attend.
WHEN: Saturday, October 5, 2 P.M.
WHERE: Bartholomew Park, 5201 Berkman Drive, Austin, TX
There will be entertainment, including Al-Nojoum, an Arab band from
Dallas;
children's activities; and a variety of ethnic food.
For more information, call Saleem Shafi, CAIR-Austin branch president,
at
(512)577-2247 or visit the Web site at www.cair-austin.org/MVP.org.
RESOURCES: STATE VOTER REGISTRATION DEADLINES
http://www.fec.gov/votregis/state_voter_reg_deadlines02.htm
TO TAKE PART IN CAIR'S VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE, GO TO:
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/voting.asp
-----
ELECTED OFFICIALS ATTEND EVENT WITH MUSLIM-BASHERS
CHRISTIAN COALITION TO CONVENE FOR SPIRITUAL AND POLITICAL RENEWAL
http://www.cc.org/becomeinformed/pressreleases081902.html
http://www.cc.org/events/information.html
WASHINGTON D.C. - Roberta Combs, President of the Christian Coalition
of
America, today announced the organization's God Bless America - One
Nation
Under God, Road to Victory 2002 Conference to be held in the nation's
capital at the Washington Convention Center October 11 and 12…
Among the confirmed speakers are: Coalition Founder Pat Robertson,
House
Majority Whip Tom DeLay, Dr. Jerry Falwell, Senator James Inhofe, Rev.
James Robison, Ambassador Alan Keyes, Congressman Bob Goodlatte,
Colonel
Oliver North, Senator Jesse Helms, Zig Ziglar, Congressman Dave Weldon,
Rabbi Daniel Lapin, Congressman Ernest Istook, Judge Roy Moore,
Congressman
Walter Jones, Donna Rice Hughes, Congressman Henry Brown, and many
others…
During the Road to Victory conference, the Coalition is sponsoring a
Christian Solidarity for Israel Rally on the Ellipse in Washington on
October 11 from 2 to 4 PM. Thousands of friends of Israel will assemble
on
the Ellipse to raise their voices in unison for the support of Israel.
ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE.)
Ask Rep. Tom DeLay and the other elected officials to repudiate
anti-Muslim
bigotry by canceling their appearances at any events, like the one
described above, that offer praise for those who attack Islam and
Muslims.
Rep. Tom DeLay (TX)
2370 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-5951
Fax: (202) 225-5241
http://tomdelay.house.gov/
Senator Jim Inhofe (OK)
453 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-3603
Phone: 202-224-4721
Fax: 202-228-0380
http://inhofe.senate.gov/
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (VA)
Washington, DC Office:
2240 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-5431
Fax: (202) 225-9681
http://www.house.gov/goodlatte/
Rep. Dave Weldon (FL)
332 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-0195
Phone: (202) 225-3671
Fax: (202) 225-3516
http://www.house.gov/weldon/
Rep. Ernest J. Istook (OK)
2404 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2132
Fax: (202) 226-1463
E-mail: istook@mail.house.gov
http://www.house.gov/istook/
Rep. Walter Jones (NC)
United States House of Representatives
422 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202 225-3415
Fax: 202 225-3286
http://www.house.gov/jones/
Rep. Henry Brown (SC)
1017 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-3176
Fax: (202) 225-3407
http://www.house.gov/henrybrown/email.html
Rep. J.C. Watts, Jr. (OK)
1007 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-6165
Fax: 202-225-3512
http://watts.house.gov/contact.asp
SEE ALSO:
JERRY FALWELL CALLS ISLAM'S PROPHET A 'TERRORIST'
Associated Press, 10/4/02
http://www.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/03/falwell.muhammad.ap/index.html
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Rev. Jerry Falwell says "I think Muhammad was a
terrorist" in an interview to be broadcast Sunday on the CBS program
"60
Minutes."
The conservative Baptist minister tells correspondent Bob Simon he has
concluded from reading Muslim and non-Muslim writers that Islam's
prophet
"was a -- a violent man, a man of war."
"Jesus set the example for love, as did Moses," Falwell says. "I think
Muhammad set an opposite example."
CBS released a partial transcript of the interview Thursday. Falwell's
comments occur in a segment about American conservative Christians'
political support for Israel.
Falwell stood by his opinion in a telephone interview with The
Associated
Press. He said Simon asked directly whether Falwell considered Muhammad
a
terrorist and he tried to reply honestly. The minister said he would
never
state his opinion in a sermon or book...
Other conservative Protestant clergy have made sharply critical remarks
about Islam and Muhammad in the past year. They include Franklin
Graham,
Billy Graham's son and successor, TV evangelist Pat Robertson and
leaders
in the Southern Baptist Convention.
In response to Falwell's remarks, Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the
Council
on American-Islamic Relation in Washington, said: "Anybody is free to
be a
bigot if they want to. What really concerns us is the lack of reaction
by
mainstream religious and political leaders, who say nothing when these
bigots voice these attacks."
Hooper noted that Falwell and Robertson will speak at next week's
Christian
Coalition convention in Washington alongside House Majority Whip Tom
DeLay
and other politicians.
"How can these elected representatives legitimize this kind of hate
speech
by appearing on the same platform with Islamophobes and
Muslim-bashers?"
Hooper asked...
---
ROBERTSON'S OPERATION BLESSING RECEIVES $500,000 FEDERAL GRANT
Associated Press, 10/3/02
A charity founded by Pat Robertson is to receive $500,000 in the first
wave
of grants under President Bush's "faith-based initiative," which the
religious broadcaster had criticized.
The money for Virginia Beach-based Operation Blessing International was
among $25 million in Compassion Capital Fund grants that were announced
Thursday for 21 groups, including several that are deeply religious in
nature as well as traditional social service providers.
The grants are the first tangible result of the "faith-based
initiative,"
which stalled in Congress amid debate over how religious programs can
get
government money without running afoul of the constitutional separation
of
church and state. In March, Robertson said on his "700 Club" television
show that the program to give federal money to religious organizations
that
provide social services was a "Pandora's box" that could make
legitimate
religious charities dependent on government and finance cults that
"brainwash" prospective adherents.
Robertson said the groups getting funds "will begin to be nurtured, if
I
can use that term, on federal money, and then they can't get off of
it,"
according to The Washington Post. He added, "It'll be like a narcotic;
they
can't then free themselves later on…"
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, an Islamic civil rights and
advocacy group, issued a statement Thursday saying Robertson should not
receive the grant because of comments he has made about Islam.
For example, in 1997, Muslim leaders demanded that Robertson apologize
for
saying on his program that converting to Islam "is nothing short of
insanity" because it is the religion of those who sold Africans into
slavery. A spokeswoman said at the time that Robertson's remarks were
taken
out of context.
"Anyone who exhibits such bigoted views is unworthy to receive taxpayer
dollars," CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said. "Mr. Robertson
should be
repudiated, not rewarded, for his Islamophobic hate speech…"
-----
TOLERANCE PLEA IS STIRRING CONTENTION
Tamar Lewin, New York Times, 10/4/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/04/education/04PETI.html
On Monday, the American Jewish Committee will release a statement
calling
for "intimidation-free" campuses, signed by more than 300 university
and
college presidents.
But because the statement, which has circulated quietly among nearly
1,900
college presidents since August, specifically mentions only
intimidation
against Jewish students, it has become the latest focus of the Middle
East
tensions unfolding on the nation's campuses...
Although the statement calls for campus debates to be "conducted
without
threats, taunts, or intimidation," it mentions only Jewish students as
the
targets of harassment.
Mr. Chace, of Emory, said he had heard from several college presidents
around the country who were bothered by the "asymmetry" of the
statement.
"I originally signed because of the appeal to peace and comity, and
peaceful resolution of issues," he said. "I was prompted to rethink it,
after calls from colleagues who had problems with it. I couldn't reach
Jim
Freedman, so I called Ken Stern at the American Jewish Committee and
asked,
on behalf of several presidents, if the statement could be changed to
add
another paragraph that would make it more symmetrical. He said it
couldn't..."
Joan W. Scott, leader of the American Association of University
Professors'
committee on academic freedom, was troubled by the statement on
different
grounds.
"I thought it was great till I got to the paragraph about the Jewish
students," Ms. Scott said. "Then I was appalled because it was, to put
it
nicely, so asymmetrical. If you count it up, there have been far more
attacks and harassment of Muslims and people expressing pro-Palestinian
views than on those who support Israeli foreign policy."
---
DIVESTMENT PETITION IS NOT ANTI-SEMITIC
Faculty Members at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute
of
Technology, Boston Globe, 10/4/02
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/277/oped/Divestment_petition_is_not_anti_Semitic+.shtml
The conditions specified in the Harvard-MIT divestment petition accord
with
UN Security Council resolutions and the Fourth Geneva Convention, are
uncontroversial in most of the world, and have considerable support in
Israel itself. Nevertheless, the petition has raised a firestorm of
criticism. It has been denounced as a one-sided attempt to harm Israel
by
undermining its security, and it has been characterized as anti-Semitic
by
Harvard University's president, Lawrence Summers, and his defenders.
These claims are false, and they divert attention from the central
question
of how to bring peace and security to all people in the Middle East.
The
divestment petition calls for unilateral actions by Israel to address a
dangerous imbalance in the Middle East.
Tragedies, errors, and wrongs have occurred on both sides of the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but the conflict is not symmetric. Israel
is
an independent nation, Palestine is not. Palestinians live under
Israeli
occupation, not the reverse. Palestinians are killed by the Israeli
military acting under orders from the government; Israelis are killed
by
individuals with no sovereign government to represent or restrain them…
Our petition does not seek to undermine Israel's security. On the
contrary,
we believe that continued occupation of Palestinian territories poses
the
greatest threat to the security of Israelis, Palestinians, and
Americans.
By destroying Palestinian lives and livelihoods, confiscating their
lands,
and preventing access to such basic necessities as medical care and
education, Israeli government actions give Palestinians little reason
to
believe in the possibility of peace…
-----
ISRAELI OFFICIAL DENIES REPORT THAT MOSSAD FOLLOWED 9/11 TERRORISTS
Ha'aretz, 10/4/02
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=215843
Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Danny Ayalon on Thursday rejected a
report
published by the German newspaper Die Zeit, according to which Israeli
Mossad agents tracked the perpetrators of the September 11 terror
attacks
for an extended period of time, and passed over information on them to
the
CIA and the U.S. administration.
Ayalon said in an interview on Army Radio that there were no Mossad
agents
operating in the United States.
According to the Die Zeit report, which is to be published Friday, the
CIA
ignored the information on the terrorists and deported the Mossad
agents.
The agents rented an apartment in Florida in December 2000, close to
the
apartments of Mohammed Atta and Marwan al Shehhi, both of whom were
aboard
the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center.
According to the paper, the agents followed Atta and al Shehhi,
discovered
that they were taking flying lessons at the Florida Airman flight
school
and passed the information on to the U.S. administration.
---
9/11: WHAT DID ISRAEL KNOW?
Justin Raimondo, Antiwar, 10/4/02
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/justincol.html
Israel had foreknowledge of 9/11 - that was Carl Cameron's explosive
contention, made last year in a blockbuster series of reports on Fox
News
exposing an Israeli spy ring in the U.S. New evidence confirms his
story -
and points to a rather ominous conclusion…
Reporting the round-up and deportation of scores of Israeli agents -
masquerading as "art students" - Cameron noted last December that
several
were "active Israeli military" and the rest had skills that one
normally
associates with spies: electronic interception, explosives, and special
operations. Several failed polygraph tests when asked if they were
engaged
in "surveillance activities against and in the United States." Aside
from
trying to penetrate U.S. government facilities, this network, which
went
into high gear in the months prior to 9/11, was also watching the Al
Qaeda
terrorists, according to Cameron…
The story refused to die. A secret government report (originating with
the
Drug Enforcement Agency) detailing the highly suspicious activities of
these aspiring Israeli "artists" was subsequently uncovered, and a
series
of stories appeared in the international media: Le Monde, the British
media, and then leaping across the Atlantic. An excellent article in
Salon,
by Christopher Ketcham, and wire stories detailing the leaked contents
of
the DEA report raised awareness of a possible Israeli connection to the
events surrounding 9/11…
In considering the mystery of how the Mossad and Al Qaeda came to be
next
door neighbors, I am reminded of this little exchange between Brit Hume
and
Carl Cameron at the end of their December 11 broadcast:
HUME: "Carl, what about this question of advanced knowledge of what was
going to happen on 9-11? How clear are investigators that some Israeli
agents may have known something?"
CAMERON: "It's very explosive information, obviously, and there's a
great
deal of evidence that they say they have collected - none of it
necessarily
conclusive. It's more when they put it all together. A bigger question,
they say, is how could they not have known?"
Inquiring minds want to know….
-----
AL-AQSA MOSQUE 'MAY COLLAPSE'
Chris McGreal, Guardian, 10/4/02
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,804180,00.html
Ariel Sharon risks provoking another Palestinian backlash over control
of
the Temple Mount in Jerusalem as he decides in the coming days what to
do
about a large and unstable bulge in a wall of one of Islam's holiest
sites.
Archaeologists have warned the prime minister that without urgent
repairs
the mount's southern wall and buildings attached to it - including the
al-Aqsa mosque - could collapse on some of the hundreds of thousands of
Muslim worshippers who are expected to visit during Ramadan, which
begins
next month…
Wakf's director, Adnan Husseini, accused the government of using the
bulge
to try to assert control over the mount.
"The Israeli side is trying to make from this problem a very dangerous
political issue. They want to gain a foothold," he told the Voice of
Palestine radio…
Mr Husseini says Wakf has attempted some repairs, but claims that the
Israeli government has effectively blocked the religious trust.
"The Israelis are hampering the work in accordance with instructions
from
the highest echelons," he said. "The Israeli authorities bear the
responsibility for any loss of lives from a collapse of the wall."
A small group of Jews has urged Mr Sharon not to repair the wall
because
they say its collapse would destroy the "pagan Arab presence on the
Temple
Mount"...
Non-Muslim worshippers have been banned from the mount since Mr
Sharon's
destabilising visit. But the prime minister favours re-opening the site
to
Jews over the objections of Jerusalem's mufti, Sheikh Akram al-Subri.
---
ISRAELI POLICE STORM MUSLIM COMPOUND
Associated Press, 10/4/02
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli police stormed the main mosque compound in the
heart of Jerusalem and fired stun grenades Friday after Muslim
worshippers
threw rocks at Jews praying at the Western Wall below, police said.
About 50 police officers stormed the compound, the most contentious
site in
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The officers later withdrew, Israel
Radio
said.
There were no reports of injuries or damage.
Police said they acted after several dozen youths began throwing rocks
at
police officers at an entrance to the mosque compound and some rocks
fell
on Jewish worshippers below…
---
TROOPS CRITICALLY WOUND PALESTINIAN BOY--WITNESSES
Reuters, 10/4/02
NABLUS, West Bank - Israeli troops fired at a taxi driver breaking
curfew
in an occupied West Bank city on Friday but instead hit and critically
wounded a 12-year-old Palestinian boy standing nearby, witnesses and
medics
said…
Witnesses said the boy, Ibrahim al-Madani, was cut down by shots aimed
at
the cab driver who had jumped out of his car to avoid troops in jeeps
trying to detain him near the entrance of the Palestinians' Askar
refugee camp.
In Jenin, another of the six West Bank cities under army occupation,
Palestinian witnesses said Israeli troops fired at random and wounded
four
civilians, after being shot at by Palestinian gunmen during a tank
patrol…
-----
EDITORIAL: THE STONES OF BAGHDAD
Nicholas D. Kristoff, New York Times, 10/4/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/04/opinion/04KRIS.html
BAGHDAD, Iraq - From their perch in Washington, President Bush and his
advisers seem to have convinced themselves that an invasion will
proceed
easily because many Iraqis will dance in the streets to welcome
American
troops. That looks like a potentially catastrophic misreading of Iraq.
Consider Dahlia Abdulrahim and Intidhar Abdulrahim, two young women I
met
at an English-language used-book shop in Baghdad. Dahlia reads romance
novels, while Intidhar favors Thomas Hardy. So will they be cheering
the
American troops rolling through Baghdad?
"I will throw stones at them," Dahlia said.
"Maybe I will throw knives," Intidhar said brightly.
Those two women are broadly representative of Iraqis I spoke to. If
American military strategy assumes popular support from Iraqis
facilitating
an invasion and occupation, the White House is making an error that
could
haunt us for years…
"You see this?" asked a seething university president, waving a pencil
in
the air. "It took 15 months just to import pencils for our students."
(The
reason was both bureaucracy and the possibility that graphite could be
misused for weapons.)
Worse, U.S. bombing of water treatment plants, difficulties importing
purification chemicals like chlorine (which can be used for weapons),
and
shortages of medicines led to a more than doubling of infant mortality,
according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization…
-----
EID STAMP TO BE ISSUED
STAMP-COLLECTING NEWS AND NOTES
Dominic Sama, Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/4/02
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/magazine/daily/4207787.htm
The U.S. Postal Service annually designates October as National Stamp
Collecting Month and promotes the hobby by issuing stamps that appeal
to
youth. Last month, a block of four 37-cent stamps depicting bats kicked
off
the celebration.
In addition, the Postal Service issues its holiday stamps in October to
continue interest in collecting. Next Thursday (Oct. 10), four holiday
stamps, all 37 cents, will be issued commemorating Christmas, Hanukkah,
Kawanzaa and the Muslim Eid…
The Eid stamp depicts the Arabic phrase of "Eid mubarak," which
translates
to blessed festival. The stamp commemorates two important festivals, or
eids, in the Islamic calendar: Eid al-Fitr or the breaking of the fast,
and, 10 days later, the Eid al-Adha, or feast of the sacrifice.
First-day requests should be sent to Eid Stamp, Postmaster, Special
Cancellations, Box 92282, Washington, D.C., 20090-2282…
-----
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In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/4/2002
HEADLINES:
* CAIR REPRESENTATIVE TO DEBATE FALWELL ON "HARDBALL"
* SOME ARAB, MUSLIM VISITORS GET INCREASED INS SCRUTINY (Washington
Times)
* PETITION FOR 'INTIMIDATION-FREE' CAMPUSES STIRS DEBATE (AP)
* EXTREMIST LABEL DOESN'T FIT: UO INSTRUCTOR WRONGLY TAGGED
(Register-Guard)
-----
CAIR REPRESENTATIVE TO DEBATE FALWELL ON "HARDBALL"
CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper will appear this evening (9
p.m. ET) on MSNBC's "Harball" with Chris Matthews to discuss Jerry
Falwell's defamatory attacks on the Prophet Muhammad, which will be
broadcast Sunday night on CBS.
COMMENTS TO: hardball@msnbc.com
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org
-----
SOME ARAB, MUSLIM VISITORS GET INCREASED INS SCRUTINY
Tom Ramstack, WASHINGTON TIMES, 10/4/02
http://www.washtimes.com/business/20021004-31539441.htm
The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service introduced security
procedures at airports and borders this week that included
photographing
and fingerprinting visitors from Arab and Muslim countries.
"The main purpose of this system is to know who's coming into the
country,
what they're doing when they're here and whether they leave when
they're
supposed to leave," said Jorge Martinez, Justice Department spokesman.
"Obviously, the goal is to protect America from another unfortunate
event
like on September 11."
As many as 200,000 visitors a year would be subjected to the new
procedures
at more than 300 ports of entry, the Justice Department said. The
figure
could increase if intelligence reports indicate a risk from other
persons
or groups. The procedures include questions about whether the visitors
have
traveled to countries hostile to the United States and their plans in
this
country…
Muslim leaders said the Justice Department guidelines unfairly target
travelers based on their nationality or religion.
"This is not going to improve the security of the traveling public or
of
the American public in general," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the
Council on American-Islamic Relations. "It creates a false sense of
security and creates a great deal of resentment in the entire Muslim
world
when ordinary people are treated as though they're criminals."
The American Civil Liberties Union called the INS guidelines
"discriminatory."
"The Bush administration is, step by step, isolating Muslim and Arab
communities both in the eyes of the government and the American
public,"
said legislative counsel Timothy Edgar…
-----
PETITION FOR 'INTIMIDATION-FREE' CAMPUSES STIRS DEBATE
STEVE GIEGERICH, Associated Press, 10/4/02
NEW YORK - More than 300 university and college presidents have signed
a
petition calling for "intimidation-free" campuses so pro-Israeli
students
will not be hassled for their beliefs, a Jewish advocacy group said
Friday.
The petition calls for debates on the Middle East conflict to be
"conducted
without threats, taunts, or intimidation."
Muslim advocates and some educators are concerned the petition, which
will
be released Monday by the American Jewish Committee with a full-page ad
in
The New York Times, only mentions Jewish students as subjects of such
harassment. "In the past few months, students who are Jewish or
supporters
of Israel's right to exist - Zionists - have received death threats and
threats of violence," the petition says…
Hodan Hassan, a spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations,
argued that Arab and Muslim students were being intimidated on campus,
not
pro-Israeli groups, especially since Sept. 11. Students are growing
more
aware of Palestinian suffering and Israel supporters have confused that
change with discrimination, Hassan said.
"If we're going to address the situation on campuses with regard to
intimidation it needs to be fair and balanced," she said…
-----
EXTREMIST LABEL DOESN'T FIT: UO INSTRUCTOR WRONGLY TAGGED
Register-Guard, 9/30/02
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2002/09/30/ed.edit.card.0930.html
A University of Oregon instructor has become the unwilling and
undeserving
target of accusations of anti-Israeli extremism. The sad case of
Douglas
Card teaches several lessons - about the dangers of rushing to
judgment,
about the value of a free exchange of ideas, and about the importance
of
maintaining perspective in a time of escalating tensions.
Card teaches sociology at the UO, and is familiar to Register-Guard
readers
as the author of occasional opinion articles dealing with 19th century
Oregon history. Through casual contacts over the years, we've come to
know
him as the opposite of an extremist - a man who is willing to examine
all
points of view in search of common ground. Card is opinionated, to be
sure,
but he's also broad-minded to a fault.
Thus it was a surprise to see Card's name show up on a list of American
academics who harbor a virulent hostility toward Israel. Columnist
Daniel
Pipes, writing in The New York Post on July 25, named half a dozen
professors on campuses around the country who had used their classrooms
as
megaphones for anti-Israeli, even anti-Semitic, propaganda…
That doesn't sound like the Douglas Card we know. It rang false to
others
as well, ranging from Tamam Adi, director of the Islamic Cultural
Center of
Eugene, to Rabbi Yitzhak Husband-Hankin of Eugene's Temple Beth Israel,
who
contacted Pipes on Card's behalf…
Pipes' column went from The New York Post and other newspapers into
cyberspace, where Card has been electronically branded as an enemy of
Israel. Card has received hundreds of e-mail messages from around the
country and the world, many of them merely annoying and some of them
disturbing. On the basis of an unsubstantiated claim based on hasty
research by a single columnist 3,000 miles away, Card has been smeared…
Anti-Semitism is real, and sometimes it wears the guise of criticism of
Israel. But if Card belongs on a list of anti-Israeli extremists, that
kind
of extremism can't be much of a problem on American college campuses.
By
naming Card, Pipes undercuts the credibility of warnings about
anti-Semitism on college campuses and elsewhere - such alarms become
more
likely to be dismissed as exaggerated at best, erroneous at worst…
There's no room on campus for violence or intimidation against Jews or
anyone else; nor is there room for attempts to limit the free exchange
of
ideas and opinions. When people like Douglas Card begin showing up on
lists
of extremists, the lists look like efforts to shrink the space for the
latter rather than the former…
Pipes' list may be a symptom of a narrowing tolerance for dissenting
views.
It will be vital for Americans on college campuses and elsewhere to
respect
the opinions of others, to avoid rushes to judgment and to value the
clash
of viewpoints as an essential part of democratic decision-making.
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In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/6/2002
HEADLINES:
* EDITORIAL: DEFAMING ISLAM (Washington Post)
- HORNET'S NEST PROVOKING TROUBLE (Charleston Gazette)
- MUSLIMS PROTEST FALWELL INTERVIEW (Houston Chronicle)
- FALLWELL ASKED TO APOLOGIZE (UPI)
- ADL CONDEMNS FALWELL'S ANTI-MUSLIM REMARKS
* F.B.I. IS TRACKING HUNDREDS OF MUSLIMS (New York Times)
* COMMUNITY HURT BY MUSLIM ABSENCES (Charlotte Observer)
* ARABS FEEL U.S. SHOULD BE MORE BALANCED - POLL (Reuters)
* STEPHEN "SULEYMAN AHMAD" SCHWARTZ TO SPEAK AT ISRAELI EMBASSY
- BACKGROUND: WHO IS STEPHEN SCHWARTZ?
-----
EDITORIAL: DEFAMING ISLAM
The Washington Post, 10/6/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45764-2002Oct4.html
ONE OF THE high-water marks after Sept. 11 last year was President
Bush's
leadership in urging Americans not to condemn Islam because of the
actions
of extremists in the name of their faith. He set aside his war planning
to
visit the mosque at the Islamic Center of Washington, where he reminded
the
nation that "Islam is peace" and admonished Americans not to take out
their
anger on innocent American Arabs and Muslims...
The same, however, cannot be said of some key leaders of the religious
right in America who are counted among President Bush's closest
political
allies. And on their noxious mix of religious bigotry and anti-Muslim
demagoguery, Mr. Bush's silence is deafening.
We have in mind several religious conservative leaders who count Mr.
Bush
as one of their own. There is the Rev. Franklin Graham, Billy Graham's
son
and successor and a participant in the president's inauguration, who
has
declared Islam a "very evil and wicked religion." And there is
Christian
Coalition founder and television evangelist Pat Robertson, who said
that
"to think that [Islam] is a peaceful religion is fraudulent." Mr.
Robertson, in full attack mode himself, called the prophet Muhammad "an
absolute wild-eyed fanatic . . . a robber and brigand . . . a killer."
And,
in an appearance on the CBS program "60 Minutes" to be broadcast
tonight,
the Rev. Jerry Falwell completes the demonization of a religion by
smearing
the prophet of Islam as "a terrorist."
These are not just the words of a fringe movement. The speakers are
leaders
among the religious right in America, a movement close to a president
who
speaks their language. Their embrace is mutual. It therefore falls to
the
president to break his silence on their gross distortion and to put
some
distance between their rhetoric and his own professions of tolerance.
To
avert his gaze from their actions is to permit the Falwells, Robertsons
and
Grahams to legitimize their own perverse teachings through their
association with the president of the United States. If their words are
not
his, then the president must say so.
SEE ALSO:
HORNET'S NEST PROVOKING TROUBLE
Charleston Gazette, 10/5/02
http://www.wvgazette.com/news/Editorials/2002100426/
REMEMBER when TV evangelist Jerry Falwell said the 9/11 terror attack
happened because God was annoyed by America's civil liberties,
feminism,
gay rights, etc., so the Deity removed His divine protection from the
country? Well, Falwell apparently didn't learn a lesson from that
bungle -
for which he later apologized - because he has done it again.
Interviewed
for Sunday's "60 Minutes" show, the evangelist commented: "I think
Muhammad
was a terrorist."
Here we go again. Although it's true that the founder of Islam led
military
combat, we aren't sure that made him a terrorist. Gens. Dwight
Eisenhower,
Omar Bradley and many other military commanders also waged battles, but
nobody calls them terrorists.
Falwell joins a long list of U.S. fundamentalists who have slurred
Islam
since 9/11. Evangelist Franklin Graham, Billy's son, called Islam "a
very
evil and wicked religion." Fundamentalist commentator Ann Coulter said
"we
should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to
Christianity." At the Southern Baptist convention, Muhammad was called
"a
demon-possessed pedophile." Etc., etc.
We always thought that religion was supposed to foster brotherhood and
kindness - not turn people against each other through hateful
name-calling.
Maybe Falwell and his colleagues have a different view.
We agree with a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations,
who said of the evangelist: "Anybody is free to be a bigot if they want
to."
---
MUSLIMS PROTEST FALWELL INTERVIEW
Muhammad called 'terrorist' on 60 Minutes
JANETTE RODRIGUES, Houston Chronicle, 10/5/02
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/1605481
The Islamic Society of Greater Houston organized a protest outside of
KHOU-TV offices. Local Muslims criticized Jerry Falwell's statements on
60
Minutes, which airs tonight.
More than 100 Muslims demonstrated outside a local CBS affiliate
Saturday
to protest a 60 Minutes interview in which the Rev. Jerry Falwell
brands
the prophet Muhammad a "terrorist..."
Local Muslim leaders condemned Falwell, calling the statements made in
the
interview scheduled to air today on KHOU-Channel 11 bigoted,
irresponsible
and sacrilegious. They fear the religious right leader's comments may
lead
to attacks on American Muslims...
Ahmed Bhadelia, 9, of Sugar Land held a sign with his father, Abdul,
that
read: "We Respect all Prophets."
"I'm a Muslim and I never said anything against any other religions,"
he
said. "So why do people say things about Islam?"
---
FALLWELL ASKED TO APOLOGIZE
ANWAR IQBAL, United Press International, 10/6/02
WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 - Remarks by conservative Baptist minister Rev.
Jerry
Falwell, who called Prophet Mohammed a "terrorist," appears to have
outraged Muslims across the globe with protests reported from India to
Malaysia.
In the Indian state of Kashmir, Muslim protesters clashed with police
while
urging shopkeepers to observe a complete strike against the remarks.
Elsewhere in India, Muslim groups held peaceful rallies to register
their
protest.
In most of the 57 Muslim nations across the world, newspapers
prominently
reported Falwells remarks. Some also wrote commentary pieces and
editorials, urging the minister to apologize. In an interview with CBS
"60
Minutes," Falwell said, "I think Mohammad was a terrorist..."
In response to Falwell's remarks, Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the
Council
on American-Islamic Relations in Washington, said Friday: "Anybody is
free
to be a bigot if they want to. What really concerns us is the lack of
reaction by mainstream religious and political leaders, who say nothing
when these bigots voice these attacks."
"These attacks on Islam and Prophet Mohammad not only reveal utter
ignorance of history, but also reflect on the paranoia of these
evangelical
leaders who just cannot see Islam as a major American religion with
over 7
million followers in the United States," said a spokesman for the
Islamic
Society of North America, an umbrella group representing more than a
dozen
Muslim groups in North America...
In Malaysia, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad urged Muslims on not to
take
Falwell's remarks seriously.
Mahathir, 76, who leads a moderate, predominantly Muslim nation in
Southeast Asia, said people who made such remarks were ignorant about
Islam
and its 7th century founder, Mohammad.
"They don't understand anything," Mahathir was quoted a saying by the
national news agency, Bernama. "They don't understand Islam."
---
ADL CONDEMNS FALWELL'S ANTI-MUSLIM REMARKS
U.S. NEWSWIRE, 10/4/02
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) strongly condemned Rev. Jerry
Falwell's
statement that the Prophet Mohammed "was a terrorist" and called on him
to
apologize to the followers of Islam. Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National
Director, issued the following statement:
The Rev. Jerry Falwell has once again demonstrated his intolerance by
his
outrageous charge about the Prophet Mohammed. He owes an apology to the
millions of good people who follow the Muslim faith. As a man of the
cloth,
he should be working toward bringing faith communities closer together,
not
driving wedges through them.
-----
SEEKING TERRORIST PLOTS, F.B.I. IS TRACKING HUNDREDS OF MUSLIMS
PHILIP SHENON and DAVID JOHNSTON, New York Times, 10/6/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/06/national/06SLEE.html
WASHINGTON, Oct. 5 - The Federal Bureau of Investigation is trying to
make
an open book of the lives of hundreds of mostly young, mostly Muslim
men in
the United States in the belief that Al Qaeda-trained terrorists remain
in
this country, awaiting instructions to attack.
Senior law enforcement officials say the surveillance campaign is being
carried out by every major F.B.I. office in the country and involves
24-hour monitoring of the suspects' telephone calls, e-mail messages
and
Internet use, as well as scrutiny of their credit-card charges, their
travel and their visits to neighborhood gathering places, including
mosques.
The campaign, which has also involved efforts to recruit the suspects'
friends and family members as government informers, has raised alarm
from
civil liberties groups and some Arab-American and Muslim leaders. The
men
are suspected of ties to Al Qaeda or other groups affiliated with Osama
bin
Laden's terrorist network.
Law enforcement officials say the surveillance program has provided
vital
evidence to support a string of arrests and indictments around the
country
since late summer - in western New York, in Detroit, in Seattle and, on
Friday, in Portland, Ore. - of Americans and others accused of
conspiring
in terrorist cells to assist Al Qaeda.
Still, the F.B.I. has acknowledged that it has no evidence of any
imminent
terrorist threat posed by the so-called sleeper cells connected to Al
Qaeda. Federal law enforcement officials say there is no sign of a
terrorist cell operating on American soil that, in its level of
commitment
and training, resembles anything like the team of suicide hijackers who
trained in the United States for several months before carrying out the
Sept. 11 attacks.
They concede that the domestic threat posed by Qaeda cells may at times
have been overstated, especially after the arrest last May of Jose
Padilla,
an American also known as Abdullah al-Muhajir. Justice Department
officials
have backed away from their initial suggestion that they had compelling
evidence linking him to a plot to build an explosive radiological
device
known as a dirty bomb...
The bureau's dependence on the surveillance act in the search for
sleeper
cells helps explain why the Justice Department has so aggressively
defended
its request to expand its authority under the law, passed in 1978,
which
has been the subject of a recent battle involving the secret court in
Washington that reviews the bureau's surveillance requests...
-----
COMMUNITY HURT BY MUSLIM ABSENCES
2 leaders being kept outside United States because of paperwork
CRISTINA C. BREEN, Charlotte Observer (NC), 10/6/02
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/4223078.htm
The director of the Islamic Center of Charlotte is stuck in Saudi
Arabia.
The prayer leader at the Islamic Society of Gastonia has been deported.
Their absences are creating hardships in their Muslim communities while
raising further allegations that the government treats Muslims
unfairly.
Ammar Alyounes, director of the Islamic center, flew to Saudi Arabia in
May
for an annual three-week trip to renew his Saudi citizenship papers and
refresh his U.S. work visa.
But once he left Charlotte, the doors closed behind him. He's been
waiting
since May for the U.S. Consulate to renew his visa to return to the
States
-- a process that normally takes him a week or two, family members
said.
The U.S. Consulate in Saudi Arabia, which will decide Alyounes' case,
could
not be reached for comment last week.
"If it's just a matter of procedure, fine. But it seems like it must be
more than that," said Shamu Shamudeen, the center's interim director.
"The collateral damage for the war on terrorism is great. ... This is a
classic example..."
Officials with the Washington-based Council on American Islamic
Relations
said immigration rules are being more heavily enforced since the Sept.
11
attacks, particularly against Muslims.
Minor violations once settled with a fine or small punishment are now
ending in deportation, said Hodan Hassan, a council spokeswoman. It's
impossible to know how many Muslims have been deported since Sept. 11,
she
said, because the government can close hearings.
"It's happening, and it's happening quietly," Hassan said...
-----
ARABS FEEL U.S. SHOULD BE MORE BALANCED - POLL
Mona Megalli, Reuters, 10/6/02
CAIRO, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Arabs applaud the United States for its
institutions ensuring democracy and freedom, but they cannot abide its
policy toward the Palestinians, according to a wide-ranging opinion
poll.
The poll, to be released in Washington on Tuesday and billed as the
first
of its kind in the region, also found respondents in eight Arab
countries
wanted personal and civil rights from their politicians and valued
their
Arab identity.
"The situation of the Palestinians appears to have become a personal
matter
lumped together in a basket of other issues like civil rights and
health
care," the study said...
The study asked 3,200 Arab adults of both sexes in Egypt, Israel,
Jordan,
Lebanon, Kuwait, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia
such
questions as what they valued most in life and how the United States
could
improve its regional standing.
"The single most important thing the United States can do is change its
policy toward the Arab-Israeli conflict," the study said.
Depending on the country polled, one-third to one-half of the
respondents
called on the United States to "be more balanced" toward the Arab
world.
The study found a contrast between negative Arab reaction toward U.S.
policy on the Palestinians, Iraqis and others, and their favourable
response to U.S. values of freedom and democracy and to the American
people
in general...
The study found that Arabs and a set of U.S. citizens polled had many
of
the same basic priorities in their personal lives, including work and
family, but with several exceptions.
The 1,000 U.S. citizens polled scored much higher than Arabs in needing
friends and placed religion at a lower priority.
Arabs and Americans were identical in assessing what was most important
to
teach their children, with self-respect, good health and hygiene and
responsibility ranking high.
But Arabs felt it was important to teach children to "achieve a better
life," while Americans ranked this value much lower...
-----
STEPHEN "SULEYMAN AHMAD" SCHWARTZ TO SPEAK AT ISRAELI EMBASSY
FALWELL CALLS PROPHET MUHAMMAD A 'TERRORIST'
MARK O'KEEFE, Newhouse News Service, 10/3/02
When the Rev. Jerry Falwell labeled the prophet Muhammad a "terrorist,"
it
was the latest and most inflammatory in a string of anti-Islam comments
by
conservative evangelical Christians.
Some say the comments, combined with a strengthening alliance of
American
evangelicals with Israel, could drive a deeper wedge between the United
States and Islamic countries, where such comments are widely
publicized,
often without context.
One scholar even expressed fear for the safety of U.S. troops stationed
in
Islamic countries...
Such comments go far beyond criticizing Islam as an influence on Osama
bin
Laden and others to condemning the entire religion itself, said Akbar
Ahmed, professor of Islamic studies at American University in
Washington.
"The prophet is so central to Islam that even the most liberal and
quote-unquote 'secular' Muslims have the greatest of respect for him;
he's
considered a man of great peace," Ahmed said.
"This statement will be flashed all over the world. Muslims are very,
very
sensitive about the prophet. And what worries me is this: Someone in
Pakistan or some other part of the Islamic world where American troops
might be will want to take revenge and might shoot an innocent American
soldier."
"To say something so horrible about the world's second-largest
religion,
with more than 1.3 billion people, is very indecent," said Faiz Rehman,
spokesman for the Washington-based American Muslim Council, a political
advocacy group. "I think he (Falwell) is trying to create a wedge
between
these two great religions, Islam and Christianity..."
The Israeli embassy, meanwhile, has sponsored monthly meetings of
evangelicals in Washington. A session originally scheduled for Tuesday,
but
rescheduled for November, features author Stephen Schwartz, who will
talk
about his new book, "The Two Faces of Islam: The House of Sa'ud Fom
Tradition to Terror..."
Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Israeli embassy, said he would not
comment
on Falwell's "terrorist" comment because it's a matter of theology.
But Schwartz, the author, called Falwell's comment "Islamophobic."
"I don't think it's fair to say this is anything Israel is doing,"
Schwartz
said. "This is something conservative (evangelicals) and, I would say,
in a
controversial way, radical evangelicals are doing. There's an enormous
section of the Israeli academic and intellectual class that would
repudiate
any form of Islamophobism."
BACKGROUND: WHO IS STEPHEN SCHWARTZ?
HEAR STEPHEN SCHWARTZ DEFEND JIHAD
April 2, 1999, Friday Sermon
http://www.sunnah.org/audio/khutba/k990402.ram
(Go to 12 minutes 30 seconds into the audio.)
"We Muslims know that Allah permits us to take up the sword. We know
that
Allah permits us to fight the Jihad. That Allah permits us to fight the
Jihad in Allah's way...As it says in the Quran: 'Never say of those who
have died in Allah's way that they are not with us, They are with us
even
though you cannot see them.'"
THE WEEKLY STANDARD'S HOUSE MUSLIM
What William Safire probably didn't know.
Timothy Noah, Slate Magazine, 7/3/02
http://slate.msn.com/?id=2067735
On July 1, William Safire published a column denouncing the Voice of
America for providing a soapbox to supporters of Islamic terrorism.
Safire
was particularly exercised about the firing of VOA staffer Stephen
Schwartz, which Safire attributed to the fact that Schwartz is an
outspoken
dissenter from the news director's views...
A wrinkle of which Safire was probably unaware, however, is that
Schwartz,
blistering critic though he is of Islamist terrorism, is himself a
convert
to Islam. To Schwartz's mortification, a statement he made about his
conversion has found its way onto the Web and has become the source of
some
shock to his erstwhile neoconservative allies...
THE VOA FOLLIES
'Voice of America' loses a writer and the War Party gains a martyr
Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j070502.html
The neocons are up in arms one of their own has been fired from his
position as a "journalist" at the Voice of America and may be on his
way to
becoming the Mumia Abu Jamal of the War Party. The cause of Stephen
Schwartz, a writer formerly known as "Comrade Sandalio," has been taken
up
by William Safire and Ronald Radosh...
No matter what sort of ideological drag he turns up in, however,
Schwartz
always sings essentially the same song. During his travels through the
Balkans, he teamed up with Albanian Catholics, whom he claims were
"threatened by Christian Orthodox imperialism - 'Yugoslav,' Macedonian,
Greek." Clinton had barely begun bombing some of the oldest cities in
Europe when Schwartz popped up on Bay Area television cheerleading the
Kosovo war. Now the enemy is Wahabism, instead of Orthodoxy, but it's
the
same old story: the US must conduct a religious war to suit Schwartz's
latest persona - whatever that is...
The attempt to turn Schwartz, a.k.a. "Suleyman Ahmad," a.k.a. "Comrade
Sandalio," into some kind of political martyr is bound to backfire as
soon
as the spotlight falls on the alleged "victim..."
MY COMING TO ISLAM
Suleyman Ahmad Stephen Schwartz
http://www.naqshbandi.org/events/articles/conversion_schwartz.htm
MY ROAD TO ISLAM
Suleyman Ahmad
http://www.naqshbandi.org/events/articles/road_to_islam.htm
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS 10/7/2002
HEADLINES:
* VERSE OF THE DAY: A CALL TO HUMILITY
* U.S. ISLAMIC GROUP SEEKS PROTECTION FOR IDAHO MUSLIMS
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* ONLINE REGISTRATION NOW AVAILABLE FOR CAIR’S ANNUAL DINNER
* EDITORIAL: RAPTURE AND RUPTURE (New York Times)
- Fact & Fiction: Muhammad Was A Terrorist? (HNN)
* MUSLIMS FINDING FAITH CHALLENGED IN BIBLE BELT (Chicago Tribune)
- America's Elusive Minority: Muslims (Christian Science
Monitor)
- Young, Female and Muslim (St. Petersburg Times)
* UPHOLDING BOTH ISLAM AND A GOOD PORTFOLIO (New York Times)
* CALL CONGRESS! (Antiwar.com)
-----
VERSE OF THE DAY: A CALL TO HUMILITY
"And swell not thy cheek (for pride) at men, nor walk in insolence
through
the earth; for Allah loveth not any arrogant boaster.”
Holy Quran: Surah 31, Verse 18
-----
U.S. ISLAMIC GROUP SEEKS PROTECTION FOR IDAHO MUSLIMS
(Washington, D.C., 10/7/02) A national Islamic civil rights and
advocacy
group is calling on Idaho law enforcement officials to step up
protection
of that state’s Muslim community following an incident in which a
Muslim
woman died in a fire that may be bias-related. The Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), says the weekend fire maybe the
second
time in a week that the local Muslim community may have been targeted
by a
hate crime.
Last week, vandals threw two bricks through the windows of the Boise
Islamic Center. The center has received numerous threatening calls over
the
past year.
The 37-year-old Muslim woman, a prominent community activist, died
early
Saturday morning, when a fire raged through her home. According to the
Idaho Statesman, local police “have not ruled out the possibility” of
investigating the fire as a hate crime.
SEE: Police Say Fire That Took Life Of Muslim Woman Is 'Suspicious'
http://www.idahostatesman.com/story.asp?ID=22290
“It is becoming clear that the Muslim community in Idaho needs
protection
and we call on local law enforcement officials to treat both of these
incidents as possible hate crimes,” said CAIR’s Executive Director
Nihad Awad.
In the past six weeks, there was a shooting attack on an Ohio mosque,
vandalism at Islamic center under construction in Virginia and at a
Nebraska mosque, and the revelation of a detailed plan to attack some
50
Florida mosques.
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 570 sponsorships for book and tape
packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the Country. Take
part
in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item "library
package."
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
ONLINE REGISTRATION NOW AVAILABLE FOR CAIR’S ANNUAL DINNER
Online registration in now available for CAIR’s 8th Annual Fundraising
banquet at www.cair-net.org. The dinner’s theme is “Muslims in America:
Defending Freedom, Promoting Justice” and featured guests include
Martin
Luther King III, Dr. John Espisito and Siraj Wahaj, among many others.
WHEN: Saturday, October 26th at 6 P.M.
WHERE: Sheraton Premiere, 8611 Leesburg Pike, Tyson’s Corner, VA
Tickets: $55 single/ $85 couples
For further info, visit www.cair-net.org or call (202) 488-8787
-----
FACT & FICTION: MUHAMMAD WAS A TERRORIST?
Juan Cole, History News Network, 10/7/02
http://hnn.us/articles/1018.html
Jerry Falwell, the fundamentalist televangelist, has said, "I think
Muhammad was a terrorist." On CBS's Sixty Minutes, the reverend
contrasted
Moses and Jesus as men of peace with Muhammad, whom he saw as warlike.
News
of the slur ricocheted through the Muslim world, and crowds rioted in
Kashmir, raising questions as to whether Falwell himself is exactly
promoting love and peace.
Falwell's comments are problematic for many reasons, not least with
regard
to historical accuracy. Muhammad forbade murder and the killing of
innocents, and never used terror as a weapon in his struggles against
his
aggressive pagan enemies. Far from glorifying aggression, the Koran
says
(2:190), "Fight in the way of God against those who fight against you,
but
do not begin hostilities, for God does not love aggressors"
As for the contrast to other prophets, it is not as clear as Falwell
suggests. Biblical narratives depict Moses as a murderer and leader of
a
slave revolt, and while he was a liberator, it is difficult to see him
as a
pacifist. The Romans crucified Jesus of Nazareth because they saw him
as a
subversive, and historians know too little about his life to be sure
they
were entirely wrong. Many of the patriarchs and prophets celebrated by
Christian fundamentalists were arguably terrorists or even genocidal,
including Joshua…
In contrast, the Romantic sage and writer Thomas Carlyle (d. 1881)
spoke
for moderns in insisting on Muhammad's sincerity. (Another Western
black
legend about Muhammad was that he knew he was a charlatan). Of the
prophet
he wrote, "A false man found a religion? Why, a false man cannot build
a
brick house!" He went on to observe of Islam, "To the Arab Nation it
was as
a birth from darkness into light; Arabia first became alive by means of
it…
The admiration of Muhammad's achievements visible in this modern writer
marks a turning point in Western culture, away from narrow religious
bigotries and toward a humanist ability to appreciate the best in world
civilization. Falwell in contrast is promoting religious hatred for his
own
purposes. The rest of us should resist his scary agenda by learning
more
about Muhammad and Islamic civilization, and gaining a secular
appreciation
of their contributions to our world.
---
EDITORIAL: RAPTURE AND RUPTURE
Maureen Dowd, New York Times, 10/6/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/06/opinion/06DOWD.html?8hpib
Now, with the White House's success in changing the subject to Iraq,
Democrats see a future in the wilderness. They fear that President
Bush who alienated some Jewish voters during his campaign when he
brought
Jesus into the debate but pleased many after he won with his
unquestioning
support of Israel may be able to use a victory over Saddam to fulfill
one
of the Republicans' fondest dreams: a realignment of Jewish voters from
liberalism to conservatism.
Such a revolution would build upon the alliance that began in the
Reagan
era between conservative Jews and evangelical Christians.
These days, the partnership is benefiting from the sense of a mutual
enemy:
Islam. The Rev. Jerry Falwell, who has said Islam "teaches hate," goes
further on "60 Minutes" tonight, when he asserts, "I think Muhammad was
a
terrorist."
Evangelicals fervently support Israel for theological reasons of their
own,
based on a literal reading of the Book of Revelation that entwines the
Jewish commonwealth with the Apocalypse and Second Coming. As Mr.
Falwell
instructs: "You and I know that there's not going to be any real peace
in
the Middle East until one day the Lord Jesus Christ sits on the throne
of
David in Jerusalem."
"This is a grim comedy of mutual condescension," says Leon Wieseltier,
the
Jewish scholar and literary editor of The New Republic. "The
evangelical
Christians condescend to the Jews by offering their support before they
convert or kill them. And the conservative Jews condescend to
Christians by
accepting their support while believing that their eschatology is
nonsense.
This is a fine example of the political exploitation of religion..."
-----
MUSLIMS FINDING FAITH CHALLENGED IN BIBLE BELT
Dahleen Glanton, Chicago Tribune, 10/7/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0210070135oct07,0,4535679.story
Muslims in the South are struggling to gain acceptance in a region that
celebrates Christian values. In Tennessee, the 10 Commandments are
posted
everywhere, from public schools to the local McDonald's. Preachers
proselytize on school campuses, Scripture-themed truck stops dot the
highways, and the Southern Baptists have campaigns to convert Muslims
during Ramadan, the Islamic holy month. For many people here, the
bottom
line is: If you are not a Christian, you won't set foot in Heaven...
"There is no question that Tennessee is the middle of the Bible Belt,
and
we are continuously bombarded with violations of the establishment
clause
in the public sector," said Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the
American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee. "Some Muslims are quite
concerned, but they are hesitant to pursue legal action because of
their
own legitimate fear that they will be ostracized or their children will
be
harassed..."
Since the terror attacks, several religious leaders have made
controversial
remarks regarding Islam. The comments, according to critics, have
helped to
fuel fear and prejudice among some Americans who still equate Islam
with
terrorism…
Pastor Maury Davis, who leads one of Nashville's largest churches,
recently
preached a four-part series called "Islam . . . The Evil Religion."
From
the pulpit of Cornerstone Church, which draws 2,000 people on Sundays
and
thousands more through television, Davis extolled that "Islam is the
greatest threat to the American way of life…"
"We realize now that we can't allow other people to go out and talk
about
Islam. We have to do it ourselves if the truth is to be told," said
Imam
Abdulhakim Mohamed, 36, the spiritual leader of the Islamic Center. "We
are
not trying to change people's attitudes, we just want them to change
their
behaviors…"
-----
AMERICA'S ELUSIVE MINORITY: MUSLIMS
Laurent Belsie, Christian Science Monitor, 10/7/02
http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2002/1007/p02s01-ussc.html
ST. LOUIS - Muslims are taking root in America. Though small in number,
they're growing fast and setting up enclaves in some of the largest
cities.
A study released today shows they're better educated and almost as well
paid as the non-Hispanic white population. But if American Muslims are
poised to join the mainstream economically, politics and religion are
roiling the confluence.
The aftermath of Sept. 11 and tension with Iraq has exposed a dual
response
to Muslims living here. There's both suspicion and outreach -
discrimination and efforts to bridge the religious divide. "Islam has
become a part of public discourse and people are making up their
minds,"
says Mohamed Nimer, author of a new book, "The North American Muslim
Resource Guide." "America is confronting ... what we might call a
precursor
to being a truly pluralistic society."
While no one knows how many Muslims live in the US - estimates span 1.2
million to 10 million - their numbers are growing fast. Between 1990
and
2000, the Muslim-origin population grew 40 percent, according to the
new
study by the Lewis Mumford Center for Comparative Urban and Regional
Research at New York's University at Albany. And they're more
integrated
than larger minorities…
---
YOUNG, FEMALE AND MUSLIM
Jocelyn Wiener, St. Petersburg Times, 10/7/02
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/10/07/Floridian/Young__female_and_Mus.shtml
Each year, about 20,000 people in the United States convert to Islam.
Many
find they must defend the decision, especially to their families.
The first time 21-year-old Rose Munoz deflates the Whoopie cushion,
everyone jumps, then begins to giggle. Rolling her eyes at her vice
president's antics, 19-year-old Amal Kurdi, the president, calls the
members of the Sisters United Muslim Association back to attention.
It is just before noon on Friday, and the young women, most of whom
wear
hijab, the traditional Muslim head covering, are simultaneously making
their way through an extensive agenda (student-teacher dinner, poetry
reading, highway cleanup, beauty tips) and a veritable feast of college
student food…
One young woman, a recent convert, suggests that SUMA host a dinner for
the
parents of converts. Rose, who also is a convert, embraces any
opportunity
to spread awareness about Islam…
-----
UPHOLDING BOTH ISLAM AND A GOOD PORTFOLIO
Eric Baum, New York Times, 10/6/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/06/business/mutfund/06ISLA.html
In many respects, the Amana Growth fund resembles scores of mutual
funds
that buy shares of fast-growing companies.
But Amana Growth is different in at least one key respect. Introduced
in
1986, it is the largest mutual fund in the United States that says it
abides by Islamic principles of investing.
It avoids direct investments in banks, brokerage firms and insurance
companies, for example, because lending money and the payment of
interest
are prohibited by the Koran, said Nicholas Kaiser, president of the
Saturna
Capital Corporation, the fund's adviser. "You don't want to be a
borrower
or a lender," Mr. Kaiser said.
Islamic funds are a variation on socially responsible mutual funds,
which
screen out companies that engage in practices that their shareholders
find
objectionable, like harming the environment or producing alcohol or
tobacco
products or pornography…
-----
CALL CONGRESS!
Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com, 10/7/02
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/justincol.html
The Democrats have wimped out, the Republicans are in the neocons'
pocket it's up to you to stop this fateful war…
Passion inspires action, which leads to change and that is what is
desperately needed in our misguided and dangerous foreign policy. It is
imperative that you express yourself on this issue: write a letter to
the
editor of your local newspaper. Complain (in writing) when you see the
op
ed page dominated by warmongering laptop bombardiers…
But most of all and especially now, as the war resolution comes up for
a
vote in Congress you need to express your opposition to this war by
calling your congressional representatives. I strongly suggest a phone
call, rather than an email or a letter. It's too late for letters, and
emails are generally ignored. We need to flood the phone lines this
week.
So please take a few moments not later, not tomorrow, but right now
to
call you representative…
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS 10/8/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: VIRTUES OF MODESTY
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
- Author Jack Shaheen To Appear On ABC’s Nightline
* DEPORTATION HEARINGS CAN BE CLOSED (AP)
- B'klyn Man's Story Ends With Release By Ins (Newsday)
* POLICE: BOISE WOMAN WAS KILLED BEFORE HOUSE FIRE (Idaho Statesman)
* NCC BOARD REPUDIATES FALWELL'S '60 MINUTES' COMMENTS ON ISLAM (U.S.
Newswire)
- Muslims Protest Falwell's Comments (Chicago Tribune)
- Editorial: Falwell’s Fallacies (Al Jazeera)
- Open Letter To Reverend Jerry Falwell From Christian In The
Holy
Land
* DISSENT OVER GOING TO WAR GROWS AMONG U.S. GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
(Miami
Herald)
- Hail Caesar! (Salon.com)
* PUTIN MAY BE PLANNING AN ATTACK ON GEORGIA (MSNBC)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: VIRTUES OF MODESTY
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “Modesty results in good
alone and nothing else.”
Riyadh-us-Saleheen, Chapter 84, Hadith 682
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 591 sponsorships for book and tape
packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the Country. Take
part
in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item "library
package."
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
SEE ALSO:
AUTHOR JACK SHAHEEN TO APPEAR ON ABC’S NIGHTLINE
Jack Shaheen, internationally acclaimed media critic and author of
“Reel
Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People,” “Arab and Muslim
Stereotyping
In American Popular Culture,” and “The TV Arab” will appear on ABC’s
Nightline this Wednesday (10/9). Check local listings for time. Dr.
Shaheen’s book, “Reel Bad Arabs” is part of the CAIR Library Project’s
book
and tape package.
-----
DEPORTATION HEARINGS CAN BE CLOSED
David B. Caruso, Associated Press, 10/8/02
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20021008_1062.html
PHILADELPHIA - A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that immigration
hearings may be closed by the government, dealing a blow to media
organizations who sought access to hearings involving foreigners swept
up
in the nation's terrorism investigation.
The three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed
a
lower court ruling and said the attorney general has the right to close
the
hearings for reasons of national security. Justice Department lawyers
had
argued that national security would be threatened if reporters and
others
were allowed to attend.
For nearly a year, reporters and members of the public have been barred
from deportation hearings for hundreds being held in the nation's
terrorism
investigation.
Media organizations and civil rights groups sued to reopen the
hearings, or
to allow them to be closed only if the government could persuade a
judge
that secrecy was necessary…
The two-judge majority disagreed, however, writing that the types of
deportation hearings being closed were ``extremely narrow'' and that
the
attorney general is in a better position than immigration judges to
determine their importance to national security. U.S. Circuit Judge
Anthony
J. Scirica dissented...
The 3rd Circuit's decision only applies to immigration hearings in its
coverage area - New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and the Virgin
Islands.
The government's secrecy rules also have been challenged elsewhere...
---
B'KLYN MAN'S STORY ENDS WITH RELEASE BY INS
Ron Howell, Newsday, 10/8/02
http://www.newsday.com/mynews/ny-nypaki082957033oct08.story
After a month as an INS detainee, Faisal Iqbal is finally back with his
wife and son. But he's lost 40 pounds. He can't sleep. And he says his
business clients have left him. "I can't do anything," the printing
company
salesman said yesterday.
Iqbal was profiled in a Newsday story last week about Pakistanis
detained
by the Immigration and Naturalization Service since Sept. 11, 2001,
often
on minor immigration charges. He was released on bail Friday night, and
his
lawyer says the arrest was the result of a misunderstanding.
Iqbal of Brooklyn said he once felt he was all-American.
He played on the football team at Brooklyn's James Madison High School.
After the World Trade Center attacks, he and his Manhattan printing
company
distributed, free of charge, more than 20,000 post cards featuring the
Statue of Liberty and other city icons.
But at dawn on Sept. 4 his dreams were shattered. INS agents came to
his
apartment and arrested Iqbal, who had been sleeping with his wife,
Mehrunisa Ayub, and their son, Faheem.
Iqbal's lawyer, Angela Nwadiogbu, said the detention was the result of
poor
communications within the INS. Although a deportation order had been
issued
against him, it had never been sent to Iqbal's address in Brooklyn.
What's
more, his wife Ayub, an American citizen, had filed papers to legalize
his
status, and that request is still pending, the lawyer said…
-----
POLICE: BOISE WOMAN WAS KILLED BEFORE HOUSE FIRE
Patrick Orr, Idaho Statesman, 10/8/02
http://www.idahostatesman.com/story.asp?ID=22355
Someone killed Angie Abdullah before using gasoline to set fire to her
house early Saturday to conceal the crime, Boise police said Monday.
But investigators are still attempting to figure out what happened to
Abdullah, 37, a prominent local Muslim. FBI agents are in Boise to try
to
determine if the death represents a hate crime. Boise police, who say
they
have no evidence of that, have no suspects in the murder.
Abdullah was buried late Monday afternoon at Morris Hill Cemetery. A
crowd
of more than 100 family and friends shared prayers and tears with her
husband, Azad, who buried his wife before sundown as dictated by Muslim
custom.
“I see Muslims here who don�t go to the mosque. Half of these people, I
have never seen before,” Furqan Mehmood, a family friend, said as a
line of
about 50 people waited to hug and comfort Azad after the burial. “If
whoever did this tried to hurt this community, they have failed. It has
brought people together.”
While people mourned at the burial service, Boise detectives and FBI
agents called in by Boise police to help with the investigation
continued
to work on the case that has them vexed and many local Muslims
concerned.
Police are not releasing any details about the cause of Abdullah�s
death to
protect their investigation, Lt. Rich Schnebly said. “Anybody could be
a
suspect at this point,” Schnebly said during a news conference Monday.
A
weekend autopsy showed Abdullah was killed before the fire was set,
according to police reports…
“While Angie Abdullah was active in the Muslim community ... There is
no
evidence she was targeted because of her faith and beliefs,” said a
news
release issued Monday by Boise police. “Any reports her death is
somehow a
result of a hate crime is purely speculation at this time...”
Abdullah�s husband, Azad, was not home at the time. He and the couple�s
5-year-old son, Redear, were on a weekend trip to Salt Lake City to
purchase kosher meat, Mehmood said. They returned to Boise late
Saturday…
Azad Abdullah and the children are staying with family.
Said Ahmed-Zaid, a professor at Boise State University, said the local
Muslim community is apprehensive and shocked at the death of Abdullah.
“There is a lot of anger and sadness,” he said…
-----
NCC BOARD REPUDIATES FALWELL'S '60 MINUTES' COMMENTS ON ISLAM
U.S. Newswire, 10/7/02
NEW YORK, Oct. 7 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Executive Board of the (U.S.)
National Council of Churches this afternoon (Oct. 7) voted unanimously
to
"condemn and repudiate" the Rev. Jerry Falwell's statements yesterday
on
CBS-TV's "60 Minutes" about Islam and the Prophet Muhammed, Islam's
founder, saying Falwell's statements endangered the lives of Christians
around the world.
Noting that "Falwell implied in his comments that he and his
constituency
control President Bush's policies toward Israel and Palestine," the
leaders
of U.S. Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican denominations called on
President
Bush to repudiate and condemn Falwell's remarks.
Falwell's "hateful and destructive" statements - among others, that
"Muhammed was a terrorist" - "are NOT those of the majority of
Christians
in this country nor in the rest of the world," said the governing body
of
the NCC, whose 36 member denominations comprise 50 million adherents.
"His
statements about Islam and the Prophet Muhammed are not only factually
untrue and offensive, but are dangerous to the national security of
every
nation where Christians and Muslims are seeking a peaceful
relationship..."
The full text of the statement by the NCC Executive Board is available
at
http://www.ncccusa.org
---
MUSLIMS PROTEST FALWELL'S COMMENTS
Chicago Tribune, 10/8/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0210080232oct08,0,4601215.story
NEW DELHI, INDIA - Thousands of Muslims demonstrated in India's Jammu
and
Kashmir state Monday after a newspaper reported that conservative U.S.
religious leader Jerry Falwell had called the founder of Islam a
terrorist.
People shouted slogans, shops and businesses were closed, and
protesters
attacked vehicles as Islamic groups called for a daylong strike to
protest
Falwell's remarks, which were made in an interview broadcast Sunday on
CBS'
"60 Minutes" program. The Greater Kashmir newspaper quoted the region's
main separatist alliance, the All Party Hurriyat Conference, as saying
that
Falwell's remarks about Muhammad were part of a "war against humanity"
and
that Christians are the "terrorists."
"They wreaked havoc in Vietnam, killed innocent people in Iraq and are
responsible for the killings of Palestinians," the group said.
Activity Monday in several main towns, including Jammu and Kashmir's
summer
capital, Srinigar, slowed to a crawl. Falwell's comments were not
broadcast
in the state…
---
EDITORIAL: FALWELL’S FALLACIES
Arsalan Iftikhar, Al Jazeera, 10/8/02
http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/Oct%202002%20op%20eds/Oct%208,%202002%20op%20eds.htm#fal
Reverend Jerry Falwell is essentially proclaiming a political jihad
against
Islam in an effort to promote his apocalyptic worldview and lobbying
power
to the American public. History will vindicate or demonize us for the
manner in which we react to such skewed and self-promoting rhetoric.
In the most recent installment of “60 Minutes”, Falwell began by smugly
telling correspondent Ben Simon that the fringe element of the
Christian
Right dictates the policies to which President Bush adheres. He and
some
other evangelists proclaim to be stronger political saviors to the
state of
Israel than American Zionists themselves…
Islam was next in the crosshairs of the reverend. He self-righteously
asserted that he thought “Muhammad was a terrorist. I read enough to
decide
that he was a violent man, a man of war. In my opinion, Jesus set the
example of love, as did Moses, and I think Muhammad set an opposite
example.” If I were to stoop to Falwell’s anachronistic level, I would
cite
Leviticus 20 in the Bible, where the prophet Moses proclaims the
penalties
for various crimes, including death for anyone who curses his father or
mother, commits adultery, or engages in homosexual sex…
The scariest aspect of this debate is the undue influence people like
Falwell have within the current Bush administration. Commenting on
Falwell’s comments, a Washington Post editorial stated that “on
[Falwell’s]
noxious mix of religious bigotry and anti-Muslim demagoguery, Mr.
Bush's
silence is deafening.” Only when President Bush denounces and distances
himself from duplicitous and conniving people like Falwell, will I ever
be
convinced that this “war on terror” is not an evangelical war on Islam.
Arsalan Iftikhar serves as Midwest Communications Director for the
Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
---
OPEN LETTER TO REVEREND JERRY FALWELL FROM CHRISTIAN IN THE HOLY LAND
I am a Christian from Jerusalem. My roots in the Holy Land go back one
thousand years, so says my family tradition. Some would argue that our
roots as indigenous Christians might go back further and link up to the
early Church in Jerusalem. In this sense, we are a Christian
fundamentalist
family deep-rooted in the foundations of the Christian faith.
As a Christian from Jerusalem, I owe great debt to two monotheistic
traditions: Judaism, on the one hand, because of the Old Testament
which is
the basis of my faith in the New Testament, and Islam, with whose
adherents
my family, for centuries, has shared the experience of living side by
side.
Thus, my fundamentalist Christianity is enlightened by the history of
the
Hebrews and by experiential sharing with Muslim neighbours.
As a Christian believer, I strongly adhere to the teaching of Jesus
Christ
and his message of compassion and forgiveness. This Christian message
has
taught me to accept others; not to judge lest I be judged and to
consider
every human being, irrespective of background, in the image of the
Creator…
It is this comfort that my faith gives me that also causes me great
spiritual and moral tribulation when I hear someone of your stature
making
statements of judgement on Islam and its Prophet. I find this offensive
not
only to Muslims and their religion but also to our Christian faith and
practice…
Could I plead with you to return to the fundamentals of our Christian
faith
and to become a constructive force in our world and especially in our
Middle Eastern region? Could you please bring hearts together instead
of
distancing them from one another? Could your faith and belief afford to
accept others, irrespective of their backgrounds? Could you be a force
of
healing in our troubled world?
Is it much to expect these things from a person of your stature?
Dr Bernard Sabella,
Executive Director,
Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees,
Middle East Council of Churches,
Jerusalem
-----
DISSENT OVER GOING TO WAR GROWS AMONG U.S. GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
Warren P. Strobel, Miami Herald, 10/8/02
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/4234768.htm
While President Bush marshals congressional and international support
for
invading Iraq, a growing number of military officers, intelligence
professionals and diplomats in his own government privately have deep
misgivings about the administration's double-time march toward war.
These officials charge that administration hawks have exaggerated
evidence
of the threat that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein poses -- including
distorting his links to the al Qaeda terrorist network -- have
overstated
the extent of international support for attacking Iraq and have
downplayed
the potential repercussions of a new war in the Middle East.
They charge that the administration squelches dissenting views and that
intelligence analysts are under intense pressure to produce reports
supporting the White House's argument that Hussein poses such an
immediate
threat to the United States that preemptive military action is
necessary.
"Analysts at the working level in the intelligence community are
feeling
very strong pressure from the Pentagon to cook the intelligence books,"
said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity...
-----
HAIL CAESAR!
Gary Kamiya, Salon.com, 10/8/02
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2002/10/07/bushwar/index_np.html
President George W. Bush is presiding over the most radical change in
American policy since the end of World War II. Bush's determination to
invade Iraq represents a gigantic gamble. It is the riskiest military
intervention America has undertaken since the end of World War II. Yet
cavalierly disregarding those risks, the White House is pushing for
regime
change in Iraq as part of an aggressive new global strategy, one that
represents a decisive -- and extremely dangerous -- break with the
thinking
that has guided American policy since the Cold War.
Prodded by hard-line ex-Cold Warriors and crusading neoconservatives,
President Bush -- who ran for office promising a "humble" America --
has
embraced an arrogant new doctrine of American supremacy that threatens
not
just to destabilize the Middle East and breed more terror, but to
unravel
the carefully constructed international order that has safely guided
the
world through the Cold War and into the new millennium. By word and
deed --
breaking treaties, disdaining allies, declaring America exempt from
international law, announcing a new doctrine of preemptive force -- the
Bush administration has shown its desire to establish the United States
as,
in effect, an imperial power, the new Rome…
-----
PUTIN MAY BE PLANNING AN ATTACK ON GEORGIA
Christian Caryl, MSNBC, 10/14/02
http://www.msnbc.com/news/817632.asp
A source close to the Russian General Staff has told Newsweek that
military
leaders have completed planning for an assault on the Pankisi Gorge, a
remote canyon that has been used as a hideout by rebels from
neighboring
Chechnya. Other sources say that Russian officers have already been
issued
tactical maps for use in the operation…
The White House has repeatedly said that it doesn’t want to see any
moves
by the Russians that would impinge on Georgia’s sovereignty, but at the
same time, Bush has made it clear that he won’t allow Russia’s conduct
in
Chechnya to jeopardize the antiterrorist partnership between Moscow and
Washington...
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CAIR OFFICIAL TO TESTIFY BEFORE CONGRESS ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/9/02) - The executive director of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Washington-based Islamic civil
rights
and advocacy group, is scheduled to testify today before a
congressional
subcommittee examining the State Department's Annual Report on
International Religious Freedom. Nihad Awad will testify before the
International Operations and Human Rights Subcommittee of the House
International Relations Committee.
SEE: http://www.house.gov/international_relations/iohr107.htm
In his written and oral remarks to the subcommittee, Awad will say:
"Since
its founding, the United States has been a beacon of religious
diversity
and tolerance…Freedom from religious persecution is clearly a major
reason
that many Muslim immigrants come to the United States, and, for the
most
part, the United States has lived up to its well-deserved reputation.
At
the same time, over the past year, ominous signs have appeared that may
signal a diminishing of this concern for religious freedom. This is the
case within the United States itself and also apparent through some of
its
policies abroad."
Awad will draw the subcommittee's attention to four countries, Russia,
China, India and Israel, which highlight America's apparent reluctance
to
address religious persecution by friendly nations. He will tell the
subcommittee: "These countries are using the pretext of security to
engage
in widespread abuses of Muslim communities based on the violent actions
of
a relatively small number of individuals."
"Muslims of Chechnya continue to face systematic intimidation,
detention,
torture, execution and 'disappearances,'" Awad will say. He will note
that,
"China is another area in which the US has muted its criticism of
restrictions on religious freedom, especially in the western part of
that
country, which is home to the Uighurs, a Turkic-Muslim minority."
Concerning India, Awad will cite the American government's relative
silence
on the mass killings and displacement of Muslims by right-wing Hindus
in
the state of Gujarat. "The conspicuous silence of the administration
and
congress on this issue was a disappointment," Awad will tell the
subcommittee.
Awad will also say Israel "is perhaps the closest ally of the United
States
that has used the war on terrorism as a cover for massive and
widespread
abuses of human and religious rights targeting a Muslim and Christian
population."
In his concluding remarks, Awad will outline concerns about the
detention,
without due process of law, of hundreds of Muslims following the
9/11/01
terrorists attacks, the negative civil liberties implications of the
USA
Patriot Act, the closure of American Muslim charities, the raids on
Muslim
homes and businesses, the profiling of airline passengers based on
race,
religion or ethnicity, and the official silence that greets attacks on
Islam by right-wing commentators and evangelical leaders.
Awad will suggest that foreign aid be tied to the protection of human
and
religious rights in friendly nations and that the administration be
more
open and even-handed when implementing policies directed at American
Muslims. He will also ask that elected and government officials come
out
forcefully against anti-Muslim bigotry in this country, such as that
exhibited recently by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-MAIL:
cair@cair-net.org; Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787 or 703-861-7294,
E-MAIL:
hhassan@cair-net.org
NOTE: CAIR offers an e-mail list designed to be a window to the
American
Muslim community. Subscribers to the list, called CAIR-NET, receive
news
releases and other materials dealing with American Muslim positions on
issues of importance to our society.
To SUBSCRIBE to CAIR-NET, go to: http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
CAIR ACTION ALERT #350
ASK REP. DELAY NOT TO SUPPORT FALWELL AND ROBERTSON
House Minority Whip to attend conference with Islam-bashers
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/9/2) - CAIR is calling on people of conscience to
contact House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and other elected
officials
to ask that they not attend a conference this Friday at which
well-known
"Islam-bashers" will be featured and applauded.
Rep. DeLay and others are being asked not to offer tacit support for
those
who would attack Islam by attending the Christian Coalition's "Road to
Victory 2002" two-day conference, which begins this Friday in
Washington,
D.C. DeLay is the most prominent elected official to be featured at the
conference.
SEE: http://www.cc.org/events/information.html
Religious figures scheduled to appear at the conference include Revs.
Pat
Robertson and Jerry Falwell, both of whom have recently attacked Islam
or
the Prophet Muhammad.
In an appearance on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" program,
Robertson smeared both Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. About Muhammad,
Robertson said: "This man was an absolute wild-eyed fanatic. He was a
robber and a brigand. And to say that these terrorists distort Islam,
they're carrying out Islam…I mean, this man [Muhammad] was a killer.
And to
think that this is a peaceful religion is fraudulent." Robertson also
called Islam "a monumental scam" and claimed the Quran, Islam's
revealed
text, "is strictly a theft of Jewish theology."
On Sunday, Falwell referred to the Prophet Muhammad as a "terrorist" on
the
CBS news program "60 Minutes." Given an opportunity in other media
interviews to amend his defamatory comments, Falwell declined.
"As a House leader, Representative DeLay can send a message to the
world
that anti-Muslim bigotry will not be tolerated in America. Bigotry and
hatred can only thrive when good people remain silent," said CAIR
Executive
Director Nihad Awad in a letter to DeLay. Awad added that attacks on
the
deeply-held religious beliefs of others can only serve to divide
America
and create or perpetuate conflicts around the world.
Muslims and people of other faiths around the world have expressed
outrage
over the recent attacks on Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. Islamic
parties
in Pakistan have called for a nationwide strike on Friday. British
Foreign
Secretary Jack Straw called Falwell's remarks "outrageous and
insulting."
Iran asked members of the 55-nation Organization of Islamic Conference
(OIC) to speak out on the issue. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and
the
National Council of Churches have both issued statements condemning
Rev.
Falwell's remarks.
ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE.)
1. Contact Rep. DeLay to ask that he withdraw his name from the
conference.
CONTACT:
Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX)
U.S. House of Representatives
2370 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
TEL: (202) 225-5951
IN TEXAS: (281) 240-3700
FAX: (202) 225-5241
E-MAIL: http://www.majoritywhip.gov/contact.asp
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://tomdelay.house.gov/ or http://www.majoritywhip.gov
2. Provide access to balanced and objective information about Islam by
supporting CAIR's Library Project.
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
- PLEASE POST, COPY AND DISTRIBUTE -
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/9/2002
HEADLINES:
* REGISTER ONLINE FOR CAIR'S ANNUAL BANQUET
* CAIR CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM NOW ONLINE
* CAIR REACTS TO NEWSWEEK ARTICLE SMEARING AMERICAN MOSQUES
* C.I.A. WARNS THAT A U.S. ATTACK MAY IGNITE TERROR (New York Times)
- Analysts Discount Attack By Iraq (Washington Post)
- Detailed Analysis of October 7 Speech by Bush on Iraq (IPA)
- What the US President Wants Us to Forget (Independent)
* KILLING OF MUSLIM, FIRE SHOCK BOISE (AP)
- Candlelight Vigil for Murdered Idaho Muslim
* ISLAMIC LEADERS CALL PROTEST IN PAKISTAN OVER FALWELL REMARKS (AFP)
- A Dumb Idea Too Dangerous To Dally With (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
- Tehran, Britain Condemn Evangelist Falwell (Reuters)
* MAKING PEACE PERSONAL (USA Today)
* EDITORIAL: KEEPING QUIET (Washington Post)
* ISRAEL FREES REUTERS JOURNALIST AFTER FIVE MONTHS (Reuters)
* VA FUNDRAISER FOR THE IRAQI PEOPLE
-----
REGISTER ONLINE FOR CAIR'S ANNUAL BANQUET
Don't forget to register for CAIR's Eighth Annual Fundraising Banquet.
Last
year's event was a sell-out so act now to purchase your seats.
WHEN: Saturday, October 26th, 6 P.M.
WHERE: Sheraton Premiere, 8611 Leesburg Pike, Tyson's Corner, VA
The dinner's theme is "Muslims in America: Defending Freedom, Promoting
Justice," and featured guests include Martin Luther King III, Dr. John
Esposito and Siraj Wahhaj, among many others.
Tickets: $55 single/$85 couples
To register, visit www.cair-net.org or call (202) 488-8787
-----
CAIR CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM NOW ONLINE
https://www.cair-net.org/testimony/
-----
CAIR REACTS TO NEWSWEEK ARTICLE SMEARING AMERICAN MOSQUES
Newsweek, 10/14/02
http://www.msnbc.com/news/817452.asp
Scroll down.
"A Safe Haven?" which questions whether American mosques have been
taken
over by extremists, betrays an unfamiliarity with Islam. The article
states
that "an April 2001 survey by the Council on American-Islamic Relations
found that 69 percent of Muslims in America say it is 'absolutely
fundamental' or 'very important' to have Salafi teachings at their
mosques." The information from our survey has been misrepresented, and
implies that a majority of Muslims are "Salafi," a term that was never
properly defined in your article.
The claim is apparently derived from a question that asks Muslims to
rate
the importance of various sources of religious authority in their
mosques.
One of the choices was the "teachings of the righteous Salaf." The term
"Salaf" refers to Muslims of the three generations after the Prophet
Muhammad. Salafi teachings have always been considered one of the most
authoritative sources of Islam, along with the Qur'an and the
traditions of
the Prophet (Sunnah). Their texts are consulted to clarify issues not
explicit in the Qur'an or the Sunnah. To call someone who believes in
the
teachings of the Salaf a "Salafi" is akin to calling everyone who
believes
in the teachings of Jesus a "Jesuit."
Ibrahim Hooper
National Communications Director, CAIR
Washington, D.C.
SEE ALSO: CAIR MOSQUE STUDY REPORT
www.cair-net.org/mosquereport
-----
C.I.A. WARNS THAT A U.S. ATTACK MAY IGNITE TERROR
Alison Mitchell and Carl Hulse, New York Times, 10/9/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/09/international/middleeast/09IRAQ.html
Washington - The Bush administration pushed Congress today for a broad
vote
to authorize the president to use force against Iraq.
But a new element was injected into the debate by a C.I.A. assessment
that
Saddam Hussein, while now stopping short of an attack, could become
"much
less constrained" if faced with an American-led force.
The judgment was contained in a letter signed by the deputy C.I.A.
director, John McLaughlin, on behalf of George J. Tenet, the director
of
central intelligence. It was alluded to in a hearing of a Congressional
panel investigating the Sept. 11 attacks and then released tonight,
after
the House opened its debate on Iraq.
The letter said "Baghdad for now appears to be drawing a line short of
conducting terrorist attacks" with conventional or chemical or
biological
weapons against the United States.
"Should Saddam conclude that a U.S.-led attack could no longer be
deterred,
he probably would become much less constrained in adopting terrorist
action," it continued. It noted that Mr. Hussein could use either
conventional terrorism or a weapon of mass destruction as "his last
chance
to exact vengeance by taking a large number of victims with him."
The letter dated Oct. 7 also declassified an exchange from a closed
Congressional hearing on Oct. 2 in which a senior intelligence official
judged the likelihood of Mr. Hussein's initiating an attack in the
foreseeable future as "low…"
One lawmaker on the intelligence committee, Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat
of
Oregon, cited the letter today as he registered his opposition to
granting
the president broad authority to use force unilaterally. "I'm not
convinced
regarding a clear and present threat," he said in Senate debate…
---
ANALYSTS DISCOUNT ATTACK BY IRAQ
Dana Priest, Washington Post, 10/9/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63775-2002Oct9.html
Unprovoked by a U.S. military campaign, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
is
unlikely to initiate a chemical or biological attack against the United
States, intelligence agencies concluded in a classified report given to
select senators last week...
The CIA assessment appears to suggest that an attack on Iraq could
provoke
the very thing the president has said he is trying to forestall: the
use of
chemical or biological weapons by Hussein.
The CIA's detailed, unvarnished view of the threat posed by Iraq is
central, say many lawmakers, to how they will vote on the matter. Yet
an
increasing number of intelligence officials, including former and
current
intelligence agency employees, are concerned the agency is tailoring
its
public stance to fit the administration's views. The CIA works for the
president, but its role is to provide him with information untainted by
political agendas.
Caught in the tug of war over intelligence, say former intelligence
officials familiar with current CIA intelligence and analysis on Iraq,
have
been the CIA's rank and file and, to some extent, Tenet. "There is a
tremendous amount of pressure on the CIA to substantiate positions that
have already been adopted by the administration," said Vincent M.
Cannistraro, former head of counterterrorism at the CIA…
---
DETAILED ANALYSIS OF OCTOBER 7 SPEECH BY BUSH ON IRAQ
Institute for Public Accuracy, 10/8/02
http://www.accuracy.org/bush/
"Thank you for that very gracious and warm Cincinnati welcome. I'm
honored
to be here tonight. I appreciate you all coming.
Tonight I want to take a few minutes to discuss a grave threat to peace
and
America's determination to lead the world in confronting that threat.
The threat comes from Iraq. It arises directly from the Iraqi regime's
own
actions, its history of aggression and its drive toward an arsenal of
terror."
Chris Toensing, editor of Middle East Report: "This might indicate that
Iraq is actively threatening the peace in the region. There is no
evidence
whatsoever that Iraq is doing so, or has any intention of doing so.
Other
powers are actively disrupting the peace in the region: Israel is
trying to
crush Palestinian resistance to occupation with brute force, and the
U.S.
and Britain have bombed Iraq 46 times in 2002 when their aircraft are
'targeted' by Iraqi air defense systems in the bilaterally enforced
no-fly
zones. Most of our 'friends' in the region -- Turkey, Saudi Arabia,
Jordan
-- have strongly urged us not to go to war, and to tone down the war
rhetoric. Aren't they better positioned than we are to judge what
threatens
their safety?"
"Eleven years ago, as a condition for ending the Persian Gulf War, the
Iraqi regime was required to destroy its weapons of mass destruction,
to
cease all development of such weapons and to stop all support for
terrorist
groups."
Rahul Mahajan, author of The New Crusade: America's War on Terrorism:
"Resolution 687 also speaks of 'establishing in the Middle East a zone
free
from weapons of mass destruction' -- which also means Israel's 200-plus
nuclear weapons as well as Syria's and Egypt's apparent chemical
weapons
capabilities, and any nuclear capability the U.S. has placed in the
region..."
---
WHAT THE US PRESIDENT WANTS US TO FORGET
Robert Fisk, Independent (UK), 10/9/02
http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=340836
Each day now, someone says something even more incredible - even more
unimaginable - about President Bush's obsession with war. Yesterday,
George
Bush was himself telling an audience in Cincinnati about "nuclear holy
warriors".
Forget for a moment that we still can't prove Saddam Hussein has
nuclear
weapons. Forget that the latest Bush speech was just a re-hash of all
the
"ifs" and "mays" and "coulds" in Tony Blair's flimsy 16 pages of
allegations in his historically dishonest "dossier"…
Forget the 14 Palestinians, including the 12-year-old child, killed by
Israel a few hours before Mr Bush spoke, forget that when his aircraft
killed nine Palestinian children in July, along with one militant, the
Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon - a "man of peace" in Mr Bush's
words -
described the slaughter as "a great success". Israel is on our side…
Remember to use the word "terror". Use it about Saddam Hussein, use it
about Osama bin Laden, use it about Yasser Arafat, use it about anyone
who
opposes Israel or America. Bush used it in his speech yesterday, 30
times
in half an hour - that's one "terrorism" a minute…
In all of Bush's 30 minutes of anti-Iraq war talk yesterday -
pleasantly
leavened with just two minutes of how "I hope this will not require
military action" - there wasn't a single reference to the fact that
Iraq
may hold oil reserves larger than those of Saudi Arabia, that American
oil
companies stand to gain billions of dollars in the event of a US
invasion,
that, once out of power, Bush and his friends could become
multi-billionaires on the spoils of this war. We must ignore all this
before we go to war. We must forget.
-----
KILLING OF MUSLIM, FIRE SHOCK BOISE
Associated Press, 10/9/02
http://www.sltrib.com/10082002/nation_w/5151.htm
BOISE, Idaho -- An autopsy revealed that the Muslim woman found dead in
the
burned out remains of her home had been killed before the fire was set,
police said Monday.
The death of 37-year-old Angie Abdullah was a homicide, but no evidence
was
found to suggest the woman was a victim of a hate crime, police Lt.
Rich
Schnebly said.
Abdullah was found dead in her bedroom after a fire destroyed her home
early Saturday. Three of her children and a child who was visiting the
home
escaped without injury. A fourth child and her husband, Azad, were out
of
town.
Several people are being questioned, Schnebly said. No suspects have
been
identified.
Police found no evidence of a struggle or break-in and are not certain
how
Abdullah died. But they said the fire was deliberately set, with a gas
can
found in the home's driveway and accelerant residue found throughout
the home.
Abdullah's death came after a week of vandalism and racial slurs
directed
at Boise's Muslim community.
On Sept. 30, bricks were thrown through the windows of the Boise
Islamic
Center where Abdullah and her family worshipped. The center's education
director, Furqan Mehmood, received a threatening phone call the day
before.
On Friday night several members of the center encountered a man who
shouted
racial slurs as they left services.
Said Ahmed-Zaid, a professor at Boise State University and a community
leader, said a funeral for Abdullah will be held when police
investigators
release the body. "We cannot believe it," Ahmed-Zaid said. Deputy Chief
Tim
Rosenvall said officers have been in touch with the Muslim community
since
Sept. 11, 2001.
"Our police officers take this kind of offense personally," Rosenvall
said…
Seven or eight detectives from the department's Crimes Against Persons
unit
have been assigned to the case along with officers from the fire
department
and the Hazmat team. The FBI also is investigating.
---
CANDLELIGHT VIGIL FOR MURDERED IDAHO MUSLIM
WHAT: A Candlelight Vigil in Memorial of Angie Abdullah and in support
of
the Islamic Community of Boise
WHERE: Capitol Park (opposite the State Capitol)
WHEN: Sunday October 13, 7:30-9 p.m.
We hope that the spiritual and community leaders of Boise will join
with
the community in a vigil tonight to support our Islamic neighbors and
to
show them that we will look after them and that we care for them.
For more information, please contact Lynn Lubamersky (208) 426-3358.
-----
ISLAMIC LEADERS CALL PROTEST IN PAKISTAN OVER FALWELL REMARKS
Agence France Presse, 10/9/02
Multan, Pakistan, - Pakistani Islamic parties have denounced
controversial
US pastor Jerry Falwell and called for a nationwide protest on Friday
to
condemn his derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammed, a spokesman
said.
Falwell, who in a television interview equated Mohammed with a
"terrorist,"
has hurt the sentiments of Muslims the world over, and the government
should lodge a formal protest over his utterances, Kanwar Muhammad
Siddique
of the six-party alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) said.
He said MMA leaders, including influential Sunni and Shiite sect
leaders
Tuesday expressed resentment over Falwell's "objectionable remarks" and
demanded he be put on trial for his attempts to disrupt world peace by
inciting the Muslim community. In an interview broadcast Sunday on the
CBS
television network's "60 Minutes" news programme, Falwell, a leader of
the
US Evangelical Christian right, called the Prophet "a terrorist"...
MMA appealed to prayer leaders and Muslim scholars to highlight the
life of
Prophet Mohammed in their sermons at Friday congregations, the Muslim
prayer day.
They should also adopt resolutions against Falwell, and stage rallies
and
protest demonstrations to express their anger against his "sacrilegious
act," Siddique said.
Falwell's comments have drawn widespread wrath in several Muslim
countries,
with neighbour Iran calling upon members of the 55-nation Organisation
of
Islamic Conference (OIC) to speak out over the matter...
-----
EDITORIAL: A DUMB IDEA TOO DANGEROUS TO DALLY WITH
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/9/02
www.post-gazette.com
The long-running and rightfully respected CBS news show "60 Minutes"
made
what the baseball announcers like to call a bonehead play the other
night
by airing an interview with Jerry Falwell.
Though lowlights of a typically hate-filled Falwell conversation had
leaked
previously and Falwell did the Associated Press a favor by restating
them
for the national record, CBS still allowed one of America's leading
fools
to spew vitriol in prime time just as the nation's next dubious
military
steps are likely to begin in earnest.
"I think Mohammed was a terrorist," Falwell was shown telling CBS
correspondent Bob Simon. "I read enough, by both Muslims and
non-Muslims,
[to decide] that he was a violent man, a man of war. In my opinion . .
.
Jesus set the example for love, as did Moses, and I think Mohammed set
an
opposite example." Yeah, that'll help. Thank you Jerry and thank you
CBS…
Mohammed, now dead nearly 1,400 years, was the humble prophet who wrote
the
Quran. Though he'd indeed become a powerful political figure in
addition to
the spiritual icon of the Muslim world, comparing him to Jesus Christ
to
oversimplify a geopolitical conflict two millennia later borders on the
criminal.
In the face of supposedly new bin Laden threats, about the only thing
worse
is offering that view a forum.
-----
TEHRAN, BRITAIN CONDEMN EVANGELIST FALWELL
Reuters, 10/9/02
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran and Britain Wednesday condemned televised comments
by
the Rev. Jerry Falwell who called the prophet Mohammad a "terrorist."
"What this American priest said encourages war among civilisations and
also
increases crisis and it should be confronted," Iranian Foreign Minister
Kamal Kharrazi told a news conference.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw who arrived in Iran on Wednesday
aiming to seek Iran's support for a tough U.N. resolution on Iraq,
said, "I
regard these comments as much an insult to me as a Christian as they
are to
Muslims."
Falwell, a conservative Baptist evangelist and a leading voice for the
U.S.
Christian right, told CBS's "60 Minutes" news show Sunday, "I think
Mohammad was a terrorist," according to the CBS news Web site.
The remarks angered Iran's leading religious figures and some called on
Islamic countries to halt their oil export to the United States and cut
their relations with the "Great Satan."
"This is an obvious insult to our prophet, and it is a must for all
Islamic
countries to stop their oil export and cut their relations with
America,"
the conservative Resalat daily Wednesday quoted Grand Ayatollah Hossein
Nouri-Hamedani, as saying.
-----
MAKING PEACE PERSONAL
Nafeesa Syeed, USA Today, 10/9/02
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002-10-09-peace-personal_x.htm
When Sarah and Taoufik Abalil decided to get married, people told them
it
was bound to fail.
"There was concern that our marriage would be strained by crazy
politics or
competing loyalties," says Sarah Abalil, 27, a Jewish publications
designer
whose husband, 28, is a Muslim graduate student. "But every interfaith
encounter has a period of adjustment and getting past the stereotypes."
Despite the pressures, the Fremont, Calif., couple recently celebrated
their fifth wedding anniversary. But it hasn't always been easy. A few
months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Sarah decided to organize
an
informal dialogue to educate people about each faith. The reception,
though, was cool. Those she contacted were not ready to meet with "the
other side" just yet.
Domestic and international incidents reflect a possibly growing tension
among the faiths.
The attorneys general for California, Nebraska and Texas report surges
in
hate crimes in the past year, largely a result of a post-Sept. 11
backlash
against Muslims and Arabs.
A man in Florida was charged with plotting to attack mosques.
Anti-Semitic
literature was found on lawns in Boston. And the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict continues to breed animosity.
"There is no doubt that tension and longstanding turbulence in other
parts
of the world transfer into relations in the United States," says Diana
Eck,
professor of comparative religion at Harvard University and director of
the
school's Pluralism Project. Conflict abroad "affects friendships here
and
what people feel they can say even to their closest friends..."
-----
EDITORIAL: KEEPING QUIET
Washington Post, 10/9/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63343-2002Oct8.html
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit upheld yesterday the
government's policy of conducting secret deportation hearings for cases
stemming from the investigation of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The 6th
Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled the other way, so the Supreme
Court
will probably have to referee.
The Justice Department has ordered immigration courts to conduct cases
of
"special interest" with "no visitors, no family, and no press" present,
and
without even "confirming or denying whether such a case is on the
docket or
scheduled for a hearing." To put it another way: The government wants
to
lock up people whom it refuses to identify and throw them out of the
country using proceedings whose existence it refuses to acknowledge or
let
the public monitor. As a matter of civics, this is an easy call; the
government's position is unacceptable…
But nobody is arguing that sensitive material should be blithely
displayed.
The rules already allow the government to ask immigration courts to
close
hearings when sensitive material is to be presented. The government
wishes
to go further and wall off from the public an entire class of cases,
however innocuous the material presented may be…
But political accountability is precisely what these closures prevent.
How
are people to evaluate the department's conduct without even knowing
who is
being held or deported or why? American democracy should require more.
-----
ISRAEL FREES REUTERS JOURNALIST AFTER FIVE MONTHS
Reuters, 10/9/02
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel released Wednesday a Reuters journalist it
had
been holding in jail without charge for more than five months.
"I have been freed. It's good to be out," Palestinian cameraman Jussry
al-Jamal said in a telephone call from the Qalandia checkpoint between
the
West Bank city of Ramallah and Jerusalem, where the Israeli army
dropped
him off.
Jamal and Hussam Abu Alan, a photographer with French news agency
Agence
France Presse, and Kamel Jbeil, a reporter for Palestinian newspaper
Al-Quds, had all been held since April.
An AFP representative in Jerusalem said Abu Alan was still in custody
and
his case was up for review in a military tribunal at the end of month.
There was no immediate information on Jbeil.
The three journalists were held with hundreds of other Palestinians in
crowded tents in detention centers under conditions which human rights
groups have described as deplorable…
The Committee to Protect Journalists, an international journalists'
rights
group, had sent a letter to the Israeli government demanding the
release of
the three "unless it can be convincingly shown that they may have
committed
an offense recognizable under international law."
Geert Linnebank, editor-in-chief for the international news
organization
Reuters, had described Jamal's detention as an "unacceptable
contravention
of all international standards for journalists legitimately doing their
jobs."
-----
VA FUNDRAISER FOR THE IRAQI PEOPLE
WHAT: LIFE for Relief & Development is sponsoring a fundraising dinner
for
the people of IRAQ
WHEN: Saturday, October 12, 6 P.M.
WHERE: Hilton Alexandria Mark Center, 5000 Seminary Road, Alexandria,
VA 22311
703-845-1010
Confirmed speakers include:
Ambassador Edward Peck, Former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq
Br. Mahdi Bray, Executive Director of MAS Freedom Foundation
Mr. Erik Gustafson, Executive Director of EPIC
Dr. Khalil Jassemm, CEO of LIFE for Relief & Development
Congressman Nick Rahall II (West Virginia)
Tickets: Adults $30 (students $20)
Babysitting provided
More Info Contact: Tel: 1-800-827-3543 or visit www.LIFEusa.org
-----
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https://www.cair-net.org/asp/membership.asp
TO TAKE PART IN CAIR'S VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE, GO TO:
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/voting.asp
-----
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To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE.)
Contact President Bush to ask that he issue a clear statement
repudiating
anti-Islamic hate.
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
E-MAIL: president@whitehouse.gov
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org
COMMENT LINE: 202-456-1111
FAX: 202-456-2461
A FORM LETTER IS AVAILABLE AT:
http://www.cair-net.org/html/capwiz.html
-----
PRESIDENT ASKED TO REPUDIATE ANTI-ISLAMIC HATE
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/10/02) - A coalition of American Muslim civil
rights
and advocacy groups* said today that only a clear statement from
President
Bush can stem the "rising tide" of anti-Islamic rhetoric in this
country.
Leaders of the groups say the ongoing demonization of Islam and Muslims
by
right-wing commentators and evangelical leaders is being encouraged by
the
president's silence on the issue of Islamophobia.
Earlier this week, the ad hoc coalition sent a letter to President Bush
citing recent anti-Islamic remarks by Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and
Franklin Graham, who all attacked Islam as intrinsically evil or
smeared
the moral character of the Prophet Muhammad. The coalition's letter
read in
part:
"These are not the dispassionate views of scholars, but statements by
persons with a clearly negative agenda towards Islam and Muslims. They
see
Islam and Christianity locked in a cosmic war of annihilation and they
are
promoting this view among millions of their followers.
"These individuals are only helping our enemies by attacking the
tolerant,
multifaceted mosaic of our society. Through their statements they
damage
our most important strength as a nation - our unity…Our society is on
the
edge of an ideological precipice, with powerful forces pushing us
toward a
downward spiral of hate. America needs a clear and unambiguous
statement by
the President of the United States on the issue of anti-Islamic
rhetoric to
pull us back from the brink.
"Without such a statement, the purveyors of hate in our society will
continue to view your silence as tacit support for their bigoted views.
If
this issue is left unchallenged, that perception will serve to divide
America at a time of national crisis, harm our nation's image and
interests
worldwide, hinder the international effort to combat terrorism, and
further
traumatize American Muslim families who face a daily barrage of attacks
on
their faith.
"Your position, moral values and convictions provide the unique
influence
and respect necessary to convince such individuals that their actions
run
counter to America's interests and sully the faith they claim to
represent.
We ask that you publicly criticize such bigotry and distance yourself
and
the Administration from these individuals and their sentiments."
No response has yet been received to the issues raised in the letter.
* SIGNATORIES to the letter included: (In alphabetical order.) American
Muslim Alliance, American Muslim Council, Council on American-Islamic
Relations, Islamic Circle of North America, Islamic Society of North
America, Muslim Alliance in North America, Muslim American Society,
Muslim
Student Association, Muslim Public Affairs Council
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-MAIL:
cair@cair-net.org; Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787 or 703-861-7294,
E-MAIL:
hhassan@cair-net.org
NOTE: CAIR offers an e-mail list designed to be a window to the
American
Muslim community. Subscribers to the list, called CAIR-NET, receive
news
releases and other materials dealing with American Muslim positions on
issues of importance to our society.
To SUBSCRIBE to CAIR-NET, go to: http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
-----
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http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/10/2002
HEADLINES:
* VERSE OF THE DAY: A MESSENGER OF YOUR OWN
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* CAIR OFFERS DIVERSITY TRAINING WORKSHOP AT VA SCHOOLS
* CAIR-CAN PUBLISHES JOURNALIST'S GUIDE TO ISLAM
* GEN. ZINNI SAYS CONTAINING IRAQ CAN WORK (Reuters)
- House Approves Iraq Resolution (AP)
- Thousands Gather at Calif. Antiwar Protest
- Ohio Congresswoman Opposes House Resolution on Iraq (PR Newswire)
* INTERFAITH LEADER URGES PRESIDENT TO CONDEMN ATTACKS ON ISLAM
* AS CHRISTIAN RIGHT PREPARES RALLY FOR ISRAEL, SOME JEWS ARE UNEASY
(JTA)
- Pro-Israel Activists Seek Allies Among Indian Immigrants (Forward)
* STOP ETHNIC CLEANSING IN THE MIDEAST (Christian Science Monitor)
* AFTER INDICTMENT, PROTESTERS RALLY (New York Times)
* CAMPUS WATCH STIFLES FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION (Stanford Daily)
-----
VERSE OF THE DAY: A MESSENGER OF YOUR OWN
"We [God] have sent you a Messenger of your own who recites Our
revelations
to you and makes you grow in purity; and educates you in the Scripture,
and
wisdom, and teaches you what you knew nothing about."
The Holy Quran, Chapter 2, Verse 151
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 667 sponsorships for book and tape
packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the Country. Take
part
in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item "library
package."
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
CAIR OFFERS DIVERSITY TRAINING WORKSHOP AT VA SCHOOLS
TeamWorks, CAIR's diversity training division, today conducted a
sensitivity training workshop for Arlington Virginia Public Schools.
More than 180 teachers and teacher assistants participated in the
training
during an in-service for the school district. TeamWorks Director Nancy
Hanaan presented a classroom sensitivity training, "Muslim Students in
the
Classroom," which included a brief overview of basic Islamic beliefs
and
practices, and accommodation suggestions for Muslim students in public
schools.
TeamWorks: Solutions for Today's Diversity offers several training
programs
available for a wide range of environments and needs. For more
information,
contact: Nancy Hanaan Serag at 202-488-8787, ext. 6052,
nserag@cair-net.org
or teamworks@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR-CAN PUBLISHES JOURNALIST'S GUIDE TO ISLAM
(OTTAWA, CANADA) - CAIR-CAN, the Canadian office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, today published its latest resource guide,
'A
Journalist's Guide to Islam.'
'A Journalists Guide to Islam' highlights important facts and
guidelines
for covering Islam, provides an overview of Islam's history and core
beliefs, discusses the Canadian Muslim presence, and explains a number
of
traditionally misunderstood themes.
The guide was produced by a collaborative effort with Gordon Legge,
director of the Centre for Faith and the Media, which is currently
being
established in Calgary. Legge is a respected journalist who has
reported on
religion and spirituality for the past 15 years and was once the
religion
editor of the Calgary Herald.
CAIR-CAN Board member Dr. Mustapha Fahmy stated: "Since its creation,
CAIR-CAN has been committed to media activism and education. In less
than a
year we have published eight opinion pieces in major Canadian
newspapers
and have delivered intensive media relations workshops in 11 Canadian
cities."
"Our journalist's guide is tailored to the needs of the media community
and
will lead, God willing, to coverage that is accurate, balanced and
nuanced," he added.
In addition to the journalist's guide, CAIR-CAN has also produced
educational guides for employers, educators and health care providers.
Contact:
Council on American-Islamic Relations CANADA (CAIR-CAN)
P.O. Box 13219, Ottawa, ONT, K2K 1X4
E-mail: canada@cair-net.org
Tel: 1-866-524-0004
Fax: (613) 254-9810
URL: www.caircan.ca
-----
U.S. GEN. ZINNI SAYS CONTAINING IRAQ CAN WORK
Reuters, 10/10/02
Washington - The former commander of U.S. forces in the Gulf spoke out
on
Thursday against attacking Iraq, saying a policy of containment would
work
and Washington had at least five higher priorities in the Middle East.
"I think this wolf (Iraqi President Saddam Hussein) can be left for
another
shot. There are plenty of wolves on the sled," said retired Marine
Corps
Gen. Anthony Zinni.
"I'm not convinced we need to do this now. I believe he is ...
containable
at this moment," he told the annual meeting of the Middle East
Institute, a
Washington think-tank.
Zinni has been an outspoken critic of an attack on Iraq, and is
familiar
with Middle Eastern leaders and has been a mediator between Israelis
and
Palestinians.
Under the Democratic Clinton administration, Zinni was
commander-in-chief
of the U.S. Central Command, which runs American forces in the Middle
East.
The Republican Bush administration sent him to the Middle East to try
to
arrange a truce between Israel and the Palestinians.
Zinni said in his experience fighting rarely accomplished what
politicians
intended.
"If we look at this (attacking Iraq) as the beginning of a chain of
events
that means that we intend to do this through violent action, we're on
the
wrong course," he said.
"First of all, I don't see that that's necessary. Secondly, I think
that
war and violence are a very last resort and we have to be careful how
we
apply it, especially now, in our position in the world," he said.
He said the U.S. priorities in the Middle East should be putting Middle
East peace talks back on track, ensuring that Iran continues to move
toward
reform, helping Afghanistan and other central Asian states, patching up
relations with Arab states and reopening dialogue with the people of
the
region.
SEE ALSO:
HOUSE APPROVES IRAQ RESOLUTION
JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press, 10/10/02
WASHINGTON (AP) - The House on Thursday authorized war-making powers
for
President Bush, giving him the extra muscle he needs is his
determination
to free America and the world from what he says is the growing threat
of
Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
The 296-133 vote was a solid endorsement of Bush's insistence that he
will
work with the United Nations if possible, or alone if necessary, to
disarm
Saddam of his weapons of mass destruction. A majority of Democrats
voted
against the resolution even though their House leader, Dick Gephardt,
was
one of its authors…
The Senate was prepared to act in chorus, rejecting by a 75-25 vote a
bid
by opponents to slow down a final vote and picking up the vital support
of
the Senate's top Democrat, Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota.
Information on the House bill, H.J. Res. 114, and the Senate version,
S.J.
Res. 45, can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov
---
THOUSANDS GATHER AT CALIF. ANTIWAR PROTEST
(LOS ANGELES, CA) - On Sunday, October 6, an estimated 10,000 people
converged on the lawn of the Federal Building in Los Angeles to protest
the
impending war on Iraq. The rally and march was organized by the "Not In
Our
Name" (NION) project, a group that formed a year ago to protest our
government's heavy-handed policies, domestically and internationally,
in
the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
The rally drew crowds from all over the Southland. Muslim, Jews,
Christians, young and old, veterans, first time protesters and die-hard
activists all communicated their dissent to the Bush administration's
push
for war.
CAIR encouraged members of the Muslim community to participate in this
peaceful protest against war. CAIR-LA representative also spoke on
behalf
of the Muslim community (Below is text of the actual speech.) Other
speakers included representatives from various groups including the
Lawyers' Guild, the Green Party, the ACLU, and the NION organizers…
For more info, contact:
COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS (CAIR)
Southern California
2180 W. Crescent Ave., Suite F
Anaheim, CA 92801
Tel: (714) 776-1847
Fax: (714) 776-8340
E-mail: CAIR_SCA@cair-california.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
CONGRESSWOMAN STEPHANIE TUBBS JONES OPPOSITION STATEMENT FOR A
RESOLUTION
TO USE MILITARY FORCE AGAINST IRAQ
PR Newswire, 10/10/02
WASHINGTON -- On Wednesday, October 9, 2002, Congresswoman Stephanie
Tubbs
Jones (D-OH) issued a statement on the floor of the United States House
of
Representatives to voice her opposition for HJRes 114, a resolution
supporting the use of military force against Iraq.
"I stand here today as part of a minority in Congress who oppose this
apparently inevitable resolution granting the President the authority
to
use force to remove Saddam Hussein from power. But I won't be a silent
minority.
"I know who Saddam Hussein is. I know he has viciously killed hundreds
of
thousands of Kurds in Northern Iraq with chemical and biological
weapons. I know he has murdered members of his own cabinet -- in fact,
his
own family. I remember vividly his aggressions in Iran and Kuwait and
the
SCUD missiles he launched into Israel in the Gulf War…
"But I also know that the resolution before us is a product of haste
and
hubris rather than introspection and humility. I have seen President
Bush
confront the Iraq question with arrogance and condescension, bullying
Congress, our international allies, and the American people with
accusations and threats. President Bush has told us that war is not
inevitable, but does anyone really believe that…?
"Sadly, we are rushing headlong into a war without knowing what its
consequences will be. Just this week, the CIA presented the alarming
possibility that an attack on Iraq could provoke Saddam into taking the
very actions the Administration claims an invasion would prevent…"
-----
INTERFAITH LEADER URGES PRESIDENT TO CONDEMN ATTACKS ON ISLAM
Citing Hateful Rhetoric From the Right, National Interfaith Leader
Implores President to Divorce Himself From Remarks
WASHINGTON - In an open letter sent to President Bush this morning, the
Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, executive director of The Interfaith
Alliance,
spoke out against the inflammatory comments made in a CBS "60 Minutes"
interview that aired October 6, 2002, by the Rev. Jerry Falwell,
identified
as "one of the leaders of the Christian Right." The letter pointed to
the
concern that such negative sentiments may influence the president, who
often sites such Religious Right figures as Rev. Falwell as his
personal
counsel.
Rev. Gaddy, who also serves as pastor for Preaching and Worship at
Northminster (Baptist) Church in Monroe, Louisiana, cited both the
identification of Mohammed as "a terrorist" and the application of a
specific biblical interpretation cited in the interview as troublesome.
"The strident voices of this extremist theology are growing louder and
louder in their affirmation of conflict in the Middle East as a
necessary
tragedy to move the world toward a fulfillment of biblical prophecy,
the
conversion of Jews, and the reign of Christ," wrote Rev. Gaddy.
The letter requests that President Bush both divorce himself from the
hateful rhetoric of those members of the Religious Right he refers to
as
friends and advisors, and that he demonstrate to the American people
that
the White House is not developing foreign policy on the basis of a
fundamentalist Christian biblical theology.
In light of recent announcements listing President Bush among the
speakers
at this weekend's "Road to Victory" conference sponsored by the
Christian
Coalition of America, Rev. Gaddy asked that the president make clear
his
disagreement with divisive remarks about Islam and the Muslim
community…
The full text of Rev. Gaddy's letter to the President can be found at:
http://www.interfaithalliance.org/advocacy/on-the-record/le021010.htm
-----
AS CHRISTIAN RIGHT PREPARES RALLY FOR ISRAEL, SOME JEWS ARE UNEASY
Sharon Samber, JTA, 10/7/02
http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?strwebhead=Christian+right+will+rally+for+Israel&intcategoryid=3
Washington - Thousands of people will gather in Washington this week in
support of Israel, but there won't be many Jews there. The participants
in
Friday's rally are evangelical Christians, gathering in the nation's
capital as part of a Christian Coalition of America conference.
According to the coalition, the Christian Support for Israel rally will
"tell the world that Christians stand firmly behind the Jewish state
and
are unalterably opposed to trading land for a paper peace."
Such strong talk is not surprising from a group that, along with other
evangelicals, has come out strongly in support of Israel despite
growing
international condemnation of Israeli policy toward the Palestinians
and a
worldwide spike in anti-Semitism.
Nevertheless, many American Jews and Jewish organizations remain wary
of
the evangelicals, suspecting their motives and disagreeing with them on
domestic policy.
Even many of the groups who accept evangelical support for Israel don't
see
the relationship broadening.
"There is no alliance," said Abraham Foxman, national director of the
Anti-Defamation League. "The relationship is based on this one,
specific
issue."
The ADL took some heat in May when it ran an ad reprinting an open
letter
from Ralph Reed, the former executive director of the Christian
Coalition,
calling for support of Israel…
---
PRO-ISRAEL ACTIVISTS SEEKING ALLIES AMONG IMMIGRANTS FROM INDIA
Larry Ramer, Forward, 10/11/02
http://www.forward.com/issues/2002/02.10.11/news9.html
EAST WINDSOR, N.J. - Mirroring close ties between India and Israel,
Jewish
organizations have begun assisting Indian-American groups in their
efforts
to become a potent force in both domestic and foreign policy.
Leaders from the two communities have been coming together in recent
months
to discuss hate-crimes legislation and political activism. A major
catalyst
for the cooperation, however, is the perception that both communities
face
a common enemy in Muslim extremism…
"We're fighting the same extremist enemy," said the capital region
director
of the American Jewish Congress, Charles Brooks, referring to Jews and
Indian Americans. "We want to help them become more effective in
communicating their political will."
Brooks is working closely with the Indian American Political Action
Committee, or INAPAC, a new organization that has just been formed,
primarily by Indian Americans from New Jersey. Brooks is helping the
new
organization develop relations with the U.S. Congress and other
political
leaders...
---
STOP ETHNIC CLEANSING IN THE MIDEAST BEFORE IT STARTS
Helena Cobban, Christian Science Monitor, 10/10/02
http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2002/1010/p11s01-coop.html
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. - "No deportations of Palestinians!" "Get back to
the
negotiating table!" Should these things even need saying to Israeli
Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon when he visits Washington Oct. 16? One would
think
not. But given President Bush's long record of negligence in
Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking, they probably need restating to Mr.
Sharon
very loudly - and by the president - right now...
Forced deportation of Palestinians from the occupied territories -
"transfer," as it is widely described inside Israeli society - is the
most
horrifying possibility being discussed. It is also the option that,
unless
vigorously and consistently opposed by Washington, would do the most
harm
to America's broader interests in the Middle East - and that includes
America's ability to bring the campaign against Saddam Hussein to a
successful conclusion.
How real is the prospect of an Israeli attempt at transfer - or ethnic
cleansing, as this same policy is called in the rest of international
discourse? Well, Israel's recently appointed minister of infrastructure
is
a retired general called Effi Eitam, who made his political career
precisely by advocating transfer…
The US is deeply implicated in everything Israel's government does. At
least $ 3 billion of our tax money has gone to Israel each year since
the
mid-1980s. Washington gives the Sharon government massive military and
diplomatic support. But that support cannot be unconditional, so long
as
Sharon and his government pursue policies that are clearly
escalatory...
-----
AFTER INDICTMENT, PROTESTERS RALLY
John W. Fountain, New York Times, 10/10/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/10/national/10PROF.html
CHICAGO, Oct. 9 - Chanting and waving signs, demonstrators gathered
outside
a downtown federal building today to oppose war against Iraq and
protest
the indictment here of a Muslim charity's leader on charges of
funneling
money to Al Qaeda.
The protesters rallied as Attorney General John Ashcroft held a news
conference inside the building to announce the seven-count indictment,
which accuses Enaam M. Arnaout, 40, of money laundering, fraud and
conspiracy to engage in racketeering as executive director of the
charity,
the Benevolence International Foundation, based in Chicago. Mr. Arnaout
has
been in federal custody here since April, charged with perjury in lying
about ties to Osama bin Laden...
At their own news conference this afternoon, lawyers for Mr. Arnaout
and
the Benevolence International Foundation, or B.I.F., denounced the
indictment. They contended that any relationship between Mr. bin Laden
and
Mr. Arnaout was limited to a period before the foundation was created
in
the 1990's, and before the onset of conflict between Al Qaeda and the
United States.
"It's a sad day for the Arnaout family, the six million Muslim
Americans
and the war on terrorism," said Joseph Duffy, Mr. Arnaout's lawyer.
"Mr.
Ashcroft should have come to Chicago to reprimand the U.S. attorney for
holding a citizen without a charge for what is not a crime. Mr. Arnaout
is
now a pawn in the war on terrorism, a paranoid war on any Muslim who
had
any contact with any terrorist or suspected terrorist."
Matthew J. Piers, the lawyer for the foundation, said there was "no
evidence that we are aware of that B.I.F. ever supported terrorism."
Mr. Piers described the charges as "an amalgamation of falsehoods,
half-truths and guilt by association compounded by an effort to rewrite
history for the past several years."
-----
CAMPUS WATCH STIFLES FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Stanford Daily, 10/9/02
http://daily.stanford.edu/tempo?page=content&id=8974&repository=0001_article
Stanford, Calif. - Stanford University, like all American academic
institutions, should be a place where differences of opinion are
accepted
and examined. Unfortunately, a new organization created to target
"anti-Israel" bias in universities is threatening freedom of expression
at
Stanford and other colleges across the United States.
Campus Watch, an organization founded by Daniel Pipes, head of the
Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum, recently placed Stanford among 18
American universities labeled for holding "anti-Israel" views.
Furthermore,
on the Campus Watch Web site, Pipes has posted dossiers on professors
who
he believes hold "extremist viewpoints" on the Middle East. We not only
resent Pipes' McCarthy-style tactics, but we also believe he is dead
wrong
for targeting Stanford for having an "anti-Israel and anti-American"
bias…
Campus Watch is just an attempt by Pipes to quiet voices in American
academia that clearly differ from his own. For example, Pipes recently
stated, "I want Noam Chomsky to be taught at universities about as much
as
I want Hitler's writing or Stalin's writing . . . . These are wild and
extremist ideas that I believe have no place in a university." While
Pipes
has the right to disagree with Chomsky or any other professor,
universities
like Stanford should be open to a variety of perspectives.
Campus Watch monitors professors who "reject the views of most
Americans
and the enduring policies of the U.S. government about the Middle
East,"
according to Pipes. But what is more un-American: expressing beliefs
that
scrutinize the U.S. or Israeli government's policies, or trying to
regulate
professors who hold these beliefs…?
-----
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-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/11/2002
HEADLINES:
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* FL "TERROR SCARE" MED STUDENTS TO SPEAK AT CAIR BANQUET
* CAIR N. CALIF. HOLDS ANNUAL BANQUET THIS WEEKEND
* CAIR-FL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE: FROM CHALLENGE TO OPPORTUNITY
* INCITEMENT WATCH: FOX'S O'REILLY SAYS MUSLIM WOMEN "UNATTRACTIVE"
* DEATHS RESULT FROM FALWELL'S COMMENTS (AP)
- Bush Addresses Conference Featuring Falwell and Robertson (AP)
- Olmert Picks Anti-Islam Evangelist as Jerusalem Fund Co-Chair
(Ha'aretz)
- Church Leaders Challenge Religious Right's Bigotry (PR Newswire)
- Editorial: Unorthodox Alliance (Washington Post)
- Muslim-Christian Understanding (AP)
* U.S. HAS A PLAN TO OCCUPY IRAQ, OFFICIALS REPORT (New York Times)
* EDITORIAL: INDICT INDIVIDUALS, NOT CHARITIES (New York Times)
* OFFICIALS MEET WITH SOMALIS TO BOOST TIES (Portland Press Herald)
* GROUP SEEKS TO STOP ISLAMIC EVENT (AP)
* MODEST, STYLE-CONSCIOUS AND FRUSTRATED NO MORE (Los Angeles Times)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: A PROPHET FOR ALL MANKIND
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Every Prophet before me
was
sent to his people alone, but I have been sent to all mankind."
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 1, Hadith 331
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 867 sponsorships for book and tape
packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the Country. Take
part
in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item "library
package."
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
FL "TERROR SCARE" MED STUDENTS TO SPEAK AT CAIR BANQUET
Among the special guests scheduled to speak at CAIR's Eighth Annual
Fundraising Banquet on October 26th in Washington, D.C., are the three
Muslim medical students detained in a "terror scare" on a Florida
highway
last month. CAIR organized news conferences for the students and
provided
legal assistance.
WHAT: CAIR's 8th Annual Fundraising Banquet - "Muslims in America:
Defending Freedom, Promoting Justice" and featured guests include
Martin
Luther King III, Dr. John Esposito, and many others.
WHEN: Saturday, October 26th at 6 P.M.
WHERE: Sheraton Premiere, 8611 Leesburg Pike, Tyson's Corner, VA
Tickets: $55 single/$85 couples
TO REGISTER ONLINE, GO TO: www.cair-net.org
TEL: (202) 488-8787
-----
CAIR N. CALIF. HOLDS ANNUAL BANQUET THIS WEEKEND
WHAT: CAIR Northern California's 8th Annual Banquet & Fundraiser - A
United
& Secure America: with Liberty & Justice for All
WHEN: Saturday, October 12, 6 P.M. to 10 P.M.
WHERE: Santa Clara Marriott, 2700 Mission College Blvd., Santa Clara
INVITED SPEAKERS INCLUDE:
Congressman David Bonior (MI, 10th District)
Congressman Mike Honda (CA, 15th District)
Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (CA, 14th District)
State Assemblywoman Elaine Alquist (22nd Assembly District)
Journalist and Author Michael Wolfe
Dr. Bassem Khafaji (CAIR Washington, D.C.)
There will also be a preview of PBS Documentary on Prophet Muhammad
Reserve Online: http://www.cair-california.org or call (408)986-9874
-----
CAIR-FL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE: FROM CHALLENGE TO OPPORTUNITY
WHAT: CAIR Florida's Leadership Conference
WHEN: Saturday, November 2, 2002
10 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. (Workshops)
6 P.M. to 9 P.M. (Dinner)
WHERE: Hilton Ft. Lauderdale Airport Hotel
1870 Griffin Rd, Dania Beach, FL 954-920-3300
SPEAKERS & FACILITATORS:
Dr. Agha Sayeed, AMA Chairman
Imam Muhammad Musri, ISCF, Orlando
Imam Zaid Malik, ICNEF, Jacksonville
Arsalan Iftikhar, CAIR-St. Louis
Dr. Parvez Ahmed, CAIR-FL
Dr. Mohammed Qazi, AMA-Orlando
Roland Foulkes, City of Broward County
Altaf Hussein, MSA President
Candidates for the Florida Gubernatorial elections have been invited to
speak during dinner.
REGISTRATION:
Individual$40/Student $25
(lunch, dinner and all workshop materials)
Dinner only $30/Baby Sitting $10
To register, call: 954-916-5661
E-mail: info@cair-florida.org
URL: www.cair-florida.org
Registration after Oct. 28th will be an additional $5
-----
INCITEMENT WATCH: FOX'S O'REILLY SAYS MUSLIM WOMEN "UNATTRACTIVE"
Bill O'Reilly Criticized For Quip About Muslims
Contra Costa Times, 10/11/02
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/4261710.htm
Fox talkmeister Bill O'Reilly, who helped persuade Pepsi to drop
Ludacris
as a pitchman because he found the rapper's lyrics offensive and
degrading,
now finds himself under attack after he declared that "the most
unattractive women in the world are probably in the Muslim countries."
In what was apparently meant to be a tongue-in-cheek interview with the
men's magazine Stuff, reports E! Online, O'Reilly, who hosts the
"O'Reilly
Factor" current affairs talk show, is asked for his personal turn-ons.
The
pundit rules out devout Islamic women who favor traditional dress.
"You can't see them," O'Reilly playfully tells the magazine. "So you
are
assuming that, if (they're) dressed head to toe in black and I can only
see
eyebrows, there's something going on…"
[NOTE: In the past, O'Reilly compared the Quran, Islam's revealed text,
to
Hitler's "Mein Kampf."]
SEND POLITE COMMENTS TO: oreilly@foxnews.com, roger.ailes@foxnews.com,
bill.shine@foxnews.com, comments@foxnews.com,
Viewerservices@foxnews.com
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org
-----
DEATHS RESULT FROM FALWELL'S COMMENTS
Clashes, Rioting Kill Five in India
Associated Press, 10/11/02
BOMBAY, India - Police shooting and rioting Friday among Hindu and
Muslim
groups in a town in western India killed at least five people and
wounded
47 others, a government minister said.
It was not immediately clear how many victims had been killed or
wounded by
gunfire.
Police opened fire on mobs of Hindus and Muslims who were attacking
each
other with knives and stones during a general strike called by some
Muslim
organizations to protest remarks by the Rev. Jerry Falwell. The
well-known
Baptist minister called the founder of Islam a terrorist on a recent
CBS
television interview.
Falwell's remarks had triggered street protests in Indian-controlled
Kashmir on Monday…
SEE ALSO:
BUSH ADDRESSES CONFERENCE FEATURING FALWELL AND ROBERTSON
A Dominant Political Group of the 1990s Looks to Reassert Itself
Will Lester, Associated Press, 10/11/02
Christian Coalition leaders say the group may have had a lower national
profile recently, but it has been working hard to stay viable at the
grassroots level…
The coalition's annual Road to Victory conference will include a rally
to
support Israel on Friday in front of the White House, speeches by
conservative lawmakers, worship services with the Joyce Meyer
ministries
and singing by Pat Boone. The demonstration of solidarity with Israel
is
consistent with a long-standing alliance with Israel, which Christians
also
consider their Holy Land…
SEE: http://www.cc.org/events/information.html
"They've had some success," Green said. "Many they've backed are now in
office, and they've mobilized a lot of voters. They helped elect the
president."
That leader, President Bush, sent over a videotaped address this week
greeting the Christian conservatives and promised them an
administration
that "believes in fostering a culture of life...believes free
enterprise
works best when government is limited and taxes are low…"
And the president told the Christians "we believe freedom requires
judges
who strictly interpret the law and the Constitution. We seek impartial
judges, not legislators in robes..."
---
OLMERT PICKS ANTI-ISLAM EVANGELIST AS JERUSALEM FUND CO-CHAIR
Yair Sheleg, Ha'aretz, 10/11/02
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=218361
Pat Robertson, the Christian evangelist American TV preacher who heads
the
700 Club and recently referred to the prophet Mohammed as a "killer,"
has
been picked by Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert to co-chair an organization
of
pro-Israel Christian activists to raise money for Olmert's New
Jerusalem Fund.
In a recent TV appearance on Fox News, Robertson said Islam's prophet,
Mohammad, was "an absolute wild-eyed fanatic...a robber and a brigand.
And
to say that these terrorists distort Islam, they're carrying out
Islam...I
mean, this man was a killer."
Robertson has come under fire in the U.S. for the anti-Islam comments,
which have led to challenges to the Bush administration's decision to
make
a Robertson-led organization a recipient of one of the first
"faith-based
initiatives" for social welfare, promoted by President George W. Bush.
Olmert set up the New Jerusalem Fund, dubbed "Praying for Jerusalem" as
a
competitor to former Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek's Jerusalem fund.
Robertson will join two other chairs of the new pro-Jerusalem
organization
established by Olmert's fund; Olmert himself and Mike Evans, a leading
U.S.
Christian evangelist...
---
CHRISTIAN LEADERS CHALLENGE RELIGIOUS RIGHT'S IGNORANCE OF PALESTINIAN
CHRISTIANS
PR Newswire, 10/11/02
WASHINGTON - American church leaders today criticized the Christian
Right
for ignoring their bonds with the Christians of the Holy Land.
Reacting to
uncritical support for Israel by some fundamentalist Christian leaders,
and
to Jerry Falwell's statement on "60 Minutes" that defamed the prophet
Mohammed, church leaders voiced concern at assertions made by some
Christian fundamentalists.
Jim Winkler, general secretary of the United Methodist Church's General
Board of Church and Society, declared, "President Bush often reminds
the
American people that intolerant words of a few militant Islamic leaders
are
not representative of Islam. I am here to tell the American people
that
the comments of Rev. Falwell and others on last Sunday's '60 Minutes'
are
not representative of American Christianity."
Winkler spoke through a national coalition of Protestant and Catholic
organizations named Churches for Middle East Peace. He and others
expressed the hope that today's Christian Coalition rally designed to
show
support Israel would also remind participants not to forget their
Christian
brothers and sisters who live, work, and worship in the sacred sites of
Christianity…
Contact: Jim Wetekam of Churches for Middle East Peace, 202-488-5638;
e-mail: jim@cmep.org
-----
EDITORIAL: UNORTHODOX ALLIANCE
Gershom Gorenberg, Washington Post, 10/11/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10067-2002Oct10.html
The idea is supposed to make me tingle warmly: While I sit in my home
here
enjoying the Friday evening calm, thousands of Christian Coalition
supporters will be gathering at the Ellipse in Washington to proclaim
solidarity with Israel. According to pre-rally PR, my prime minister
will
speak by satellite hookup, pleased to have the backing of an American
constituency more hawkish than most of his Israeli voters…
I'm not tingling.
Having spent years researching the Christian right's tie to Israel --
listening to leading "Christian Zionists," reading their sermons and
examining the links of some to Israeli extremists -- I have to conclude
that this is a strangely exploitative relationship. Accepting the
embrace
of conservative evangelicals poses problems of principle for Jews and
Israel, in return for an illusory short-term payoff…
---
MUSLIM-CHRISTIAN UNDERSTANDING
Religion Today
Associated Press, 10/11/02
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Religion-Today.html?pagewan
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Muslims and Christians sat near each other,
crossed-legged in their stocking feet, listening to a sermon that
stressed
connections binding people separated by faith and custom.
"We are all creations of God, the same God," said Aly A. Farag, the
imam at
the mosque near the banks of the Ohio River. A dozen Presbyterians
listened
intently as Farag stressed the importance of obedience to the Almighty
and
treating others with kindness.
They were familiar themes to the Presbyterians, who attended the
Islamic
prayer service as part of an effort by their denomination to bridge the
gulf separating Christians and Muslims in this country.
"I felt quite comfortable and at peace with what he said. There were
parts
of that I thought could be in any Christian sermon," Karolyn Mangeot, a
Presbyterian from Corydon, Ind., said afterward.
The Christians were invited to the prayer service as part of an
interfaith
listening project organized by the Presbyterian Church (USA), the
nation's
seventh-largest denomination, headquartered in Louisville. The church
recruited seven teams from overseas, each consisting of one Muslim and
one
Christian, to visit Presbyterian congregations throughout the United
States
and -- where possible -- to bring together members of local churches
and
mosques.
The purpose was to promote understanding and harmony between Christians
and
Muslims -- a concept given greater urgency since the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks and the prospects of war with Iraq, an organizer said…
-----
U.S. HAS A PLAN TO OCCUPY IRAQ, OFFICIALS REPORT
David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt, New York Times, 10/11/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/11/international/11PREX.html
WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 - The White House is developing a detailed plan,
modeled on the postwar occupation of Japan, to install an American-led
military government in Iraq if the United States topples Saddam
Hussein,
senior administration officials said today.
The plan also calls for war-crime trials of Iraqi leaders and a
transition
to an elected civilian government that could take months or years. In
the
initial phase, Iraq would be governed by an American military commander
-
perhaps Gen. Tommy R. Franks, commander of United States forces in the
Persian Gulf, or one of his subordinates - who would assume the role
that
Gen. Douglas MacArthur served in Japan after its surrender in 1945…
In contemplating an occupation, the administration is scaling back the
initial role for Iraqi opposition forces in a post-Hussein government.
Until now it had been assumed that Iraqi dissidents both inside and
outside
the country would form a government, but it was never clear when they
would
take full control.
Today marked the first time the administration has discussed what could
be
a lengthy occupation by coalition forces, led by the United States...
-----
EDITORIAL: INDICT INDIVIDUALS, NOT CHARITIES
Salam Al-Marayati, New York Times, 10/11/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/11/opinion/11ALMA.html
Last December, the Bush administration froze the assets of three large
Muslim charities in the United States - Benevolence International,
Global
Relief and Holy Land Foundation - as part of its effort to clamp down
on
the financing of terrorist organizations. Since that time, American
Muslims
have been severely hampered in their charitable giving.
The government's policy has inflicted considerable harm. By effectively
shutting down these charities, it has given Americans the false
impression
that American Muslims are supporting terrorists. It has also given the
Muslim world a similarly false impression that America is intolerant of
a
religious minority.
Most significantly, the administration's policy has interfered with a
basic
pillar or tenet of Islam: zakat, or almsgiving. Among other zakat
duties,
Muslims are required to donate annually a portion (often 2.5 percent)
of
their savings. During Ramadan, which begins next month, they are
supposed
to give a little bit more. In this respect, the restriction of Muslim
charities is an issue of religious freedom.
President Bush seemed to understand this when I and other American
Muslims
met with him last month to express our concerns about his policies. He
compared zakat to the Christian tradition of tithing and said that he
would
work to ensure that we were able to pursue our religion unimpeded.
And yet the charities remain frozen. That's unfortunate, because we
offered
the administration a proposal that would both enable the government to
get
the information it needs to fight terrorism and make it possible for
Muslims to fulfill their religious duty…
The proposal centers on transparency. Muslim charities are willing to
adopt
a policy of complete transparency. They are eager to show the
government
where their money comes from and what they use it for. But to do this,
they
need federally sanctioned guidelines. The Treasury Department needs to
spell out precisely what information it wants in order to conduct a
thorough legal and financial audit, one that will provide a clean bill
of
health…
-----
OFFICIALS MEET WITH SOMALIS TO BOOST TIES
Meredith Goad, Portland Press Herald, 10/11/02
http://www.pressherald.com/news/state/021011somali.shtml
A request for a federal review of Lewiston's programs and services for
Somalis and other immigrants will be filed sometime next week,
according to
the advocate who will be writing the formal complaint to the Justice
Department.
Kathy Poulos-Minott, who heads a Portland-based group that advocates
for
the rights of people who speak limited English, said the complaint
would
focus on issues such as lack of training for city employees and
inconsistencies in policies and procedures across departments…
Lewiston city officials met with Somali elders Thursday at the public
library to try to mend fences after a letter from Mayor Laurier Raymond
angered and offended the local Somali community last week. The letter,
referring to an increased flow of Somali immigrants into Lewiston,
asked
the local Somali community to "exercise some discipline and reduce the
stress on our limited finances and generosity."
The Lewiston police chief and other police officials attended the
meeting,
as well as two city councilors, Roger Philippon and Renee Bernier.
Several
Somali elders were present, including some who typically work with city
officials through the Somali advisory committee.
Winston McGill, vice president of the Portland chapter of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said he met with a
Somali elder Thursday and pledged the organization's support. He also
has
written an open letter of support to the Somali community that will be
delivered next week.
The New England conference of the NAACP, which represents all of the
region's NAACP branches, also has pledged its support…
-----
GROUP SEEKS TO STOP ISLAMIC EVENT
Associated Press, 10/11/02
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-UNC-Quran.html
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- The group that sued to stop the University of
North
Carolina from assigning freshmen a book on the Quran is now taking aim
at
the school's plans to hold an Islamic awareness week next month.
The American Family Association's Center for Law and Policy filed an
amended court complaint last week to try to block UNC from hosting
seminars
and round-table discussions on Islam Nov. 11-15.
"There's a lot more going on than we thought there was when we first
filed
our complaint," said Michael DePrimo, an attorney for the conservative
Christian group.
"The issue is whether or not the university is advancing the religion
of
Islam, and clearly they are," he said.
The group filed its first complaint after the university's Chapel Hill
campus asked all 4,200 incoming freshmen and transfer students to read
and
be prepared to discuss ``Approaching the Qur'an: The Early
Revelations,''
by Michael Sells.
It said the requirement amounted to state sponsorship of religion. The
court ruled in favor of the university on Aug. 19, hours before the
sessions were to begin and they went forward as scheduled. UNC has 20
days
to respond to the amended complaint. The issue will be decided in a
federal
district court in Greensboro…
-----
MODEST, STYLE-CONSCIOUS AND FRUSTRATED NO MORE
WILLIAM LOBDELL, Los Angeles Times, 10/11/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-modesty11oct11004439,0,6553538.story
Getting fitted Thursday for a teen fashion show, Katie Sereno knew what
she
didn't want in a formal dress. Nothing slinky. Nothing slitted,
backless or
plunging. And, please, nothing bellybutton-baring.
In a teen fashion world ruled by the likes of Britney Spears, this
eliminates just about any off-the-rack gown.
The Anaheim High School senior, like many of the 520,000 Mormon teenage
girls across the country, usually would have to improvise: She would
borrow
a popular dress from a fellow church member or make something from
scratch.
For a recent school dance, a friend added sleeves to a store-bought
dress
using decorative ribbons of fabric cut from the back of the garment.
Now,
thanks to the unlikely collaboration of two fashion-frustrated Mormon
moms
and Nordstrom, she has alternatives--more than 30 of them. On Saturday,
Nordstrom in Costa Mesa's South Coast Plaza will host a sold-out
fashion
show featuring 33 Mormon teenage girls from Southern California wearing
stylish dresses with not a spaghetti strap in sight…
Organizers have had to turn away other fashion-conservative
teens--including Roman Catholics, Jews, Protestants and Muslims--whose
religion dictates modesty…
To keep the momentum going after the show, leaders of the Church of
Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints plan a public relations campaign to reach
U.S.
Mormons, other faith groups and anyone else interested in modest teen
clothes.
"We'd be there in a second," said Sabiha Khan, 24, a Muslim woman who
works
at the Southern California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations. "A lot of Muslims, especially teenagers, would love it. All
teenagers like to look good."
Muslim teens have had to adopt many of the same strategies as Mormons.
They
sew up slits on long dresses. They take fabric from shawls or
decorative
pieces of the dress to craft sleeves. And they've established an
informal
fashion grapevine to alert friends to rare finds of stylish but modest
clothing.
Khan said Muslim fashion shows held at mosques and community centers
often
attract 200 interested shoppers...
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/12/2002
HEADLINES:
* U.S. DEPORTS RESPECTED CANADIAN TO SYRIA (Canadian Press)
* ORE. MUSLIM CLERIC RELEASED ON BAIL (AP)
* AMERICANS FEEL PINCH AS ARAB BOYCOTT STARTS TO BITE (Times)
* EIGHT DEAD IN UNABATED ANTI-FALWELL RIOTS IN INDIAN CITY (AFP)
- LEBANON CLERIC ATTACKS FALWELL'S SLUR OF MOHAMMAD (Reuters)
- INDIA CHRISTIAN COUNCIL CONDEMNS FALWELL'S REMARKS (BBC)
- TV SEEMS TO BRING OUT THE WORST IN FALWELL (Charlotte Observer)
- COMMENTARY: PEACE BE UPON HIM (Denver Post)
- FALWELL IS AMERICA'S HATE MACHINE (Post-Intelligencer)
- FALWELL'S PRETZEL LOGIC HAS, SADLY, A WIDE APPEAL (Palm Beach Post)
-----
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U.S. DEPORTS RESPECTED CANADIAN TO SYRIA
The Canadian Press (CP), 10/12/02
http://globeandmail.com/
Search using the term "deported."
TORONTO (CP) _ Foreign Affairs officials are demanding that Washington
explain why it has deported a respected Canadian engineer to Syria
after he
was seized by U.S. investigators and accused of having links to
al-Qaida,
the Globe and Mail reported Saturday.
Maher Arar, a 32-year-old Canadian citizen, was arrested at New York's
Kennedy Airport on Sept. 26, subjected to a series of lengthy
interrogations, then deported to Syria, where he had lived until the
age of
17.
Arar's family says that for more than a week they had no idea what
happened
to him. "He just disappeared," Arar's wife, Monica, said from Tunisia,
where she was vacationing.
She had gone there on an extended holiday with Arar and their two
children.
"The whole thing is insane. My husband is a father. He works. He isn't
a
terrorist."
"The Canadian Embassy in Washington is vigorously pursuing the
questions of
the whereabouts of this Canadian citizen at a very senior level,"
Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Reynald Doiron said Friday
night.
"This was a breach of Canadian sovereignty," said Riad Saloojee of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations Canada. "This deportation was
illegal, and it has placed the life of a Canadian citizen at risk. We
are
gravely concerned about the U.S. deporting a Canadian citizen without
consulting the Canadian government."
At the time of his arrest, Arar was travelling to Montreal after a
visit
with his wife's family in Tunisia. After being seized by U.S.
Immigration
and Naturalization Service officers at the airport, he was jailed at
New
York's Metropolitan Detention Center…
"This is a very, very strange case," said Michael Edelson, an Ottawa
lawyer
who knows Arar. "You have to ask yourself what's going on when the U.S.
is
able to take a Canadian citizen and send him to Syria without any kind
of
representation."
Sources familiar with the case said Mr. Arar had been subjected to a
nine-hour interrogation after being arrested, with no lawyer present.
He
was accused by American investigators of knowing a suspected terrorist
in
the Ottawa area.
Arar, who lives in Ottawa, is a highly regarded telecommunications
engineer
who had recently set himself up as an independent engineering
consultant
after a career with large firms…
Saloojee said Arar may face severe punishment at the hands of the
Syrian
government because he avoided compulsory military service before
leaving
the country as a teenager.
CONTACT: 613-277-5307 or canada@cair-net.org
-----
ORE. MUSLIM CLERIC RELEASED ON BAIL
ANDREW KRAMER, Associated Press, 10/12/02
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A judge allowed a Muslim cleric to be released on
bail Friday a month after his arrest on a charge of Social Security
fraud.
Sheik Mohamed Abdirahman Kariye, 41, an imam at the Islamic Center of
Portland, was released on $250,000 bond posted by members of the Muslim
community, said Stanley Cohen, Kariye's attorney. The bond package
included
a 401(k) account at Intel and two properties, Cohen said.
"There's zero connection between my client and anything political. The
fact
that the government stood up today and said he should be let go -
that's
better than a jury of 12," he said.
-----
AMERICANS FEEL PINCH AS ARAB BOYCOTT STARTS TO BITE
Michael Theodoulou and Daniel McGrory, The Times, 10/11/02
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-442864,00.html
WHEN school's over, Najeeb Atallah, 10, and a couple of friends head
for
the local McDonald's in Amman to picket their classmates.
Two branches of the chain have closed in the region and some staff have
left their jobs, fearful of local resprisals. What began two years ago
as a
low-key protest against US support for Israel has developed into a
sustained campaign against America's best known brands. Threats of a
conflict in Iraq have given further impetus to the economic boycott.
Fast
food outlets, toy makers, drink and cosmetics companies, and even
Disneyland, are feeling the squeeze.
Muslim clerics call for a boycott during Friday prayers, religious and
political leaders have gone on television in Saudi Arabia to support
the
anti-US protests. Leaflets are handed out listing brands to boycott,
and
there are thousands of protest calls on the internet.
Trade between the US and Arab countries is said to be down by at least
25
per cent since last year. Some economists argue that this is mainly due
to
the price of oil and exchange rates, but the boycott is taking its
toll.
Leading soft drinks companies and fast food chains have reported a drop
in
business of 25 to 40 per cent in the Arab world…
-----
EIGHT DEAD IN UNABATED ANTI-FALWELL RIOTS IN INDIAN CITY
Agence France Presse, 10/12/02
BOMBAY, Oct 12 - Sectarian violence in India's Solapur city, triggered
by a
protest over comments by US Baptist minister Jerry Falwell against the
Prophet Mohammed, continued early Saturday leaving eight dead and over
90
injured, a police spokesman said.
"Sectarian clashes have been reported throughout the night in which
three
more deaths have been reported as well as several injured," a police
officer from Solapur said. The official said of the five killed Friday,
four died in police firing and one in mob violence.
Police had used gunfire Friday on crowds of rioters of Muslim youths
who
clashed with groups of Hindus as the protest against Falwell's remarks
turned violent…
Violence in Solapur had erupted when a crowd of Muslim youths gathered
in
the city on Friday to protest Falwell's remarks, in which he called
Islam's
founder "a terrorist".
SEE ALSO:
LEBANON CLERIC ATTACKS FALWELL'S SLUR OF MOHAMMAD
Reuters, 10/12/02
BEIRUT, Oct 12 (Reuters) - A leading Shi'ite Muslim religious authority
urged Muslims on Saturday to confront what he called an attack on Islam
in
U.S. preacher Jerry Falwell's reference to the prophet Mohammad as a
"terrorist."
In a statement, Sheikh Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah said Falwell's
remarks
reflected the thinking of President George W. Bush and his backers
among
the staunchly pro-Israeli U.S. Christian Right.
"All Muslims must make a stand against this attack on Islam, its
prophet
and Muslims themselves," Fadlallah said…
---
ALL INDIA CHRISTIAN COUNCIL CONDEMNS FALWELL'S REMARKS AGAINST ISLAM
BBC Monitoring International Reports
New Delhi, 11 October: Condemning Rev J. Falwell's statements against
Islam, the All India Christian Council on Friday 11 October called for
amity and harmony between Christian, Muslim, Hindu and other
communities
and said the statements were opposed to the nature of Christianity.
A statement issued by Dr Joseph D'Souza, president of the council, and
general-secretary John Dayal said: "The leaders of the council have
been
horrified by the recent statements against Islam made by the Rev
Falwell in
a public broadcast.
The statements are not only opposed to the spirit and words of Christ
but
also to the nature of Christianity, which is a religion of love and
grace.
The diatribe of Rev Falwell reveals a shallow understanding of the
religion... Rev Falwell's outburst is in poor taste and does not
reflect
the feelings of the Christian community..." ellipses as received
---
TV SEEMS TO BRING OUT THE WORST IN JERRY FALWELL
The Charlotte Observer, 10/11/02
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/4259057.htm
Or maybe we're the ones who are nuts for looking for some logic in Mr.
Fawell's pronouncements. Back in the 1930s, a comic book hero named
Lamont
Cranston ("The Shadow") was said to have "the power to cloud men's
minds."
Apparently the television camera has such Cranston-like powers over Mr.
Falwell. Maybe he is not an idiot, but he does tend to play one on TV.
---
COMMENTARY: PEACE BE UPON HIM
Asma Gull Hasan, Denver Post, 10/11/02
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E73%257E916268,00.html
In 612 A.D., a man told his people they needed to change their ways.
Those
people had practiced pagan, tribal rituals like burying baby girls at
birth
and letting widows and orphans starve. The man said women deserved
equal
rights, that they should keep their maiden names because they were not
property to be passed from one man to another. He managed to eradicate
the
killing of baby girls. He propagated a progressive message, although
he
lived 1,400 years ago and was illiterate and an orphan…
Falwell thinks the man who lived 1,400 years ago was a terrorist and
America deserved the 9/11 attacks. Who do you think the terrorist is?
---
FALWELL IS AMERICA'S HATE MACHINE
JAN JARBOE RUSSELL, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, 10/11/02
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/90667_russell11.shtml
Now that the communists, with all their conspiracies, have been
overthrown,
the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who claims to speak not only for God but for 70
million evangelical Christians, offers an answer to the question that
lies
in the heart of America's darkness.
That question is: Who, pray tell, are we to hate next?
By God's own hand, according to Falwell, it's now America and Israel
versus
the Muslims. The Muslims are, in his mind, the new red menace.
Falwell's
answer, given as he looked into the CBS-TV camera on "60 Minutes" last
Sunday, is that a line in the sand was drawn by God himself, who, more
than
1,000 years ago, wrote the script we are now living…
Sentence by slippery sentence, Falwell and those who fervently agree
with
him are building their case for Armageddon. Either you believe in the
Bible
or you don't, they say. You're with us or you're against us. It's good
versus evil, no questions allowed.
Falwell's rhetoric is becoming increasingly hysterical as he injects
himself in the world's hottest spots…
---
FALWELL'S PRETZEL LOGIC HAS, SADLY, A WIDE APPEAL
STEVE GUSHEE, Palm Beach Post, 10/12/02
http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/friday/accent_d35a1f4723e30033004a.html
Falwell's god is angry, quick to condemn and happiest when passing
judgment
and wreaking havoc on sinners.
That kind of deity needs someone to hate. Falwell is only the latest in
a
long line of those happy to provide the fodder…
Falwell is more dangerous than others because he has been able to
peddle
his twisted version of Christianity to America's mainstream. He is
comfortable and influential in the political realm, at ease on
television
and uses that medium well.
Still, his faith convictions come from the same scary theology that
fuels
the Ku Klux Klan, Christian Identity, Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh
and
the Muslims of Al-Qaeda, who distort Islam in much the same way. They
invoke God to hate whomever they condemn.
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/13/2002
HEADLINES:
* THREATENING LETTER FOUND AT ISLAMIC CENTER (Idaho Statesman)
* JERRY FALWELL'S "STATEMENT OF RECONCILIATION"
* CAIR-CAN DEMANDS RELEASE OF CANADIAN DEPORTED TO SYRIA BY U.S.
* IF WE'RE PROMOTING DEMOCRACY, WHY NOT IN TURKEY? (Washington Post)
* HEARSAY ALLOWED IN CONSPIRACY CASES (AP)
-----
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Don't forget to register for CAIR's Eighth Annual Fundraising Banquet.
Last
year's event was a sell-out, so act now to purchase your seats.
WHEN: Saturday, October 26, 6 P.M.
WHERE: Sheraton Premiere, 8611 Leesburg Pike, Tyson's Corner, VA
The dinner's theme is "Muslims in America: Defending Freedom, Promoting
Justice," and featured guests include Martin Luther King III, Dr. John
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-----
THREATENING LETTER FOUND AT ISLAMIC CENTER
Idaho Statesman, 10/13/02
http://www.idahostatesman.com/News/story.asp?ID=22858
A threatening letter was discovered Saturday evening at the Islamic
Center
of Boise, adding to a recent string of threats and vandalism directed
at
the center.
The letter was found inside the mail slot by Furqan Mehmood, the
center�s
education director, at about 7 p.m. when members of the center were
arriving for evening prayer. The Islamic Center of Boise is located at
328
N. Orchard St.
Mehmood called Boise police, who are investigating it as a hate crime
and
malicious harassment, police spokesman Rich Wright said.
The letter was typed on a sheet of paper and did not arrive in an
envelope,
Wright said. It was addressed "To Islam People."
The letter, which was laced with profanity, called members of the
Islamic
Center "subhuman beings," Mehmood said.
"The government is not doing its job, so we have to do anything we can
to
get you out of here," the letter said. "We will be back soon until no
more
of you are left here."
On the evening of Oct. 4, members of the center encountered a man who
shouted obscenities at them as they left the mosque.
Two windows were shattered at the Islamic Center on either Sept. 29 or
30.
Mehmood said he received an obscene threatening call on the night of
Sept 29.
In addition to the recent threats and vandalism, the center is mourning
the
loss of Angie Abdullah, 37, who died early on Oct. 5, just before
someone
set fire to her home…
The letter discovered Saturday, which calls followers of Islam rapists
and
murderers, does not mention Abdullah�s death nor the fire that
destroyed
her home.
But Mehmood believes Abdullah�s death is connected to a hate crime. "We
still believe it was a hate crime until they can prove otherwise," he
said…
-----
JERRY FALWELL'S "STATEMENT OF RECONCILIATION"
LYNCHBURG, Va., Oct. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- I sincerely apologize that
certain
statements of mine made during an interview for the September 30
edition of
CBS's "60 Minutes" were hurtful to the feelings of many Muslims. I
intended
no disrespect to any sincere, law abiding Muslim.
In my more than 50 years of Christian ministry, I have never preached a
sermon on Islam. I have never written a book or booklet on the subject.
I
have always shown respect for other religions, faiths and
denominations.
Unfortunately, I answered one controversial and loaded question at the
conclusion of an hour-long CBS interview which I should not have
answered.
That was a mistake and I apologize.
-----
CAIR-CAN DEMANDS RELEASE OF CANADIAN DEPORTED TO SYRIA BY U.S.
Organization calls on Foreign Minister to ensure safety and release of
citizen
(Ottawa, Canada) � The Canadian office of the Council on
American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR-CAN) today called on Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bill
Graham, to act swiftly in ensuring the safety and release of a Canadian
Citizen who was recently deported to Syria by U.S. authorities.
Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen for the past 15 years, was detained in
the
United States on September 26th after a stop-over in New York on route
to
Montreal. He was detained, interrogated for 9 hours, and threatened
with
deportation to his place of birth, Syria. Mr. Arar was then
transferred to
the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn and was deported to
Syria on October 10th.
In a statement released today, CAIR-CAN wrote:
"The detention and deportation of Maher Arar is a grave breach of both
international human rights law and Mr. Arar's rights as a Canadian
citizen.
"The deportation has placed the life of a Canadian citizen in danger.
The
Canadian government must move immediately and pursue all avenues to
ensure
the safety and release of one of its citizens."
The Council is also calling for a thorough investigation into Mr.
Arar's
secretive detention, interrogation and deportation.
CONTACT: Riad Saloojee at 613-254-9704; E-mail: canada@cair-net.org
-----
IF WE'RE PROMOTING DEMOCRACY, WHY NOT SUPPORT IT IN TURKEY?
Grenville Byford, Washington Post, 10/13/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15073-2002Oct11.html
The United States wants to "support modern and moderate governments,
especially in the Muslim world." So says the Bush administration's new
National Security Strategy. Presumably this means democratically
elected
governments dedicated to human rights and sensible economic policies.
On Sept. 20, the same day that the administration issued its new
strategy,
the Supreme Election Board in Turkey banned the country's most popular
politician -- arguably its only popular politician -- from taking part
in
the national elections slated for Nov. 3. In doing so, it gave
President
Bush a chance to put his money where his mouth is. In the interests of
both
Turkey and the United States, he should take it.
So far, he hasn't, and neither has the administration. At two news
briefings, State Department spokesmen declined to comment…
The politician in question is Recep Tayyip Erdogan. His
disqualification
from the campaign came with all the trappings of legality, but many
Turks
see it as a put-up job. The origin of the fuss? Well, in 1997, when
Erdogan
was mayor of Istanbul, he recited a poem in the course of a political
speech. "The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the
minarets
our spears, the believers our soldiers," he declaimed. The poem --
traditionally attributed to Ziya Gkalp, one of the ideological fathers
of
Turkish nationalism -- is included in the education ministry's
recommended
reading for middle-school pupils. But a Turkish court, citing article
312
of the country's criminal code, ruled that by reading the verse,
Erdogan
had "used religion to incite hatred." As a result, he was removed from
office in 1998 and sentenced to 10 months in prison. He served four.
The
election board ruled last month that the conviction means he cannot be
a
member of the National Assembly.
What is this really all about? In a word, Islam. Erdogan is a
practicing
Muslim and leads the Justice and Development Party, known in Turkey as
AK
Parti, which is almost certain to win the largest share of the vote in
the
upcoming election…
-----
HEARSAY ALLOWED IN CONSPIRACY CASES
WILLIAM McCALL, Associated Press, 10/13/02
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Terror-Conspiracy.html
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Two key exceptions to general criminal law may
allow
prosecutors to use even weak evidence to build a case against a dozen
suspected terrorists charged in Oregon and New York, legal scholars
say.
Unlike most crimes, proof of conspiracy does not require an actual
crime
and hearsay is allowed.
"In the legal world, conspiracy is called the 'darling' of
prosecutors,"
said Robert Precht, a University of Michigan law professor and a
defense
attorney in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
"It's the closest American law comes to a 'thought crime' because the
paradox of conspiracy law is there need not be any crime at all," he
said.
Instead, all that is needed is evidence that two or more people agreed
to
commit a crime and took at least one step called an "overt act" -
however
trivial and even perfectly legal - toward planning that crime or
carrying
it out.
"There have to be overt acts in pursuance of the conspiracy but those
overt
acts can be perfectly innocuous things, like getting on a plane at JFK,
so
you don't need a lot," said Abraham Sofaer, a Stanford law professor,
senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and former legal adviser to the
U.S. State Department.
Also, the nearly ironclad legal principle that bars hearsay - testimony
by
one person who was merely told what another person said - does not
apply to
coconspirators, said Phil Heymann, a Harvard law professor.
"Any statement by any conspirator is treated as a statement by all of
them
and is an exception to hearsay," said Heymann, a former deputy U.S.
attorney general.
The six people indicted earlier this month in a terrorism investigation
in
Oregon faces charges of conspiracy to levy war against the United
States,
conspiracy to provide support to al-Qaida, and conspiracy to contribute
services to al-Qaida and the Taliban.
In New York, the five suspects arrested last month in the steel town of
Lackawanna and a sixth arrested in Bahrain - all U.S. citizens of
Yemeni
descent - are awaiting indictment under the same conspiracy law,
according
to the FBI.
Attorney General John Ashcroft called the Oregon arrests "a defining
day in
America's war against terrorism," claiming the government has
"neutralized
a suspected terrorist cell within our borders."
But Heymann argued that facts disclosed so far show a group of
disenfranchised young people, mostly black Americans who have converted
to
Islam. Some in the group went target shooting at a gravel pit in
Washington
state, then tried to go to Afghanistan but failed to get into the
country,
and exchanged some e-mail about their travels and some cash.
"They look like very small potatoes, like full-time losers," Heymann
said.
"That doesn't mean that losers can't do damage, but to claim this is a
defining moment?..."
Even though all the suspects may have traveled legally and committed no
actual crimes or violence along the way, the group mentality is
considered
the greatest threat under conspiracy law, Gaziano said...
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/14/2002
HEADLINES:
* MUSLIM MUSICIANS RAP ABOUT ISLAM (Fox News)
* CONCERN GROWS FOR DEPORTED CANADIAN (Globe and Mail)
-----
REGISTER ONLINE FOR CAIR'S ANNUAL BANQUET
Don't forget to register for CAIR's Eighth Annual Fundraising Banquet.
Last
year's event was a sell-out, so act now to purchase your seats.
WHEN: Saturday, October 26, 6 P.M.
WHERE: Sheraton Premiere, 8611 Leesburg Pike, Tyson's Corner, VA
The dinner's theme is "Muslims in America: Defending Freedom, Promoting
Justice," and featured guests include Martin Luther King III, Dr. John
Esposito and many others.
Tickets: $55 single/$85 couples
TO REGISTER, VISIT: www.cair-net.org or call 202-488-8787
-----
NOTE - To contact Native Deen, call 703-864-6977. To purchase tapes, go
to:
http://www.islamicmedia.com
MUSLIM MUSICIANS RAP ABOUT ISLAM
Catherine Donaldson-Evans, Fox News, 10/14/02
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,65540,00.html
They rap about growing up, being teased by other kids, saying no to
drugs,
doing well in school and praying.
But one figure is mentioned over and over again in their songs…Allah.
They are three young, black Muslim-Americans who are in a religious rap
group called Native Deen, based in a suburb of Washington, D.C. -- and
they're part of a growing trend of singing or rapping about Islam.
Mainstream musician/actor Mos Def, who is Muslim, incorporates Islamic
principles and Arabic words into his raps. Even R&B star Lauryn Hill
has
been known to use Islamic terms in her music.
"Any rapper or singer sings about where they come from," said Native
Deen
group leader Joshua Salaam, 29, of Sterling, Va. "We rap about our
experiences, what we know -- growing up Muslim in America."
Because Muslim youths aren't allowed to date until they marry, must
pray
five times a day and are expected to adhere to diet and dress
requirements,
Salaam said being a teenager wasn't easy.
"It was fun at times, challenging at times," he said. "Sometimes it's
nice
being different." But often he and his friends were the object of
ridicule,
an experience related in some of the group's songs like in this excerpt
from "Busy Bees":
"What's with the scarf girl, rapped up like a mummy./They all made
jokes
and they said that you look funny./You ran into the bathroom and your
friends began to scoff./After that encounter you had planned to take it
off./But then you thought how much Allah likes how your
dressin'./Pleasin'
him was top priority to you no question…"
"You'll never find anything in our lyrics that's degrading to women --
never," said Native Deen's Salaam, who is married with two small sons.
"When there are references to women, they're either about praising our
mothers or about how much we love our wives."
In one of the group's songs, "I-S-L-A-M, The Light Turns On," there is
a
phrase some might at first interpret as offensive: "Confess, yes detest
the
Western attitude's mess."
But the subsequent line condemns religious zeal like that which drove
the
Sept. 11 terrorists:
"Zest for doing righteousness is nil./Got to obey Allah and obey
Allah's will!"
Group member Abdul-Malik Ahmad, who wrote the song years ago, said the
"mess" he was referring to is what he sees as a lack of "religiousity"
in
Western culture.
-----
CONCERN GROWS FOR DEPORTED CANADIAN
KIM HONEY, Globe and Mail, 10/14/02
http://www.globeandmail.com
Search using the term "Arar."
The Council on American-Islamic Relations Canada is demanding Foreign
Affairs Minister Bill Graham act swiftly to try to ensure the safety of
Ottawa communications engineer Maher Arar.
It is also calling for an investigation into Mr. Arar's "secretive
detention, interrogation and deportation" from New York after the U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service accused him of having links to
al-Qaeda.
Mr. Arar, a Canadian citizen born in Syria, was on his way to Montreal
from
Tunisia when he made a stopover at New York's John F. Kennedy
International
Airport on Sept. 26. He was arrested by the INS, questioned for nine
hours
without a lawyer, jailed for more than two weeks and deported to Syria,
all
without the knowledge of the Canadian government.
Mr. Arar left his wife and two young children vacationing in Tunisia
with
in-laws and they have not heard from him since.
"The detention and deportation of Maher Arar is a grave breach of both
international human-rights law and Mr. Arar's rights as a Canadian
citizen," said Riad Saloojee, a spokesman for the council…
Mr. Arar's MP, Marlene Catterall, Ottawa West-Nepean, confirmed that
senior
Canadian officials met with the INS on Friday "trying to get
information"
about the engineer.
"I frankly am just appalled that the Americans could keep the
whereabouts
of a Canadian citizen secret from Canadians," Ms. Catterall said
yesterday.
No one from the Department of Foreign Affairs was available for comment
yesterday. Mr. Arar's wife does not know where her husband is or
whether he
is safe.
"Every day I hope that maybe he's going to call me, but since Sept.
26th I
have heard nothing," she said in a telephone interview yesterday from
Tunisia.
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
ACTION REQUESTED:
The following news release may be modified by Islamic centers and
Muslim
organizations for distribution to local media outlets. For example, the
first sentence could read: "On November 6, 2002, the Muslim community
in
[YOUR CITY] and around the world will begin the month-long fast of
Ramadan
(rom-a-don)." Call each television station, newspaper and radio station
to
obtain the contact information for editors who would be interested in
receiving the release. (Keep that list for future use.) Make sure to
include contact information (cell phones, e-mail, etc.) for local
Muslim
representatives.
-----
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MUSLIM FAST OF RAMADAN BEGINS NOVEMBER 6
Month offers opportunity to learn more about Islam and Muslims
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/15/2002) - On November 6, 2002, the Muslim
community
in America and around the world will begin the month-long fast of
Ramadan
(rom-a-don). Ramadan is the month on the Islamic lunar calendar during
which Muslims abstain from food, drink and other sensual pleasures from
break of dawn to sunset. (Note: Because the beginning of Islamic lunar
months depends on the actual sighting of the new moon, the start and
end
dates for Ramadan may vary.)
The fast is performed to learn discipline, self-restraint and
generosity,
while obeying God's commandments. Fasting (along with the declaration
of
faith, daily prayers, charity, and pilgrimage to Mecca) is one of the
"five
pillars" of Islam. Because Ramadan is a lunar month, it begins about
eleven
days earlier each year. The end of Ramadan will be marked by communal
prayers called "Eid ul-Fitr," or Feast of the Fast-Breaking, on
December 6,
2002.
"Muslims look forward to Ramadan as a period of spiritual reflection
and
renewal. It is also a time when people of other faiths can learn more
about
Islam and the American Muslim community," said Omar Ahmad, board
chairman
of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Washington-based
Islamic civil rights and advocacy group.
The Quran, Islam's revealed text, states: "O ye who believe! Fasting is
prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that ye may
(learn) self-restraint...Ramadan is the (month) in which was sent down
the
Quran, as a guide to mankind, also clear (Signs) for guidance and
judgment
(between right and wrong). So every one of you who is present (at his
home)
during that month should spend it in fasting..." (Chapter 2, verses 183
and
185)
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) told his companions: "God has
said: 'Fasting is like a shield. A person who fasts experiences two
joys.
He is joyful when he breaks his fast, and he is joyful when he meets
his
Lord.'" (Hadith Qudsi, Hadith 10)
Demographers say Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in this
country and around the world. There are an estimated 7 million Muslims
in
America and some 1.2 billion worldwide.
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-MAIL:
cair@cair-net.org; Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787 or 703-861-7294,
E-MAIL:
hhassan@cair-net.org
-----
RAMADAN FACTS
WHO MUST FAST?
Fasting is compulsory for those who are mentally and physically fit,
past
the age of puberty, in a settled situation (not traveling), and are
sure
fasting is unlikely to cause real physical or mental injury.
EXEMPTIONS FROM FASTING (some exemptions are optional)
* Children under the age of puberty (Young children are encouraged to
fast
as much as they are able.)
* People who are mentally incapacitated or not responsible for their
actions
* The elderly
* The sick
* Travelers who are on journeys of more than about 50 miles
* Pregnant women and nursing mothers
* Women who are menstruating
* Those who are temporarily unable to fast must make up the missed days
at
another time or feed the poor.
SPECIAL EVENTS
* Special prayers, called taraweeh, are performed after the daily
nighttime
prayer.
* Lailat ul-Qadr ("Night of Power" or "Night of Destiny") marks the
anniversary of the night on which the Prophet Muhammad first began
receiving revelations from God, through the angel Gabriel. Muslims
believe
Lailat ul-Qadr is one of the last odd-numbered nights of Ramadan.
TRADITIONAL PRACTICES
* Breaking the daily fast with a drink of water and dates
* Reading the entire Quran during Ramadan
* Social visits are encouraged.
EID UL-FITR ("FESTIVAL OF FAST-BREAKING") PRAYERS AT THE END OF RAMADAN
* Eid begins with special morning prayers on the first day of Shawwal,
the
month following Ramadan on the Islamic lunar calendar.
* It is forbidden to perform an optional fast during Eid because it is
a
time for relaxation.
* During Eid Muslims greet each other with the phrase "taqabbalallah
ta'atakum," or "may God accept your deeds" and "Eid Mubarak"
(eed-moo-bar-ak), meaning "blessed Eid."
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/15/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: SUPPLICATIONS
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* PREVIEW PBS DOCUMENTARY ON PROPHET MUHAMMAD AT CAIR BANQUET
* CAIR ATTENDS STATE DEPT BRIEFING ON FOREIGN POLICY ISSUES
* OTTAWA MAN FEARED BEING SENT TO SYRIA (Toronto Globe and Mail)
* CHRISTIAN LEADERS' REMARKS AGAINST ISLAM SPARK BACKLASH (Washington
Post)
- Here's Another Fine Mess You've Gotten Into Jerry Falwell (Cox)
- In Defence of Islam (Ottawa Citizen)
- Falwell's Contempt (Boston Globe
* LEWISTON MARCHERS WELCOME SOMALIS (Portland Press Herald)
* EDITORIAL: PERSONALIZING POLITICS IN THE MIDEAST (San Diego Union
Tribune)
- Saddam, The U.S. Agent (New York Times)
* SUDAN REBELS, GOVERNMENT SIGN TRUCE FOR TALKS (Reuters)
* SO CALIF CONVENTION ON EXTREMISM IN INDIA
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: SUPPLICATIONS
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "If anyone would like to
receive an answer from God in times of difficulty, he should make many
supplications when times are easy."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 705
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 920 sponsorships for book and tape
packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the Country. Take
part
in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item "library
package."
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
PREVIEW PBS DOCUMENTARY ON PROPHET MUHAMMAD AT CAIR BANQUET
Watch a preview of the upcoming PBS documentary, "Muhammad: Legacy of a
Prophet," by acclaimed writer Michael Wolfe during CAIR's Eighth Annual
Fundraising Banquet.
WHEN: Saturday, October 26, 6 P.M.
WHERE: Sheraton Premiere, 8611 Leesburg Pike, Tyson's Corner, VA
Register online at www.cair-net.org, e-mail register@cair-net.org or
call
(202) 488-8787
-----
CAIR ATTENDS STATE DEPT BRIEFING ON FOREIGN POLICY ISSUES
CAIR Director of Governmental Affairs Jason Erb today participated in a
State Department briefing on foreign policy issues led by Richard
Boucher,
Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and Department Spokesman.
-----
OTTAWA MAN FEARED BEING SENT TO SYRIA, U.S. LAWYER SAYS
Estanislao Oziewicz, Toronto Globe and Mail, 10/15/02
www.globeandmail.com (search for "arar")
An Ottawa engineer detained by U.S. authorities and accused of having
links
to al-Qaeda was terrified that he would be deported to his native
Syria, a
U.S. lawyer says.
Ottawa is demanding that Washington divulge the whereabouts of Maher
Arar,
a 32-year-old Canadian citizen arrested during a stopover at New York's
Kennedy airport on Sept. 26 as he was travelling to Montreal from
Tunisia.
Amal Oummih, an Arabic-speaking immigration lawyer based in New York,
said
yesterday she may have been the last contact the family had with Mr.
Arar
before he disappeared.
Ms. Oummih spoke to Mr. Arar, who was being held at Brooklyn's
Metropolitan
Detention Center, on Oct. 5 at the request of his family.
"Basically, everything happened so fast that before we could take the
next
step we couldn't find him and then we heard he was deported."
Ms. Oummih said Mr. Arar, a telecommunications engineer, told her that
U.S.
authorities had asked him to sign a document permitting his deportation
to
Syria but that he had refused. "He was very, very concerned and worried
that he was going to be deported to Syria."
She reassured him that her understanding of U.S. law was that if he was
going to be deported he could choose to go to Canada. She also told him
that if he feared being deported to Syria he would get a chance to
argue
his case.
But Ms. Oummih said that opportunity never arose, and Mr. Arar was
later
interrogated by U.S. officials with no lawyer present. She said she and
another New York lawyer involved in the case had no real chance to be
present because they were notified by voice-mail message on a Sunday
that
the interview was being held that evening…
Riad Saloojee of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Canada has
said
Mr. Arar's treatment is a breach of Canadian sovereignty.
Mr. Saloojee said Mr. Arar, father of two young Canadian-born children,
could face severe punishment in Syria because he avoided compulsory
military service before leaving the country for Canada as a teenager...
-----
CHRISTIAN LEADERS' REMARKS AGAINST ISLAM SPARK BACKLASH
Alan Cooperman, Washington Post, 10/15/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25654-2002Oct14.html
A recent series of disparaging remarks about Islam by the Rev. Jerry
Falwell and other evangelical Christian leaders have sparked riots in
India, helped religious parties win elections in Pakistan and
undermined
public sympathy in Islamic countries for the U.S. war on terrorism,
experts
said yesterday…
"Jerry Falwell makes a statement, he pleases his constituents, then he
says
he's sorry and apparently thinks that's the end of it," said Akbar
Ahmed,
chairman of Islamic studies at American University. "What Americans
don't
realize is that remarks like this are flashed all over the Muslim
world,
and they are doing very serious damage to U.S. interests..."
Shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush visited a
mosque and said the U.S. war on terrorism was not a war against Islam,
which he called a "religion of peace." Bush's approach quieted the
evangelical community for a few months, but "it wasn't very long before
I
began to pick up rumblings in the grass roots -- sermons saying not all
religions are equally correct, evangelicals saying the president may
have
gone a little too far," said John Green, a professor at the University
of
Akron who closely follows the Christian right.
"Once some prominent people stepped forward, like Franklin Graham, that
made it easier for others," Green added. "I suspect that it's just
become
more and more acceptable for evangelical leaders to speak out against
Islam…"
---
EDITORIAL: HERE'S ANOTHER FINE MESS YOU'VE GOTTEN INTO JERRY FALWELL
Elizabeth Schuett, Cox News, 10/14/02
GIBSONBURG, Ohio - There will be a moment's silence from the Rev. Jerry
Falwell, preacher, leading member of the Southern Baptist Convention,
and
spokesperson for America's Moral Majority, while he recovers from his
most
recent bout of foot-in-mouth disease _ "I think Muhammad was a
terrorist. .
. a violent man, a man of war."
Such a pronouncement could have gone relatively unnoticed had the Rev.
chosen another venue from which to out Islam's prophet as a killer.
Possibly, he could have gotten away with it from the pulpit, or even in
a
classroom at his Liberty University. Maybe. But to call the holy man of
millions a "terrorist" on national television was not, by any stretch
of
the imagination, a swift move. Did Mr. Falwell think no one would be
listening? That no one might take exception to his sweeping
condemnation?
Or did he expect to be the instrument of enlightenment for millions…?
Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations commented:
"Anybody is free to be a bigot if they want to. What concerns us is the
lack of reaction by mainstream religious and political leaders who say
nothing when these bigots voice these attacks."
Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said only an ignorant person
would make such a remark and urged Muslims not to take the matter too
seriously. "I'm not going to accuse all Christians," he said, "only one
person made such a statement…"
America loves its comics. Always has. But religion doesn't belong in
the
funnies. Between Mr. Falwell's thoughtless repartee, and televangelist
Pat
Robertson's appearance on Fox News' "Hannity and Colmes," where he
called
the Prophet Muhammad an "absolute fanatic," as well as a robber and a
brigand, we've got a regular Laurel and Hardy sketch going here…
Thanks a lot, gentlemen, you've been a big help _ to God and country.
---
EDITORIAL: IN DEFENCE OF ISLAM
Ottawa Citizen, 10/15/02
http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/editorials/story.asp?id={EDC8EB8F-69B0-4102-9AEB-9AEEAEB6CFA5}
In the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament, God orders the death of everyone
who
stands in the way of his chosen people, the Israelites. Accordingly,
Joshua
sends his army rampaging across the Promised Land, "utterly destroying
all
the souls that were therein…"
Sacred texts can be inspiring, dramatic and even revelatory, but they
are
not always models of religious tolerance. Like all great literature,
these
documents are rich with contradiction and complexity. We can be
exhorted to
slaughter infidels on one page and to love our neighbour on the next.
Those
with a true spiritual calling are sensitive to the ambiguities and
tensions
inherent in Scripture and will spend a lifetime studying them.
There is, then, a certain dishonesty about the current campaign to
discredit the Koran, Islam's holy book. Robert Spencer, a Catholic
intellectual, has just published Islam Unveiled, a nasty work filled
with
damning quotations from the Koran such as "When you meet the
unbelievers in
the battlefield, strike off their heads and, when you have laid them
low,
bind your captives firmly." The American baptist leader Jerry Falwell
recently said on CBS-TV's 60 Minutes that the Koran's author, Mohammed,
"was a terrorist" and the religion he founded "teaches hate."
In the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, there were decent folk
who,
ignorant of religion, wanted to know if Islam was inherently a
primitive,
violent creed. Books on Islam were in great demand, and as people read
them
they learned, perhaps to their surprise, that Islamic societies were
once
more enlightened than Europe. Muslim women owned property and enjoyed
more
dignity than their counterparts in the West. Minorities who faced
persecution in Christian lands often fled to the Islamic world because
they
knew that among Muslims they'd be unmolested…
But the conservative Christians now attempting to delegitimize Islam
have a
particular agenda. Rev. Falwell hinted at this when he declared that
"there's not going to be any real peace in the Middle East until one
day
the Lord Jesus Christ sits on the throne of David in Jerusalem…"
---
EDITORIAL: FALWELL'S CONTEMPT
Qamar-Ul Huda, Boston Globe, 10/15/02
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/288/letter/Falwell_s_contempt+.shtml
It is ironic that at the same time we were dedicating the Leonard P.
Zakim-Bunker Hill Bridge commemorating those who defended civil rights
and
promoted tolerance the Rev. Jerry Falwell was making repulsive
statements
that "the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, was a terrorist." One wonders why
civil liberties organizations, public officials, and religious leaders
have
ignored antihate rhetoric from the religious right and accepted, if not
endorsed, a culture of Islamophobia?
Fundamentalist leaders like Jerry Falwell are a threat to democracy not
because of their claims of exclusive truth but because they attempt to
ignite religious wars. Just like Osama bin Laden's version of Islam,
some
Christian fundamentalist clergymen are aggressive in delegitimizing
other
believers about their religious traditions. In particular, they are
driven
to forcing their brand of Christianity on others; they read scripture
with
a narrow lens and are obsessed with the implementation of religious law
over secular law…
Real dialogue between Christians and Muslims will be meaningful only
when
mutual understanding is at the core and genuine efforts are made to
learn
from each other based on what we believe and where our faiths take us.
Qamar-ul Huda is an assistant professor of Islamic studies and
comparative
theology at Boston College.
-----
LEWISTON MARCHERS WELCOME SOMALIS
Tom Bell, Portland Press Herald, 10/15/02
http://www.portland.com/news/state/021014lewiston.shtml
About 300 people Sunday joined a peaceful march to show support for
Somali
immigrants. The one-mile march originally was planned as a Sunday
school
procession, but it was opened to the entire community after Lewiston's
mayor issued a letter expressing concerns that local services will be
strained if many more Somalis arrive in the city.
Most of the marchers were longtime Lewiston and Auburn residents, and
many
of them said they wanted the Somali residents to feel welcome.
"I just feel people should live together in friendship," said Elizabeth
Joints, 81, a retired teacher who volunteers in the city's adult
education
program teaching English to immigrants.
Speaking to the crowd, Somali elder Mohamed Abdi thanked Lewiston
residents
for helping the Somalis and allowing them to be their neighbors. Abdi
was
one of the local Somali leaders who met with Raymond on Friday to ease
strained feelings after the mayor's open letter warned of a drain on
resources if more Somalis move to the city…
-----
EDITORIAL: PERSONALIZING POLITICS IN THE MIDEAST
James O. Goldsborough, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10/14/02
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/op-ed/goldsborough/20021014-9999_1e14golds.html
The neoconservatives who persuaded the White House to "park" the
Israel-Palestine conflict and concentrate on attacking Iraq are
reveling in
the fruits of victory. Not only is America nearing the brink of war
with
Iraq, but Israel has been given carte blanche to invade and re-occupy
Palestinian lands. The killing of Palestinians, the destruction of
their
homes and society continues on a daily basis, the groundwork for the
retaliation that inevitably comes.
The Bush administration's obsession with Iraq would appear to be a
godsend
for Israel. Bush's neoconservative supporters have long believed that
eliminating Saddam Hussein would weaken the Palestinians, removing a
source
of support for them and making it politically easier for Israel to
expand
settlements and delegitimize the Palestinian Authority while eyes are
focused on Iraq. Last week, 16 Gaza Palestinians were killed and 100
injured by a missile fired from a U.S.-made Apache gunship into a
crowded
neighborhood...
This is Bush's work. Driven by his confessed hatred for Saddam and his
plans for "pre-emptive" war against Iraq, Bush has no moral capital to
influence Sharon, who hates Arafat…
---
EDITORIAL: SADDAM, THE U.S. AGENT
Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times, 10/15/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/15/opinion/15KRIS.html
KUWAIT - Terrorists once more fired at American troops here in Kuwait
on
Monday, although no one was injured this time. As with last week's
attack,
in which two Kuwaiti men shot one American marine to death and wounded
another, we don't know whether the shooting was sponsored by Al Qaeda
or
was a purely home-grown affair.
But there's no doubt that even in Kuwait, where Yankees have the best
possible claim on Arab gratitude, a significant minority of men and
women
regard us as worms. Some Kuwaitis are even hailing the terrorists who
killed the American soldier as martyrs…
On Monday evening I attended a lecture at Kuwait University about the
prospective American invasion of Iraq. In the question-answer session,
one
earnest young man began: "I'm totally convinced that Saddam Hussein is
an
agent of the U.S."
Yup, that's actually a common view in the Arab world. The idea is that
the
U.S. asked its pawn Saddam to invade Kuwait, so that Washington could
respond by establishing military bases in the region and steal Arab
oil…
Last week's elections in Pakistan resulted in huge gains for
fundamentalists who are vehemently anti-American. The fundamentalist
parties, which used to be a fringe element in Pakistani politics, now
will
control two of the country's four provinces. If we gain friendly
governments in Afghanistan and Iraq but see the rise of an Islamist
nuclear
power in Pakistan, that will have been an appalling trade…
-----
SUDAN REBELS, GOVERNMENT SIGN TRUCE FOR TALKS
James Macharia, Reuters, 10/15/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A27715-2002Oct15.html
MACHAKOS, Kenya - Sudan's government and rebels signed a cease-fire
Tuesday
for the duration of their latest round of peace talks, the first such
truce
in 19 years of civil war.
The deal, which covers the whole of Sudan, has boosted hopes of a
breakthrough to end the conflict that has divided Africa's biggest
country
and killed an estimated two million people.
"Both parties have signed the cessation of hostilities, which will take
effect on the 17th of October at noon (0900 GMT)," said Lazaro
Sumbeiywo,
Kenya's envoy at the talks.
"It will last for as long as the talks are on, which could be until the
end
of the year," he told reporters.
The talks aim to reach a permanent cease-fire in Africa's longest civil
war, which pits rebels fighting for more autonomy for south Sudan
against
the Islamic government in the north…
-----
SO CALIF CONVENTION ON EXTREMISM IN INDIA
Media Advisory, American Federation of Muslims from India, 10/15/02
For Immediate Release -
Convention on "Extremism in India and its Impact on US Interests" to be
held in Long Beach
WHAT: The American Federation of Muslims from India (AFMI) is holding
its
12th Annual Convention with this year's theme, "Extremism in India and
its
Impact on US Interests." The day-long convention will be addressed by
His
Holiness Shankrachariya Jagat, Guru of Puri, Shankersinh Vaghela,
former
Chief Minister of Gujarat, Justice Ahmedi, former Chief Justice of
India
and Mr. Manmohan Singh, former Finance Minister of India.
Additionally, speakers from the Hindu, Muslim and Christian communities
in
the US will address the more than 400 delegates expected. Speakers are
scheduled to talk about the rising threats from extremists to India's
interests and stability. They will also focus on creating better
understanding between Muslims and Hindus living in this country.
Sessions will be held on different aspects of Indian Muslims and their
contributions to India, as well as current Indo-US relations, and the
dangers of extremism. The convention will conclude with a banquet in
the
evening.
AFMI is one of the major organizations of Muslims from India in the US
and
is involved in social and educational upliftment of Indian Muslims.
AFMI
holds an international convention in India annually.
WHEN: Sunday, October 20 at 10 A.M.
WHERE: Long Beach Marriott, 4700 Airport Plaza Drive, Long Beach, CA
90815
CONTACT: Maqbool Kadri, 562-921-3807; M. Fareed Farukhi, 714-283-1000
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MUSLIMS URGED TO DONATE FOR D.C. SNIPER VICTIMS
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/16/02) - A national Islamic civil rights and
advocacy
group today asked members of the American Muslim community to help
those
impacted by recent sniper attacks in and around the nation's capital by
donating to a fund set up for that purpose.
FOR BACKGROUND, SEE: "Fatal Shooting Of FBI Analyst Tied to Others"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32116-2002Oct15.html
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) urged
Muslims to send donations to the National Capital Area Healing Fund,
established by United Way of the National Capital Area in partnership
with
SunTrust Bank. The fund is designed to "support the unmet immediate and
long term needs of the victims, survivors and their families."
"As Muslims, we have a duty to help those who have been so cruelly
targeted. The Prophet Muhammad said, 'Whoever believes in God and the
Last
Day should be generous to his neighbor,'" said CAIR Executive Director
Nihad Awad. Awad also offered sincere condolences to the families of
the
victims.
Checks should be made out to "National Capital Area Healing Fund" and
mailed to:
National Capital Area Healing Fund
95 M. Street SW,
Washington, DC 20024
Donations can also be made at any SunTrust Bank location in the Greater
Washington Region. For additional information or to donate online, log
onto
www.unitedwaynca.org.
Anyone with information related to the investigation of the sniper
attacks
should call the police tip line at 1-888-324-9800.
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-MAIL:
cair@cair-net.org; Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787 or 703-861-7294,
E-MAIL:
hhassan@cair-net.org
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/16/2002
HEADLINES:
* BREAKING NEWS: FOX'S O'REILLY TO LOOK AT "ISLAMIC AWARENESS WEEK"
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT TOPS 1,000 SPONSORSHIPS
* ACLU ADS WILL TARGET BUSH POLICIES (Washington Post)
* SUPPORT FOR ATTACKING IRAQ BEGINS TO WANE ACROSS THE U.S. (ABC)
- Pre-Occupation Blues (Philadelphia Inquirer)
* NY MAYOR APPOINTS FIRST MUSLIM TO COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
* CANADIAN CITIZENS NOT IMMUNE FROM U.S. SECURITY CRACKDOWN (Globe and
Mail)
- AI Gets Involved in Arar Case
- Editorial: Arar Case Should Worry All Canadians (Montreal
Gazette)
- Info About Filing DOJ Complaints Now Available in Arabic
Posters
* CONSERVATIVE COLUMNIST BREAKS RANKS TO CRITICIZE FALWELL (Washington
Times)
- Editorial: Think Before Speaking (Orlando Sentinel)
* AL-QARADAWI: BALI BLASTS HEINOUS CRIME, TOTAL BARBARISM (Islam
Online)
* BRITISH ENVOY `PROUD' OF CRITICAL COMMENTS MADE AGAINST ISRAEL
(Haa'retz)
* RIGHTS GROUP SAYS ISRAEL ENFORCING 'LETHAL CURFEW' (Reuters)
-----
BREAKING NEWS: FOX'S O'REILLY TO LOOK AT "ISLAMIC AWARENESS WEEK"
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,1315,00.html
"...you won't believe what's going on now among the student body at the
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill... How about Islamic Awareness
Week?!"
SEND COMMENTS TO: oreilly@foxnews.com
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org
-----
REGISTER ONLINE FOR CAIR'S ANNUAL BANQUET
Don't forget to register for CAIR's Eighth Annual Fundraising Banquet.
Last
year's event was a sell-out, so act now to purchase your seats.
WHEN: Saturday, October 26, 6 P.M.
WHERE: Sheraton Premiere, 8611 Leesburg Pike, Tyson's Corner, VA
The dinner's theme is "Muslims in America: Defending Freedom, Promoting
Justice," and featured guests include Martin Luther King III, Dr. John
Esposito and many others.
Tickets: $55 single/$85 couples
TO REGISTER: Visit www.cair-net.org, e-mail register@cair-net.org or
call
202-488-8787
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT TOPS 1,000 SPONSORSHIPS
Alhamdulillah (praise be to God), CAIR's Library Project has received
1070
sponsorships for book and tape packages on Islam to be placed in
libraries
across the Country. Take part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by
sponsoring an 18-item "library package." Our goal is to, inshallah,
send
accurate information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
ACLU ADS WILL TARGET BUSH POLICIES
Dan Eggen, Washington Post, 10/16/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32306-2002Oct15.html
The American Civil Liberties Union plans to announce today a $ 2.5
million
media campaign aimed at the aggressive anti-terrorism policies of the
Bush
administration and Attorney General John D. Ashcroft -- the largest
such
effort in its 80-year history.
Dubbed the "Campaign to Defend the Constitution," it will include
rallies,
legislative lobbying and television ads on major networks in New York,
Los
Angeles, Washington and other markets, the group said.
The campaign, launched shortly before the Nov. 5 elections, appears to
be
the first concerted public relations effort by critics of the
administration's anti-terrorism tactics. The small coalition of groups
opposed to the government's anti-terror tactics has focused primarily
on
the courts. "We perceive a real need to reach out to the American
public
and inspire discussion and debate on these issues," said Anthony D.
Romero,
ACLU executive director. "This campaign is really a response to the
statements of John Ashcroft and the policies of John Ashcroft's Justice
Department."
Civil liberties advocates and liberal critics have protested guidelines
issued by Ashcroft after Sept. 11, 2001, that give authorities broad
new
powers to conduct surveillance in domestic terror probes. Critics have
also
objected to the investigations and detentions of foreign nationals that
have occurred in almost complete secrecy…
-----
SUPPORT FOR ATTACKING IRAQ BEGINS TO WANE ACROSS THE U.S.
Bill Redeker, ABC News, 10/14/02
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/DailyNews/war_opposition021014.html
Oct. 14 - As the administration prepares for war with Iraq, a new
mantra
has emerged in the campaign to win the hearts and minds of Americans
and,
in effect, put Saddam Hussein on notice.
"America speaks with one voice," says President Bush.
In Washington, Bush, having been empowered by both houses of Congress
to
use force, seems to face very little opposition on Iraq.
On the streets of America, nothing could be further from the truth...
---
EDITORIAL: PRE-OCCUPATION BLUES
Trudy Rubin, Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/16/02
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/4293135.htm
So now we know where the Bush team is heading with its plans for The
Day
After.
Senior administration officials say they want to establish a military
government in Baghdad after ousting Saddam Hussein. A U.S.-led military
government. It would be modeled on the 61/2-year American occupation of
Japan after World War II. An American military commander, presumably
Gen.
Tommy Franks, would play Gen. Douglas MacArthur. U.S. troops and
civilians
would run Iraq until it was disarmed. We would set up a democracy in
Baghdad, just as we did in Tokyo.
If this is truly the administration's template for The Day After in
Baghdad, we Americans are headed for very big trouble.
The Iraq-Japan parallel is so flawed it makes me wonder whether anyone
on
the Bush team has bothered to read any history. Or if they mean what
they say.
Have any Bush officials talked to John Dower, author of Embracing
Defeat,
the brilliant, Pulitzer-winning account of our occupation of Japan?
"Nothing that went on in Japan is a model for Iraq," Dower told me.
"Virtually everything that made the occupation of Japan a success is
absent
from the current situation…"
-----
NY MAYOR APPOINTS FIRST MUSLIM TO COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced yesterday eleven new
appointments to the City's Commission on Human Rights. Among the new
appointees is Omar T. Mohammedi, a lawyer who specializes in employment
discrimination and real estate law.
Mohammedi currently serves as president of both the 9/11 Coalition for
Constitutional and Human Rights and the New York Area Muslim Bar
Association. In addition, Mr. Mohammedi is general counsel for the New
York
chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
------
CANADIAN CITIZENS ARE NOT IMMUNE FROM THE U.S. SECURITY CRACKDOWN
Sheema Khan, Toronto Globe and Mail, 10/16/02
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/PEstory/TGAM/20021016/COSHEEMA/Headlines/headdex/headdexComment_temp/1/1/5/
Sheema Khan is chair of the Council on American-Islamic Relations,
Canada.
Maher Arar is, by all accounts, a Canadian success story. Born in
Syria, he
came to this country 15 years ago, finished a master's degree and is
considered an expert in the field of communication engineering. He has
two
young children, and his wife, also a Muslim, has a PhD in mathematics
from
McGill. Since 1998, he has made business trips to the United States
without
any border problems…
On Sept. 26, en route to Montreal from Zurich, Mr. Arar was pulled
aside
while waiting to change planes at New York's Kennedy International
Airport.
Unaware of recent U.S. regulations requiring all aliens born in Syria
(among other countries) to be profiled, Mr. Arar was fingerprinted and
photographed by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The INS
questioned him for nine hours, without the presence of a lawyer, and
accused him of knowing suspected "terrorists" in Canada, which he
denied.
It threatened to deport him to Syria, where he had missed military
service
and was thus in danger of imprisonment. As a Canadian citizen, he asked
to
be returned to Canada…
On Oct. 9, the INS moved Mr. Arar to an undisclosed location, without
notifying Canadian officials.
The next day, without a trial, access to a lawyer or presentation of
evidence, Mr. Arar was deported to Syria due to an immigration
violation.
While the most severe penalty for immigration violation under U.S. law
is
deportation, international human-rights laws stipulate that the
deportee
must be returned to either his country of citizenship or origin of
travel.
In this case, Mr. Arar should have been deported to Canada or Zurich.
There have been other disturbing cases of Canadian citizens being held
without charge in the post-9/11 U.S. justice system…
As constitutional challenges slowly make their way to the U.S. Supreme
Court, many innocent lives are being destroyed. Since Washington is not
informing consular officials of detained citizens, who knows how many
waste
away in prison?
SEE ALSO:
AI GETS INVOLVED IN ARAR CASE
Amnesty International has expressed concern over the detention and
deportation of Maher Arar and is seeking urgent clarification from the
United States government on procedures followed in the case.
---
EDITORIAL: ARAR CASE SHOULD WORRY ALL CANADIANS
Montreal Gazette, 10/16/02
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/editorials/story.asp?id=C1FFA5A2-C9C1-4534-8A46-9315A84EBF49
Where is Maher Arar, and what has happened to him? These are questions
that
Mr. Arar's wife and family are no doubt pondering anxiously as they
wait to
hear from him. But they're questions that should worry all of us.
To all appearances. Mr. Arar is a blameless Canadian, a 32-year-old
communications engineer who lives in Ottawa with his wife and two young
children. But on Sept. 26, as he changed planes in New York on the way
home
from a vacation in Tunisia, U.S. authorities took him into custody,
claiming he had links to the Al-Qa'ida terrorist network. For more than
a
week, he simply vanished; his family heard nothing from him. He has
since
seen a Canadian consular official and a lawyer, but now he has vanished
again, and there are reports that he might well have been deported to
Syria…
Mr. Arar's case seems egregiously abusive, and his treatment appears to
undermine the sovereignty of one of the U.S.'s closest allies - us…
If the Americans lacked sufficient proof to charge Mr. Arar with a
crime,
they had, it seems to us, a couple of choices: they could simply have
let
him go; or if they were still suspicious, they could have deported him
to
Ottawa (where he was headed in the first place) and informed our
government
that they didn't want to see him south of the border again.
The Canadian embassy has apparently been pressing the Americans
vigorously
on this case. Good. It should continue to do so. Whatever his place of
birth, Mr. Arar is a Canadian, and our allies to the south have some
explaining to do.
---
INFO ABOUT FILING DOJ COMPLAINTS NOW AVAILABLE IN ARABIC POSTERS
The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General (OIG)
has
recently published a poster, in Arabic and English, that provides
information on filing civil rights complaints against Justice
Department
employees, including, for example, employees of the FBI, the DEA, the
INS,
and the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
The poster is designed for display in public places, e.g., community
organizations, mosques, etc. If you are interested in receiving copies
of
the poster, please contact Kelly Tshibaka, Special Assistant to the
Inspector General, at (202) 616-0542. Individuals who believe that a
Department of Justice employee has violated their civil rights or civil
liberties may file a complaint with the OIG by mail, e-mail, or fax at:
Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Complaints
Office of the Inspector General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Room 4706
Washington, D.C. 20530
E-MAIL: inspector.general@usdoj.gov
(202) 616-9898 (fax)
(800) 869-4499 (contact information in English and Spanish)
For more information on the OIG, please see: www.usdoj.gov/oig.
-----
CONSERVATIVE COLUMNIST BREAKS RANKS TO CRITICIZE FALWELL
EDITORIAL: FALWELL'S FATAL WORDS
Tony Blankley, Washington Times, 10/16/02
http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/blankley.htm
I don't quite know what to make of the Rev. Jerry Falwell's most recent
venture into biblical history. On the television program "60 Minutes" a
few
weeks ago, the reverend said that "I think Mohammed was a terrorist. I
read
enough of the history of his life. He was a violent man, a man of war.
Jesus set the example for love, as did Moses. And I think Mohammed set
an
opposite example."
A few days later in Bombay, India, five persons were killed and 47
injured
when Hindus and Muslims rioted during a Muslim general strike to
protest
Mr. Falwell's accusation about Mohammed. A few days after that Mr.
Falwell
apologized in the following curious language: "I sincerely apologize
that
certain statements of mine made during an interview for the Sept. 30
edition of CBS's '60 Minutes' were hurtful to the feelings of many
Muslims.
I intended no disrespect to any sincere, law-abiding Muslim."
A number of senior Muslim leaders accepted his apology. But his
statements
are being shown all over the Muslim world as evidence of America's
alleged
war on Islam. If the casualty list caused by Mr. Falwell's idiotic and
repulsive statement is limited to five, we will be very lucky. His
statement was bad biblical history and appallingly worse politics.
President Bush has spent the last year desperately trying to limit our
war
on terror to the terrorists, and not letting it slide into a war of
civilizations: Judeo-Christian vs. Muslim. That strikes me as a bloody
good
idea…
First of all, the reverend's biblical history stinks. Moses set the
example
for love? In Exodus 2 verse 11, it is written that "Moses saw an
Egyptian
beating a Hebrew, one of his kinsfolk. He looked this way and that, and
seeing no one he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand…"
Not only was Mr. Falwell's statements foolish and hurtful, but his
apology
was incredible. "I intended no disrespect." Of course he did. Mohammed
talked with Allah, just as Moses talked with Jehovah. They both are
believed by their faithful to have acted pursuant to the Lord's
instructions. When one reviles a prophet, one reviles the god for whom
he
speaks...
Tony Blankley is editorial page editor of The Washington Times.
SEND NOTES OF APPRECIATION TO: tblankley@washingtontimes.com,
letters@washingtontimes.com
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org
---
EDITORIAL: THINK BEFORE SPEAKING
Orlando Sentinel, 10/16/02
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-edped163101602oct16,0,1452088.story
Americans familiar with the Rev. Jerry Falwell have probably come to
expect
odd outbursts from the Moral Majority's founder. This is the man, after
all, who "outed" Tinky Winky the Teletubby.
But when Mr. Falwell branded Mohammad, the founder of Islam, a
"terrorist"
in a nationally televised interview, his intemperate and unfortunate
statement echoed well beyond U.S. borders. It sparked riots in India
that
killed five people and injured 47. Experts also believe it damaged
support
throughout the Muslim world for the U.S. war on terrorism. Like any
American, Mr. Falwell is entitled to his opinion, even if it happens to
be
deeply offensive to others. But as a high-profile public figure, he has
a
responsibility to consider the consequences before sounding off on
volatile
issues.
-----
AL-QARADAWI: BALI BLASTS HEINOUS CRIME, TOTAL BARBARISM
Islam Online, 10/16/02
http://www.islam-online.net/english/news/2002-10/15/article33.shtml
Doha, Qatar - Prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi on
Tuesday,
October 15, branded the Bali blast as a heinous crime "which is no more
than a total barbarism that is void of morality and human feeling as
well."
Interviewed by IslamOnline, Al-Qaradawi stressed that "Islam not only
prohibits attacking non-Muslims who do not launch attacks against
Muslims,
but it also urges Muslims to treat those non-Muslims with due respect
and
kindness, especially non-Muslims who live along with Muslims within the
Islamic territories."
"It goes without saying that the tragedy that occurred in Bali, in
which a
bomb blast claimed the lives of more than hundred tourists, is actually
a
heinous crime.
"It is even an act of spreading mischief in the land or Hirabah in
juristic
term; a crime in Islam for which a severe punishment is specified,
without
discrimination as to race, color, nationality or religion of the
culprit,"
he asserted…"
-----
BRITISH ENVOY `PROUD' OF CRITICAL COMMENTS MADE AGAINST ISRAEL
Charlotte Halle, Ha'aretz, 10/16/02
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=219662&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
The British ambassador to Israel, Sherard Cowper-Coles, says he is
"proud"
of his comments that were published yesterday and in which he described
the
West Bank and Gaza Strip as "the biggest detention camp in the world."
In the report, Cowper-Coles is attributed with accusing Israel of
contravening the Geneva Convention and the Israel Defense Forces of
displaying a "lack of professionalism," during a leaked conversation
last
week with IDF Major General Amos Gilad, coordinator of government
activities in the territories.
Cowper-Coles told Ha'aretz yesterday that the comments, reported in the
Yedioth Ahronot daily, were "exaggerated, but broadly true."
The ambassador also criticized Israel for continuing to build
settlements,
for "the unnecessary humiliation and harassment" of the local civilian
population at checkpoints, unnecessarily uprooting trees and making
life
difficult for the international welfare organizations, according to the
report.
Cowper-Coles says he did not regret his comments, which were made "in
the
spirit of friendship." He said he was "very shocked" by what he has
seen in
the territories, "as anyone else who visited there would be..."
-----
RIGHTS GROUP SAYS ISRAEL ENFORCING 'LETHAL CURFEW'
Gwen Ackerman, Reuters, 10/16/02
JERUSALEM, Oct 16 (Reuters) - An Israeli human rights group accused
Israel's army on Wednesday of unjustifiably shooting to enforce curfews
in
the West Bank and said troops had killed 15 Palestinians, including 12
aged
under 16, in such incidents…
The human rights organisation B'Tselem said the curfews, clamped on
Palestinian-ruled cities in the West Bank following Palestinian suicide
bombings, had damaged local education, welfare and health systems, and
devastated the economy.
It saved its toughest criticism in a 35-page report called "Lethal
Curfew"
for incidents in which it said troops had shot at curfew violators even
when their lives were not endangered.
SEE: http://www.btselem.org/English/Press_Releases/2002/021016.asp
"Sometimes the soldiers fire without warning. Fifteen children, 12 of
them
children under age 16, have been killed by soldiers enforcing the
curfew.
Dozens of others have been wounded," it said.
"None of those killed endangered the lives of soldiers. Violation of
curfew
alone is not a justifiable pretext for opening fire, and firing in such
circumstances constitutes excessive use of force."
It said this showed "a shameful disregard for Palestinian lives and
reflects a trigger-happy attitude among soldiers. It constitutes a
flagrant
breach of international law…"
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
CAIR ACTION ALERT #352
PRO-ISRAEL LOBBY SEEKS TO BLOCK MUSLIM FROM NY COMMISSION
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/17/02) - Sources tell CAIR that representatives
of
the pro-Israel lobby are pressuring officials to withdraw the
appointment
of Omar T. Mohammedi to the New York City Commission on Human Rights.
Mohammedi's appointment was announced yesterday by New York Mayor
Michael
Bloomberg.
Mohammedi, a prominent employment discrimination attorney, serves as
chair
of the 9/11 Coalition for Constitutional and Human Rights and president
of
the New York Area Muslim Bar Association. He also serves as general
counsel
for CAIR's New York chapter.
"As in the past, those who oppose Muslim political participation are
using
falsehoods and distortions to smear Islamic leaders in an attempt to
silence our voice in this country. We call on the American Muslim
community
to send positive messages of support for Mr. Mohammedi's appointment to
New
York's mayor and Commission on Human Rights," said CAIR Executive
Director
Nihad Awad.
ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE.)
Contact Mayor Bloomberg and the Commission on Human Rights to offer
your
support for the appointment of Omar Mohammedi.
SAMPLE LETTER: (Please put in your own words.)
I would like to applaud the appointment of Omar Mohammedi to the New
York
City Commission on Human Rights. For many years, Mr. Mohammedi has been
a
tireless champion for the many diverse communities in New York City.
His
sensitivity to the issues of minorities and immigrants will make him an
outstanding advocate for the civil rights of all New Yorkers.
SEND TO:
1) Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
City Hall
New York City, NY 10007
TEL: 212-788-9600 FAX: 212-788-2460
E-MAIL: http://nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html
2) Ms. Patricia Gatling
Commissioner
New York City Commission on Human Rights
40 Rector Street
New York City, NY 10006
TEL: 212-306-7722 ALTERNATE PHONES: 212-306-7500; 212-306-7530 - Betsy
Herzog; 212-788-2958 Edward Skyler/Lark-Marie Anton FAX: 212-306-7595
E-MAIL: http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mailchr.html
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/17/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: GOOD HEALTH AND FREE TIME
* CONYERS, MCKINNEY TO APPEAR AT CAIR ANNUAL BANQUET
* CAIR MEETS WITH FAITH-BASED INITIATIVE DIRECTOR
* WHERE IS MAHER ARAR? (Ottawa Citizen)
- Graham Takes On U.S. Over Deported Canadian (Globe and Mail)
* FALWELL AND HIS ILK MAKE A SHAM OF AMERICANISM (Akron Beacon Journal)
* ANOTHER MOSQUE ATTACKED IN AUSTRALIA AFTER BALI BOMBING (AFP)
* ISRAELI TANK SHELLS KILL SIX PALESTINIANS IN CAMP (Reuters)
- Sharon Heads Home With U.S. Pledges (AP)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: FINE HEALTH AND FREE TIME
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "There are two blessings
that many people lose, fine health and free time for doing good deeds."
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 8, Hadith 421
-----
CONYERS, MCKINNEY TO APPEAR AT CAIR ANNUAL BANQUET
Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) and Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney
(D-GA)
will appear at CAIR's Eighth Annual Fundraising Banquet on October 26
in
Tyson's Corner, VA. Both politicians have supported the American Muslim
community and spoken out against post-9/11 civil rights abuses.
WHEN: Saturday, October 26, 6 P.M.
WHERE: Sheraton Premiere, 8611 Leesburg Pike, Tyson's Corner, VA
The dinner's theme is "Muslims in America: Defending Freedom, Promoting
Justice," and featured guests include Martin Luther King III, Dr. John
Esposito and many others.
Tickets: $55 single/$85 couples
TO REGISTER FOR THE DINNER: Visit www.cair-net.org, e-mail
register@cair-net.org or call 202-488-8787
-----
CAIR MEETS WITH FAITH-BASED INITIATIVE DIRECTOR
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/17/02) - Robert J. Polito, director of the White
House Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives at the
Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS) met yesterday with CAIR representatives
to
discuss Muslim concerns about the granting of taxpayer funds to a group
founded by televangelist Pat Robertson.
Muslims say Robertson is unworthy to receive one of the first
"faith-based"
government grants because of his attacks on the faith of Islam and its
Prophet Muhammad. Hundreds of Muslims contacted HHS to ask that the
decision to give his group a grant be reconsidered.
SEE: "Robertson Charity Wins 'Faith-Based' Grant"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35217-2002Oct2.html
SEE: http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/faith-based/
"We appreciate Mr. Polito's willingness to address Muslim concerns and
to
encourage the Muslim community's participation in the faith-based
initiative," CAIR Governmental Affairs Director Jason Erb, who attended
yesterday's meeting.
At the meeting, which took place at CAIR's Capitol Hill headquarters,
Polito offered to expand outreach efforts to the American Muslim
community
through workshops designed to explain the faith-based initiative and
the
grant application process.
-----
WHERE IS MAHER ARAR?
Lee Greenberg, Ottawa Citizen, 10/17/02
http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=363df32e-6211-4908-a80a-dcf19fa6497f
It has been 21 days since Monia Mazigh last spoke with her husband. She
has
just one question for the people responsible for deporting the Ottawa
man
to Syria without the federal government or his family being notified.
Where is Maher Arar, and what has happened to him?
"Something terrible is happening to me," Ms. Mazigh said yesterday in a
telephone interview from her family home in Tunisia. "I don't know
where my
husband is and the Canadian government won't give me an answer." "I
think
every Canadian citizen should ask the same question."
Mr. Arar, 32, was deported to Syria on Oct. 7 or Oct. 8 from Kennedy
Airport in New York during a stopover on his way home to Montreal,
officials at the Department of Foreign Affairs revealed yesterday. The
Canadian government was not contacted about Mr. Arar's case until after
he
had been deported, on Oct. 10.
Mr. Arar, who holds dual Syrian-Canadian citizenship, has not set foot
on
Syrian soil in 16 years. The thought that her husband is back in the
country he chose to leave pains Ms. Mazigh…
Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham admitted yesterday that Canada has
no
idea where Mr. Arar is being held.
And in a statement yesterday, Syrian Ambassador Ahmad Arnous denied any
knowledge of Mr. Arar's whereabouts. "We have no information regarding
Mr.
Arar, only what we know from the Canadian press," said Mr. Arnous.
"It's a
matter between the Canadian government and the American government."
In a speech yesterday, Mr. Graham said Canada has "registered our
protest
to the United States. Our position is that a person travelling on a
Canadian passport is a Canadian citizen and has a right to be treated
as a
Canadian citizen…"
"Every Muslim is now a terrorist," said Mrs. Mazigh. "We're talking
about a
civilized country, not jungle law or a dictatorship..."
---
GRAHAM TAKES ON U.S. OVER DEPORTED CANADIAN
Peter Cheney, Toronto Globe and Mail, 10/17/02
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/front/RTGAM/20021017/wsyria1017/Front/homeBN/breakingnews
A diplomatic battle has erupted between Washington and Ottawa over the
deportation of a Canadian telecommunications engineer by U.S. officials
who
refuse to explain why he was arrested and sent to Syria.
"A person travelling on a Canadian passport is a Canadian citizen and
has a
right to be treated as a Canadian citizen," Foreign Affairs Minister
Bill
Graham said on Wednesday after delivering a speech in Montreal. "I have
registered our protest to the United States."
Mr. Graham's complaint is the latest development in the mysterious case
of
Maher Arar, a 32-year-old engineer who was deported by U.S. immigration
officials after being stopped at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport
during
a flight back to Canada after visiting family in Tunisia...
Mr. Arar's case is not the first to spark diplomatic friction over the
handling of a Canadian citizen by U.S. officials. Omar Khadr, a
15-year-old
Canadian, has been held by the United States in Afghanistan since July
27
without being charged. Mohammed Jabarah, 20, of St. Catharines, Ont.,
has
been held in a U.S. prison since last June, also without being charged…
"It is a very unusual case," Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman
Reynald Doiron said. "We are still looking for answers to the core
question: Why a Canadian was deported by the U.S. without our
knowledge."
NDP Leader Alexa McDonough called on the federal government to use "the
full force of its diplomatic corps" to protest what she sees as the
"illegal actions" of the U.S.
"If the United States has security concerns regarding a Canadian
citizen
transiting their country, it is incumbent upon them to notify Canadian
authorities," she said. "Once again, the U.S. is flouting international
law
and acting as judge and jury…"
-----
FALWELL AND HIS ILK MAKE A SHAM OF AMERICANISM
Jefferson Price III, Baltimore Sun, 10/17/02
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/editorial/4303605.htm
If the Rev. Jerry Falwell represents Christianity, then count me out.
The
same goes for his partner in evangelical obsession, Pat Robertson.
Christianity, as I know it, represents peace, love, forgiveness,
charity,
inclusiveness, struggle for the good of mankind as a whole and hope.
Falwell, a Baptist minister, does not seem to embody or espouse these
objectives. He is narrow-minded, singularly directed in his own bizarre
mission; he is mean and insulting. In an age when most of the Christian
church is working toward ecumenism and understanding among the three
monotheisms -- Judaism, Christianity and Islam -- he is a force of
rejection and disparagement, which seems neither Christian nor, really,
American…
With respect to Islam in America, Robertson has implied it has been a
great
mistake to allow so many Muslims to live in this country. In comments
in
February on his TV show, as reported by the Washington Post, Robertson
suggested a purer ethnic immigration policy might spare America. "The
fact
is that our immigration policies are now so skewed to the Middle East
and
away from Europe that we have introduced these people into our midst
and
undoubtedly there are terrorist cells all over them." Muslim rein?
Robertson and Falwell and a lot of others in the Christian right in
America
have formed a fascinating relationship with the right wing in Israel,
which
they may think is enhanced by the hatred and venom they heap on
Muslims…
The relationship between the Christian right and the Israeli right
blossomed after Menachem Begin was elected prime minister of Israel and
Ronald Reagan was elected president of the United States in 1980.
Robertson
was enthusiastic as Israel developed its relationship with Christian
militias in south Lebanon, where he was supporting a Christian
broadcasting
station. Falwell's Moral Majority euphorically supported Begin and then
Defense Minister Ariel Sharon as they developed their disastrous
alliance
with Christian militias in Beirut…
Twenty years ago, while the Israeli army occupied Beirut, Israel's
Christian militia allies went on a rampage in the Sabra and Shatilla
Palestinian refugee camps, where they massacred more than 2,000
inhabitants
-- men, women, children -- while the Israelis stood by outside…
Last week, I happened to see a broadcast by Pastor Jack Hayford, of the
Church on the Way, the First Foursquare Church of Van Nuys, Calif.,
talking
about why Christians should support the state of Israel. When it was
over,
I realized that although Pastor Hayford had thrown a scrap of sympathy
to
Palestinian Arabs, he did not mention that they include tens of
thousands
of Christians. Unmentioned, they seem not to fit into the ambitions of
the
American Christian right. Their numbers are dwindling, but the families
of
those who remain have been in place a lot longer than Robertson,
Falwell,
Hayford & Co…
-----
ANOTHER MOSQUE ATTACKED IN AUSTRALIA AFTER BALI BOMBING
Agence France Presse, 10/17/02
MELBOURNE - Arsonists threw a firebomb into a Melbourne mosque early
Thursday, the second attack on a Muslim religious site since the
weekend
bombing in Bali which killed scores of Australians, police said.
No one was injured but windows were smashed and carpets burned when the
firebomb was thrown through the mosque window in East Doncaster before
dawn, they said. The fire was put out by people who were in the
building.
Police said they were investigating whether the firebombing in
retaliation
for the Bali bombings, which authorities have blamed on Islamic
radicals
although no one has claimed responsibility.
"It's not being looked at as a retaliation attack, it's just being
looked
at as an arson attack on a building," said Deputy Police Commissioner
Bill
Kelly.
"But obviously given what has happened last Saturday that puts another
dimension into the investigation to follow-up on, to make sure it
either is
or isn't politically or religiously motivated," he said.
On Tuesday, a school and the home of a Muslim cleric in Sydney were
attacked by stone-throwing vandals.
The Australian Federation of Islamic Council described the incident as
retribution for the deaths of Australians in Bali, although police
refused
to immediately label the attack a hate crime without further
investigation…
-----
ISRAELI TANK SHELLS KILL SIX PALESTINIANS IN CAMP
Nidal al-Mughrabi, Reuters, 10/17/02
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Israeli tank shelling killed six
Palestinians
and wounded 50 in a Gaza Strip refugee camp Thursday after gunmen fired
at
army bulldozers, aggravating tensions that are already close to the
boiling
point.
Witnesses said the dismembered bodies of two women, two youths and a
10-year-old girl were pulled from the rubble. Ambulance workers,
ducking at
the sound of gunfire, frantically wove through narrow alleys trying to
reach the wounded…
Palestinian medics and witnesses said six people had been killed by
Israeli
shells fired at a cluster of houses in the Rafah refugee camp after
Palestinian gunmen in the area shot at army bulldozers working near the
border fence…
Witnesses said the dead and wounded were civilians.
SEE ALSO:
SHARON HEADS HOME WITH U.S. PLEDGES
STEVE WEIZMAN, Associated Press, 10/17/02
WASHINGTON (AP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon wound up a
three-day
visit laden with U.S. pledges to make a maximum effort to neutralize
Iraqi
missiles in the event of war and with a ringing endorsement of Israel's
right to defend itself.
In meetings with Bush and other U.S. officials, Sharon got assurances
that
the United States would give Israel advance warning in the event it
attacks
Iraq, and he heard U.S. plans to prevent Iraq from launching rockets at
Israel, said a senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of
anonymity.
The official said Bush made no request for Israeli restraint if Iraq
did,
nevertheless, attack Israel, as it did during the 1991 Gulf War…
At the end of Sharon's 40-minute meeting Wednesday with Bush at the
White
House, the president publicly endorsed Israel's right to hit back.
"If Iraq were to attack Israel tomorrow, I'm sure there would be
appropriate response," Bush said at a joint news conference with
Sharon. "I
would assume the prime minister would respond. He's got a desire to
defend
himself."
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/18/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: A SUPPLICATION OF THE PROPHET
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* CAIR ATTORNEY SPEAKS AT U.N. EVENT
* CAIR VIDEO PREMIERES AT ANNUAL BANQUET
* MUSLIMS FEAR TALK OF SNIPER LINK (Washington Post)
- Funds Raise Thousands For Victims' Families (Washington Post)
* MUSLIM CLAIMS OF BIAS ON RISE AGAIN (Columbus Dispatch)
- Man Banned From Campus After Confrontation (AP)
* CHRISTIANS HAIL RIGHTIST'S CALL TO OUST ARABS (Forward)
- Editorial: Politics, Money and Guns (Washington Post)
- N.J. Poet Laureate Strikes Back (AP)
* ALLEGATIONS AGAINST CANADIAN REVEALED (Toronto Globe and Mail)
- PM Speaks Out On U.S. Deportation (Toronto Star)
- Editorial: Follow the Rules (Calgary Herald)
* POSTAL SERVICE REISSUES MUSLIM STAMP (Washington Post)
* MUSLIM GROUP TO HOST POLITICAL FORUM (San Jose Mercury News)
* SPAIN'S TOP DIPLOMAT IN IRAQ RESIGNS (AP)
- Actor Sean Penn Lashes Bush Over Iraq War Drums (Reuters)
- Jews Forge Ties with Iraqi Dissidents (Jewish Telegraph Agency)
* AI WARNS AGAINST RISING ANTI-MUSLIM SPEECH IN INDIA (Amnesty
International)
* CAIR-NY LECTURE ON RACIAL PROFILING IN AMERICA
* SHAIKH ABDALLA IDRIS ALI TO APPEAR AT CAIR-CAN FUNDRAISER
* MARYLAND INTERFAITH FORUM HIGHLIGHTS COMMON STRUGGLES
* MEDIA REQUEST: BRITISH TV NETWORK SEEKS HAJJIS
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: A SUPPLICATION OF THE PROPHET
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "O God, I seek refuge in
You
from knowledge that does not benefit anyone, a heart that is not
submissive, a soul that is dissatisfied, and a prayer that is not
heard."
Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1260
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 1105 sponsorships for book and tape
packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country. Take
part
in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item "library
package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
CAIR ATTORNEY SPEAKS AT U.N. EVENT
(NEW YORK, 10/18/02) - CAIR-NY General Counsel Omar T. Mohammedi spoke
yesterday at an event marking the International Day for the Eradication
of
Poverty held at the United Nations building in New York. The event was
hosted by the United Nations, the governments of France and Burkina
Faso
and by the group ATD Fourth World.
Mohammedi, a prominent employment discrimination attorney, serves as
chair
of the 9/11 Coalition for Constitutional and Human Rights and the
president
of the New York Area Muslim Bar Association.
On Tuesday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed him to the New
York
City Commission on Human Rights.
-----
CAIR VIDEO PREMIERES AT ANNUAL BANQUET
A video highlighting the work of CAIR over the past year will be shown
at
the Eighth Annual Fundraising Dinner on October 26 at Tyson's Corner,
Va.
The video focuses on the challenges facing American Muslims after
September
11, 2001, and CAIR's many accomplishments in the areas of civil rights,
media and education.
WHEN: Saturday, October 26, 6 P.M.
WHERE: Sheraton Premiere, 8611 Leesburg Pike, Tyson's Corner, VA
The dinner's theme is "Muslims in America: Defending Freedom, Promoting
Justice," and featured guests include Martin Luther King III,
Congresswoman
Cynthia McKinney, Dr. John Esposito and many others.
Tickets: $55 single/$85 couples
TO REGISTER: Visit www.cair-net.org, e-mail register@cair-net.org or
call
202-488-8787
-----
MUSLIMS FEAR TALK OF SNIPER LINK
Caryle Murphy, Washington Post, 10/18/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43883-2002Oct17.html
Like many other Washington area residents, they are driving their
children
straight to the schoolhouse door, limiting shopping trips and forgoing
outdoor activities.
But Muslims who live in the region say they face an additional trauma
from
the deadly attacks of an elusive sniper: dread sparked by speculation
that
the killer could be linked to al Qaeda or another Muslim extremist
group.
In recent days, some terrorism experts have raised the possibility that
the
sniper may be connected to foreign groups targeting the United States.
Federal officials have said there is no evidence of such a connection
but
they have not ruled it out.
"Obviously, we are concerned first of all about the sniper who is
targeting
innocent people at random because we live here, our families live
here,"
said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Washington-based Council on
American-Islamic Relations. "For the Muslim community, there is always
the
fear that this could be tied to international terrorism and we would
suffer
backlash and discrimination again. So we have two levels of fear."
Law enforcement officials have not issued a description of the
assailant.
Although one witness to the most recent slaying, in a parking garage
outside a Home Depot store in Fairfax County, initially described the
killer as being neither white nor black and possibly olive-skinned, his
account has since been discredited by police.
Still, mere speculation about a possible tie to international terrorism
has
had an impact on the Muslim community, said Sharifa Al Khateeb, who
lives
in Great Falls and is vice president of the North American Council for
Muslim Women. "It makes them feel demonized," she said, "very
unfairly…"
---
FUNDS RAISE THOUSANDS FOR VICTIMS' FAMILIES
Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post, 10/18/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43910-2002Oct17.html
The urgent call came in to Radio America, a popular Spanish-language
station in the Washington suburbs: The families of two of the sniper's
victims were desperate to be at their funerals but couldn't afford
airfare.
Could the station help…?
The radio fundraiser last week was an early sign of the outpouring of
donations and sympathy for victims' families. Outraged citizens from as
far
away as Florida and Ohio have sent tens of thousands of dollars to
funds in
memory of those slain by the gunman…
And the assistance appears likely to grow. Two large funds have just
been
established to collect donations. The National Capital Area Healing
Fund,
set up by the United Way and SunTrust Bank, is accepting money online,
by
mail and at bank branches…
Today, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was planning to e-mail 1,000
members
nationwide alerting them to the Sniper Victims Fund. And the Council on
American-Islamic Relations called on all Muslims to contribute to the
Healing Fund…
-----
MUSLIM CLAIMS OF BIAS ON RISE AGAIN
Tiffany Y. Latta, Columbus Dispatch, 10/18/02
http://www.columbusdispatch.com
The number of threatening calls and hate letters coming to the Islamic
Center on E. Broad Street has diminished since Sept. 11.
But what continues, Arab-Americans and Muslims say, are the stares and
the
verbal assaults, monitoring at stores and other forms of
discrimination.
Since the attacks, the number of racial-discrimination complaints that
Arab-Americans and Muslims have filed with the Ohio Civil Rights
Commission
has more than tripled to 43, from 13. "At one point, problems slowed
when
religious and political leaders spoke against it. But we've seen a rise
after recent bigoted comments made by religious leaders such as Rev.
Jerry
Falwell and Pat Robertson," said Ahmad Al-Akhras, president of the
council
on American-Islamic Relations.
Falwell angered Muslims when he called the founder of their religion a
terrorist in an interview on CBS' 60 Minutes.
Members of Al-Akhras' organization will attend a Know Your Rights forum
from 6 to 8 p.m. today at the Urban League, 788 Mount Vernon Ave. The
event
is sponsored by the commission, the Columbus Urban League and the
Columbus
branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People.
It is billed as a discussion to teach minorities about the resources
and
agencies available to help them fight back when they've been
discriminated
against in public places…
---
MAN BANNED FROM CAMPUS AFTER CONFRONTATION
Associated Press, 10/18/02
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee has banned a man from
campus
on grounds he confronted and threatened a Muslim graduate student.
University police said James N. Campbell yelled "ethnic slurs and
threatening comments" Monday at Sean Blevins outside the Hodges
Library.
Campbell, 60, who takes free classes under a program for senior
citizens,
was cited for disorderly conduct.
Campbell, a retired Air Force veteran, told The Knoxville News-Sentinel
that Muslims provoke him.
"Basically they are the most deceitful, hypocritical people on the
Earth,"
he said.
"This Muslim cleric was walking up the hill at the same time as I was
and
as we walked toward the door I recognized his Muslim clothes as a
priestly
frock. I am thinking to myself, 'What's this young man doing on my
campus?'...I see this fella, and I am instantly inflamed."
Blevins, 26, wears a beard and had on a black suit and a matching kufi,
a
bowl- shaped cap.
University police officer Steve Nelson said Campbell declined repeated
directives to calm down and otherwise cooperate.
"His actions were causing alarm to others in the immediate area,"
Nelson
wrote in his report.
Muslim Student Association president Sanjana Ahmad said while the
incident
does not indicate widespread local hostility against their faith, the
arrest "brought to the attention of the MSA the real and serious
threats
that face Muslims in America…"
-----
CHRISTIANS HAIL RIGHTIST'S CALL TO OUST ARABS
Forward, 10/18/02
http://www.forward.com/issues/2002/02.10.18/news3.html
WASHINGTON - Thousands of Evangelical Christians waving Israeli flags
cheered last week as Knesset member Benny Elon called for the
"relocation"
of Palestinians from the West Bank into Jordan.
The enthusiastic crowd at the annual convention of the Christian
Coalition
in Washington also cheered House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, who urged
activists to back pro-Israel candidates who "stand unashamedly for
Jesus
Christ."
Elon, whose Moledet Party advocates the "transfer" of Palestinians to
Arab
countries, said that a "resettlement" of the Palestinians is prescribed
by
the Bible….
Dismissing the legitimacy of the Palestinians' claim to the land, and
particularly to Jerusalem, Robertson said that "the Palestinians are
really
Arabs who moved there a few decades ago. Their claim to that land
really
does not go back very far such as it is," while the claim of the Jews
goes
back thousands of years. The Temple Mount, he concluded, "belongs to
Israel, not to the Palestinians…"
---
EDITORIAL: POLITICS, MONEY AND GUNS
E. J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post, 10/18/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43792-2002Oct17.html
We're in a war on terrorism and there's a chilling shooting spree in
the
Washington suburbs. Shouldn't that be enough to encourage our leaders
--
and especially our president -- to overcome the power of ideology and
political interest groups?...
Finally there is the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who set off riots abroad and
vicious attacks on our country by declaring the prophet Muhammad a
terrorist. He later apologized. For days afterward, the White House
declined to comment, even when pressed, except to reiterate the
president's
view that Islam is "a religion of peace."
One of President Bush's real achievements since Sept. 11, 2001, has
been to
defend the religious freedom of Muslims and to urge Americans to
embrace
their Muslim neighbors. Didn't Falwell's comments -- along with other
incendiary statements by the Revs. Pat Robertson and Franklin Graham --
provide the perfect occasion for reiterating that view, for saying
explicitly that these men did not speak for us?
Each of these issues is a reminder that one test of leadership is a
willingness to take on your own side -- especially when doing so
doesn't
fit your electoral calculations. Mr. President, we're waiting.
---
N.J. POET LAUREATE STRIKES BACK
Michael Weissenstein, Associated Press, 10/18/02
NEW YORK (AP) - New Jersey poet laureate Amiri Baraka criticized
Israeli
and Jewish groups' involvement in U.S. politics and reiterated that he
would not give up his post as official state poet amid accusations of
anti-Semitism.
In a nearly hour-long monologue and question-and-answer session
Thursday at
the Bowery Poetry Club, Baraka struck back at critics, saying he wanted
to
know "why the Anti-Defamation League is not registered as an agent of a
foreign power."
The Jewish civil rights organization and New Jersey Gov. James E.
McGreevey
have called for Baraka's resignation over his poem, "Somebody Blew Up
America," which implies that Israel had prior knowledge of the Sept. 11
attacks…
Baraka, 68, an award-winning playwright who has taught at Columbia and
Yale
universities, has said that the poem's selected passage was intended to
criticize Israel's policy toward Palestinians, and he did not mean to
imply
that Israel was responsible for the attack.
Cafe employees handed out free, steaming coffee and written statements
from
Baraka touching on Jewish groups' work to defeat Congresswoman Cynthia
McKinney of Georgia and Alabama Rep. Earl Hilliard, both black
Democrats
seen as unfriendly to Israel…
-----
ALLEGATIONS AGAINST CANADIAN REVEALED
Peter Cheney, Toronto Globe and Mail, 10/18/02
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/PEstory/TGAM/20021018/USYRIAH/national/national/national_temp/1/1/25/
A Canadian engineer who was deported to Syria by the United States was
accused by American officials of belonging to the al-Qaeda terrorist
network.
The specific allegations levelled against Canadian telecommunications
engineer Maher Arar are the latest revelation in a highly unusual case
that
has sparked a diplomatic row between Ottawa and Washington.
Mr. Arar, 32, was arrested by U.S. officials at New York's John F.
Kennedy
Airport on Sept. 26 during a flight back to Canada after visiting
family in
Tunisia. He was later deported to Syria, even though he was carrying a
Canadian passport and has lived in this country since he was 17 years
old.
Mr. Arar's family and friends say he is an innocent man who has found
himself tangled in a security dragnet that appears to have few checks
or
balances.
Monia Mazigh, Mr. Arar's wife, believes he may have been unfairly
listed in
a federal database of terrorist suspects after his name was mentioned
to
the United States by the RCMP after they took a cursory look at
Ottawa's
Syrian community following Sept. 11, 2001.
"The whole thing is insane," she said. "It's like living inside a
mystery.
Someone you never see gets to decide that you might be a terrorist, and
you
get blackballed. My husband is innocent…"
Mr. Arar's case has drawn widespread condemnation from human-rights
groups,
including Amnesty International, which believes the actions of the
United
States have violated international law and endangered Mr. Arar.
Officials still have no idea what has happened to Mr. Arar. Foreign
Affairs
says it has failed to locate him in Syria, and has received reports
that he
may have been sent to Jordan. The Jordanians, however, says Mr. Arar is
not
there.
---
PM SPEAKS OUT ON U.S. DEPORTATION
Allan Thompson and Tonda MacCharles, Toronto Star, 10/18/02
http://www.torontostar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1026146536373&call_page=TS_Canada&call_pageid=968332188774&call_pagepath=News/Canada
Prime Minister Jean Chr�tien added his voice yesterday to Canada's
formal
protest of the way U.S. authorities treated a Syrian-born Canadian who
was
detained in New York while changing planes, then mysteriously deported
to
Syria.
The Department of Foreign Affairs turned to Syria yesterday for
assistance
in locating Maher Arar, who was detained on Sept. 26 at New York's
Kennedy
airport while en route from Tunisia to Montreal.
Not only did U.S. authorities fail to properly notify Canada that Arar
was
being held, but after Canada learned of his whereabouts through family
members and sought consular access, U.S. authorities abruptly deported
him
to Syria on Oct. 8.
"We have protested. This person has a Canadian passport and they have
deported him to Syria rather than to Canada," Chr�tien told reporters
in
Beirut, where he is attending the Francophonie summit.
"I don't know what is the nature of the offence, but I'm informed
(Foreign
Affairs Minister Bill) Graham has issued a political protest to the
government of the United States. But we cannot go and pick him up. He's
not
there any more…"
---
EDITORIAL: FOLLOW THE RULES
Calgary Herald, 10/18/02
http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=cb4a0609-0dc8-480a-b0c3-6faee2bbc59b
The grave and legitimate security concerns of our neighbour to the
south
still do not give it the right to flout international law. And yet,
that is
exactly what the United States did by deporting a Canadian citizen to
Syria
without even contacting Canadian officials.
Under international law, Arar should have had access to Canadian
consular
officials. Instead, the U. S. peremptorily deported him to Syria. It is
feared that he has been thrown into a Syrian jail as punishment for
having
left the country at age 16 to avoid compulsory military service…
Arar's rights as a Canadian citizen came a very distant second to the
U.S.'s post-Sept. 11 practice of automatically placing Canadians born
in
Syria and four other countries on a terrorist-watch list. If the United
States believed there was something suspicious about Arar, they should
have
contacted Canadian officials.
The Americans owe Canada an explanation. If their seemingly arbitrary
action has merit, then there had better be convincing evidence to
support
it. So far, none has been presented.
-----
POSTAL SERVICE REISSUES MUSLIM STAMP
Chris L. Jenkins, Washington Post, 10/18/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43831-2002Oct17.html
A postage stamp that commemorates Muslim feast days known as Eid,
issued
first by the U.S. Postal Service last year and created by an Arlington
artist, has been reprinted this year, despite requests for its
retraction
immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Thirty-five million blue and gold stamps that acknowledge the holidays,
celebrated just after Ramadan and after the annual pilgrimage to Mecca,
were reissued Oct. 10, a sign of the stamp's popularity and the Postal
Service's commitment to including Muslim feasts in the pantheon of
holiday
celebrations that include Hanukah, Kwanzaa and Christmas, officials
said
this week. About 75 million stamps were printed last year when the
design
was unveiled Sept. 1, 2001, an official said. "Anecdotally, we got all
kinds of responses from customers saying how beautiful the stamps were
and
asking where they could get more," said Cathy Yarosky, a spokeswoman
for
the Postal Service…
Designed by Arlington calligrapher Mohamed Zakariya, 60, the stamp
features
the Arabic words "Eid Mubarak," which mean "Have a Happy Eid" or "May
your
Eid be blessed," Zakariya said…
National Muslim groups had lobbied the Postal Service for five years to
have the feast included in the holiday series. The stamp is exactly the
same as it was last year, postal officials said, except that it now
costs
37 cents.
"By reissuing the stamp, the Postal Service is supporting the American
Muslim community in a small but important way," said Ibrahim Hooper,
spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, one of the
several
organizations that lobbied to print the stamp initially.
-----
MUSLIM GROUP TO HOST POLITICAL FORUM
Lisa Fernandez, San Jose Mercury News, 10/18/02
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/4312786.htm
The Newark-based American Muslim Alliance is sponsoring a political
forum
Saturday, asking questions of candidates running for a variety of
offices,
from Fremont City Council to governor.
Muslim moderators from the alliance are dubbing their forum "Civil
Liberties Plus," and they will ask questions about the country's
eroding
civil liberties in the wake of last year's terrorist attacks as well as
probing the politicians on the economy, education, environment,
transportation, housing and more.
Since the attacks, many Middle Eastern and Muslim men have been
questioned
and detained by authorities, often without attorneys or knowledge of
the
charges for which they are being held. The alliance tries to increase
the
participation of Muslims in American politics, by putting out
Muslim-oriented voter education pamphlets as well as by hosting events
such
as Saturday's debates.
The panel will include most of the Fremont City Council candidates
vying
for two seats: Shyam Chetal, Dominic Dutra, Lalit Mathur, Henry Yin, a
representative for Pauline Weaver, and incumbent Bob Wasserman.
Candidates
Matt Edwards, Diana Rodriguez and Linda Susoev are not expected to
attend.
Dan Dow, Keith Lyon and incumbent John Dutra are expected to discuss
their
views in the 20th Assembly District race.
Don Grundmann, Syed Mahmood, Mark Stroberg and incumbent Pete Stark are
expected to talk about their campaigns in the 13th Congressional
District.
For the governor's race, third party candidates Iris Adams, Peter
Camejo,
Gary Copeland and Reinhold Gulke have agreed to attend. But
representatives
for both Gov. Gray Davis and Bill Simon, the Democratic and Republican
candidates, respectively, have not responded to repeated invitations to
the
debate.
The forum is scheduled from 6 to 9:30 p.m. at Newark City Hall, 37101
Newark Blvd.
A reception at the Newark library will begin at 5 p.m.
For more information, call the American Muslim Alliance at (510)
252-9858
or visit www.amaweb.org.
-----
SPAIN'S TOP DIPLOMAT IN IRAQ RESIGNS
Associated Press, 10/18/02
MADRID, - Spain's top diplomat in Iraq resigned, saying he could not
support his government's pro-U.S. stance in the crisis with Baghdad.
But the foreign minister insisted Friday the envoy was leaving because
of
hardship associated with the job.
Fernando Valderrama, 51, the Spanish charge d'affaires in Iraq since
August
2000, said Thursday he had stepped down because he opposed Prime
Minister
Jose Maria Aznar's position that Spain would endorse a U.S. attack on
Iraq
even without a U.N. resolution.
"The official position is so markedly pro-U.S. that if you don't
support
Washington's policy, it is as if you are working against your own
government," Valderrama was quoted as saying in Friday's edition of El
Pais…
---
ACTOR SEAN PENN LASHES BUSH OVER IRAQ WAR DRUMS
Reuters, 10/18/02
WASHINGTON - Actor Sean Penn on Friday weighed in on the international
debate over a possible war with Iraq, paying for a $56,000
advertisement in
the Washington Post accusing U.S. President George W. Bush of stifling
debate and threatening civil liberties.
In an open letter to Bush taking up most of a page in the main section
of
the daily newspaper, the Oscar-nominated star of "I Am Sam" and "Dead
Man
Walking," urged the president to stop a cycle where "bombing is
answered by
bombing, mutilation by mutilation, killing by killing."
"I beg you, help save America before yours is a legacy of shame and
horror," Penn wrote, echoing voices of caution from around the world
that
have called for a measured response to allegations Iraq is developing
weapons of mass destruction.
The letter was signed "Sincerely, Sean Penn, San Francisco,
California." A
spokesman for the Washington Post confirmed that it was placed by the
Hollywood celebrity who has starred in more than 40 movies.
Quoting Bush's declaration that the world was either "with us or
against
us" in the war on terrorism launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks,
Penn, 42, said Bush was marginalizing critics, manipulating the media
and
promoting fear…
---
JEWS FORGE TIES WITH IRAQI DISSIDENTS
Matthew E. Berger, Jewish Telegraph Agency, 10/15/02
http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=11945&intcategoryid=
WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 (JTA) - The old saying "the enemy of my enemy is my
friend" appears to have resonance for American Jewish groups and the
Iraqi
dissidents seeking to overthrow the government of Saddam Hussein.
Jewish groups have privately met with Iraqi opposition leaders in the
past,
but today some groups are forging a broader, more public relationship.
In the last two weeks, two Jewish organizations, the American Israel
Public
Affairs Committee and the Jewish Institute for National Security
Affairs,
have sponsored discussions with members of the Iraqi National Congress,
a
prominent Iraqi opposition group that is financially supported by the
U.S.
government.
With the Bush administration pursuing a policy of regime change in
Iraq,
both the INC and Jewish groups say they have something to gain from a
strong bond.
The INC sees a way to tap into Jewish influence in Washington and
Jerusalem, and drum up increased support for its cause.
The Jewish groups, for their part, see an opportunity to pave the way
for
better relations between Israel and Iraq, if and when the INC is
involved
in replacing Saddam's regime.
-----
HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP WARNS AGAINST RISING ANTI-MUSLIM SPEECH IN INDIA
Press release, Amnesty International, 10/16/02
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/ASA200192002
India: Hate Speeches on the Violence in Gujarat Must Be Stopped
Amnesty International is alarmed at repeated inflammatory statements
made
by Ashok Singhal, the international working president of the Vishwa
Hindu
Parishad (VHP, a nationalist Hindu organization), about the violence
against the Muslim population in Gujarat earlier this year, in which
more
than 2,000 people were killed. The organization fears for the safety of
many thousands of vulnerable people, should further violence be incited
by
the reported statements.
Ashok Singhal is reported to have said on 11 October 2002 that "what
happened in Gujarat will happen in the whole of the country", while on
3
September he reportedly termed the recent massacres in Gujarat a
"successful experiment which will be repeated all over the country".
Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion is a
recognized criminal offence under Indian law. Amnesty International
calls
on the competent authorities to give a clear signal that it will not be
tolerated any more. Investigations to establish Ashok Singhal's
responsibilities in relation to the reported statements should be
initiated
as a matter of urgency and appropriate action, including possible
prosecution, should be taken accordingly. Amnesty International wrote
to
the relevant Indian authorities on 16 September 2002, drawing attention
to
Ashok Singhal's statement of 3 September, but has not been notified of
any
investigation initiated since then…
-----
CAIR-NY LECTURE ON RACIAL PROFILING IN AMERICA
WHAT: Racial Profiling In America: Past, Present, Future
WHEN: Friday, October 25, 6 P.M. to 9 P.M.
WHERE: The Interchurch Center Lounge, 475 Riverside Drive at 120th
Street,
(Entrance on Claremont Avenue) New York City/Take trains #1 or #9 to
116
St./Columbia University
Speakers include:
Abdeen Jabara, Esq., Moderator
Center for Constitutional Rights
King Downing
Campaign Against Racial Profiling, ACLU
Harpreet Singh
Singh Coalition
For more information, contact CAIR-NY: 212.870.2002. www.cair-ny.com
Co-Sponsored by Women In Islam & New York Area Muslim Bar Association
-----
SHAIKH ABDALLA IDRIS ALI TO APPEAR AT CAIR-CAN FUNDRAISER
WHAT: CAIR-CAN: Your Voice, Your Future - fundraising dinner with
Shaikh
Abdalla Idris Ali
WHEN: Sunday, October 20 at 5 P.M.
WHERE: Candles Banquet Hall, Mississauga, 1224 Dundas St. East (just
West
of Dixie)
Speakers include: Sh. Abdalla Idris Ali, Sh. Mohammed Zahid Aboghudda
and Riad
Saloojee (Executive Director of CAIR-CAN)
The dinner will showcase CAIR-CAN's accomplishments in the areas of
media
relations, human rights, and public policy advocacy over the last year.
Tickets are $20. Reserve your tickets today by calling Ibrahim Danial
at
416-601-8272. Visit http://www.caircan.ca/pdfs/Fundraiser_flyer.pdf to
view
the flyer and other contact information.
----
MARYLAND INTERFAITH FORUM HIGHLIGHTS COMMON STRUGGLES
WHAT: Presentations by Jewish and Muslim scholars on variety of issues.
WHEN: Sunday, October 20, 11 A.M. to 1 P.M.
WHERE: Muslim Community Center, 15200 New Hampshire Ave., Silver
Spring, Md
20905 Tel: 301-384-3454
Speakers include: Rabbi Howard Gorin and Dr. Faroque Khan
-----
MEDIA REQUEST: BRITISH TV NETWORK SEEKS HAJJIS
Channel 4 has commissioned an ambitious project from ITN to bring The
Hajj
to Britain's screens next February. The ITN production team is looking
for
people from America who intend to perform Hajj in 2003 and would like
to
hear from anyone interested in taking part in this project.
ITN wants to include a whole range of people - young old, rich and poor
and
are particularly keen to meet people who will be performing Hajj for
the
first time.
Hajj is a religious obligation for all Muslims but the programme makers
would like to hear from people who are at a turning point in their
lives
which has motivated them to perform Hajj next year. Interested parties
may
contact Bridget at +44 207 430 4385 (24 hours) or email hajj@itn.co.uk
-----
TO BECOME A CAIR MEMBER, GO TO:
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/membership.asp
TO TAKE PART IN CAIR'S VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE, GO TO:
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/voting.asp
-----
To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to:
http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/20/2002
HEADLINES:
* REGISTER ONLINE FOR CAIR'S ANNUAL BANQUET
* 1500 CALIFORNIANS ATTEND CAIR-LA DINNER (AP)
* THE FORGOTTEN PRISONER (Chicago Tribune)
- FIGHT TERRORISM FAIRLY (New York Times)
- THE ALARMING CASE OF MAHER ARAR (Globe and Mail)
- JUDGE OKS PLANE DISCRIMINATION SUIT (AP)
* A LEAP OF FAITH: WALLACE D. MUHAMMAD (Chicago Tribune)
* FALWELL AND HIS 'CHRISTIAN RIGHT' HAVE IT WRONG (Star Tribune)
* AS BODIES START COMING HOME, AUSTRALIANS CRITICIZE LEADERS (New York
Times)
- AUSTRALIANS RETHINK U.S. SUPPORT (Washington Times)
- AUSTRALIANS TURN ON GOVERNMENT OVER US ALLIANCE (Independent)
* SOME MUNICIPALITIES OPPOSE WAR (AP)
* MINNESOTA: CENTRAL TO MUSLIM LIFE (Saint Paul Pioneer Press)
- MARYLAND: MUSLIMS TAKE LARGER ROLE IN COMMUNITY (Washington Post)
* PALESTINIANS ABANDON VILLAGE (AP)
* U.S. CONSIDERS ISRAELI IRAQ PLAN (AP)
* PROTEST CALLS FOR OUSTER OF U.S. NAVY FROM BAHRAIN (Los Angeles
Times)
-----
REGISTER ONLINE FOR CAIR'S ANNUAL BANQUET
Don't forget to register for CAIR's Eighth Annual Fundraising Banquet.
WHEN: Saturday, October 26, 6 P.M.
WHERE: Sheraton Premiere, 8611 Leesburg Pike, Tyson's Corner, VA
The dinner's theme is "Muslims in America: Defending Freedom, Promoting
Justice," and featured guests include Martin Luther King III, Dr. John
Esposito and many others.
Tickets: $55 single/$85 couples
TO REGISTER, visit www.cair-net.org, e-mail register@cair-net.org or
call
202-488-8787.
-----
1500 CALIFORNIANS ATTEND CAIR-LA DINNER
GARDEN GROVE, Calif. (AP) - For Mohannad Malas, a Muslim living in
Laguna
Beach, the past year has been a mix of fear and uncertainty.
Malas' story was just one of many shared by more than 1,450 people,
most of
them Southern California Muslims, who gathered for the annual banquet
of
the Council of American Islamic Relations.
"We continue to have hundreds, maybe thousands held," Malas said. "The
apprehension is, will I be next?"
To counter that fear, Arab and Muslim Americans should reach out to the
non-Muslim community to share the truth about their faith, said Hussan
Ayloush, executive director of the council.
Those efforts can help erase ignorance and unite different groups,
Ayloush
said.
"We're seeing hands being extended by many new friends, and we greatly
appreciate those new friends and we hope that we can become friends to
their community," Ayloush said…
-----
THE FORGOTTEN PRISONER
Sunday is Day 401 behind bars for Mukkaram Ali, who was arrested just
after
the Sept. 11 attacks. He wasn't charged and could spend 2 years in jail
because of a frail link to Zacarias Moussaoui.
Cam Simpson, Chicago Tribune, 10/20/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-0210200393oct20.story
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Of the hundreds of people swept up after the
attacks,
Ali appears to be in the strangest state of legal limbo: He is most
likely
the only material witness held at the behest of a terrorism suspect.
Because the judge recently postponed Moussaoui's trial until June 30,
Ali
could remain behind bars until he testifies, making his total jail time
about 2 years…
SEE ALSO:
FIGHT TERRORISM FAIRLY
David Cole, New York Times, 10/19/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/19/opinion/19COLE.html
David Cole, a professor of law at Georgetown, is author of "Terrorism
and
the Constitution: Sacrificing Civil Liberties in the Name of National
Security."
To the prosecution, they are a terrorist "sleeper cell." To the
defense,
they are five idealistic but misguided young men who found themselves
in a
Qaeda training camp but never intended to further terrorism. Where the
truth lies is the mystery at the heart of the Justice Department's case
in
Lackawanna, N.Y.
Under the law, however, it may not matter. Because of an overly broad
statute, the government wins this case no matter which version of the
story
is true. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, passed in
1996,
makes it a crime to provide "material support" to any group designated
as
"terrorist" -- without regard to whether the support was actually
intended
to further terrorist activity…
The law's popularity with prosecutors is not hard to understand. It
allows
the government to obtain convictions for so-called terrorist crimes
without
proving any intent to engage in or further terrorism. The government
need
only show that the individual provided a proscribed group with some
"material support," which according to the government can be mere
attendance at a training camp. The law is written so broadly that it
would
make it a crime to write a column or to file a lawsuit on behalf of a
proscribed organization, or even to send a book on Gandhi's theory of
nonviolence to the leader of a terrorist group in an attempt to
persuade
him to forego violence…
THE ALARMING CASE OF MAHER ARAR
The Globe and Mail, 10/19/02
http://www.globeandmail.com
Search using the term "arar."
A Canadian has disappeared. Maher Arar, a 32-year-old
telecommunications
engineer and married father of two from Ottawa, was travelling last
month
on a Canadian passport. The United States detained him, and says it
then
deported him to Syria, his birthplace. And he vanished.
This is a bizarre, alarming tale. Mr. Arar was deported from a country
in
which he had no intention of staying; he was simply on an airport
stopover
in New York on his way from Switzerland to Montreal. Although the
United
States suspects he is an Al-Qaeda terrorist, it has laid no criminal
charge
against him.
No matter whether the U.S. suspicions some day prove true, the
deportation
to Syria was a slap in Canada's face. Syria is an undemocratic country
with
a poor human-rights record; it detains people without charges, and
there
are credible reports of torture in its jails. By sending Mr. Arar to
that
country, the U.S. has given the impression -- right or wrong -- that it
is
contracting out its dirty work...
A Canadian passport should mean something. A Canadian traveller is no
less
Canadian because he is of Muslim or Arab background. The fight against
terror is a difficult one, but Canada deserves better than this from
its
closest neighbour. It deserves some answers.
---
JUDGE OKS PLANE DISCRIMINATION SUIT
JEFFREY GOLD, Associated Press, 10/19/02
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - A federal judge has refused to dismiss a
discrimination
lawsuit by two men who were removed from a Continental Airlines flight
on
New Year's Eve when a passenger complained about "brown-skinned men."
The Houston-based airline sought dismissal, arguing its employees have
authority to bar passengers who might be "inimical to safety" under a
federal law. The airline also said another law gives them broad
protection
in reporting "suspicious activity."
U.S. District Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise disagreed, ruling that
intentional racial discrimination is not permissible.
He did not rule on the merit of the passengers' claims, only that they
deserve a chance to prove that unlawful bias was the reason for their
removal...
-----
A LEAP OF FAITH: WALLACE D. MUHAMMAD
Don Terry, Chicago Tribune, 10/20/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/magazine/chi-0210200439oct20.story
A few hours after the Messenger of Allah died, scores of his ministers
hurried to his domed mosque on Stony Island Avenue to learn the fate of
their nation.
The future was waiting in the basement.
The ministers filed down the stairs, hearts heavy, souls shaken. Up
until
Elijah Muhammad's last breath at 8:10 a.m. on Feb. 25, 1975, many
believed
The Messenger would live forever. They could not imagine he would leave
them behind in the wilderness of North America to face the blue-eyed
devil
alone.
For more than 40 years, he had lifted them from the gutter, plucked
them
out of the fire, resurrected them from the mentally dead. He did it
using a
theology of love and hate, sincerity and science fiction. The white man
was
the Devil, the black man a human God. He preached a separatist gospel
of
self-reliance. And he turned thousands of his brothers and sisters--the
so-called Negroes, a phrase he used only with disdain--into proud black
men
and women.
They thought he was divine. He didn't argue.
Now that he was dead of heart failure at age 77, what would become of
his
people? Their Nation of Islam?
Gathered in the depths of the mosque on the South Side of Chicago, they
soon learned the answer. The Messenger's 41-year-old son, his
successor,
held up a Holy Koran. "We have to take this down from the shelf,"
declared
Wallace D. Muhammad, staring into 200 somber faces. "We say we are
Muslims.
What my father taught that is in this book, we will keep. What is not
in
this book, we have to give up…"
-----
FALWELL AND HIS 'CHRISTIAN RIGHT' HAVE IT WRONG
The Rev. Jan Linn et al., Star Tribune, 10/19/02
http://www.startribune.com/stories/562/3370104.html
Enough is enough. When Jerry Falwell declares on national television
that
Mohammed was a terrorist and Christians believe there will be no peace
in
Jerusalem until the second coming of Jesus ("An alliance with political
and
religious overtones," Oct. 8), the time for silence on such religious
arrogance is over.
Put bluntly, the Christian right that Falwell represents is neither…
The Christian right is not right because it is intellectually
dishonest.
Falwell speaks as if he knows the Bible when what he actually knows is
that
which he already believes and imposes on the Bible…
Through the years we have tried to ignore this man and others like him
who
are an embarrassment to many of us who claim the Christian tradition as
our
own. But their views have won a large following among Christians who
either
refuse to think for themselves or who have been duped into believing
that
Christian right leaders speak from understanding…
-----
AS BODIES START COMING HOME, AUSTRALIANS CRITICIZE LEADERS
HOWARD W. FRENCH, New York Times, 10/20/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/20/international/asia/20AUST.html
After an agonizing weeklong wait, the first bodies have finally begun
returning home after the terror attack in Bali, and angry Australians
are
asking hard questions about everything from their intelligence service
to
the country's foreign policy…
Just as pointed has been the debate over the country's close alliance
with
the United States. The alliance itself is not in serious question, but
Mr.
Howard, a popular prime minister in his third term and a strong
supporter
of the Bush administration's campaign against Iraq, has suddenly found
himself under surprisingly strong attack.
Australia is a country with a widely cherished myth of innocence, one
reinforced by the country's distance from other continents and most
zones
of conflict. Many commentators, pointing to the Bali disaster, are
saying
that Australia's pro-American foreign policy is dragging the country
into
fights it would do better to avoid…
SEE ALSO:
AUSTRALIANS RETHINK U.S. SUPPORT
Janaki Kremmer, Washington Times, 10/19/02
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20021019-25165942.htm
SYDNEY, Australia - The Bali nightclub bombing has forced Australia to
rethink its support for the U.S. campaign against Iraq, with some
warning
that regional terrorists would not hesitate to use far more deadly
weapons
in Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's arsenal.
---
AUSTRALIANS TURN ON GOVERNMENT OVER US ALLIANCE
Andrew Gumbel, Independent, 10/19/02
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/australasia/story.jsp?story=343961
Newspaper letter-writers and pundits were quick to draw attention to
Australia's alliance with the United States in the war on terrorism and
the
campaign to overthrow Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, citing this as
provocation for the attacks. Doubts were cast on the ability of John
Howard, the Prime Minister, to guide the nation through its worst
peacetime
calamity. Next in the line of fire were the intelligence services,
which
appear to have deliberately buried warnings of a possible terrorist
attack
on Bali.
Such debate, part and parcel of Australian political life, seems
refreshingly frank and a little disorientating when compared with the
reaction in the United States after the September 11 attacks.
In America, criticism of President George Bush evaporated overnight.
Anyone
attempting to link US foreign policy in the Middle East and elsewhere
with
the atrocities at the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon was
immediately
branded a pariah by mainstream society. One congresswoman who
questioned
the competence of the government and intelligence services was vilified
as
a paranoid, crypto-Marxist "pinata of inanity"…
---
SOME MUNICIPALITIES OPPOSE WAR
DAN LEWERENZ, Associated Press, 10/19/02
AARONSBURG, Pa. (AP) - Dan Brannen Jr. felt he needed to do something
to
express his reservations about the possibility of war with Iraq. As a
township supervisor in Haines Township, he thought maybe he and his
fellow
board members could take a stand.
"Congress just passed a resolution, and President Bush was signing it,"
Brannen said. "We're a board, and we can pass a resolution, too. And I
wanted to propose one that opposed an unprovoked attack on Iraq."
The township's Board of Supervisors did just that Thursday, joining a
handful of other municipalities - mostly bastions of liberalism, like
Ithaca, N.Y., and Berkeley, Calif. - that have spoken out against going
to war.
The Haines Township resolution, passed 2-0 with one abstention, says
that
killing "innocent Middle Eastern people, including Muslims, will widen
the
gorge between people of different races and religions rather than
nurturing
a union of humanity here and abroad…"
-----
MINNESOTA: CENTRAL TO MUSLIM LIFE
NANCY NGO, Saint Paul Pioneer Press, 10/20/02
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/4318855.htm
Central Avenue, a bustling thoroughfare lined with shops, restaurants
and
offices, lives up to its name for the growing Twin Cities Muslim
community.
The way University Avenue in St. Paul's Frogtown has become a hub for
Asian-Americans, Central Avenue has become a one-stop shopping and
socializing area for Muslims. It is a place to buy groceries, find
traditional clothing, visit with friends and eat at ethnic restaurants.
But unlike Frogtown, where Asian-American businesses are concentrated
for
several blocks, the Muslim presence along Central Avenue is subtler.
Muslim-owned stores are sprinkled in plazas along the avenue, mingling
with
McDonald's restaurants and Rainbow Foods stores. From the edge of
Northeast
Minneapolis running northward through Columbia Heights, Hilltop and
Fridley, the businesses that dot Central Avenue include Palestinian,
Egyptian and Lebanese grocery stores and restaurants, Afghani-owned
bakeries and an Algerian-owned mattress store.
"People will come here for worship, the Islamic center and shopping. It
is
one trip you make. It is all around the same area and you can do it all
at
once," said Hamdy El-Sawaf, executive director of the Islamic Center of
Minnesota…
SEE ALSO:
MARYLAND: HOWARD COUNTY MUSLIMS TAKE LARGER ROLE IN COMMUNITY
Colleen Jenkins, Washington Post, 10/20/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53640-2002Oct19.html
Only two tractors and a slice of cleared land hint that a long-held
dream
of a Howard County Muslim congregation is edging closer to reality --
and
with it, hopes of becoming a more integral part of the community's
daily
fabric.
After bouncing among facilities for their prayers and gatherings since
the
early 1990s, members of Dar Al-Taqwa are just months away from a
building
permit to erect the county's first mosque. The worship center, planned
for
a wooded seven-acre lot on a semi-rural stretch of Route 108, will be a
place to call their own, to teach Arabic to their children and to honor
the
customs and rituals of Islam.
It also will be the most tangible sign of Howard's growing Muslim
population, which, in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks,
has embraced a vision that transcends the walls of its future religious
center…
-----
PALESTINIANS ABANDON VILLAGE
MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, Associated Press, 10/19/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51353-2002Oct19.html
YANUN, West Bank (AP) - Sobbing as they filled a truck with furniture
and
piled themselves into dusty cars, six Palestinian families set out from
this tiny village of old stone houses, leaving it completely abandoned.
Members of the Sobih clan said they were fleeing the village - once
home to
25 families - after four years of worsening attacks by Jewish settlers,
who
have set up illegal outposts on nearby hilltops. The attacks have
become
increasingly frequent in recent months, they said…
Groups of masked Jewish settlers have charged into the village, coming
at
night with dogs and horses, stealing sheep, hurling stones through
windows
and beating the men with fists and rifle butts, Palestinian residents
said.
An electricity generator has been scorched by fire, knocking out power
to
the village. Three large water tanks were tipped over and emptied.
Palestinians complain bitterly of land lost over the past decades of
Mideast conflict. The exodus from Yanun is believed to be the first
time in
recent years that Palestinians have abandoned an entire village because
of
the conflict…
-----
U.S. CONSIDERS ISRAELI IRAQ PLAN
BARRY SCHWEID, Associated Press, 10/19/02
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration is weighing an Israel
proposal
for a joint operation in Iraq's western desert to disarm Iraqi missiles
before they could be launched against Israel.
If successful, the operation might not only protect Israeli civilians
from
an Iraqi attack like the one they weathered in the 1991 Persian Gulf
War
but eliminate the troublesome prospect of an Israeli retaliatory attack
on
Iraq.
Under the proposal, which would involve American special forces troops,
Israel would furnish the United States with intelligence about the
sites
and how to disarm them early in the conflict.
The idea was presented during Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's talks in
Washington this week with President Bush and senior White House,
Pentagon
and State Department officials.
Afterward, both sides said Sharon had received assurances the United
States
would make a maximum effort to reduce any threat to Israel posed by
Iraq.
The Israeli plan was not announced, but an account was provided to The
Associated Press on Friday by a U.S. official on condition of
anonymity…
-----
PROTEST CALLS FOR OUSTER OF U.S. NAVY FROM BAHRAIN
Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times, 10/19/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-bahrain19oct19.story
MANAMA, Bahrain -- Chanting "Death to America!" and "Death to Israel!"
protesters here Friday night angrily called for Bahrain's government to
oust the U.S. Navy from the base that serves as its regional
headquarters
in the Persian Gulf.
Initiated by the local Islamic political organization, the protest was
the
latest in a series of anti-U.S. demonstrations in recent months,
including
a rock-throwing march by several thousand people outside the U.S.
Embassy
in April that left a teenage protester dead after a skirmish with
police.
Two American sailors were beaten by a crowd a month later…
"No to American Bases in Islamic Bahrain," read one banner. The U.S.
Navy's
5th Fleet is headquartered here, and U.S. and British Royal Air Force
planes use the international airport as a regional hub. Without the
facilities here, the U.S. ability to project military power in the
region
would be undercut…
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
ACTION ALERT #352
JOIN DC RALLY AGAINST WAR ON IRAQ, THEN ATTEND CAIR DINNER
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/21/02) - On Saturday, October 26, thousands of
concerned Americans will gather in Washington, D.C., to protest the
proposed war against Iraq. The protest will coincide with similar
rallies
in San Francisco, London and Tokyo. It is essential that Muslims and
people
other faith turn out to make our voices heard on this important issue.
SEE: GROUPS OPPOSED TO WAR ON IRAQ PLAN RALLY
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56897-2002Oct20.html
The demonstration, organized by International ANSWER and endorsed by
many
other groups, including CAIR, is scheduled to begin 11 a.m. at
Constitution
Gardens, adjacent to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, near Constitution
Avenue and 21st Street NW. Scheduled speakers include Jesse L. Jackson,
former attorney general Ramsey Clark, and many others. A march to the
White
House will follow speeches. C-SPAN has agreed to broadcast the day's
events.
That evening, CAIR's Eighth Annual Fundraising Banquet will take place
at
the Sheraton Premiere Hotel in Vienna, VA. The dinner's theme is
"Muslims
in America: Defending Freedom, Promoting Justice," and featured guests
include Martin Luther King III, Rep. John Conyers, Rep. Cynthia
McKinney,
Dr. John Esposito and many others. At the dinner, CAIR will premiere
its
new video and preview a clip from the upcoming PBS documentary on the
life
of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
"It is essential that the American Muslim community offer input on the
national debate about a possible war against Iraq. It is also essential
that American Muslim organizations such as CAIR have the resources
necessary to take part in that debate, to defend civil liberties and to
promote a positive image of Islam. We therefore urge everyone who is
able
to take part in the rally against the war against Iraq and then attend
CAIR's banquet in the evening," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad
Awad.
ACTION REQUESTED:
1. Take part in the rally against the proposed war on Iraq.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON RALLY: http://internationalanswer.org/
2. Attend CAIR's banquet that evening.
TO REGISTER FOR CAIR'S DINNER: Visit http://www.cair-net.org, e-mail
register@cair-net.org or call 202-488-8787
NOTE: Please R.S.V.P. by Tuesday, October 22th.
-----
To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to:
http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/21/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: THE KEYS TO PARADISE
* LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* RELIGIOUS LEADERS SPEAK OUT AGAINST U.S. STARTING WAR (Chicago
Tribune)
- I Have a Nasty Feeling That the Doomsayers May Be Right (Telegraph)
- Jordan Does Not Rule Out New Iraq Monarchy (Reuters)
- Smearing the Antiwar Movement (Antiwar.Com)
- Georgetown Students Plan "Die-In" To Protest War on Iraq
* HUSSEIN AND MOBS VIRTUALLY EMPTY IRAQ'S PRISONS (New York Times)
* EU RAISES PRESSURE ON ISRAEL IN TRADE FIGHT (Reuters)
- How to Shut Up Your Critics With a Single Word (Independent)
- PM Plans to Ask U.S. For Aid That Could Top $10 Billion (Ha'aretz)
* DON'T FORGET MAN DEPORTED TO SYRIA: NDP (Ottawa Citizen)
* MUSLIM CONFERENCE ATTEMPTS TO EDUCATE CHRISTIANS, JEWS (The State)
* 31ST ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE ASSOCIATION OF MUSLIM SOCIAL SCIENTISTS
(AMSS)
* FILM-MAKER LOOKING FOR MUSLIMS AFFECTED BY 9/11 SWEEPS
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: THE KEYS TO PARADISE
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "O people! Greet others
in
peace, feed (the poor and needy), behave kindly to your relatives,
offer
prayer when others are asleep, and (thus) enter Paradise in peace."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 269
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 1110 sponsorships for book and tape
packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country. Take
part
in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item "library
package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
RELIGIOUS LEADERS SPEAK OUT AGAINST U.S. STARTING WAR
Julia Lieblich and Lynette Kalsnes, Chicago Tribune, 10/21/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com/
CHICAGO - Mainstream religious leaders who largely remained silent
during
the military campaign in Afghanistan are protesting a pre-emptive
strike in
Iraq with an organized outcry not witnessed in the United States since
the
Vietnam War.
Many are issuing action alerts urging congregants to attend rallies,
contact legislators and pray for peace.
"I have never seen the broad-based religious community so united," said
Joseph Fahey, professor of religious studies at Manhattan College in
Riverdale, N.Y. "Usually peace groups take time before they make
statements."
Not all religious communities disagree with President Bush's stand on
Iraq.
Some Jewish groups and Christian evangelists support the war effort.
Still, in addition to the peace churches - the Quakers, the Brethren
and
the Mennonites - the leadership of the Episcopal Church, the
Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.), the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America, the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian
Universalists, the Reformed Church in America, the Disciples of Christ,
the
National Baptist Convention and the Alliance of Baptists have all
publicly
opposed a pre-emptive attack on Iraq.
Following a vote in Congress to authorize Bush to use military force in
Iraq, the general secretary of the National Council of Churches and
more
than 60 other church leaders from the United States and the United
Kingdom
released a statement calling a possible war "illegal, immoral and
unwise."
Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops, wrote to Bush last month saying, "We conclude based
on
the facts that are known to us, that a pre-emptive, unilateral use of
force
… is difficult to justify at this time..."
"We want to be sure we do not take action that imperils all of these
millions of innocent lives," said Kareem Irfan, chairman of the Council
of
Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, "and we want to be sure our
country joins the rest of the world and takes a consensus approach."
---
I HAVE A NASTY FEELING THAT THE DOOMSAYERS ON IRAQ MAY BE RIGHT
John Simpson, Telegraph (UK), 10/20/02
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/10/20/wirq120.xml
All sorts of extraordinary theories are being proposed: that Iraq,
after
Saddam's overthrow, may simply be wiped off the map and its territory
handed over to Jordan; that the Palestinians will be shipped out of the
West Bank and Gaza and given new homes in this greater Jordan; that
Israel
will at last be able to take over the whole of its Biblical
inheritance.
---
JORDAN DOES NOT RULE OUT NEW IRAQ MONARCHY - PAPER
Reuters, 10/21/02
BERLIN, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Jordan's King Abdullah was quoted on Monday
as
saying it was dangerous to link his Hashemite dynasty to any post-war
Iraq,
but did not rule out a restoration of the monarchy if Iraqis wanted it.
The Iraqi army overthrew Baghdad's Hashemite monarchy in 1958 and
Saddam
Hussein rose to power in 1968.
King Abdullah, visiting Germany this week, said in an interview with
the
German business daily newspaper Handelsblatt that he had big
reservations
about the idea that members of the Hashemite family could play a role
governing Iraq after a war.
"It is very dangerous to link members of my family with a post-war
order in
Iraq," he said when asked about speculation that his uncle, Prince
Hassan,
had ambitions to take the throne in Baghdad.
"I have very big reservations about such a role for the Hashemite
house. It
would be a different matter if the Iraqis were to think, two years
after a
war, that a monarchy could unite them," the king said…
---
SMEARING THE ANTIWAR MOVEMENT
Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com, 10/21/02
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/justincol.html
As if to confirm what some opponents of this war have been saying - but
not
too loudly - about this being a war for Israel, the Bush administration
is
now "weighing an Israeli proposal for a joint operation in Iraq's
western
desert to disarm Iraqi missiles before they could be launched against
Israel."
That this war has always been about Israel is a matter of simple
geography.
For all the President's palavering about the "threat to Americans"
posed by
Iraq, those "weapons of mass destruction" Saddam supposedly has
couldn't
even reach Europe, let alone the U.S. But Tel Aviv is well within
range.
Indeed, the prospect of Iraqi missiles raining down on Israel has been
one
of the chief deterrents against a move by Israel's far-right Likud
government to ethnically cleanse Palestine of Arabs - a plan that is
increasingly popular among Israelis - and/or move the IDF back into
Lebanon. The U.S. occupation of Iraq will eliminate that deterrent -
and
set up Israel to deal with Hizbollah the Syria in the regional
conflagration to follow…
The calculation of the War Party is that, by smearing anyone who dares
to
identify the real politics of this war, they can equate antiwar
sentiment
with anti-Semitic agitation. As if the interests of Israel and of all
Jews
everywhere are identical. - and as if this war really does serve
Israel's
interests, which it doesn't, as Professor Schroeder is good enough to
point
out:
"A preemptive war on Iraq would be as counterproductive in the long run
as
the Israeli occupation of Lebanon engineered by Ariel Sharon or the
current
Sharon/Likud efforts to destroy Palestinian resistance and terrorism
and
abort any independent Palestinian state by sheer military force. There
are
better ways for America to ensure Israel's survival…."
While I would venture that Israel is well-equipped to look after its
own
survival, thanks to the involuntary generosity of American taxpayers,
Professor Schroeder's remark about the historical significance of the
coming war is worth repeating and remembering:
"It would represent something to my knowledge unique in history. It is
common for great powers to try to fight wars by proxy, getting smaller
powers to fight for their interests. This would be the first instance I
know where a great power (in fact, a superpower) would do the fighting
as
the proxy of a small client state…"
---
GEORGETOWN STUDENTS PLAN "DIE-IN" TO PROTEST WAR ON IRAQ
Press release, 10/21/02
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY, Washington, DC - This Wednesday, October 23rd, a
coalition of Georgetown student groups that oppose the war on Iraq will
be
staging a "die-in" in Georgetown's main square (Red Square) from 12:40
pm
to 1:20 pm.
The "die-in" will involve several different stages. The participants
will
be standing in Red Square mingling. A drum roll will start, the
drummers
will stop drumming, and the Die-In participants will all fall down
suddenly. They will lie lifelessly on the ground for around 30 minutes.
This should surprise passing students and hopefully spark their
interest.
Interested students will be given a fact sheet explaining the reasons
why
participants are "dying-in..."
"The purpose of this die-in is to educate students about the dangers of
the
US going to war against Iraq," said Shadi Hamid, one of the event
organizers. "We want to get people excited about the anti-war movement
on
campus and encourage students to be proactive in speaking out against
injustice."
With the growing interest in the anti-war movement on campus, event
organizers are aiming to get more than 40 people to participate in the
die-in.
Groups participating in the Die-In include the Muslim Students
Association,
the Georgetown Solidarity Committee, Young Arab Leadership Alliance and
the
Campus Greens.
CONTACT: Shadi Hamid, (610) 772-0394, sh75@georgetown.edu, Emil
Tatonchi,
(847) 767-6766, ept3@georgetown.edu
-----
HUSSEIN AND MOBS VIRTUALLY EMPTY IRAQ'S PRISONS
John F. Burns, New York Times, 10/21/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/21/international/middleeast/21IRAQ.html
ABU GHRAIB, Iraq, Oct. 20 - Tens of thousands of Iraqi prisoners
stormed
out of their cells to freedom today after President Saddam Hussein
declared
an amnesty that appeared to have all but emptied a sprawling,
nationwide
network of prisons that have served as the grim charnel houses of one
of
the world's harshest police states.
At the Abu Ghraib prison, a sprawling compound on the desert floor 20
miles
west of Baghdad that has become a notorious symbol of fear among Iraqis
for
its history of mass executions and allegations of torture, the heavy
steel
gates gave way under the crush of a huge crowd of relatives who rushed
to
the jail within an hour of the amnesty broadcast. All semblance of
order
vanished as a cheering mob surged through the compound, in some cases
joining prison guards in smashing cell-block walls to free weeping
inmates..
Mr. Hussein's decree specified that committees of judges would have 48
hours to rule on individual releases, excepting only "Zionist and
American
spies," murderers who have not settled the "blood money" owed to
victims'
families under Islamic legal precepts, and debtors who have not
satisfied
their creditors. But the mob scenes that developed at Abu Ghraib and
elsewhere appeared to have overwhelmed the prisons and caused a mass
exodus…
-----
EU RAISES PRESSURE ON ISRAEL IN TRADE FIGHT
John Chalmers, Reuters, 10/21/02
LUXEMBOURG - The European Union threatened Monday to take its trade
dispute
with Israel to arbitration, forcing the pace on an issue that cuts to
the
heart of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and the
legitimacy
of its borders.
The bloc also prodded Israel to stop settlement activities in
Palestinian
territories and chided it for impeding humanitarian efforts and
"deliberate
destruction of Palestinian infrastructure."
But the long-running standoff over exports from Jewish settlements in
Palestinian territories, which enjoy preferential tariffs because they
are
labeled "made in Israel," dominated the annual EU-Israel Association
Council meeting in Luxembourg.
The EU agreed to give expert-level talks one last chance, but left no
doubt
that its patience was running out after another year of deadlock on the
issue.
"I hope they take us seriously," EU External Affairs Commissioner Chris
Patten said, when asked if the bloc would resort to arbitration to
ensure
that due tariffs are paid…
---
HOW TO SHUT UP YOUR CRITICS WITH A SINGLE WORD
Robert Fisk, Independent (UK), 10/21/02
http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=344510
Thank God, I often say, for the Israeli press. For where else will you
find
the sort of courageous condemnation of Israel's cruel and brutal
treatment
of the Palestinians? Where else can we read that Moshe Ya'alon, Ariel
Sharon's new chief of staff, described the "Palestinian threat" as
"like a
cancer - there are all sorts of solutions to cancerous manifestations.
For
the time being, I am applying chemotherapy."
Where else can we read that the Israeli Herut Party chairman, Michael
Kleiner, said that "for every victim of ours there must be 1,000 dead
Palestinians". Where else can we read that Eitan Ben Eliahu, the former
Israeli Air Force commander, said that "eventually we will have to thin
out
the number of Palestinians living in the territories"...
You will have to read all this in Ma'ariv, Ha'aretz or Yediot Ahronot
because in much of the Western world, a vicious campaign of slander is
being waged against any journalist or activist who dares to criticise
Israeli policies or those that shape them. The all-purpose slander of
"anti-semitism" is now used with ever-increasing promiscuity against
anyone
- people who condemn the wickedness of Palestinian suicide bombings
every
bit as much as they do the cruelty of Israel's repeated killing of
children
- in an attempt to shut them up.
Daniel Pipes and Martin Kramer of the Middle East Forum now run a
website
in the United States to denounce academics who are deemed to have shown
"hatred of Israel". One of the eight professors already on this
contemptible McCarthyite list - it is grotesquely called "Campus Watch"
-
committed the unpardonable sin of signing a petition in support of the
Palestinian scholar Edward Said. Pipes wants students to inform on
professors who are guilty of "campus anti-semitism"...
---
PM PLANS TO ASK U.S. FOR AID THAT COULD TOP $10 BILLION
Amnon Barzilai and Natan Guttman, Ha'aretz, 10/21/02
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=221671
An inter-ministerial team headed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's
bureau
chief, Dov Weisglass, is working on a proposal requesting American
economic
assistance that could top $10 billion.
The team includes representatives from the treasury, the Foreign
Ministry
and the Defense Ministry.
A government source said the reason for the aid request stems from the
United States' expected campaign against Iraq coupled with the American
desire that Israel not interfere with Washington's plans or use IDF
troops
against Iraq.
Sources at the Prime Minister's Office said yesterday that American
readiness to provide economic assistance has not been made in concrete
terms.
However, a number of ideas have cropped up in Jerusalem over the type
of
aid Israel could use: cash, guarantees for low-interest bank loans from
American banks, direct state-to-state loans from the U.S. treasury, and
the
conversion of some American defense aid into shekels…
-----
DON'T FORGET MAN DEPORTED TO SYRIA: NDP
Bob Harvey, Ottawa Citizen, 10/21/02
http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=64a99f5d-e928-4a42-9c0e-f673a78f9178#
Maher Arar, 32, an Ottawa engineer, was deported to Syria on Sept. 26
while
waiting in New York for a flight to Canada.
NDP leader Alexa McDonough told Ottawa Muslims yesterday that every
possible pressure must be brought to bear on the government to ensure
the
safety of Maher Arar, the Ottawa engineer who was deported to Syria by
the U.S.
"We have to turn every stone, both to ensure his safety and to make
this an
example of what we will not tolerate in this country, not from our
closest
neighbour or from any other nation," she said at a seminar sponsored by
the
Canadian Islamic Congress.
"It is alarming enough that it happened at the hands of our closest
neighbours and allies, but even more worrisome is that the Canadian
response has been so delayed and so muted. For me, it was just
unbelievable
to discover that the Canadian government took one whole week before
they
even announced they had initiated any contact. That is truly
frightening,"
said Ms. McDonough…
She urged Muslims to become involved in the political party of their
choice.
The Muslim population in Canada is estimated to have doubled since the
1991
census, to about 650,000…
-----
MUSLIM CONFERENCE ATTEMPTS TO EDUCATE CHRISTIANS, JEWS
Christine Schweickert, The State (Columbia, SC), 10/21/02
http://www.thestate.com/mld/state/news/local/4332089.htm
Muslim families from throughout the Southeast ended a three-day
conference
Sunday on their belief that the Prophet Mohammed was carried body and
soul
from Mecca to Jerusalem, then to heaven during the 6th century.
Meeting in Columbia, the roughly 300 people also hoped to accomplish
their
own small miracle: They wanted to draw Christians and Jews away from
their
Sabbath traditions to learn about the growing numbers of Muslims among
them. A few non-Muslims attended Saturday, but none attended Sunday.
Still, event organizer Zain al-Abedin was happy that a few people had
left
the conference having "a correct understanding (of the faith) from
people
who are Muslims themselves."
He said that was especially good in the wake of the 2001 terrorist
attacks
and "those remarks coming from the Rev. (Jerry) Falwell." Falwell
recently
apologized for casting Mohammed as a terrorist.
"It was a cordial, a good relationship" that arose from the weekend
meeting
at the Economy Inn Hotel on Broad River Road, said al-Abedin, who lives
in
Turbeville. "It matters to us that good Christians and good Jews stand
up
and say they don't believe" recent criticisms.
Those who did not attend the weekend conference can obtain more
information
on Islam and on the conference sponsor, the Islamic Studies and
Research
Association, at www.israinternational.com.
They also may attend a larger conference next weekend at USC that will
focus on religious intolerance.
---
31ST ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE ASSOCIATION OF MUSLIM SOCIAL SCIENTISTS
(AMSS)
WHAT: "The Muslim World after September 11: Agenda for Change"
WHERE: American University, Washington, D.C.
WHEN: October 25 - October 27
Scheduled Panelists include:
Dr. John Esposito
Muqtedar Khan
Ahmad Dallal
Nazif M. Shahrani
Peter Gran
Zahid Bukhari
Mohamed Nimer
Louay Safi
For more information visit http://www.amss.net
-----
FILM-MAKER LOOKING FOR MUSLIMS AFFECTED BY 9/11 SWEEPS
The Documentary Campaign, a non-profit organization that produces and
distributes films promoting social justice and human rights, is making
a
documentary called "Persons of Interest." In researching the film, we
came
across letters detainees had written to family and friends during their
confinement and were struck by the powerful descriptions of the
injustices
they faced. We decided to base the film on these letters written from
prison to family members, friends, lawyers and civil rights groups.
We are looking to get in contact with as many immigrants affected by
the
nationwide sweeps after 9/11 as possible.
Thus far, we have been in contact with a number of grassroots
organizations
and community activists in the New York area that have helped us
establish
contact with detainees and their families. But we have found that the
detainees are often reluctant to speak to the media and we need as much
help as we can get to make "Persons of Interest" a reality.
CONTACT:
Danny Massey
Project Coordinator
The Documentary Campaign
917-370-7312
danny@documentarycampaign.org
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HAWAII MOSQUE TARGETED BY HATE LITERATURE
FBI notified of anti-Muslim leaflets thrown in Islamic center yard
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/21/02) - The FBI is investigating hate literature
distributed at an Islamic center in Hawaii warning that Muslims in that
state will be watched by "patriotic residents." Officials with the
Muslim
Association of Hawaii in Honolulu report that hundreds of small
leaflets,
headlined "ATTENTION RAG HEADS," were thrown into the fenced yard of
the
mosque sometime after 8 a.m. today.
The incident prompted a national Islamic civil rights group to call for
increased police protection in the area of the mosque.
The leaflets distributed at the center read in part: "During the war on
terrorism, the vigilant, patriotic residents of Hawaii will be keeping
an
eye on our Muslim 'friends'…[vulgar references deleted.]…every curry
fundraiser will be checked to ensure that funds are not being funneled
to
support terrorist groups. Anyone found in violation will be strapped
with
explosives and shipped to Iraq. MAY GOD (NOT ALAH) BLESS AMERICA!! (The
word "Allah" was misspelled in the original leaflet.)
"We believe the small minority of bigots in our society are being
encouraged to take such actions by the anti-Muslim rhetoric coming from
right-wing and evangelical leaders. Purveyors of hate believe they can
act
with impunity because of the silence of elected officials on the issue
of
Islamophobia," said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Washington-based Islamic civil
rights
and advocacy group. He called on local law enforcement authorities to
step
up security in the vicinity of the Honolulu mosque and asked local
religious and political leaders to support the Muslim community.
As evidence of the rise in anti-Islamic hate speech, Awad cited attacks
on
Islam and the Prophet Muhammad by Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell and
Pat
Robertson. A coalition of Muslim groups recently asked President Bush
to
repudiate those attacks. The president has not yet responded to that
appeal.
In just the last two months, there was a shooting attack on an Ohio
mosque,
vandalism at Islamic centers in Virginia and Idaho, and the revelation
of a
detailed plan to attack some 50 Florida mosques and schools. Other
American
mosques and Islamic institutions have received threatening messages.
CAIR is seeking to counter anti-Muslim hate in American society with
its
Library Project, a campaign to encourage Muslim individuals and groups
to
sponsor 18-item "library packages" of accurate and objective books,
videos
and audio cassettes about Islam and Muslims for distribution to as many
as
16,000 public libraries nationwide. (SEE: www.libraryproject.org) There
are
an estimated 3,000 Muslims in Hawaii and some seven million in the
United
States.
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-MAIL:
cair@cair-net.org; Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787 or 703-861-7294,
E-MAIL:
hhassan@cair-net.org; Muslim Association of Hawaii, 808-216-3374,
E-MAIL:
iio@iio.org
-----
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http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/22/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: CONTROL YOUR ANGER
* CAIR DINNER REGISTRATION DEADLINE EXTENDED TWO DAYS
* PROMOTE A POSITIVE IMAGE OF ISLAM - CAIR'S LIBRARY PROJECT
* USA PATRIOT ACT: LIBRARIANS KEEP QUIET (Newsweek)
* FBI PROBES ANTI-MUSLIM LEAFLETS (AP)
- Editorial: The Uncivil War Against Islam (Chicago Tribune)
- Muslim-American's Remedy for Terrorism (Orlando Sentinel)
- Suit Accuses Chick-Fil-A of Religious Bias (AP)
* DEPORTED CANADIAN TURNS UP IN SYRIA (Toronto Globe and Mail)
* CAIR/INS TEAM UP FOR SO. CALIF JOB FAIR
* MEF WEB SITE LISTS COLUMBIA U. PROFESSORS (Columbia Daily Spectator)
* ISRAEL, IRAQ AND THE US (Counterpunch)
- Olive Harvest a Mideast Conflict (AP)
- Palestinians Forbidden from Picking Olives (LAW)
- U.S. Refines Plan for War in Cities (New York Times)
- Washington Sources: Further Aid to Israel Doubtful (Globes)
- Israel Frees Photographer Held for Six Months (Reuters)
* HINDU FAR-RIGHT STEPS UP FIERY RHETORIC, EMBARRASSING NEW DELHI (AFP)
* WORRY, BUT NOT DESPAIR AMONG IVORY COAST'S MUSLIMS (AFP)
* MISSOURI FAMILY KILLED IN PLANE CRASH (AP)
* VA MEETING ON CIVIL RIGHTS POST-9/11
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: CONTROL YOUR ANGER
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "The strong person is
not
the one who knocks others down, but the one who controls himself when
angry."
Al-Muwatta, Volume 47, Hadith 12
-----
CAIR DINNER REGISTRATION DEADLINE EXTENDED TWO DAYS
The registration deadline for CAIR's annual dinner has been extended to
Thursday, October 24. We are nearing full capacity, so act now to
purchase
your seats.
WHAT: CAIR'S Eighth Annual Fundraising Banquet
WHEN: Saturday, October 26, 6 P.M.
WHERE: Sheraton Premiere, 8611 Leesburg Pike, Tyson's Corner, VA
The dinner's theme is "Muslims in America: Defending Freedom, Promoting
Justice," and featured guests include Martin Luther King III, Dr. John
Esposito and many others.
Tickets: $55 single/$85 couples
TO REGISTER FOR THE DINNER: Visit www.cair-net.org, e-mail
register@cair-net.org or call 202-488-8787
-----
HELP PROMOTE A POSITIVE IMAGE OF ISLAM - CAIR'S LIBRARY PROJECT
GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
USA PATRIOT ACT: LIBRARIANS KEEP QUIET
Newsweek, 10/28/02
http://www.msnbc.com/news/823009.asp
Usually librarians are the ones who tell people to keep quiet. But ever
since Congress passed a series of laws aimed at helping law enforcement
track down terrorists, it's the librarians who are under orders not to
talk.
The USA Patriot Act allows the FBI broad new powers to check borrower
records, Internet use and any other materials that could help track
client
reading histories (it also applies to booksellers and could be used to
obtain medical records). The law contains a gag order threatening
librarians with criminal prosecution if they tell anyone of the FBI
visits.
The FBI must get a warrant from a judge, but the standard is lower than
probable cause. And the evidence, too, is secret.
For more than a month the ACLU has been searching for a librarian who
doesn't want to cooperate and is willing to serve as a test case in the
courts. "This statute trumps protections in place in 49 of 50 states,
with
consequences that could evoke images of Big Brother," says the ACLU's
Gregory T. Nojeim. But librarians may be too good at keeping quiet. In
February 2002, just a few months after the law's passage, the
University of
Illinois Library Research Center anonymously surveyed more than 1,000
public libraries. Already 85, or 8 percent, had been forced to reveal
patron information. Library officials estimate there must be hundreds
more
by now. Yet despite widespread outrage among librarians, so far no one
has
come forward, and the statute remains untested in the courts. The
search
for Conan the Librarian continues. There's little chance that the role
will
be filled by the nation's most famous librarian: Laura Bush…
-----
FBI PROBES ANTI-MUSLIM LEAFLETS
B.J. Reyes, Associated Press, 10/22/02
HONOLULU - Hundreds of leaflets containing threats and disparaging
remarks
toward Muslims were found in the yard of an Islamic center in Honolulu,
authorities said.
The leaflets were thrown into the fenced yard of the mosque of the
Muslim
Association of Hawaii on Monday morning, said Daniel Dzwilewski,
special
agent in charge at the FBI's Honolulu division. He said officials were
investigating the act as a hate crime.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington, D.C.-based
Islamic
civil rights group, said the leaflets included vulgar references about
Muslims and warned that patriotic residents of Hawaii will be keeping a
watch on them.
"Every curry fund-raiser will be checked to ensure that funds are not
being
funneled to support terrorist groups," the council quoted the leaflets
as
saying. "Anyone found in violation will be strapped with explosives and
shipped to Iraq."
There are about 3,000 Muslims in Hawaii, the Council said.
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council, said comments over the
past
year by conservative religious leaders are evidence of a rise in
anti-Islamic hate speech that contributes to such incidents.
"We believe the small minority of bigots in our society are being
encouraged to take such actions by the anti-Muslim rhetoric coming from
right-wing and evangelical leaders," Awad said in a news release…
---
EDITORIAL: THE UNCIVIL WAR AGAINST ISLAM
M. Cherif Bassiouni, Chicago Tribune, 10/22/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/oped/chi-0210220311oct22,0,3376703.story
The slightest bit of anti-Semitism will be met with strong condemnation
by
the media and the rest of civil society--as it should. But not so for
egregious vilification of Islam. Imagine if high visibility Muslim or
Christian religious leaders would publicly state to the viewing and
hearing
of millions of Americans that: "Moses was a terrorist" and "Moses was a
brigand and a robber," "Judaism is a monumental scam" and "Judaism is a
very evil and wicked religion." The reaction would be overwhelming.
President Bush would probably address the nation from the Oval Office
to
denounce such an outrage, every major newspaper would run denunciatory
editorials and TV and radio talk shows would continuously discuss the
reasons and the remedies needed. In short, the nation would be swept by
a
tidal wave of social opprobrium--and rightly so…
But these outrageous and insulting statements were not made about Moses
and
Judaism, but about the Prophet Muhammad and about Islam…
Reactions against these slanderous statements from the media and civil
society were few, no massive outrage, no presidential denunciation,
even
though the president went to great lengths after Sept. 11 to assert
that
America's war on terrorism was not a war against Islam…
Who needs Osama bin Laden to recruit terrorists when we have such
eloquent
spokespeople for America's hate war against Islam? To stop this hateful
prejudice is a question of principle. It is also a matter of our
national
security.
SEE ALSO:
MUSLIM-AMERICAN'S REMEDY FOR TERRORISM
Yasmeen Qadri, Orlando Sentinel, 10/22/02
Terrorism, hatred and war are words that are becoming more common
today.
They raise serious concerns as to what effect this violence has on
young
minds, their psychological and emotional well-being.
As a Muslim-American educator, I have a deeper concern about not only
the
well-being of our children but about the deeper scars that stereotypes
and
prejudices leave on them as the political hatred from around the world
gets
transferred into our classrooms. This can be detrimental to the
American
dream of unifying a country rich in diversity.
Take the word jihad. It is commonly misunderstood and distorted in the
West
to mean a war against unbelievers or enemies of Islam. Actually, jihad
means the struggle for righteousness, to do good, going beyond one's
self
to oppose tyranny; it does not mean to kill. With that definition
guiding
us, let me offer a remedy for terrorism, hatred and war.
The root causes of terrorism -- hatred and the prejudices that it is
built
upon -- do not occur overnight. They are built gradually upon
misinformation. Ten years ago, as I began to teach multicultural
education
to student teachers, I realized how much negativity and misinformation
was
fed into the young minds about Arabs and the Middle East. Today, I
sadly
witness how this information is stereotyped to generalize all Muslims
and,
alas, all American Muslims…
---
SUIT ACCUSES CHICK-FIL-A OF RELIGIOUS BIAS
Associated Press, 10/22/02
HOUSTON - A Muslim from Houston has filed a lawsuit in federal court
saying
Chick-fil-A's corporate purpose to glorify God discriminates against
its
non-Christian employees.
Aziz Latif, 25, said he was fired a day after he refused to pray to
Jesus
Christ during a training session in November 2000. The lawsuit, filed
Monday, said Latif was hired in 1996 but does not specify which Houston
restaurant he worked for or what position he was being trained for.
A week before his firing, the lawsuit said, an evaluation praised Latif
as
a "great manager" who knew the "operation side of the business very
well."
The lawsuit said the Atlanta-based chain refuses to pay Latif's medical
bills and expenses incurred while a participant in Chick-fil-A's
employee
benefit plan. He is seeking reinstatement and damages for emotional
distress, attorneys fees and back pay…
-----
DEPORTED CANADIAN TURNS UP IN SYRIA
Toronto Globe and Mail, 10/22/02
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/front/RTGAM/20021021/wsyri1021a/Front/homeBN/breakingnews
A Canadian engineer deported by the United States arrived in Syria
yesterday after days of mystery surrounding his whereabouts. The
Foreign
Affairs Department learned late yesterday that Maher Arar had crossed
the
Syrian border after flying from New York to Jordan, spokesman Reynald
Doiron said.
Embassy officials in Damascus were trying to meet with Mr. Arar, who
works
as a consultant in Ottawa, Mr. Doiron said. The Canadian ambassador in
Syria is expected to provide a report to Ottawa today. Foreign Affairs
Minister Bill Graham has condemned the United States for deporting a
Canadian.
Mr. Arar, who holds dual Syrian-Canadian citizenship, was arrested last
month at New York's Kennedy Airport as he travelled to Canada from
Tunisia.
He was deported because of accusations that he had links to the
al-Qaeda
terrorist network.
Canadian officials have said Mr. Arar was deported without benefit of a
lawyer. Mr. Doiron said there is still no explanation why a lawyer
chosen
by Mr. Arar on the advice of Canadian consular representatives did not
show
up for the immigration hearing Oct. 7...
New U.S. laws permit officials to detain Canadian citizens born in
Syria
and several other Middle Eastern countries, forcing them to provide
fingerprints, be photographed and fill out forms detailing their travel
plans.
Canada says the law is discriminatory…
-----
CAIR/INS TEAM UP FOR SO. CALIF JOB FAIR
WHAT: INS Recruiting Event
WHEN: October 27, 10 a.m. to Noon
WHERE: Islamic Society of Orange County, 9752 West 13th Street, Garden
Grove, CA 92644 (714) 531-1722
Meet INS employees in a wide variety of occupations including
immigration
inspectors, community relations officers, and program analysts.
Important notice: You must be a United States citizen to work for the
federal government
The federal government is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Many jobs are
currently available at many different locations. Forms and additional
information can be found at www.opm.gov.
1-877-375-3166 for Immigration Inspector
1-800-238-1945 for Border Patrol Agents
1-612-725-3496 for Detention Enforcement Officer
1-612-725-3253 for all other occupations
For more information on the event, call CAIR-LA at: 714-776-1847
-----
MIDDLE EAST FORUM'S WEB SITE LISTS COLUMBIA U. PROFESSORS
Jonathan Hunt-Glassman, Columbia Daily Spectator, 10/21/02
http://www.columbiaspectator.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2002/10/21/3db3a40aa0793?in_archive=1
New York - A Web site devoted to monitoring professors who allegedly
promote anti-Israeli views has opened a new front in the heated war of
words over Middle Eastern politics. Two Columbia University professors,
Hamid Dabashi and Joseph Massad, are featured on campuswatch.org in
what
Dabashi terms "a horrid form of cyber-McCarthyism."
Prof. Dabashi said he received a slew of "obscene, racist, and
threatening"
phone messages and e-mails after being listed on the site.
A project of The Middle East Forum, a Philadelphia-based think tank,
Campus
Watch has posted the writings of and interviews with professors at 22
U.S.
universities, aiming to expose what it describes as a widespread bias
against the United States and its allies among leading academics. The
site
has drawn criticism from academics who charge that the site is an
inflammatory infringement on academic freedom.
Dabashi, chair of the Middle East Asian Languages and Cultures
department,
vehemently disputed the site's portrayal of his views and criticized
its
methods.
"[Campus Watch] selectively and maliciously picks and chooses
statements by
me and about me that they think incriminate me as anti-American,
anti-Israeli, and pro-terrorist," he said. "I am none of those..."
-----
ISRAEL, IRAQ AND THE US
Edward Said, Counterpunch, 10/19/02
http://www.counterpunch.org/said1019.html
Thus the first step in the dehumanisation of the hated Other is to
reduce
his existence to a few insistently repeated simple phrases, images and
concepts. This makes it much easier to bomb the enemy without qualm.
After
11 September, this has been quite easy for Israel and the US to do with
respectively the Palestinians and the Iraqis as people. The important
thing
to note is that by an overwhelming preponderance the same policy and
the
same severe one, two, or three stage plan is put forward principally by
the
same Americans and Israelis.
In the US, as Jason Vest has written in The Nation (September 2/9), men
from the very right-wing Jewish Institute for National Security (JINSA)
and
the Center for Security Policy (CSP) populate Pentagon and State
Department
committees, including the one run by Richard Perle (appointed by
Wolfowitz
and Rumsfeld). Israeli and American security are equated, and JINSA
spends
the "bulk of its budget taking a bevy of retired US generals and
admirals
to Israel". When they come back, they write op-eds and appear on TV
hawking
the Likud line. Time magazine ran a piece on the Pentagon's Defense
Policy
Board, many of whose members are drawn from JINSA and CSP, in its 23
August
issue entitled "Inside the Secret War Council"...
-----
OLIVE HARVEST A MIDEAST CONFLICT
Jason Keyser, Associated Press, 10/22/02
AQRABA, West Bank (AP) - Thunder crashes like waves over mountains as
Palestinian farmers pick olives in groves of gnarled trees, working
quickly
before the coming rains. But a greater danger threatens the once joyful
harvest: violent attacks from Jewish settlers.
With horses, axes, rifles, stones and fire, Jews who've built outposts
on
nearby hilltops, disrupt work crucial to the survival of these hamlets,
cutting and burning trees and beating Palestinian villagers.
"They want to take the land, to impoverish us," said Musla Jaber, a
bearded
man with a gash on the side of his head he says came from a rock hurled
at him.
Palestinian villagers and human rights groups have reported daily
harassment of olive pickers from Jewish settlers since the harvest
began
this month. After driving farmers away, the attackers have stolen
ladders
and sacks of the crop, and picked the fruit for themselves.
For Palestinians, who have seen their economy crumble since they
launched
an uprising two years ago, the monthlong olive harvest is a critical
lifeline for many families.
It's central to their history and religion. The trees, with rough
trunks
twisted like knotted rope, are cited in the Muslim holy book, the
Quran, as
a blessing from God…
SEE ALSO:
http://www.lawsociety.org/Press/Preleases/2002/oct/oct22.html
-----
U.S. REFINES PLAN FOR WAR IN CITIES
Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker, New York Times, 10/22/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/22/international/middleeast/22URBA.html
WASHINGTON - The American military is training furiously and polishing
a
plan for attacking Baghdad that calls for isolating the city and then
taking control of it by seizing or destroying Saddam Hussein's pillars
of
power - but avoiding house-to-house combat in its hostile streets.
The new strategy is a significant change in Pentagon doctrine. In World
War
II, the American military dealt with the difficult question of urban
combat
by using heavy artillery, intense fire-bombing and, twice over Japan,
even
atomic weapons. Since the war, the strategy had been to isolate urban
areas, then move on to other targets.
Today, commanders still say they would rather avoid fighting in Baghdad
and
other Iraqi cities, which could result in thousands of American
casualties
and even more civilian deaths. But now, with Republican Guard units
digging
in around Baghdad, they may have no choice should Mr. Hussein and his
die-hard adherents choose to make a last stand…
---
WASHINGTON SOURCES: FURTHER AID TO ISRAEL DOUBTFUL
Globes, 10/21/02
http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/021021/15/33xwf.html
JERUSALEM - Pro-Israeli sources believe further U.S. aid to Israel at
this
stage is in great doubt, despite the declaration of support for the
Israeli
economy voiced by U.S. President George W. Bush after his talks in
Washington last week with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
The sources said that Israel's expectations of $10 billion in aid to
strengthen its economy, in addition to the current annual assistance,
don't
take into account the severe budget problems in the U.S. The problems
are
due to the cost of the war in Afghanistan and the anticipated cost of
the
almost certain upcoming war in Iraq…
---
ISRAEL FREES PHOTOGRAPHER HELD FOR SIX MONTHS
Reuters, 10/22/02
JERUSALEM - Israel released a Palestinian photographer who works for
the
French news agency Agence France Presse Tuesday after jailing him
without
charge for nearly six months.
"I'm OK. I'm very happy to see my family," Hussam Abu Alan said after
he
was dropped off by the army at a military checkpoint outside Hebron,
the
West Bank city where he lives.
Abu Alan, 47, was detained on April 24 at a checkpoint north of Hebron
when
he tried to reach a nearby village to cover the funeral of militants
killed
by Israeli forces during the now two-year-old Palestinian uprising
against
Israeli occupation.
He was handcuffed, blindfolded and eventually taken to the Ofer
detention
camp near the West Bank city of Ramallah. He was later moved to another
detention camp in the Negev desert. Abu Alan was released one week
after
Jussry al-Jamal, a Reuters cameraman from Hebron who spent more than
five
months in detention at Ofer…
-----
HINDU FAR-RIGHT STEPS UP FIERY RHETORIC, EMBARRASSING NEW DELHI
Rene Slama, Agence France Presse, 10/22/02
NEW DELHI - Amid growing world concern about Islamic extremists,
far-right
Hindu leaders have stepped up their belligerent and at times racist
rhetoric, embarrassing their allies in the Indian government.
Hindu hardliners have in recent days made statements harshly critical
of
India's minority Muslim community and arch-rival Pakistan, as well as
political foes at home…
Togadia was quoted by the Indian press as saying on a visit to the
western
state of Gujarat, the scene of deadly communal riots, that India's
Muslims
should submit to genetic tests.
"Since the forefathers of Muslims are Hindus, how can the blood of
Arabia
flow in their blood? I advise all Muslims to get themselves tested for
their Hindu origin," he was quoted as saying.
In a common theme for Hindu hardliners, Togadia warned that the
religion of
Mahatma Gandhi should not be seen as pacifist.
"You (Muslims) cannot harm the Hindu religion and culture by jihad
(holy
war) because Hindus have the tradition of wearing a garland of flowers,
but
the Hindu deity wears a garland of human heads," he said.
"We are 50 million Hindus in Gujarat. If 50,000 Hindus get killed in a
terrorist attack, the 50 million figure will not get smaller. If you
people
who number 50,000 die, no one will be left…"
-----
WORRY, BUT NOT DESPAIR AMONG IVORY COAST'S MUSLIMS
Jacques Lhuillery, Agence France Presse, 10/22/02
ABIDJAN - Imam Idrissa Koudouss, president of the National Islamic
Council
in Ivory Coast, has vowed to do everything possible to avoid letting
the
month-long military uprising degenerate into an ethnic and religious
war.
"We Ivorians were not expecting this, especially our Muslim
community...
which is paying a heavy price" in the crisis, he told AFP in an
interview
Monday.
"Our concern is the same as everyone's -- that this war could turn into
an
ethnic war, or a religious war. You have what happened in Rwanda,
Burundi,
Somalia. When a war becomes an ethnic or religious war, you cannot stop
it.
That's my big fear," he said. Koudouss said the situation in Daloa was
especially troubling. The town, the capital of the western
cocoa-growing
region, was recaptured by loyalist forces last week after three days
under
rebel control.
"Monday morning, I was informed that Daloa's local authorities made a
report yesterday about the burial of 56 Muslims who had been shot dead
by
security forces. Nineteen bodies are still in the streets today," he
said.
"With each incident like this, I call President (Laurent) Gbagbo and I
inform him of it. If security forces, who should protect people and
make
them safe... kill part of the population on the basis of ethnicity or
religion, that's serious," the imam said.
Since the uprising began on September 19, Muslims and certain ethnic
groups
and nationalities have suffered hate attacks. The rebels have cited
persecution of Muslims as among the reasons for their uprising…
-----
MISSOURI FAMILY KILLED IN PLANE CRASH
Associated Press, 10/22/02
Paron, Ark. - A Missouri family of six on their way home from a
festival in
Arkansas died when their small plane crashed in a heavily wooded area.
The single-engine plane, a Piper PA-32, went down in northern Saline
County
in misty weather about 3 p.m. Sunday, officials said. It broke into
pieces
and caught fire. A Missouri neurologist, his wife and four children
were
aboard the plane. Officials said Dr. Mohammad Shakil, 53, of Cape
Girardeau
was flying the craft…
Shakil's brother, Shafiq Malik of Cape Girardeau, told the Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette that Shakil was accompanied by his wife, Farida, 51;
his
sons, Osman, 17, and Hassan, 15; and daughters, Sabeen, 13, and Rabiya,
11.
All died in the crash, he said.
The family had been in Hot Springs for the annual Arkansas Oktoberfest.
"They were just down there for the festivals and activities, to take
pictures and things," said Shakil's office manager, Tina Plaskie. "They
left Sunday around noon. We're not sure about the exact departure
time."
Plaskie, the office manager, said Shakil was active in the Muslim
community
and was president of the Islamic Center in Cape Girardeau.
-----
VA MEETING ON CIVIL RIGHTS POST-9/11
WHAT: Commission on Civil Rights (CCR) holds a meeting of the Virginia
Advisory Committee, to review its draft report entitled "Civil Rights
Concern in the Metropolitan Washington Area in the Aftermath of the
September 9/11 Tragedies: Muslims, Sikhs, Arab Americans, South Asian
Americans, and Muslim Women," and decide on new project
WHERE: Washington Suites Hotel, Board Room, 100 South Reynolds Street,
Alexandria, VA
WHEN: Thursday, October 31
For further information, contact: Richard Patrick, 703-719-6499
-----
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In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/23/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: HONOR YOUR NEIGHBORS AND GUESTS
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* GOOD NEWS: D.C. SECURITY OFFICER WINS RIGHT TO ISLAMIC BEARD
* CAIR DINNER ALMOST SOLD OUT
* ACTION ALERT: DEMAND IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF CANADIAN HELD IN SYRIA
- Canada Promised Access to Citizen Deported by U.S. (CP)
- Deported Canadian Delivered To Jordan First (Toronto Star)
* LAWYER SLAMS U.S. CASE AGAINST MUSLIM CHARITY (Reuters)
- Detained Co-Founder of Islamic Charity Seeks Asylum (AP)
* BUSH'S EFFORTS TO LINK HUSSEIN TO AL QAEDA LACK EVIDENCE (WS Journal)
- Parents of Dying Iraqi Children Vent Fury at Bush (Reuters)
* EITAM BANS PALESTINIANS FROM DRILLING FOR WATER (Ha'aretz)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: HONOR YOUR NEIGHBORS AND GUESTS
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "One who believes in God
and
the Day of Judgment should treat his neighbor kindly; and one who
believes
in God and the Day of Judgment should honor his guest."
Riyadh-Us-Saleen, Chapter 39, Hadith 309
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 1119 sponsorships for book and tape
packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country. Take
part
in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item "library
package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
GOOD NEWS ALERT: D.C. SECURITY OFFICER WINS RIGHT TO ISLAMIC BEARD
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - A security guard with the Smithsonian's Office of
Protection Services in Washington, D.C., will be allowed to wear a
religiously-mandated beard after intervention by CAIR. SEE:
http://www.si.edu/
The Muslim security officer was allegedly told by his supervisor that
he
had to cut his beard to comply with staff grooming policies. Because
the
officer was on probation, he cut his beard believing that
non-compliance
might serve as grounds for dismissal.
After cutting his beard more than two inches, the officer was again
approached by another supervisor who said that the beard would have to
be
cut even shorter. The officer complied once again but contacted CAIR to
clarify his right to religious accommodation in the workplace.
After discussions with CAIR, the Smithsonian allowed the security guard
to
keep his beard at the original length.
In a letter sent to CAIR, an assistant general counsel from the
Smithsonian
stated: "[The officer] has been allowed to wear a beard as an
accommodation
of his religious beliefs…supervisors will be reminded of the legal
obligation to accommodate his religious beliefs."
"We appreciate the Smithsonian's concrete demonstration of its stated
commitment to creating and maintaining a workplace free from religious
discrimination," said CAIR Civil Rights Consultant Hassan Mirza.
CAIR publishes a booklet, called "An Employer's Guide to Islamic
Religious
Practices," designed to prevent such incidents. To obtain a copy of
that
booklet, contact: publications@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR FUNDRAISING DINNER ALMOST SOLD OUT
CAIR's Eighth Annual Banquet is almost sold out. Those interested in
attending should register as soon as possible.
WHAT: CAIR'S Eighth Annual Fundraising Banquet
WHEN: Saturday, October 26, 6 P.M.
WHERE: Sheraton Premiere, 8611 Leesburg Pike, Tyson's Corner, VA
The dinner's theme is "Muslims in America: Defending Freedom, Promoting
Justice," and featured guests include Martin Luther King III, Dr. John
Esposito and many others.
Tickets: $55 single/$85 couples
TO REGISTER FOR THE DINNER: Visit www.cair-net.org, e-mail
register@cair-net.org or call 202-488-8787
-----
CAIR-CAN ACTION ALERT #81
DEMAND IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF CANADIAN HELD IN SYRIA
Officials must re-double efforts to bring Canadian home, says CAIR-CAN
(Ottawa, Canada - 10/23/02) - CAIR-CAN today called on all Canadians to
ensure the safety and immediate release of Maher Arar, a Canadian
citizen
now held in Syria.
Arar, who has lived in Canada for the past 15 years, was detained in
the
United States on September 26th after a stop-over in New York on route
from
Zurich to Montreal.
He was interrogated for 9 hours without a lawyer, transferred to a jail
in
Brooklyn, and deported to Syria on October 10th by U.S. authorities who
did
not notify Canadian officials of the initial detention and deportation.
The Syrian government confirmed yesterday that Mr. Arar is being held
for
questioning, after being transferred from Jordan.
CAIR-CAN Executive Director Riad Saloojee said, "The Canadian
Government
must act swiftly to ensure the safety and return of Mr. Arar to
Canada."
"All Canadian citizens must act now to demand that this terrible
injustice
be remedied and never repeated," he added.
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUESTED (Be polite, but firm):
1) CONTACT Prime Minister Jean Chr�tien and Foreign Affairs Minister
Bill
Graham to demand they act to ensure the safety and return of Mr. Arar
to
Canada.
Prime Minister Jean Chr�tien, Tel: 613-992-4211, Fax: 613-941-6900,
E-mail:
pmo@pm.gc.ca
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bill Graham, Tel: 613-992-5234, Fax:
613-996-960, E-mail: Graham.B@parl.gc.ca
Ask Mr. Graham to bring up the issue with U.S. Secretary of State Colin
Powell at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation foreign ministers'
meeting
in Mexico on October 23.
2) CONTACT your local MP and demand that they take up this issue in the
House of Commons. The most effective way to communicate with your MP is
to
meet in person at his/her constituency office. The next best method is
to
call the office of your MP and register your concerns. You can also
email
your concerns to your MP. Obtain the name and full contact information
of
your Member of Parliament by calling (613) 992-4793, or by typing your
postal code at:
www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/house/PostalCode.asp?Source=SM
3) WRITE a letter to the editor of your local newspaper to express your
concerns over the unjust deportation of a Canadian citizen by US
authorities. Many newspapers across Canada have published editorials
condemning U.S. actions in this case. See:
4) COPY all correspondences to canada@cair-net.org
---
CANADIAN AUTHORITIES PROMISED ACCESS TO CANADIAN DEPORTED TO SYRIA BY
U.S.
Levon Sevunts, Canadian Press, 10/23/02
MONTREAL (CP) _ Canadian authorities said Tuesday they have been
promised
consular access to an Ottawa engineer who went missing for 13 days
after he
was deported to his native Syria from the United States.
Foreign Affairs spokesman Reynald Doiron said Syrian authorities have
confirmed Maher Arar, a 32-year-old Canadian telecommunications
engineer,
is being detained in Syria.
Syria's ambassador to Canada, Ahmad Arnous, told the Toronto Star Arar
was
turned over to Syrian officials on Monday by Jordanian authorities, who
had
apparently been questioning Arar.
The ambassador said Arar was allowed to meet Canada's ambassador in
Damascus on Tuesday but is still being held for questioning by Syrian
officials at an undisclosed location in the Middle Eastern country.
"They are still asking him what he was doing in Jordan, why he was
arrested
in the U.S.A. and the complete information that the Jordanian
authorities
submitted to him," Arnous told the Star on Tuesday.
"I cannot guarantee anything. But if there is nothing against him, he
will
be free to leave wherever he wants."
Doiron said Canada had no reason to believe Arar, a dual
Syrian-Canadian
citizen, would be held for any length of time…
---
DEPORTED CANADIAN DELIVERED TO JORDAN FIRST
Allan Thompson, Toronto Star, 10/23/02
http://www.torontostar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1026146708062
OTTAWA - The strange saga of the Canadian engineer who was deported to
the
Middle East two weeks ago by U.S. authorities got even stranger
yesterday.
Maher Arar, 32, who was detained at New York's Kennedy airport on Sept.
26
for alleged connections to the Al Qaeda network and deported on Oct. 8,
was
located in Syria on Monday. The official version of events was that he
was
deported there by U.S. authorities.
But Syria's ambassador to Canada, Ahmad Arnous, said in an interview
yesterday that Arar did not arrive in Syria until Monday - when he was
turned over by Jordanian authorities, who had apparently been
questioning him.
"They (the Americans) were saying he was in Syria, he was not in Syria
until yesterday (Monday), when the Jordanian authorities delivered him
to
the Syrian authorities," Arnous said. "He was not coming by himself.
The
Jordanian authorities gave him to the Syrian authorities," Arnous said.
Arnous said Arar had been allowed to meet yesterday with Canada's
ambassador in Damascus but is still being held for questioning at an
undisclosed location in Syria.
"The ambassador of Canada in Damascus met him today," Arnous said.
"They
are still asking him what he was doing in Jordan, why he was arrested
in
the U.S.A. and the complete information that the Jordanian authorities
submitted with him," the ambassador said.
"I cannot guarantee anything. But if there is nothing against him, he
will
be free to leave for wherever he wants," Arnous said.
Reynald Doiron, a spokesperson for Canada's Foreign Affairs Department,
said he couldn't confirm whether or not Canada's ambassador had met
with
Arar, but said he expected that consular access to Arar would be
allowed by
the Syrians.
Doiron also said that Canada now believes Arar spent the past two weeks
in
Jordan despite American assurances he had been deported to Syria…
-----
LAWYER SLAMS U.S. CASE AGAINST MUSLIM CHARITY
Reuters, 10/23/02
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N22383447
DETROIT - A lawyer for the jailed head of a U.S.-based Muslim charity
group
that has been branded a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S.
government said on Tuesday his client was the victim of an "assault on
Islam" by the Bush administration.
"Rabih Haddad is not a terrorist. He's not in any way, form or shape
associated with terrorism," said the lawyer, Noel Saleh.
"This is just a totally unjustified assault on Islam, on Islamic
Americans,
and upon persons who believe that the American system of justice is the
correct system of justice -- in that it allows for dissent, it allows
for
having differing points of view," Saleh said.
"Unfortunately the Bush and Ashcroft administration doesn't seem to
believe
that, and no longer believes in the basic tenets of our constitution,"
he said.
Haddad, a native of Lebanon and Michigan-based co-founder of the Global
Relief Foundation, has been under arrest since December for overstaying
his
tourist visa.
He is one of hundreds of detainees whose proceedings have been kept
largely
secret, as part of the Bush administration's anti-terror campaign after
the
Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon last year…
---
DETAINED CO-FOUNDER OF ISLAMIC CHARITY SEEKS ASYLUM
Sarah Freeman, Associated Press, 10/23/02
http://www.austin360.com/aas/news/ap/ap_story.html/National/AP.V1016.AP-Attacks-Haddad.html
DETROIT - Lawyers for the detained co-founder of an Islamic charity say
their client should be granted political asylum in the United States
because he would be persecuted in his home country.
Immigration Judge Robert Newberry was scheduled Wednesday to hear Rabih
Haddad's request for the United States to grant him and his family
asylum -
rather than force him to return to Lebanon…
On Tuesday, a defense witness testified that Haddad's presence in
Pakistan
more than a decade ago and other evidence presented by the government
did
not "raise a red flag" about Haddad's activities.
Barnett Rubin, director of studies at New York University's Center for
International Cooperation, said thousands of Muslims came to the area
during that time to fight Afghanistan's communist government…
-----
BUSH'S EFFORTS TO LINK HUSSEIN TO AL QAEDA LACK CLEAR EVIDENCE
David S. Cloud, Wall Street Journal, 10/23/02
http://online.wsj.com/public/us
WASHINGTON -- It's one of President Bush's regular arguments for
ousting
Saddam Hussein: The Iraqi dictator has ties to the al Qaeda network
that
brought terrorism to the U.S. last Sept. 11. Mr. Bush and his top aides
have repeatedly cited suspicions that Iraq has provided training and
safe
haven for al Qaeda members, and the fear that it could furnish them
with
weapons of mass destruction.
Yet despite some intriguing leads, U.S. intelligence officials say they
haven't found hard evidence of an active link between Iraq's secular
regime
and al Qaeda's Islamic militants…
But there is little evidence that he has been willing so far to share
his
biological or chemical weapons with his partners in terror, even during
the
Gulf War…
For now, Mr. Hussein has every reason to keep al Qaeda at arm's length.
"It
would be the dumbest thing in the world for Saddam to be supporting
anti-U.S. terrorism right now, and most of what we've seen from him
suggests that he recognizes this," says Kenneth Pollack, a former
National
Security Council official and author of a recent book on Iraq…
---
PARENTS OF DYING IRAQI CHILDREN VENT FURY AT BUSH
Samia Nakhoul, Reuters, 10/23/02
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/3275570
BAGHDAD - If President George W. Bush believes that ordinary Iraqis
will
welcome U.S. troops with open arms he may be in for a rude surprise.
However much they fear to say what they think under the ruthless rule
of
President Saddam Hussein, their feelings of deep-seated hatred towards
Bush
are only too clear.
They see the United States as primarily responsible for the sanctions
that
have destroyed their economy and the social fabric of their
once-prosperous
lives, as well as leaving an estimated 1.6 million children dead and
many
more stunted.
As much as the deprivation, they resent the humiliation of having been
driven back into an almost pre-industrial age.
Nowhere are these sentiments more in evidence than at the Mansour
Hospital
for Children, where youngsters with cancer lie dying from what doctors
believe are the effects of the 1991 Gulf War.
"Look! These are the children of Iraq," said Nouhad Abdel-Amir pointing
at
the cancer ward packed with frail children with no hair, many lying
unconscious with drips strapped to their bodies...
International medical surveys have reported a dramatic jump in cancer
cases, genetic deformities and abnormalities in children born after
1991,
especially in the south where depleted uranium munitions were fired by
U.S.
and British troops as they drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait…
-----
EITAM BANS PALESTINIANS FROM DRILLING FOR WATER IN W. BANK
Amos Harel and Amiram Cohen, Ha'aretz, 10/22/02
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=222372
Infrastructure Minister Effie Eitam, head of the far-right National
Religious Party, on Tuesday ordered the Water Commissioner to stop all
drilling for water by Palestinians in the West Bank, as well as a
freeze on
the issue of permits for future drillings.
The decision, announced by Eitam at a press conference in Jerusalem,
will
have a severe effect on Palestinian agriculture, which relies mainly on
water drilled from the ground.
The IDF also issued a prohibition Tuesday on Palestinians picking olive
harvests in West Bank villages, saying troops could not protect pickers
from Jewish settlers. Later in the day it retracted the order.
There have been several instances in the recent days of settlers
harassing
Palestinian olive pickers, and stealing their yields…
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MUSLIMS PLEASED BY ARRESTS, CAUTION AGAINST SPECULATION
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/24/02) - A national Islamic civil rights and
advocacy
group today congratulated law enforcement officials for the arrest of
two
suspects in the series of sniper attacks in the Washington, D.C., area,
and
at the same time cautioned against speculation and stereotyping based
on
the name of one suspect.
"Along with all Americans, Muslims hope today's arrests will bring an
end
to this tragic episode. The swift apprehension of the suspects can only
be
attributed to effective law enforcement by a number of local, state and
national agencies. Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of
those killed or injured in these senseless attacks," said Nihad Awad,
executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
"We are concerned that because a suspect in this case has the last name
of
'Muhammad,' American Muslims will now face scapegoating and bias.
Police
reports indicate the suspects acted alone, based on their own
motivations.
There is no indication that this case is related to Islam or Muslims.
We
therefore ask journalists and media commentators to avoid speculation
based
on stereotyping or prejudice. The American Muslim community should not
be
held accountable for the alleged criminal actions of what appear to be
troubled and deranged individuals," said Awad.
He urged American Muslims to go about their normal routines, but with
added
caution. SEE: "Mosque Security Checklist" below.
Last week, CAIR asked members of the American Muslim community to help
the
survivors of the sniper attacks and the families of those killed by
donating to a fund set up for that purpose.
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-MAIL:
cair@cair-net.org; Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787 or 703-861-7294,
E-MAIL:
hhassan@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR MOSQUE SECURITY CHECKLIST
CAIR is asking that mosques consider taking the following safety
measures:
* Build good relationships with neighbors of the mosque. Invite them to
visit your center.
* Try to have people attend the mosque as much as possible. Activity
deters
perpetrators.
* Make an appointment with the community relations officer of your
local
police department to tour your center and make suggestions on improving
mosque security.
* Request additional police patrols in the vicinity of your center.
Special
attention should be paid to times of darkness and during prayers.
* Consider creating a security committee at your mosque.
* Post mosque members at entrances and parking areas during prayer
times.
* Report suspicious packages to police. Do not touch them.
* Install perimeter floodlights outside the mosque.
* Install fire and burglar alarm systems.
* Replace hollow core doors with more secure solid doors.
* Install burglarproof bars on screens and large vents. (Note -
Research
local ordinances before beginning security renovations. For example,
window
bars should not limit evacuation in case of fire.)
* Trim shrubs and vines to reduce areas of concealment.
* Participate in neighborhood watch programs.
* Document descriptions of suspicious people or vehicles.
* Make duplicates of all important papers, computer disks and records.
* Remove potential fire hazards, such as trash and debris.
* Consider installing security cameras.
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/24/2002
HEADLINES:
* BREAKING NEWS: POLICE ARREST 3RD SUSPECT IN FL BOMB PLOT
* ARRESTS IN SNIPER CASE SPOOK ALREADY FEARFUL MUSLIMS (AP)
- Muslims Fear Sniper Backlash (AP)
* PROTEST PLANNED AT SITE OF COMPLEX FOR BILLY GRAHAM (AP)
- NC Protest at Billy Graham Center Groundbreaking
* MD COUNCIL TO INTRODUCE RESOLUTION OPPOSING PATRIOT ACT
* U.S. RELIGIOUS LEADERS RALLY IN OPPOSITION TO IRAQ WAR (U.S.
Newswire)
* CANADIAN CONSUL SEES DEPORTED MAN (Ottawa Citizen)
- Deported Canadian Allowed To See Consul (Toronto Globe and Mail)
- U.S. Customs Treats Visitors From Canada Like Dirt (Ottawa Citizen)
* JEWISH SETTLERS RESUME VILLAGE RAID (AP)
- SO-CALLED FRIENDS OF ISRAEL ARE ANYTHING BUT (Minnesota Daily)
* ADL CONDEMNS HATE LITERATURE DISTRIBUTION AT HONOLULU MOSQUE (U.S.
Newswire)
-----
BREAKING NEWS: POLICE ARREST WIFE OF PODIATRIST ACCUSED IN BOMBING PLOT
St. Petersburg Times, 10/24/02
http://update.sptimes.com/
The wife of a Pinellas County podiatrist accused in a plot to bomb
Islamic
centers was arrested today on federal charges of possessing illegal
explosives and firearms, federal authorities said. Agents with the
Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms arrested Kristi Goldstein between 9
and 10
a.m. while she was at work, said ATF Special Agent Carlos Baixauli.
Full
details of the investigation that led to Goldstein's arrest were not
immediately available.
She was expected to appear before a federal judge in Tampa this
afternoon.
Baixauli said Goldstein was charged because she did not have a license
to
possess the firearm and "destructive devices." He said the arrest is
connected to the federal investigation into her husband, Dr. Robert J.
Goldstein.
-----
ARRESTS IN SNIPER CASE SPOOK ALREADY FEARFUL MUSLIMS
Wayne Parry, Associated Press, 10/24/02
NEWARK, N.J. - Two weeks ago, Sohail Mohammed nervously joked that he
hoped
the Washington-area sniper would not turn out to be a Muslim, warning
it
would be exactly what his already fearful and persecuted community did
not
need right now.
With the arrest of two men early Thursday _ one a convert to Islam and
a
teen said to be his stepson _ many Muslims feared yet another angry
backlash like the one they endured after the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks…
John Allen Muhammad, 41, and John Lee Malvo, 17, were arrested Thursday
morning as they dozed in a car that had been the subject of an intense
search by capital-area police investigating the 13 sniper attacks that
have
so far left 10 people dead in the Washington suburbs…
That was enough to prompt a statement by a leading U.S. Muslim group
urging
journalists and the public at large not to lump all Muslims together.
"We are concerned that because a suspect in this case has the last name
of
`Muhammad,' American Muslims will now face scapegoating and bias," said
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations
in Washington, D.C. "Police reports indicate the suspects acted alone,
based on their own motivations. There is no indication that this case
is
related to Islam or Muslims. The American Muslim community should not
be
held accountable for the alleged criminal actions of what appear to be
troubled and deranged individuals."
More than 2,000 bias incidents against Muslims were reported to
authorities
in the year after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon.
"Since this whole thing began, I was just praying, `Oh God, Oh God,
please
don't let this be anyone in any way, shape or form associated with the
Middle East,'" said Jumana Judeh, a community activist in the
Arab-American
community in Dearborn, Mich. "Then I turned on the TV this morning and
my
first reaction was, `Here we go again.' We're doing what we did after
Sept.
11: holding onto our seats, holding on for the ride and hoping this one
will be shorter..."
SEE ALSO:
MUSLIMS FEAR SNIPER BACKLASH
LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press, 10/24/02
WASHINGTON (AP) - The arrest of a Muslim man on charges connected to
the
deadly Washington-area sniper shootings has the Islamic community
bracing
for another round of threats and attacks like those that followed the
Sept.
11 terrorism.
``The whole Muslim community was praying day and night: 'God, please.
There
has to be no connection to Muslims,''' Faiz Rehman of the American
Muslim
Council said Thursday...
``It's like a ball in your stomach: 'Oh God here we go again,''' said
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations.
``Every time we seem to make some advancements, it's like we take one
step
forward and two steps back...''
More than 2,000 bias incidents against Muslims were reported to
authorities
in the year after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon.
An Ohio man rammed his truck into a suburban Cleveland mosque; someone
threw rocks through the window of an Islamic bookstore in Alexandria,
Va.
Franklin Graham and other evangelists denounced the religion as evil...
Law enforcement officials said early Thursday there was no evidence of
a
connection to Osama bin Laden's terror network, but they haven't ruled
out
the possibility of other accomplices.
Still, Muslims said, the release of Muhammad's name had done new
damage. A
few Washington-area Muslim leaders, for example, said they received
threats
after the arrests.
``We're concerned that because of his last name, Muslims will again be
scapegoated, and people who don't know any better will act on that,''
said
Sabiha Khan, a spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations of
Southern California.
Muhammad changed his name from John Allen Williams after converting to
Islam. He helped provide security for Nation of Islam Minister Louis
Farrakhan's ``Million Man March'' in Washington, D.C., said Leo Dudley,
who
lived a block from Muhammad in Tacoma, Wash.
There are key differences things mainstream Muslims want the rest of
the
world to know.
For example, they disapprove of the sniper boasting to police: ``I am
God.''
``No good Muslim would ever call himself a god,'' said Mahdi Bray of
the
Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation.
Also, Orthodox Muslims generally do not consider the Nation of Islam a
mainstream religion.
``We don't represent their views, they don't represent our views,''
said
Rehman of the American Muslim Council.
-----
PROTEST PLANNED AT SITE OF COMPLEX FOR BILLY GRAHAM
Associated Press, 10/24/02
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Groups angered by evangelist Franklin Graham's
condemnation of Islam say they'll picket the groundbreaking ceremony
for
the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association complex.
Organizers say up to 100 people plan to line Billy Graham Parkway on
Tuesday to protest Franklin Graham's comments in a TV interview last
year
that Islam is "a very evil and very wicked religion." Graham reiterated
his
criticism on a TV news show in August, arguing that the Quran preaches
violence.
"We don't hate the guy," said David Dixon of the Charlotte Fellowship
of
Reconciliation, which is helping organize the protest. "One of the
things
we'd like to see him do is participate in interfaith dialogue."
Graham said Wednesday he has no interest in meeting with protesters.
"We can have all kinds of dialogue," he said. "I'm not going to change
my
faith."
Some 1,000 people are expected at the invitation-only groundbreaking at
11:30 a.m. Tuesday at the 61-acre property off Billy Graham Parkway.
Billy
Graham is expected to address the gathering of business, civic,
political
and religious leaders…
SEE ALSO:
NC PROTEST AT BILLY GRAHAM CENTER GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY
Press release, 10/24/02
(CHARLOTTE, NC) - The Coalition for Peace and Justice of Charlotte
(CPJ) is
holding a protest at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
groundbreaking ceremony on Billy Graham Parkway near the intersection
of
Billy Graham Parkway and Tryon Road on Tuesday, October 29, 2002 from
11:00
am till Noon. This protest has been organized to remind our community
and
Franklin Graham that Islam is not the enemy.
Franklin Graham along with several other highly respected Christian
leaders, have made derogatory remarks concerning Islam, Muslims and
Mohammad. Franklin Graham has stated that he believes that the
religion,
Islam, is "evil" and "wicked". Since these leaders are highly
respected
and have a large following, CPJ believes that careful consideration
must be
taken before espousing ideas that only add to the atmosphere of
intolerance, suspicion and separation already in the air here in
America.
WHAT: Protest against hate rhetoric
WHEN: Tuesday, October 29, 11 A.M.
WHERE: Billy Graham Evangelistic Association on Billy Graham Parkway
near
the intersection of Billy Graham Parkway and Tryon Road, Charlotte, NC
For more information about the Coalition for Peace and Justice -
Charlotte, please see: http://cpjnc.tripod.com
CONTACT: Wally Kleucker, Coalition for Peace and Justice - Charlotte
(704)
364-3835
-----
MD COUNCIL TO INTRODUCE RESOLUTION OPPOSING PATRIOT ACT
The Takoma City Council will consider a resolution challenging the USA
Patriot Act on Monday October 28 at its meeting, which begins at 7:30
p.m.
The Council meets in the Takoma Park Municipal Building, 7500 Maple
Ave.,
near the corner of Maple and Philadelphia Avenues. (MD Route 410).
It is important that Muslims attend the meeting to offer their support.
EXCERPTS FROM THE RESOLUTION:
WHEREAS the Declaration of Independence of the United States holds as
self-evident that all people are created equal and are endowed with the
unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; and
WHEREAS the First Amendment of the United States Constitution specifies
that no law be made "respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech,
or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and
to
petition the Government for a redress of grievances;" and
WHEREAS the Fourth Amendment declares that "the right of the people to
be
secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against
unreasonable
searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall
issue,
but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and
particularly
describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be
seized;" and
WHEREAS the Fifth Amendment states that no person "shall be compelled
in
any criminal case to be a witness against himself;" and
WHEREAS the Sixth Amendment guarantees defendants "the right to a
speedy
and public trial, by an impartial jury, and to be informed of the
nature
and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses
against
him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor,
and
to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense;" and
WHEREAS the Eighth Amendment states that "excessive bail shall not be
required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual
punishments
inflicted;" and
WHEREAS the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the government from denying
"to
any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws…"
WHEREAS, we believe these liberties are precious and are now directly
threatened by:
The USA PATRIOT Act, which
- All but eliminates judicial supervision of telephone and Internet
surveillance;
- Greatly expands the government's ability to conduct secret searches;
- Chills constitutionally protected speech through overbroad
definitions of
"terrorism"; and
- Grants the FBI broad access to sensitive medical, mental health,
financial and educational records about individuals without having to
show
evidence of a crime and without a court order; and
Federal Executive Orders, which
- Establish secret military tribunals for suspects;
- Permit wiretapping of conversations between federal prisoners and
their
lawyers;
- Lift Justice Department regulations against illegal COINTELPRO-type
operations by the FBI (covert activities that in the past targeted
domestic
groups and individuals); and
- Limit the disclosure of public documents and records under the
Freedom of
Information Act; and
The Proposed Dept. of Homeland Security, which as proposed by the
President, violates fundamental principles of open governance by
- Being exempt from FOIA disclosure, thereby drastically limiting the
agency's responsibility to answer public questions;
- Empowering the secretary of the new agency to waive the safeguards
contained in the federal Whistleblower Protection Act.
Therefore be it resolved that we the residents of the City of Takoma
Park
hereby urge that, to the extent legally permissible:
1) Our Municipal Government, State Representatives and Senators, United
States
Congresspersons and Senators monitor the continuing implementation of
the
Act and Orders cited herein and actively work for the repeal of all
Federal
and State legislation that violates those fundamental rights and
liberties
embodied in the Municipal Ordinances of the City of Takoma Park and in
the
Constitutions of the State of Maryland and the United States.
2) All City officials and employees continue--in keeping with our
City's
Sanctuary status, and with our long and distinguished history of
protecting
the human rights of our residents--to preserve all Takoma Park
residents'
freedoms of speech, religion, assembly, and privacy; and that all Local
law
enforcement personnel refrain from participating in the enforcement of
federal immigration laws…
CONTACT:
Damon Moglen
Field Coordinator
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Washington National Office
TEL: 202-675-2307
-----
U.S. RELIGIOUS LEADERS TO RALLY IN OPPOSITION TO POTENTIAL IRAQ WAR
U.S. Christian, Jewish, Muslim Religious Leaders Rally Oct. 24 In
Opposition To U.S.-Iraq War, U.S. Newswire, 10/24/02
WASHINGTON - Calling a unilateral pre-emptive action against Iraq
immoral,
more than 125 Christian leaders and representatives from Jewish and
Muslim
faiths in the United States have signed onto a Statement of Conscience
on
the Iraq War.
The statement is being released at rallies Thursday morning in cities
across the country.
Citing sacred texts from the Qu'ran, Jewish and Christian scriptures,
and
elsewhere, religious leaders caution their government to take action
against Iraq only through the United Nations, if at all. The signers
further call on the U.S. government to become a "moral superpower"
instead
of merely the world's dominant military power.
"People whose lives are rooted in the sacred stories must always act as
responsible peace advocates, ready to resist the misuse of military
power
and ready to help national leaders address the deeper sources of war
and
aggression," according to the statement. Citing the threat to civilian
lives in Iraq, the statement says, "to believe that an American family
is
more precious and sacred than an Iraqi family is to turn one's back on
God
and God's beloved community...."
"Rabbis, Imams, Ministers and Bishops are calling upon President Bush
to
meet his moral obligation as the leader of our one nation under God,"
said
Rev. Dr. George Regas, convener of the Progressive Religious
Partnership,
which coordinated the statement. "Actions resulting in the death and
suffering of thousands of innocent people and fueling further terrorist
acts at a cost of billions and billions of dollars in the absence of
exhausting all available and legally binding means of resolution is an
offense to the ethical foundation upon which our country is founded…"
More details and a copy of the statement can be found at:
http://www.ProgressiveReligiousPartnership.org
-----
CANADIAN CONSUL SEES DEPORTED MAN
Joanne Laucius, Ottawa Citizen, 10/24/02
http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=5c30950c-102d-4b55-8afd-3e408c8b31b8#
The Canadian consul in Damascus has met with a Canadian engineer
Washington
has accused of links to Al-Qaeda and ordered deported to Syria.
Maher Arar, 32, who lived in Syria for 17 years and now lives in
Ottawa,
was seized by U.S. investigators at New York City's John F. Kennedy
Airport
on Sept. 26.
Foreign Affairs has demanded an explanation and says it has no
information
to support the claim.
Reynald Doiron, a spokes-man for the Foreign Affairs Department, said
Syrian authorities told the Canadian ambassador that Mr. Arar arrived
in
Syria from Jordan on Monday and was being interviewed about whether he
had
links to terrorism.
The Canadian consul met with Mr. Arar yesterday. Syrian officials were
Present...
SEE ALSO:
DEPORTED CANADIAN ALLOWED TO SEE CONSUL
Estanislao Oziewicz, Toronto Globe and Mail, 10/24/02
http://www.globeandmail.com/
A Syrian-born Canadian deported from the United States two weeks ago
for
suspected links to al-Qaeda is being interrogated in Syria for
terrorist
ties, a Canadian official said yesterday.
Maher Arar, a 32-year-old Ottawa engineer, was allowed yesterday to
meet a
Canadian consul based in Damascus, but only in the presence of Syrian
authorities.
"He appeared well, but was not allowed to answer all questions asked by
the
Canadian consul," Reynald Doiron, spokesman for the Department of
Foreign
Affairs, said. "Syrian authorities have informed us that they are
interviewing Mr. Arar further in order to establish whether or not he
has
links to terrorist organizations.
"We do not know how long their interview or investigation will take."
Mr. Arar left Syria in 1987, and became a Canadian citizen in 1991. He
was
returning from a holiday in Tunisia when he was arrested by U.S.
immigration authorities while changing flights in New York on Sept. 26.
On Oct. 8, U.S. authorities deported the father of two young children
for
alleged terrorist ties, but his itinerary before ending up in Syria
remains
murky…
Despite official protests, Washington still has not told Ottawa why Mr.
Arar, who holds a Canadian passport, was deported to a country other
than
Canada and the sequence of his travel…
---
U.S. CUSTOMS TREATS VISITORS FROM CANADA LIKE DIRT
Stephen J. Ph. Carisse, Ottawa Citizen, 10/24/02
www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/letters
A few weeks ago, I took a trip by train from Toronto to Chicago. I was
thoroughly disgusted by the treatment of Canadians by U.S. customs at
Port
Huron, Michigan.
Instead of interviewing travellers in their seats as Canadian customs
did
on our trip back, the Americans required that everyone move to one end
of
the Amtrak train while we carried all our luggage. Seniors, women with
small children and pregnant women were all sent on this forced march.
As soon as the train stopped in Port Huron, U.S. soldiers in combat
uniforms boarded while more of them patrolled outside. All the soldiers
were wearing camouflouge outfits, and one of them stood right behind
each
person being questioned. One quite elderly couple was clearly terrified
by
this treatment. One young man became so scared he simply could no
longer speak…
Without exception, every Canadian who was not of obvious Caucasian
origin
was removed from the train for "further questioning" and held in a
dingy
trailer near the tracks. This included a tiny woman of East Indian
heritage
who was travelling with her two-year-old son. She had to struggle off
the
train and back on with all her luggage and child, entirely without
assistance, as officials and soldiers stood by.
The purpose in removing her seems to have been harassment: Why did they
need to treat her that way just to find our where she was going?
We open our homes to the Americans when they are stranded here, and we
sacrifice the lives of our soldiers, and now the Americans thank us by
treating our people like dirt.
-----
JEWISH SETTLERS RESUME VILLAGE RAID
Mohammed Daraghmeh, Associated Press, 10/24/02
NABLUS, West Bank (AP) - Armed Jewish settlers on Thursday chased away
Palestinian olive farmers who had returned to their village after
abandoning it because of settler harassment, the mayor said.
In recent weeks, raids by settlers made it impossible for the farmers
in
Yanun to harvest their olives, and the last remaining families left
last
Friday, taking refuge in the nearby village of Aqraba. On Tuesday, four
of
the families returned and the school reopened after an Israeli army
officer
promised Mayor Abdelatif Sobih that the villagers would be protected as
they harvested their olives.
Seven settlers arrived at an olive grove near Yanun on Thursday and
fired
in the air, Sobih said. The villagers fled, leaving behind their gear,
and
the settlers made off with the olives harvested that day, several
blankets
full, Sobih said…
Yanun, which was home to 25 families, is southeast of Nablus in the
northern West Bank. Four years ago, the families began leaving after
repeated attacks and humiliations by settlers who had occupied hills
overlooking the village, Sobih said.
Residents said masked settlers would charge into the village at night
with
dogs and horses, stealing sheep, smashing windows and beating men in
the
village with fists and rifle butts.
A generator was torched, leaving the village without electricity. Three
large water tanks were tipped over and emptied…
---
EDITORIAL: SO-CALLED FRIENDS OF ISRAEL ARE ANYTHING BUT
Scott Laderman, Minnesota Daily, 10/24/02
http://www.mndaily.com/article.php?id=3711&year=2002
Last week, I had the good fortune to attend a campus forum featuring
Na'eem
Jeenah, a South African lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand
and
a veteran of the anti-apartheid movement. Jeenah was invited to the
University to discuss similarities between the situations in South
Africa
under successive white governments and the plight of the Palestinian
people
living under decades of Israeli military occupation. He was
knowledgeable,
articulate and, in my view, eminently reasonable in developing his
case.
But comparative apartheid is not going to be the subject of this
column.
Instead, I will respond to an astounding packet of documents I received
outside the event from representatives of the student organization that
ironically refers to itself as Friends of Israel.
Rather, the packet they distributed was a tremendous service to the
University community in that it could not have more clearly and
unequivocally highlighted the group's intellectual and moral
bankruptcy...
-----
ADL CONDEMNS HATE LITERATURE DISTRIBUTION AT HONOLULU MOSQUE
U.S. Newswire, 10/23/02
SAN FRANCISCO - The Anti-Defamation League condemned the distribution
of
offensive hate materials, which occurred at the mosque of the Muslim
Association in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Monday.
According to media reports, hundreds of leaflets containing
anti-Islamic
vulgarities and threats were distributed at the mosque; the reports
state
that the FBI is investigating this as a possible hate crime.
ADL Regional Director Jonathan Bernstein stated, "We are deeply
concerned
about the distribution of hate materials at a mosque. No religious
community should be targeted for hate nor should a group of people be
scapegoated for a few individuals' actions. We offer our support to
the
Muslim community…"
-----
TO BECOME A CAIR MEMBER, GO TO:
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/membership.asp
TO TAKE PART IN CAIR'S VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE, GO TO:
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/voting.asp
-----
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To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
CAIR DINNER SOLD OUT, DONATIONS APPRECIATED
Alhamdulillah (praise be to God), tickets for the CAIR 8th Annual
Fundraising Banquet on October 26 in Washington, D.C., are sold out. No
tickets will be sold at the door.
A small number of tickets have been reserved for sale today at Jumah
prayers in the Washington metropolitan area. These locations include:
Muslim Community Center (Silver Spring, Md.)
Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center (Falls Church, Va.)
ADAMS Center (Reston and Sterling, Va.)
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: register@cair-net.org or call
202-488-8787.
Even though the dinner is sold out, CAIR still needs your support. With
all
the challenges currently faced by the American Muslim community, now is
the
perfect time to send in a generous donation, become a CAIR member or
renew
your membership.
--- CLIP AND MAIL/FAX/E-MAIL ---
SEND TO: CAIR Dinner, 453 New Jersey Ave., S.E., Washington, D.C.
20003
FAX: 202-488-0833 E-MAIL: membership@cair-net.org
SORRY, I will not be able to attend the dinner. But I would like to
support
CAIR's important work defending the image of Islam and the rights of
Muslims by sending a donation of $______. Enclosed is my check, payable
to
CAIR.
Donation:
___ $5,000
___ $1,000
___ $500
___ $250
___ $100
___ $50
Other $_____
Membership:
Regular - $10/year
Silver - $35/month
Gold - $1000/year
Name:
Address:
City:
State:
Zip:
TEL:
FAX:
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Payment: ___Check ___VISA ___MasterCard ___Discover ___Money Order
Credit Card Number:
Exp. Date:
Name as on Card:
Signature: ________________________________________________
- PLEASE POST, COPY AND DISTRIBUTE -
-----
To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to:
http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/25/2002
HEADLINES:
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* HADITH OF THE DAY: PROMOTING GOOD AND PREVENTING EVIL
* PODIATRIST'S WIFE ARRESTED IN PLOT (St. Petersburg Times)
* MUSLIMS BRACING FOR NEW ROUND OF THREATS, VIOLENCE
- A Man Named Muhammad (Antiwar.com)
- Suspect's Name Raises Fear of Backlash (Chicago Tribune)
- For Now, Backlash Worries Not Strong (Orlando Sentinel)
* RALLY TO OPPOSE BUSH'S IRAQ STRATEGY SATURDAY IN S.F. (Oakland
Tribune)
- Antiwar Forces Face a Test (Mother Jones)
- March Heralds a More Inclusive Movement (Philadelphia Inquirer)
- What Bush Isn't Saying About Iraq (Slate)
* PRO-ISRAEL LOBBY FLEXES MUSCLES, MAKING LEGISLATORS UNEASY (JTA)
* MUSLIM SUE BANK, CLAIMING IT REFUSED THEM CHECKING ACCOUNT (AP)
* EXPERTS TO ADDRESS RISING ANTI-AMERICAN SENTIMENT (PR Newswire)
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 1173 sponsorships for book and tape
packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country. Take
part
in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item "library
package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: PROMOTING GOOD AND PREVENTING EVIL
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) related a parable comparing
those
who obey God's commands to those who do not. He said they are like
people
who draw lots for seats in a ship:
"Some of them got seats in the upper part, and the others in the lower.
When the latter needed water, they had to go up to bring water (and
that
troubled the others), so they said, 'Let us make a hole in our share of
the
ship (and get water) saving those who are above us from troubling
them.'
So, if the people in the upper part left the others do what they had
suggested, all the people of the ship would be destroyed, but if they
prevented them, both parties would be safe."
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 3, Hadith 673
-----
PODIATRIST'S WIFE ARRESTED IN PLOT
Leanora Minai, St. Petersburg Times, 10/25/02
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/10/25/TampaBay/Podiatrist_s_wife_arr.shtml
TAMPA -- Robert and Kristi Goldstein were inseparable, federal agents
say.
They built bombs together. They blew up tree stumps and detonated
explosives in their back yard, agents say. They filmed themselves
firing
automatic guns and sent videos to friends.
Then, one night in August, they had a fight.
Mrs. Goldstein called for help. Deputies arrived at the couple's
Seminole
home and discovered 37 bombs and 25,000 rounds of ammunition.
On Thursday, two months after her husband's arrest on charges of
plotting
to blow up dozens of Islamic centers and mosques, Mrs. Goldstein, 28,
was
arrested by federal agents who believe she had a role in the plan.
"Not only had knowledge of, but approved of a plan," Colleen Murphy,
assistant U.S. attorney, told a judge in federal court Thursday.
The case unfolded Thursday with revelations of Goldstein's alleged
motive.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, Goldstein, who is
Jewish, "wanted to do something for his people," agents say. He plotted
an
attack at an Islamic center in St. Petersburg before the anniversary of
Sept. 11. Prosecutors on Thursday also unsealed court files showing
that
Temple Terrace dentist Michael W. Hardee, 49, conspired with Goldstein
and
pleaded guilty last week…
Goldstein, a Seminole podiatrist, is charged with illegally possessing
bombs and plotting to damage or destroy 50 Islamic centers and mosques
in
the Tampa Bay area and elsewhere in Florida. His wife is charged with
illegally possessing destructive devices…
"He became increasingly agitated with Arabs and Muslims and more vocal
about retaliating against Arabs and Muslims who were living in the
United
States," prosecutors wrote in court documents…
-----
MUSLIMS BRACING FOR NEW ROUND OF THREATS, VIOLENCE
Don Lattin, San Francisco Chronicle, 10/25/02
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/10/25/MN155451.DTL
There has been no clear evidence that Muhammad's religious beliefs
inspired
the attacks. In fact, the suspected sniper left two clues that are
anything
but an expression of an observant Muslim: a tarot card and a note
boasting,
"I am God…"
John Allen Muhammad's ex-wife told the Seattle Times that the sniper
suspect joined the Nation of Islam after divorcing her 17 years ago.
His
conversion inspired him to change his name from John Allen Williams.
In 1995, Muhammad helped provide security for Farrakhan's "Million Man
March" in Washington, D.C., according to Leo Dudley, a former Marine
who
lived in Muhammad's neighborhood in Tacoma, Wash.
Editor James, a spokesman at Farrakhan's Chicago headquarters, said the
Nation of Islam had no comment on the sniper case…
---
A MAN NAMED MUHAMMAD
Justin Raimondo, Antiwar, 10/25/02
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/justincol.html
The response of some to the capture of the Maryland sniper, John Allen
Williams, a.k.a. John Allen Muhammad, illustrates an idea that has been
preoccupying me of late: the relationship (if any) between ideology and
truth. Ideology of any sort inevitably distorts the mental processes,
and a
writer - that is, a serious writer, and especially one who has certain
vivid opinions - must be constantly on guard against this insidious
deterioration. Since 9/11, and our forced march to war in the Middle
East,
what has struck me most has been a rapid degeneration of the public
dialogue, including news coverage as well as published commentary.
A prime example of this sad decline is the reaction, in some quarters,
to
the news that Williams-Muhammad and his seventeen -year-old accomplice
are
unconnected to any group, foreign or domestic. As I wrote in a previous
column, those who see an "Islamo-fascist" under every bed have been
quick
to point to the sniper attacks as evidence of of Al Qaeda's
omnipresence.
That this premise has now been disproved hasn't stopped the
journalistic
division of the War Party from, somehow, feeling vindicated. Such is
the
blinding power of ideology…
Contemptuous of facts, evidence, and all the other old-fashioned,
pre-9/11
paraphernalia of public discourse, Robbins and his fellow warriors of
the
laptop are waging a war on reason, What motivated a murderous rampage
on
this scale - aside from sheer insanity? Wiliams-Muhammad's conversion
to
Islam ten years ago is seized on by Robbins as if it verifies his
theory of
"Islamofascism" as the root of all evil, but it does nothing of the
kind.
Nothing is known, at this point, of the murderer's motivation.
As a portrait of Williams-Muhammad as a typical serial killer emerges -
enraged loser, loner, and drifter - the utter wrongness of the "it's
Bin
Laden" school of thought is readily apparent. But never do these people
acknowledge error: ideologues, like madmen, are so married to their own
delusional systems that they can explain away any discrepancy...
---
SUSPECT'S NAME RAISES FEAR OF A BACKLASH AGAINST MUSLIMS
Julia Lieblich, Chicago Tribune, 10/25/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0210250327oct25,0,6370690.story
The sniper's apparent use of the phrases "word is bond" (recited by
police
in their communications with him) and "I am God" (left for police on a
Tarot card) led some observers to suggest that Muhammad was part of a
religious group called the Five Percenters.
Also known as the Nation of Gods and Earths, the group was founded in
the
1960s by a former member of the Nation of Islam.
The group teaches about "the 5 percent," righteous teachers who preach
the
divinity of black men...
---
FOR NOW, BACKLASH WORRIES NOT STRONG
Darryl E. Owens, Orlando Sentinel, 10/25/02
www.orlandosentinel.com
Officials think neither Muhammad nor Malvo is associated with the
al-Qaeda
terrorist network. But Muhammad is thought to have connections with the
Nation of Islam. He helped provide security for Nation of Islam
Minister
Louis Farrakhan's "Million Man March" in Washington, D.C., according to
published reports.
Orthodox Islamic leaders typically disavow the Nation of Islam as a
co-opted "hodgepodge mixture of Christian beliefs, Islam and Black
Nationalism," Imad-Ad-Dean said, with strikingly dissimilar tenets.
Orthodox Islam holds that there is only one transcendent being called
Allah
and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God, and his last prophet. In
contrast, among other differences, followers of the Nation of Islam,
founded in 1930 in Detroit by Wali Farad (or W.D. Fard), believed Farad
to
be "Allah in person…"
-----
RALLY TO OPPOSE BUSH'S IRAQ STRATEGY SATURDAY IN S.F.
Josh Richman, Oakland Tribune, 10/24/02
http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82%7E1726%7E945965,00.html
Massive rallies protesting the possible impending U.S. war on Iraq are
planned for Saturday in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and other
cities
around the world.
Saturday marks the first anniversary of President Bush's signing of the
USA
PATRIOT Act, a package of homeland security laws enacted in response to
the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Many people believe the new laws have
rolled
back civil liberties, and rally participants will decry this, as well.
The San Francisco and Washington rallies are organized by International
ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism), a coalition of peace,
religious,
student, anti-globalization, and anti-racism groups.
"What's really behind the Bush administration's new war is one thing --
oil," said Richard Becker, an International ANSWER steering committee
member and West Coast coordinator of the International Action Center in
San
Francisco. "The Bush administration wants total control of Iraq's
resources. The talk of weapons of mass destruction and human rights
violations is a farce. Any U.S. invasion would defy international law
and
world opinion."
Organizers hope tens of thousands of people will flock to each of the
two
U.S. rallies; dozens of organizing centers have been set up across the
nation, and buses are expected to ferry participants in from about 100
cities…
---
ANTIWAR FORCES FACE A TEST
Sarah Ferguson, Mother Jones, 10/25/02
http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2002/43/we_179_01.html
On the eve of concurrent mass demonstrations in Washington, DC and San
Francisco, antiwar activists are predicting that more than 150,000
people
from across the country will gather for what would be the largest
display
yet of domestic opposition to a US-led war against Iraq.
These national protests will be the first test of whether the
groundswell
of voices calling for an alternative to military action can congeal
into a
movement -- and whether that movement can succeed in preventing a war
before it starts.
Given that Pentagon planners are hoping to deliver a brief military
campaign, activists say they cannot wait for the bombing to begin
before
organizing opposition. "For the first time, we're really mobilizing to
preempt a war," says veteran organizer Leslie Cagan, who helped
coordinate
mass protests during the Vietnam and Gulf wars.
Organizers have already chartered more than 500 buses for the event in
Washington, which will features speakers including the Reverend Jesse
Jackson, actor Martin Sheen, former United Nations weapons inspector
Scott
Ritter, and Hans Von Sponeck, the former director of the UN
oil-for-food
program in Iraq. Simultaneous demonstrations will take place that day
in
Berlin, Copenhagen, San Juan, Mexico City, and Seoul…
---
PARTICIPANTS SAY MARCH HERALDS A MORE INCLUSIVE MOVEMENT
Kristen A. Graham, Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/25/02
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/4353837.htm
Bright and funny communications executive Bob McIlvaine was killed on
the
106th floor of the North Tower while attending a meeting on Sept. 11,
2001.
He was 26, a graduate of Upper Dublin High School and Princeton
University,
and planning a 2002 wedding.
His father, who became an active pacifist after his son's death, will
board
one of dozens of buses leaving the region for Washington early
Saturday.
And he will spread his message to anyone who will listen.
"I thought Sept. 11 was a chance for us to do the right thing," said
McIlvaine, 57, who lives in Oreland, Montgomery County. "What Bush
wants to
do is morally wrong, wrong under all international law. I'll say that
for
as long as I have to."
The weekend march is being organized by International Answer, a New
York-based group dedicated to working against racism and war.
National organizers promise the largest antiwar protest since the
1960s. It
will begin with a rally featuring the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al
Sharpton
and turn into a march around the White House...
For Betsy Harris, an Upper Darby resident who works for Philadelphia
Answer
out of Calvary Church in West Philadelphia, the last few days have been
a
haze of securing buses, organizing carpools, and distributing flyers.
They
have also been a lesson in wonder at a new kind of antiwar movement,
one
that attracts people of all generations, races, walks of life...
---
WHAT BUSH ISN'T SAYING ABOUT IRAQ
Michael Kinsley, Slate, 10/25/02
http://slate.msn.com/?id=2073093
The lack of public discussion about the role of Israel in the thinking
of
"President Bush" is easier to understand, but weird nevertheless. It is
the
proverbial elephant in the room: Everybody sees it, no one mentions it.
The
reason is obvious and admirable: Neither supporters nor opponents of a
war
against Iraq wish to evoke the classic anti-Semitic image of the king's
Jewish advisers whispering poison into his ear and betraying the
country to
foreign interests. But the consequence of this massive "Shhhhhhhhh!" is
to
make a perfectly valid American concern for a democratic ally in a
region
of nutty theocracies, rotting monarchies, and worse seem furtive and
suspicious…
Why and whether an American war against Iraq would be good for Israel
is
far from clear and is the subject of vigorous debate in Israel
itself-but
not in America. Theories range from the mundane to the exotic to the
paranoid: Clearing out a neighborhood troublemaker before he gets the
bomb
is reason enough. Or, deposing Saddam will set off a complex regional
chain
reaction that will somehow turn the Arab nations into peaceful
bourgeois
societies. Or, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon actually wants a huge
regional
conflagration that he can use as an excuse and cover for expelling the
Palestinians from the West Bank. In any event, the downside risk for
Israel-of carnage, military and civilian-is like America's, only far
greater.
-----
PRO-ISRAEL LOBBY FLEXES MUSCLES, MAKING SOME LEGISLATORS UNEASY
Matthew E. Berger, Jewish Telegraph Agency, 10/22/02
http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=11973&intcategoryid=3
WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 (JTA) - Pro-Israel lawmakers, including some Jewish
members of the U.S. House of Representatives, are complaining about the
influence of Jewish lobbying groups on Middle East issues.
According to congressional staffers and lobbyists, several pro-Israel
congressmen are agitated by the type of influence that Jewish
organizations
are exerting, specifically their calls to support the policies of
Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Following the defeat this year of several incumbents deemed anti-Israel
-
defeats attributed in part to the influence of Jewish money -
congressmen
who normally would speak out on the Middle East are finding it better
to
stay quiet.
Most of the focus is on the American Israel Public Affairs Committee,
the
influential pro-Israel lobbying organization. The organization stresses
that its mandate is to support the policies of the current Israeli
government, but lawmakers say AIPAC has little tolerance for more
dovish
stances, such as calls for restraint during Israeli military incursions
into the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"There is a growing sense on the Hill that" the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict "is not so cut and dried," one congressional staffer said.
"Many
members feel uncomfortable buying into AIPAC's line…"
Critics point to the May 2 debate in the House on a resolution in
support
of Israel.
"Many of the members thought that the resolution was inflammatory,
unbalanced and gave a green light to Sharon's military response to
terrorism," a congressional aide said.
Several lawmakers who eventually voted for the bill first voted against
suspending House rules to bring the bill quickly to the floor, hoping
that
additional debate might lead to a more balanced resolution.
They said the bill should recognize the suffering of the Palestinian
people
and call for increased U.S. engagement to resolve the conflict…
-----
MUSLIM COUPLE SUING BANK, CLAIMING IT REFUSED THEM A CHECKING ACCOUNT
Associated Press, 10/25/02
MADISON, Wis. - A Muslim couple are suing US Bank, claiming a local
branch
refused to give them a checking account because of their religion and
Arabic origin.
Sami and Marisol Najjar said in the lawsuit that they tried to open a
joint
checking account last month but were told they could not because Sami
Najjar had not been at his job or current address for 90 days.
Others in the bank chain said there is no such requirement, according
to
the lawsuit, which asks for unspecified compensatory and punitive
damages.
Lisa Clark, spokeswoman for the bank, said it cannot comment on a
pending
lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, the couple, research scientists who moved to
Madison from Michigan in August, went to the Minneapolis-based bank
Sept.
25. Marisol Najjar was wearing a hajib, a traditional Muslim head
covering,
over her hair.
The lawsuit said as they were assisted by banker Summer Stevens, branch
manager Jeff Boudreau passed by, looked at the couple and called
Stevens
into the hall. The couple heard Boudreau tell Stevens to be sure to
verify
their employment, residency status and phone number...
-----
EXPERTS TO ADDRESS RISING ANTI-AMERICAN SENTIMENT
WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Increased international resentment
of
the United States will be the focus of a symposium Oct. 31 at the
National
Press Club.
Sponsored by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the
world's
largest professional organization for public relations practitioners,
the
event will begin with a panel discussion on "Tending America's Global
Interests in a Climate of Mistrust." James F. Hoge Jr., editor of
Foreign
Affairs, often called the most influential periodical in print, will
give
the keynote luncheon talk.
John McWethy, national security correspondent for ABC News, will
moderate
the panel from 10 a.m. to noon. Participants include:
* Lee Hamilton, Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for
Scholars and former congressman from Indiana;
* Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, Professor at the Center for Muslim-Christian
Understanding, Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service;
* Clyde Prestowitz, Jr., President of the Economic Strategy Institute
and a
former Department of Commerce trade negotiator;
* Denise Gray-Felder, APR, Vice President for Administration and
Communications of the Rockefeller Foundation.
Registration information for the symposium and luncheon can be obtained
through the PRSA Web site at http://www.prsa.org or by contacting
Alison
Calvello at alison.calvello@prsa.org or (212) 460-1482.
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
MUSLIMS SADDENED BY SENATOR'S DEATH
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/25/02) - The Council on American-Islamic
Relations
(CAIR) today expressed deep sadness at the death of Sen. Paul Wellstone
(D-MN) who, along with his wife, daughter and five other people, died
in a
plane crash Friday in Northern Minnesota.
"Senator Wellstone was a good friend of the Muslim community. His
outspoken
support for principles of justice and equality will be sorely missed.
We
offer our sincere condolences to his family and to the people of
Minnesota," said CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper.
When Congress voted earlier this month to authorize military force
against
Iraq, Wellstone was the only Democratic senator facing a strong
re-election
challenge to vote no.
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-MAIL:
cair@cair-net.org; Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787 or 703-861-7294,
E-MAIL:
hhassan@cair-net.org
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/27/2002
HEADLINES:
* CAIR BANQUET A GREAT SUCCESS
* NJ DETAINEES TO ISSUE STATEMENT PROTESTING TREATMENT
- HADY HASSAN OMAR'S DETENTION (New York Times)
* 100,000 RALLY, MARCH AGAINST WAR IN IRAQ (Washington Post)
- THOUSANDS GATHER FOR ANTI-WAR PROTEST IN SAN FRANCISCO (AP)
* IT MAY BE TOO LATE FOR TWO STATES (Forward)
- RESOURCES: AMJ CONGRESSIONAL SCORECARD AND VOTER GUIDE
* FARRAKHAN: SNIPER SUSPECT WAS MEMBER (AP)
- BLACKS EXPRESS SHOCK AT SUSPECTS' IDENTITY (Washington Post)
* AUSTRIAN BISHOP CALLS ISLAM "FANATICAL" (Reuters)
-----
CAIR BANQUET A GREAT SUCCESS
Alhamdulillah (praise be to God), some 1100 people turned out for
CAIR's
8th Annual Fundraising dinner Saturday night in Washington, D.C. The
sell-out crowd heard from Professor John Esposito, Rep. Cynthia
McKinney
and many other speakers. A record amount was raised to support CAIR's
work
on behalf of the Muslim community.
-----
NJ DETAINEES TO ISSUE STATEMENT PROTESTING TREATMENT
WHAT: On Tuesday, October 29, representatives of more than 30 New York
area
immigrant, faith-based and community organizations will make public a
statement from more than 75 men detained by the Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS), protesting the horrific conditions at
Passaic
County Jail in New Jersey and calling for an end to INS detention.
Members
of the press will have an opportunity to interview detainees' family
members, and to view letters sent by the detainees.
These immigrant detainees hail from over 40 countries in Latin America,
Asia, Africa and Europe. None are being held on criminal charges, yet
they
have been jailed for months or even years. Some have agreed to be
deported,
yet they remain jailed at taxpayer expense. At least one has
disappeared;
the INS won't say where they took him, and not even his brother knows
where
he is.
WHEN: Tuesday, October 29, Noon
WHERE: In front of INS headquarters at 26 Federal Plaza, at the corner
of
Broadway and Worth Street, in lower Manhattan.
WHO: American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)-NY Chapter,
Arab-American Family Support Center, Asociaci�n Tepeyac, Center for
Immigrant Families (CIF), Centro Hispano Cuzcatl�n, Committee for the
Release of Farouk Abdel-Muhti, Coalition for the Human Rights of
Immigrants
(CHRI), Council on American-Islamic Relations-NY Chapter (CAIR-NY),
Council
of Pakistan Organization (COPO), Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM),
Greater
New York Labor Religion Coalition, Haitian Information Center
(Brooklyn,
NY), Intercommunity Center for Justice and Peace, International South
Asia
Forum (INSAF)-NY, Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA-Relief), Jews
for
Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ), Justice for Detainees, Latino
Workers
Center, NYC Labor Against the War, NY Taxi Workers Alliance, New
Yorkers
Say No to War, Not in Our Name, Prison Moratorium Project, Prospect
Lefferts Voices for Peace, Proyecto de los Trabajadores Latino
Americanos
(PTLA), Reconciliation and Cultural Cooperative Network (RACCOON), Sons
and
Daughters of Jamaica, UPROSE, Wind of the Spirit (NJ), Women in Islam,
Young Korean American Service & Education Center (YKASEC).
CONTACT: Sarah Husain, 917-741-2066; Esperanza Chac�n, Asociaci�n
Tepeyac,
212-633-7108, ext. 13; Sarah Eisenstein, JFREJ, 917-324-1972
SEE ALSO:
HADY HASSAN OMAR'S DETENTION
Matthew Brzezinski, New York Times, 10/28/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/27/magazine/27DETAIN.html
Hady Hassan Omar had made up his mind. He was going to kill himself if
he
wasn't released by New Year's Eve.
It wouldn't be easy. Three cameras recorded his every move. The lights
in
his cell weren't turned off for weeks at a time. And the guards
watching
him through the plate-glass wall were rotated round the clock. He would
lie
under his prison-issue blanket for as many as 20 hours a day. It was
the
only privacy he could get.
Since his arrest on Sept. 12, 2001, Omar had been fighting a losing
battle.
No one would believe that he had simply been in the wrong place at the
wrong time. He passed polygraph tests, but the F.B.I. still seemed
convinced that he was linked to Al Qaeda. The guards in the isolation
wing
of Pollock maximum-security penitentiary in Louisiana kept telling him
that
under new antiterror measures, he could sit in jail forever. He wrote
the
attorney general. He even went on several hunger strikes. But the
corrections officers just threatened to strap him to a gurney and
force-feed him through a tube up his nose.
Omar was running out of the little hope he had left. His only solace
now
was prayer. He became convinced that he would never leave this place.
His
baby daughter, Jasmine, would take her first steps, utter her first
words
and grow up without him. If he could not be with her on her first
birthday
in December, he decided, life was not worth living.
There are many ways to break a man, to make sure he is not holding
anything
back. Causing physical pain may be the quickest method, but it is not
necessarily the most effective. To be absolutely certain that someone
is
telling the truth, you have to crush his spirit.
That is what Hady Hassan Omar says the United States government tried
to do
to him in the days and weeks that followed Sept. 11. He was one of
hundreds
of Muslim immigrants held in solitary confinement for months without
charges while the F.B.I. investigated their backgrounds. His 73 days of
captivity, he claims in a lawsuit recently filed in the Western
District of
Louisiana, rose ''to the level of torture.'' Hoping that publicity
about
his ordeal might help his case, Omar and his family agreed to give
details
of it in a series of interviews arranged by their attorney, Robert
Rubin of
the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, a nonprofit group based in San
Francisco…
-----
100,000 RALLY, MARCH AGAINST WAR IN IRAQ
Monte Reel and Manny Fernandez, Washington Post, 10/27/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24432-2002Oct26.html
Tens of thousands of people marched in peaceful protest of any military
strike against Iraq yesterday afternoon, in an antiwar demonstration
that
organizers and police suggested was likely Washington's largest since
the
Vietnam era.
Organizers with International ANSWER, a coalition of antiwar groups
that
coordinated the demonstration, had hoped for a turnout rivaling that of
its
pro-Palestinian rally in April that officials estimated at about
75,000.
Organizers said they easily eclipsed that figure yesterday, assessing
attendance at well more than 100,000. D.C. Police Chief Charles H.
Ramsey
also said he figured yesterday's rally turnout exceeded that in April,
but
he didn't provide a specific number.
"We think this was just extremely, extremely successful," said Mara
Verheyden-Hilliard, a D.C. organizer with International ANSWER, Act Now
to
Stop War and End Racism. "It absolutely shows that when George Bush
says
America speaks with one voice, and it's his voice, he's wrong."
After a rally that lasted more than three hours at Constitution
Gardens,
near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the march began at 21st Street and
Constitution Avenue. Using 17th, H, 15th and E streets NW, protesters
circled the White House and returned to their starting point.
Shoulder-to-shoulder crowds filled the streets for several blocks. When
marchers at the front of the procession returned to Constitution Avenue
on
their way back, they had to wait to allow demonstrators at the tail of
the
march to pass.
Demonstrations in other cities, including Rome, Berlin, Copenhagen,
Denmark, Tokyo and Mexico City, were held to coincide with the
Washington
march, and in San Francisco, thousands marched through downtown…
SEE ALSO:
THOUSANDS GATHER FOR ANTI-WAR PROTEST IN SAN FRANCISCO
ANGELA WATERCUTTER, Associated Press, 10/26/02
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/10/26/state1703EDT0162.DTL
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Thousands of demonstrators from California and
across
the West gathered here Saturday for a rally and march to protest a
potential war against Iraq.
Demonstrators filled a mile-long stretch of city blocks as they marched
from the financial district to City Hall holding signs that said,
"Money
for jobs, not for war" and "No blood for oil."
The demonstration was part of an international campaign of anti-war
actions
being held in Washington, London, Berlin, Copenhagen, Mexico City and
Rome.
At one point the crowd here numbered 42,000, a San Francisco Police
Department spokesman said…
-----
IT MAY BE TOO LATE FOR TWO STATES
Pact 'Pre-empted By Settlements' Binational Idea Floated
MARC PERELMAN, Forward, 10/25/02
http://www.forward.com/issues/2002/02.10.25/news1.html
The Palestinian Authority has told the Bush administration it would
consider abandoning its support for a two-state solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict and instead press for equal citizenship
for
Palestinians inside one binational state if Israeli settlement activity
continues unabated.
In a little-noticed memo and a letter handed earlier this month to top
American officials, the P.A. states that Israeli settlement expansion
is
eliminating the possibility of a viable Palestinian state and thus
forcing
the Palestinian leadership to reconsider the two-state concept that has
been the basis of negotiations during the last decade…
"Israel's ongoing colony construction and other unilateral measures in
the
Occupied Palestinian territories are effectively pre-empting the
possibility of a two-state solution of a viable Palestinian State
alongside
Israel," the memo said. "If the international community continues to
remain
unwilling to rein in Israeli colony construction and expansion,
irreversible 'facts on the ground' and the de facto apartheid system
such
facts create will force Palestinian policy makers to re-evaluate the
plausibility of a two-state solution.... Israel's ultimate goal is to
permit a Palestinian 'state' which would be in effect the Middle
Eastern
equivalent of a Native American Indian reservation…"
SEE ALSO:
RESOURCES: AMJ CONGRESSIONAL SCORECARD AND VOTER GUIDE
http://www.amjerusalem.org/
-----
FARRAKHAN: SNIPER SUSPECT WAS MEMBER
Associated Press, 10/26/02
CHICAGO (AP) - Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan acknowledged
Saturday
that suspected sniper John Allen Muhammad is a member of the religious
group.
But Farrakhan said the man would be ousted from the Chicago-based group
if
he is convicted in the series of shootings that left 10 people dead and
three wounded…
Farrakhan said he "grieves for the senseless loss of life" caused by
the
sniper shootings in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C…
Farrakhan said Muhammad joined the Nation of Islam in 1997 but that he
had
not been in contact with the group since 1999, when he was involved in
a
domestic dispute with his wife, also a member of the group...
SEE ALSO:
BLACKS EXPRESS SHOCK AT SUSPECTS' IDENTITY
Darryl Fears and Avis Thomas-Lester, Washington Post, 10/26/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20069-2002Oct26.html
When John Allen Muhammad's mug shot filled television screens, many
black
people in Washington stumbled backward in shock. They found it hard to
believe that the sniper suspects, who experts said were probably white
and
male, were black.
"All day long we've been saying, 'Can you believe it?'" said Georgette
Gregory, principal at Ardmore Elementary School in Prince George's
County.
Mia Hollis, a retail sales clerk in the District, said she was shocked
because "I guess I fell into that category of people who think that
only
white people do that." Those opinions washed across the region after
the
arrests Thursday, pouring into living rooms through radio talk-show
programs, flooding black internet chat rooms and drowning out all other
office conversation.
Anger, remorse and a desire to somehow take retribution on the suspect
were
among the emotions expressed. A disgusted telephone receptionist who is
black said she felt betrayed. Clenching her fist close to her chest,
she
said the fact that such an act could be carried out by a black man
opened a
wound deep in her soul…
Some members of other minority groups sympathized, saying they know how
some African Americans felt. Arabs, Latinos and Asians have been
stereotyped based on the wayward behavior of criminals.
When police apprehended a pair of Latino men at a suburban gas station
earlier in the week, Oscar Monge of Rockville said he took a deep
breath.
"I was like, 'After this, I guess people will be looking at me,
profiling
me,' " said Monge, a network engineer who is Latino. "Was I worried? I
would say yes. It's bad the way things are now."
Monge was referring to the atmosphere after the Sept. 11 attacks. Arab
and
Muslim Americans distanced themselves from the Arab Muslims who carried
them out, saying that they do not represent all Arabs and they were not
true followers of Islam.
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations,
said local Muslims were worried about a backlash from the arrest of
Muhammad, who adopted that surname when he converted to Islam several
years
ago.
"We've had a lot of concerned calls . . .but we haven't seen any actual
acts of backlash," he said. "I don't think anyone is saying the
motivation
of the alleged perpetrator had anything to do with Islam…but
unfortunately
the guy has changed his name to Muhammad, and that's enough for some
people."
-----
AUSTRIAN BISHOP CALLS ISLAM "FANATICAL"
Reuters, 10/27/02
VIENNA, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Austrian Roman Catholic Bishop Kurt Krenn
called
Islam a fanatical religion in a magazine interview published on Sunday.
Krenn, bishop of St Poelten, told the weekly news magazine Profil that
Roman Catholicism was in competition with Islam, citing census figures
showing the percentage of Catholics in Austria was falling as the
percentage of Muslims rose.
"Islam is not stronger, just more fanatical. And it is not the true
religion, anyway," Krenn, 66, told Profil.
"We know we are the true religion and we approach the conflict with
Islam
from this conviction."
The bishop's office could not be reached to confirm the interview, but
Krenn's official Web site (http:/www.stjosef.at/bischof.k.krenn)
carried a
link to the interview.
Krenn drew criticism in August for referring to Islam's inroads in
Austria
as a repeat of the historical Turkish sieges of Vienna in the 16th and
17th
centuries…
While the number of Muslims remained low at 4.2 percent, that more than
doubled the two percent of 1991 and trailed just behind Protestants, at
4.7
percent last year.
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/28/2002
HEADLINES:
* VERSE OF THE DAY: BEWARE OF SUSPICION
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* CAIR-DFW FUNDRAISING BANQUET ON NOV. 3RD
* TORTURE AND RAPE STALK THE STREETS OF CHECHNYA (Guardian)
* THOUGHT POLICE (In These Times)
* MEET THE NEW ZIONISTS (Guardian)
* "24" STANDS ITS GROUND (St. Petersburg Times)
* LETTER: PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING (Florida Times-Union)
* 40+ ATTACKS ON MUSLIMS IN SYDNEY SINCE BALI BOMBINGS (AP)
-----
VERSE OF THE DAY: BEWARE OF SUSPICION
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Beware of suspicion,
for
suspicion is the worst of false tales; and do not look for faults in
others, and do not spy, and do not be jealous of one another, and do
not
desert (cut your relations with) one another, and do not hate one
another;
and O God's worshipers! Be brothers (as God has ordered you)!"
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 8, Hadith 90
"O ye who believe! Avoid suspicion as much (as possible): for suspicion
in
some cases is a sin: and spy not on each other nor speak ill of each
other
behind their backs."
The Holy Quran, Chapter 49, Verse 12
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 1233 sponsorships for book and tape
packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country. Take
part
in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item "library
package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
CAIR-DFW FUNDRAISING BANQUET ON NOV. 3RD
WHAT: CAIR - Dallas/Fort Worth chapter is holding its annual
fundraising
banquet titled "Muslims in America: Sharpening the Image"
WHEN: Sunday, Nov. 3, 5:30 P.M.
WHERE: Dallas Central Mosque (IANT Multipurpose Hall)
Guest Speakers:
Omar Ahmad, CAIR Chairman
Dr. Robert Jensen, Author of "Writing Dissent: Taking Radical Ideas
from
the Margins to the Mainstream" Professor of Journalism, UT-Austin
* Also, a special preview of Michael Wolfe's Documentary "The Life of
the
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)" will be shown during the banquet.
TICKETS: $20 (Available at the following locations: Dallas Central
Mosque,
Islamic Association of Collin County, Islamic Association of
Carrollton)
Free Babysitting Available.
For more information call (214)636-6525, email info@cairdfw.org, or
visit
www.cairdfw.org.
-----
TORTURE AND RAPE STALK THE STREETS OF CHECHNYA
Krystyna Kurczab-Redlich, Guardian (UK), 10/28/02
http://www.guardian.co.uk/chechnya/Story/0,2763,820277,00.html
At 5am on 14 April 2002, an armoured vehicle moved slowly down Soviet
Street. A young brown-haired man, covered in blood, his hands and feet
bound, stood onboard. The vehicle stopped and the man was pushed off
and
brought over to a nearby chain-link fence. The car took off and there
was a
loud bang. The force of the explosion, caused either by a grenade or
dynamite, sent the man's head flying into the neighbouring street,
called
Lenin's Commandments. 'It was difficult to photograph the moment,
though I
have grown somewhat accustomed to this,' says a petite greying Chechen
woman, who has spent years documenting what Russia calls its
'anti-terrorism campaign'.
Blowing people up, dead or alive, she reports, is the latest tactic
introduced by the federal army into the conflict. It was utilised
perhaps
most effectively on 3 July in the village of Meskyer Yurt, where 21
men,
women and children were bound together and blown up, their remains
thrown
into a ditch.
From the perspective of the perpetrators, this method of killing is
highly
practical; it prevents the number of bodies from being counted, or
possibly
from ever being found. It has not always succeeded in this respect,
however. Since the spring, dogs have been digging up body parts in
various
corners of Chechnya, sometimes almost daily…
Meanwhile, the more traditional methods endure. On 9 September the
bodies
of six men from Krasnostepnovskoye were found, naked, with plastic bags
wrapped around their heads. In June, a ditch containing 50 mutilated
bodies
was discovered near the Russian army post in Chankala. The corpses were
missing eyes, ears, limbs and genitals. Since February, mass graves
have
been found near Grozny, Chechen Yurt, Alkhan-Kala and Argun...
-----
THOUGHT POLICE
Eleanor J. Bader, In These Times, 10/28/02
http://www.inthesetimes.com/issue/26/26/news1.shtml
Within days of September 11, the police and FBI were besieged with tips
informing them that several suspects-including one who fit Mohammed
Atta's
description-had used public libraries in Hollywood Beach and Delray
Beach,
Florida, to surf the Internet. Shortly thereafter, a federal grand jury
ordered library staff to submit all user records to law enforcement.
The order began a pattern of government requests for information about
citizens' reading material that has increased dramatically since last
October's passage of the USA Patriot Act, which amended 15 federal
statutes, including laws governing criminal procedure, computer fraud,
foreign intelligence, wiretapping, immigration and privacy. The act
gives
the government a host of new powers, including the ability to
scrutinize
what a person reads or purchases.
According to a University of Illinois study of 1,020 libraries
conducted
during the first two months of 2002, government sources asked 85
university
and public libraries-8.3 percent of those queried-for information on
patrons following the attacks. More detail is unknown since divulging
specific information violates provisions of the legislation.
"The act grants the executive branch unprecedented, and largely
unchecked,
surveillance powers," says attorney Nancy Chang, author of Silencing
Political Dissent, "including the enhanced ability to track e-mail and
Internet usage, obtain sensitive personal records from third parties,
monitor financial transactions and conduct nationwide roving wiretaps…"
But community activists, librarians and publishers have joined forces
to
publicize the threat that the act poses to free speech, privacy and
civil
liberties. The American Library Association, a national alliance of
library
staff, issued a statement in early 2002 affirming their position:
"Librarians do not police what library users read or access in the
library.
Libraries ensure the freedom to read, to view, to speak, and to
participate..."
-----
MEET THE NEW ZIONISTS
Matthew Engel, Guardian (UK), 10/28/02
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,820528,00.html
At first sight, the scene is very familiar: one that happens in
Washington
DC and other major American cities all the time. On the platform, an
Israeli student is telling thousands of supporters how the horrors of
the
year have only reinforced his people's determination. "Despite the
terror
attacks, they'll never drive us away out of our God-given land," he
says…
But something very strange is going on here. There are thousands of
people
cheering for Israel in the huge Washington Convention Centre. But not
one
of them appears to be Jewish, at least not in the conventional sense.
For
this is the annual gathering of a very non-Jewish organisation indeed:
the
Christian Coalition of America…
Oh yes, agreed Marion Pollard, a charming lady from Dallas who was
selling
hand-painted Jerusalem crystal in the exhibition hall at the
conference.
"God is the sovereign. He'll do what he pleases. But based on the
scripture, those are the guidelines." She calls herself a fervent
supporter
of Israel, as does Lewis Hall of North Carolina. "I believe they do
have to
accept the Messiah." And if they don't? "I believe they will when they
know
who He is. I believe that one day they are going to wake up. It might
take
a third world war to do that…"
You might think these Christian activists represent the furthest shores
of
American politico-religious wackiness. The politicians don't think so.
This
conference began with a videotaped benediction straight from the Oval
office. Some of the most influential republicans in Congress addressed
the
gathering including - not once, but twice - Tom DeLay, who is hot
favourite
to take over as majority leader of the House of Representatives after
the
midterm elections on November 5, thus becoming arguably the most
powerful
man on Capitol Hill.
"Are you tired of all this, are you?" he yelled to the audience.
"Nooooooo!" they roared back. "Not when you're standing up for Jews and
Jesus, that's for sure," he replied…
-----
"24" STANDS ITS GROUND
Eric Deggans, St. Petersburg Times, 10/28/02
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/10/28/Floridian/_24__stands_its_groun.shtml
The new season begins with a familiar theme: Islamic extremists. The
show
about terrorism has no desire to risk credibility by avoiding reality.
When you're an executive producer on network TV's most-anticipated
terrorism-related drama, there's one question likely to keep you up
nights.
What happens when real-life events come uncomfortably close to your
manufactured reality?
For Robert Cochran, executive producer of 24, that question surfaces
while
considering the second season of his critically acclaimed hit, which
debuts
Tuesday with a commercial-free, hourlong episode featuring Islamic
extremists organizing a devastating act of domestic terrorism. In a
post-Sept. 11 America seemingly on the verge of war with Iraq, there
couldn't be a dicier topic for an action-oriented TV series. But
Cochran
shrugs off the notion that viewers might object to a story line that
echoes
many Americans' fears about covert cells of Islamic terrorists doing
their
dirty work on U.S. soil…
"It's like doing a cop show and saying you're not going to deal with
serious crimes," Cochran said, noting that the bad guys in 24's first
season were Bosnians. "It's not as though we're saying the religion of
Islam is made up (entirely) of terrorists. But there are people who are
believers of Islam who are terrorists…and you have to do something that
makes sense…that is grounded in the real world."
Still, the new plotline concerned Hodan Hassan, a spokeswoman for the
Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. She
particularly reacted to one character, a young Muslim shown preparing
to
marry into a prominent Caucasian family and who may be part of the
plot.
"I think it's important they disassociate the practice of Islam from
terrorism," Hassan said. (One note: Tuesday's episode does show
terrorists
of other ethnicities, and Cochran promises that at least one character
of
Islamic faith will not be a terrorist.)
"We just object to stereotypical portrayals of Islam as a violent
faith,"
Hassan said…
-----
LETTER: PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING
Florida Times Union, 10/28/02
http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/102802/opl_10794908.shtml
Lost amidst the drums of yet another gulf war are the voices of the
people
of Iraq.
Ten years of brutal sanctions have led the vast majority of Iraqis to
pay a
terrible price in poverty, malnutrition and illness.
The current war policy is completely ignoring the complex mosaic of
traditions, religions, cultures, ethnicities and histories that make up
the
Middle East, in general, and Iraq, in particular
Despite its 5,000-year-old history of civilizing the world, Iraq is
being
ironically described as a "threat" to the freedom and security of the
world.
After 10 years of sanctions, inspections, no-fly zones and
round-the-clock
satellite surveillance, it is impossible to fathom how Iraq can be a
threat
to its neighbors or the United States.
Moreover, despite President Bush's arguments of a "gathering"
cooperation
between al-Qaida and Iraq, intelligence officials say they haven't
found
any hard evidence of an active link between the two.
While Saddam Hussein certainly deserves by every standard to be ousted
and
punished, the people of Iraq should be spared the tribulations of
another
round of bombings that will inevitably maim their children and
contaminate
their water supplies for generations to come.
Our perception of safety and security should not come at the expense of
making the poor and the powerless in Iraq suffer.
PARVEZ AHMED, assistant professor, Jacksonville
-----
MORE THAN 40 ATTACKS ON MUSLIMS IN SYDNEY SINCE BALI BOMBINGS
Associated Press, 10/28/02
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Islamic clerics have been spat on, mosques
vandalized and Muslim girls have had their head scarves ripped off
since
bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali killed nearly 200 people,
many of
them Australians.
There have been more than 40 anti-Islamic attacks in Sydney alone since
the
Oct. 12 blasts, New South Wales state Police Commissioner Ken Moroney
said
Monday…
Moroney said even more attacks likely were going unreported,
particularly
on Muslim women who feared retribution if they told authorities…
He did not give more details on the various anti-Islamic attacks but
last
Tuesday, vandals smashed several windows and walls of the King Abdul
Aziz
Islamic School in western Sydney. The adjoining mosque and Muslim
leader's
residence also were damaged.
Also last week, a mosque in the southern city of Melbourne was
firebombed.
Police have made no arrests in any of the attacks.
Muslims in Australia also faced abuse and attacks in the days
immediately
after the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington. Mosques were
torched, veiled Muslim girls abused and a bus full of children going to
an
Islamic school was stoned.
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS 10/29/2002
HEADLINES:
* VERSE OF THE DAY: THE RELIGION OF ABRAHAM
* CAIR BANQUET ATTENDEES PLEDGE TO SPONSOR 152 LIBRARIES
* CAIR-FL’S LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE THIS WEEKEND
* RESOURCES: RAMADAN
* CAMPUS WATCH AN EYE-OPENER FOR THOSE WHO CARE ABOUT DEBATE (Montreal
Gazette)
* DENTIST AGREES TO SPILL DETAILS OF BOMB PLOT (Tampa Tribune)
* US LAUNCHES GLOBAL TV CAMPAIGN ABOUT AMERICAN MUSLIMS IN INDONESIA
(AFP)
- As Indonesia Tries Islamic Law, U.S. Aims To Help (Christian
Science Monitor)
* MUSLIMS FEAR GUJARAT POLL COULD SPARK FRESH COMMUNAL VIOLENCE (AFP)
* EDITORIAL: THE RIGHTS OF 'ENEMY COMBATANTS' (New York Times)
- Afghans Talk Of Guantanamo Detention (AP)
* EDITORIAL: THERE IS NO CASE AGAINST ENAAM ARNAOUT (Chicago Tribune)
* PM PLANS TO ASK U.S. FOR AID THAT COULD TOP $10 BILLION (Ha’aretz)
- Official: Israel Rejects U.S. Plan (AP)
* EDITORIAL: THE CHECHEN WAR (Wall Street Journal)
* ONLINE IN CAIRO, WITH NEWS, VIEWS AND 'FATWA CORNER' (New York Times)
* MUSLIM INVESTORS FINDING MORE OPTIONS (San Jose Mercury News)
-----
VERSE OF THE DAY: THE RELIGION OF ABRAHAM
"Who save the foolish would forsake the religion of Abraham? Indeed he
was
our chosen servant in this world, and in the hereafter he shall dwell
among
the virtuous. When his Lord said to him, "Surrender yourself to Me!" he
answered, "I have surrendered myself to the Lord of the worlds."
Holy Quran, Surah 2, Verses 130 - 131
-----
CAIR BANQUET ATTENDEES PLEDGE TO SPONSOR 152 LIBRARIES
Attendees to CAIR's Annual Banquet this past weekend pledged to sponsor
152
libraries. CAIR's Library Project has thus far received 1335
sponsorships
for book and tape packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across
the
country. Take part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an
18-item "library package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and
objective information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
CAIR-FL’S LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE THIS WEEKEND
WHAT: CAIR Florida’s Leadership Conference: From Challenge to
Opportunity
WHEN: Saturday, November 2, 10 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. (Workshops) and 6 P.M.
to
9 P.M. (Dinner)
WHERE: Hilton Ft. Lauderdale Airport Hotel, 1870 Griffin Rd, Dania
Beach,
FL 954-920-3300
SPEAKERS & FACILITATORS:
Dr. Agha Sayeed, AMA Chairman
Imam Muhammad Musri, ISCF, Orlando
Imam Zaid Malik, ICNEF, Jacksonville
Arsalan Iftikhar, CAIR-St. Louis
Dr. Parvez Ahmed, CAIR-FL
Dr. Mohammed Qazi, AMA-Orlando
Roland Foulkes, City of Broward County
Altaf Husain, MSA National President
Candidates for the Florida Gubernatorial elections have been invited to
speak during dinner.
REGISTRATION: Individual $40 Student $25 (lunch, dinner and all
workshop
materials)
Dinner only $30
Baby Sitting $10
To Register: Call 954-916-5661, Email info@cair-florida.org, or visit
www.cair-florida.org
-----
RESOURCES: RAMADAN
http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/november/ramadan.html
-----
CAMPUS WATCH AN EYE-OPENER FOR THOSE WHO CARE ABOUT DEBATE
Sue Montgomery, Montreal Gazette, 10/28/02
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/columnists/story.asp?id=1126A5D3-70E6-4125-8098-5797A9CF17DF
For those who thought Concordia University has a franchise on putting a
lid
on campus debate, there's a new Web site out there that should be
sending a
chill through anyone who believes in freedom of expression and academic
freedom.
Campus Watch, set up by the right-wing American think-tank Middle East
Forum, calls on students and faculty to snitch on anyone whose lectures
could be interpreted as anti-American or anti-Israel.
Launched last month, it lists the names and "dossiers" of eight
professors
of Middle Eastern studies, six of them Arabs. All were deluged with
vicious
E-mail as a result. Now the site includes another list of 108
academics,
including Zalman Amit, a retired Concordia psychology professor. He got
there by pledging his solidarity with the above black list, known on
the
site as "apologists for suicide bombing and militant Islam."
When notified by Campus Watch that his name was among the 108, Amit
responded with: "Thank you for the inclusion, you make me feel proud.
"By the way, do you have on your Web page a list of supporters of
apologists of Israeli atrocities and war crimes, just to balance the
picture?"
He has yet to hear from them…
Not surprisingly, the Canadian Association of University Teachers came
out
against the Web site in its bulletin this month.
"A university is the last place in a democratic society where things
can be
debated without fear of retribution," its executive director, James
Turk,
said in an interview from Ottawa…”
-----
DENTIST AGREES TO SPILL DETAILS OF BOMB PLOT
George Wilkens, Tampa Tribune, 10/26/02
http://tampatrib.com/floridametronews/MGAC5QB1R7D.html
TEMPLE TERRACE - Temple Terrace dentist Michael W. Hardee has agreed to
“full and complete disclosure” of his role in a plot to bomb mosques in
the
Tampa Bay area.
The plea agreement was signed Oct. 18, the same day Hardee, 49, pleaded
guilty to conspiring with podiatrist Robert J. Goldstein to target Arab
and
Muslim buildings for destruction. The agreement promises consideration
of
Hardee's cooperation at sentencing. Hardee remains jailed without bail.
Goldstein, 37, was arrested Aug. 23 after authorities discovered a
cache of
bombs, guns and munitions throughout his Seminole town house. A search
also
turned up a typed list of about 50 Islamic worship and education
centers in
the Tampa Bay area and elsewhere in Florida, according to court
records…
-----
US LAUNCHES GLOBAL TV CAMPAIGN ABOUT AMERICAN MUSLIMS IN INDONESIA
Agence France Presse, 10/29/02
JAKARTA - Indonesian television stations on Wednesday will become the
first
in the world to air a series of mini-documentaries about the lives of
Muslims in America, the US ambassador to Indonesia said Tuesday.
In what Ambassador Ralph Boyce called "a post-September 11 effort to
reach
out," the documentaries are also scheduled to begin airing in a number
of
other Muslim countries this week.
The films, each one or two minutes long, will introduce viewers to
Farooq
Muhammad, a New York city paramedic, and Rawia Ismail, an Ohio teacher
who
wears a Muslim headscarf. Along with a doctor and a baker who are also
profiled, they talk about the freedom they have found to practise their
religion and to be accepted in the US.
"The mini documentaries aim to promote a greater understanding of
America
as viewed through the eyes of individual Muslims in the United States,"
Boyce told a press conference launching the campaign, known as Common
Ground…
---
AS INDONESIA TRIES ISLAMIC LAW, US AIMS TO HELP
Dan Murphy, Christian Science Monitor, 10/29/02
http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2002/1029/p07s02-wosc.html
Since January, when Indonesia bestowed Islamic law on Aceh, the
country's
most rebellious and violence-prone province, debate has raged over how
it
will work.
Yet despite American unease over Islamic revivalism, and an impression
in
Muslim nations that the US is hostile to Islam, America has quietly
sought
to engage and influence the process in Aceh, the first - and so far
only -
province in the world's most populous Muslim country where Islamic law,
or
sharia, is officially taking root.
"It might seem strange at first, but if sharia law is going to come
into
force there anyway, it makes sense for the US to try to steer it in a
more
moderate direction," says a Western aid worker who works on Islamic
programs in Indonesia. "If you don't get involved, you could a have a
small
group of people imposing a narrow view of Islam on the province…"
-----
MUSLIMS FEAR GUJARAT POLL COULD SPARK FRESH COMMUNAL VIOLENCE
Praveen Sharma, Agence France Presse, 10/29/02
AHMEDABAD, India - Muslim leaders warned Tuesday that looming elections
in
India's riot-torn western state of Gujarat could spark fresh communal
violence unless tight security is afforded voters so they can cast
their
ballots without fear.
Electoral officials on Monday set December 12 as the date for what is
considered a high-risk poll after India's Supreme Court backed their
contention that the situation was still too volatile to hold the vote
any
earlier.
The Hindu rightwing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which heads the
Gujarat
state and the federal governments, had argued for an early poll on
legal
grounds. Analysts believe the BJP wants to cash in on the wave of Hindu
nationalist sentiment generated by the communal violence, which was
sparked
when a train carrying Hindu activists was torched allegedly by Muslims
in
the town of Godhra late February.
More than 1,000 people -- mostly Muslims -- died in the ensuing
communal
violence. Human rights groups put the number of deaths as double that
number.
The state government, led by the BJP, has been accused by the
opposition of
failing to prevent the bloodbath.
While many Muslims who fled to camps to escape the violence have in
recent
weeks begun returning home, those interviewed by AFP believed an
election
could cause tensions to soar once more, preventing a free and fair
poll…
-----
EDITORIAL: THE RIGHTS OF 'ENEMY COMBATANTS'
New York Times, 10/29/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/29/opinion/29TUE2.html
Yasser Esam Hamdi, an American citizen captured in Afghanistan, has
been
held since April in a naval brig, without formal charges or access to a
lawyer. The Bush administration told a federal appeals court in
Virginia
yesterday that as an “enemy combatant”, he is entitled to neither. The
administration's position would give the president sweeping powers to
strip
citizens of their rights and hold them indefinitely. It is
unconstitutional, and the appeals court should reject it.
The government has put Mr. Hamdi in a legal purgatory. If he were
charged
with a crime in a civilian court, as Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged
20th
hijacker, was, he would have access to a lawyer and due process rights.
If
he were a prisoner of war, the Geneva Convention would guarantee him
other
significant rights. Instead, the administration has employed this third
category - enemy combatant - and says that it carries none of those
protections…
One of the most disturbing aspects of the administration's war on
terror is
that no one seems to have thought through the constitutional issues.
Why
are Mr. Moussaoui and Richard Reid, the accused shoe bomber - neither
of
whom is an American citizen - being given civilian trials, with all the
accompanying rights, when Mr. Padilla is not? Of the two Americans
accused
of carrying arms for the Taliban, why was John Walker Lindh charged in
a
civilian court, while Mr. Hamdi is being held without charges…?
---
AFGHANS TALK OF GUANTANAMO DETENTION
Todd Pitman, Associated Press, 10/29/02
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20021029_809.html
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Three Afghans released after months of
captivity
at a U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba said Tuesday they were
chained up and denied contact with their families but were not
otherwise
mistreated by their American captors. One freed detainee said they were
kept in cages “like animals.”
The men - two of whom appeared to be in their late 70s - are the first
former detainees to speak about their arrest and detainment. They spoke
to
The Associated Press at a military hospital in Kabul where they are
convalescing, still under the watch of Afghan security guards.
The Afghan prisoners, looking frail and tired but in good spirits, said
they had had no contact with their families since being taken away by
the
Americans from various places in Afghanistan.
“They kept us in cages like animals,” said 35-year-old Jan Mohammed,
describing the chain-link open-air cell where he was held for months.
“We
were only allowed out twice per week, for half an hour...”
Human rights groups have criticized the United States for its treatment
of
the prisoners, saying they were initially kept in outdoor cages and
held
indefinitely without access to lawyers…
-----
EDITORIAL: THERE IS NO CASE AGAINST ENAAM ARNAOUT
Caise D. Hassan, Chicago Tribune, 10/29/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/chi-0210290326oct29,0,1748768.story?coll=chi%2Dnewsopinionvoice%2Dhed
Chicago - The Tribune's portrait of Enaam Arnaout reads more like an
attempt at character assassination or a tabloid than a balanced inquiry
into the life of the head of Benevolence International Foundation
(BIF)…
The result is that readers learn nothing about the substance of the
Justice
Department's evidence against Arnaout, much of which has already been
dismissed, but must sift through insinuations, "a puzzle of details"
about
his life, irrelevant to the question of whether or not he funded
terror…
The article only parrots the government's exaggeration of Arnaout's
association with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. The article quotes
three
unidentified sources "who knew him there" and claim he set up bin
Laden's
first military camp in Afghanistan.
In fact, the CIA and our government, according to many Afghanistan
experts,
launched, financed and trained the Afghan mujahedeen (or holy fighters)
under bin Laden's command to fight the Soviet Union's invasion. Arnaout
went to Afghanistan as a student in the 1980s and ended up--like many
young
Muslims--struggling to resist the Soviet Union's occupation of the
country.
He did so mainly by performing relief work…
John Ashcroft's indictments earlier this month show no evidence of
Arnaout's material support for bin Laden, before or since. The only
material support the Justice Department chalked up as proof of
Arnaout's
support for violence are boots and an X-ray machine that BIF sent to a
Chechen hospital. This hospital, the only in its area, treats some of
the
tens of thousands of civilians wounded or maimed in Russia's bombings
of
Chechen towns for the past decade. If Ashcroft employs the same tactics
to
close other upstanding relief organizations for sending medical
supplies to
a war zone, what will happen to the world's civilian victims of
terror…?
-----
PM PLANS TO ASK U.S. FOR AID THAT COULD TOP $10 BILLION
Amnon Barzilai and Natan Guttman, Ha’aretz, 10/29/02
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=221671
An inter-ministerial team headed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's
bureau
chief, Dov Weisglass, is working on a proposal requesting American
economic
assistance that could top $10 billion.
The team includes representatives from the treasury, the Foreign
Ministry
and the Defense Ministry.
A government source said the reason for the aid request stems from the
United States' expected campaign against Iraq coupled with the American
desire that Israel not interfere with Washington's plans or use IDF
troops
against Iraq.
Sources at the Prime Minister's Office said yesterday that American
readiness to provide economic assistance has not been made in concrete
terms.
However, a number of ideas have cropped up in Jerusalem over the type
of
aid Israel could use: cash, guarantees for low-interest bank loans from
American banks, direct state-to-state loans from the U.S. treasury, and
the
conversion of some American defense aid into shekels…
---
OFFICIAL: ISRAEL REJECTS U.S. PLAN
Laurie Copans, Associated Press, 10/29/02
http://www.austin360.com/aas/news/ap/ap_story.html/Intl/AP.V4450.AP-Mideast-Peace-P.html
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel won't accept a U.S.-backed peace proposal
because
it is based partly on an Arab plan that calls for an Israeli withdrawal
from all occupied lands and affirms the right of return of Palestinian
refugees, a top official said Tuesday.
Israelis and Palestinians have expressed some reservations about the
new
plan, which was presented last week by a U.S. envoy. But Tuesday's
comments
by Cabinet Secretary Gideon Saar marked the first time an Israeli
official
has said the proposal was unacceptable without a major change.
The Arab plan, sponsored by Saudi Arabia, was approved by an Arab
League
Summit earlier this year. It marked the first time in the Arab-Israeli
conflict that Arab countries presented a comprehensive peace proposal
that
included recognition of Israel…
-----
EDITORIAL: THE CHECHEN WAR
Thomas De Waal, Wall Street Journal, 10/28/02
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1035772142898660671.djm,00.html
Vladimir Putin may have brought an end to the Moscow hostage crisis,
but he
now faces the wrath that follows the death of more than 100 citizens,
most
of whom seem to have died at the hands of their rescuers. This "ending"
is
but a chapter in a wider crisis for Russia's president, one whose
gravity
he had tried to ignore. More than three years after he promised to
"solve"
the Chechnya issue, its dangers and cruelties are only multiplying.
Ordinary Russians must now start asking hard questions about where
Moscow's
Chechen policy is taking them.
Their first conclusion will be that they are not properly protected.
Some
ask why Movsar Barayev and his followers chose to embark on a suicide
mission now; but the question is better put thus: Why had this not
happened
before? After all, Chechnya has suffered eight years of perpetual
warfare
and contains hundreds of men as brutalized and desperate as Barayev.
Now,
almost anything is possible. Russia is vast, with vulnerable targets
and
weak policing. As a Chechen moderate who has long called for
negotiations
told me bitterly: "The Russians should thank God that they just seized
a
House of Culture and not a nuclear power station…"
-----
ONLINE IN CAIRO, WITH NEWS, VIEWS AND 'FATWA CORNER'
Daniel J. Wakin, New York Times, 10/29/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/29/international/middleeast/29CAIR.html
Inside a run-down building in a middle-class Cairo neighborhood, a
hybrid
group of eager young dot-commers and idealistic religious messengers
produces one of the Islamic world's leading Web sites,
Islam-Online.net.
"We all consider this an act of jihad, how to liberate people's minds
from
ignorance," said Ahmed Muhammad Sa'ad, using "jihad" in its sense of
spiritual struggle. Mr. Sa'ad is a recent religious school graduate and
a
prize-winning reciter of the Koran who helps channel readers' requests
for
religious rulings, or fatwas, to Islamic legal scholars around the
world.
Islam Online says it wants to present a positive view of the faith to
non-Muslims, to strengthen unity in the Muslim world and to uphold
principles of justice, freedom and human rights. Scholars of the region
say
they see the Web site as a leading example of efforts by moderate
Muslims
to push for the Islamization of societies by nonviolent means.
The Web site also has an English version, aimed at Muslims living
outside
the Arab world. Professor Esposito points out that only about a quarter
of
the world's 1.2 billion Muslims speak Arabic, and that for the rest,
English is an increasingly common second language.
The site is ambitious in content. Along with news articles, there are
in-depth discussions of Islamic issues, political analyses, discussion
groups, advice pages and a "fatwa corner," where readers can ask
questions
or look up past edicts from religious scholars...
-----
MUSLIM INVESTORS FINDING MORE OPTIONS
K. Oanh Ha, San Jose Mercury News, 10/29/02
www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news
The mutual fund Mohammad Asaf had parked his savings in was doing
great.
But two years after his initial investment he learned the fund was
heavily
weighted in financial services companies such as Citibank. He quickly
pulled his money out.
He didn't have anything against Citibank, but as a Muslim, he faces
religious prohibitions against riba _ charging or collecting interest.
"I
believe in living a pure life and having a pure source of income," said
Asaf, a business analyst at JDS Uniphase in San Jose, Calif.
Nowadays, Asaf spends a day or two researching companies to make sure
they
are in line with his beliefs, avoiding "sin stocks" _ companies that
deal
in liquor, insurance and pornography, among other things.
Asaf and other Muslim investors in the United States are emerging as a
niche market that's largely untapped. The Dow Jones Islamic Market
Index,
created in 1999, has helped financial firms establish standards for
screening stocks. There are only three Islamic mutual funds for U.S.
investors, but other players, such as an Islamic hedge fund, are
entering
the market.
Aside from investment funds, there are other financial products, mostly
created by Muslims, that allow fellow believers to buy homes and cars
and
finance educations in accordance with Shariah (Islamic law). Shariah's
ban
on interest keeps devout Muslims from using traditional mortgages,
credit
cards and consumer loans.
Falls Church, Va.-based Guidance Financial Group now offers an Islamic
home-buying program with a payment structure that avoids conventional
interest. The company also plans to offer investment funds next year...
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
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-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
ACTION REQUESTED: Contributions may be sent to:
Emergency Family Fund/CAIR
c/o 911 Relief Program/Adem
166-26 89 Avenue
Jamaica, NY 11432
Make checks payable to "Emergency Family Fund/CAIR." For information,
call
212-870-2002.
-----
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DETAINEE FAMILIES OFFERED FINANCIAL SUPPORT
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/30/02) - A national Islamic civil rights and
advocacy
group today announced the creation of a fund to support Muslim families
in
financial distress due to the detention of a family member after the
9/11
attacks. Following the attacks, hundreds of Muslim immigrants, often
the
sole wage-earners for their families, have been held without charge and
in
conditions that have drawn criticism from a number of civil liberties
groups.
The "Emergency Family Fund," set up by the New York office of the
Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY), is designed to assist
uncharged
detainees' families with legal fees, housing costs and living expenses.
Fund administrators will also make outside referrals for counseling and
other social services. (CAIR-NY is working in cooperation with ICNA
Relief,
the Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America and Muslim
Community Support Services.)
"Many of the families of those held without charge, without access to
legal
counsel and in conditions that many believe rise to the level of cruel
and
unusual punishment, have been financially devastated by the lengthy
detention or deportation of husbands, sons and brothers," said CAIR-NY
Executive Director Ghazi Khankan.
Khankan said contributions for the fund are being solicited based on
the
Islamic charitable concept of "Zakat," in which Muslims tithe a portion
of
their savings each year for the benefit of those in need. He added that
the
upcoming Islamic lunar month of Ramadan, during which Muslims fast from
break-of-dawn to sunset, is a time when many Muslims donate to worthy
causes. (All donations collected by the fund will go directly to
detainees'
families.)
The New York Times on Sunday quoted Amnesty International U.S.A.
Executive
Director who said: "We have documented many instances in which
immigrants
from the Middle East and South Asian countries like Pakistan have faced
cruel and degrading treatment at the hands of U.S. authorities…Those
are
the sort of practices we usually see in the most repressive regimes in
the
world."
SEE: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/27/magazine/27DETAIN.html
Of the 1,147 detentions the government is willing to acknowledge, only
3
resulted in terrorism-related indictments. More than 400 people have
been
deported following lengthy detentions that ended with closed
immigration
hearings.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR NY, Nasir Gondal, 212-870-2002 or 917-860-0808, Ghazi
Khankan, 516-729-8754; Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726,
E-MAIL: cair@cair-net.org; Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787 or
703-861-7294,
E-MAIL: hhassan@cair-net.org
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/30/2002
* CANADA ISSUES RARE CAUTION ON U.S. TRAVEL (Reuters)
- Diplomatic Action Must Supplement Travel Advisory, Say
Canadian
Muslims
* U.S. DEFENDS SECRET EVIDENCE IN CHARITY CASE (Associated Press)
* INS DETAINEES SAY PASSAIC JAIL IS SUBSTANDARD (The Record)
* U.S. BUILDS DIGITAL DATABASE OF TERROR SUSPECTS (Associated Press)
* MUSLIM-AS-APPLE-PIE VIDEOS ARE GREETED WITH SKEPTICISM (New York
Times)
* DISPLAY AT MOSQUE CALLED BIAS INCIDENT (Poughkeepsie Journal)
* UNEASE WITH ISLAM (ABC News)
* TORN BETWEEN CROSS AND CRESCENT (Dallas Morning News)
* LETTER: PROFESSORS PART OF DEMOCRACY'S NECESSARY DISSENT (Montreal
Gazette)
* THE RAMADAN FAST-A-THON
-----
CANADA ISSUES RARE CAUTION ON U.S. TRAVEL
David Ljunggren, Reuters, 10/30/2002
Canada, in a highly unusual warning, was on Wednesday urging Canadian
citizens born in Middle Eastern countries such as Iran and Iraq to
think
carefully before entering the United States, which has introduced tough
new
anti-terrorism rules.
The Foreign Ministry said it issued the advisory after the introduction
of
new U.S. rules stipulating that anyone born in Iran, Iraq, Libya,
Sudan, or
Syria needed to be photographed and fingerprinted on arrival in the
United
States.
Ottawa's warning also follows the controversial deportation of a
Canadian
citizen by the United States to Syria, his birthplace, earlier this
month.
The Foreign Ministry advisory, posted on its Web site, is another
indication of how ties between the two neighbors have soured in past
months
amid disputes over trade, Iraq and immigration policies.
"Quite obviously, we do not agree with the American approach. We
believe
that this measure is discriminatory for some Canadians," said Foreign
Ministry spokesman Reynald Doiron.
The U.S. rules, introduced on Sept. 11 this year, are designed to
tighten
security by authorizing the Immigration and Naturalization Service to
track
the arrival and departure of non-immigrants...
CAIR’S RESPONSE:
DIPLOMATIC ACTION MUST SUPPLEMENT TRAVEL ADVISORY, SAY CANADIAN MUSLIMS
(Ottawa, Canada - 10/30/02) - The Canadian office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) today welcomed a travel advisory
released by the Canadian Government concerning a new US law that
requires
Canadians born in Iraq, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Syria to provide photos
and
fingerprints when they visit the U.S. The group urged the Canadian
government to pursue vigorous, diplomatic action to ensure that
Canadian
citizens are not discriminated against when they visit the US.
In a statement released today, CAIR-CAN wrote:
“Recent US action, culminating in the case of Mr. Maher Arar,
demonstrates
a wanton disregard for the rights of Canadian citizenship.
“The Canadian government's travel advisory is an important first step
in
recognizing the dangers confronted by Canadian Muslims and Arabs in
traveling to or through the US.
“The advisory is a confirmation of the serious erosion in procedural
justice and fairness prevalent in the US that has been documented by
prominent human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch.
“Canadian citizens who need to travel to the US on business are
particularly vulnerable. It is imperative that our government continue
to
pursue high-level diplomatic negotiations to ensure that Canadian
citizens
are not subjected to ongoing discrimination and civil rights abuses.”
- END -
Contact: Riad Saloojee at 613-277-5307; E-mail: canada@cair-net.org
-----
U.S. DEFENDS SECRET EVIDENCE IN CHARITY CASE
Associated Press, 10/30/2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/30/national/30CHAR.html
The government today defended its use of secret evidence against a
Muslim
charity accused of helping terrorists, arguing that detailing its case
could gravely damage national security.
A lawyer for the Justice Department, Douglas N. Letter, told a
three-judge
panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
that
although secret evidence was normally "something to be avoided,"
federal
law allowed it in exceptional cases…
Roger C. Simmons, a lawyer for the charity, the Global Relief
Foundation,
said the use of such evidence was unconstitutional and had left him
"working in the dark."
Global Relief, of Bridgeview, is appealing a federal judge's ruling in
June
that upheld the freezing of its bank accounts. Prosecutors said the
group
funneled money to terrorists. Global Relief wants to have its assets
unfrozen and to see the secret evidence that the judge used.
Mr. Simmons argued that Global Relief had not been charged with any
crime
and that its leaders had never been accused of violence or of being in
Al
Qaeda. Agents from a force led by the F.B.I. raided the charity
headquarters on Dec. 14, the day when the Treasury Department froze its
bank accounts...
-----
INS DETAINEES SAY PASSAIC JAIL IS SUBSTANDARD
Elizabeth Llorente, The Record (Bergen County, NJ), 10/30/2002
http://www.bergen.com/page.php?level_3_id=45&page=5462976
Immigration detainees at the Passaic County Jail say they are being
held in
crowded and unsanitary conditions.
A statement signed by 75 detainees and released by a coalition of
immigrants rights groups on Tuesday described a roach-infested jail
with
pods in which more than 40 people were crammed.
The statement said that the crowding had riggered "numerous
altercations."
Detainees also complained about substandard food, poor health care, and
limited access to social services. The jail, in Paterson, holds the
detainees under a contract with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization
Service. Those held include convicted criminals awaiting deportation,
and
others - mostly Arab, South Asian, and Muslim men - arrested as part of
the
terrorism investigation and held on routine immigration violations.
"The living conditions here, we strongly feel, do not meet the
standards
for human habitation," the statement said.
The statement was released through a coalition of more than a dozen
groups,
including the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Council on
American-Islamic Relations, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, and
the
Latino Workers Center...
-----
U.S. BUILDS DIGITAL DATABASE OF TERROR SUSPECTS
Associated Press, 10/30/2002
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/front/RTGAM/20021030/wterror1030/Front/homeBN/breakingnews
The United States is compiling digital dossiers of the irises,
fingerprints, faces and voices of terrorism suspects and using the
information to track their movements and screen foreigners trying to
enter
the country.
Since January, military and intelligence operatives have collected the
identifying data on prisoners in Afghanistan and at the U.S. naval base
in
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. There are also plans to extend the collection
process
to Iraq in the event of a U.S. invasion.
With this project, the U.S. government has taken biometrics the
measuring
of human features well beyond its most common use to date: verifying
people's identities before giving them access to computers or secure
areas.
"We're trying to collect every biometric on every bad guy that we can,"
said Lt. Col. Kathy De Bolt, deputy director of the Army battle lab at
Fort
Huachuca, Ariz., where the biometric tools being used were developed.
"Any place we go into Iraq or wherever we're going to start building
a
dossier on people of interest to intelligence. Even if they get
released,
we have face and voice clips. When they come into one of our
checkpoints,
we can say, 'You're this bad guy from here..."'
-----
MUSLIM-AS-APPLE-PIE VIDEOS ARE GREETED WITH SKEPTICISM
Jane Perlez, New York Times, 10/30/2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/30/international/asia/30INDO.html
JAKARTA, Indonesia - Rawia Ismail, a vivacious young teacher in Toledo,
Ohio, her head covered with an Islamic head scarf, appears in a United
States government video that will have its first public showing this
week
on national television here in the world's most populous Muslim
country.
The Lebanese-born Ms. Ismail is shown with her three smiling children
in
her all-American kitchen, at a school softball game, and in front of
her
class, extolling American values.
"I didn't see any prejudice anywhere in my neighborhood after Sept.
11,"
says Ms. Ismail.
The portrayal of Ms. Ismail as a woman who practices her Muslim faith
in
America with ease is one of the images that the Bush administration is
offering to the Muslim world as an example of how America is not at war
with Islam.
The message, in four videos about American Muslims that are to be shown
here and in other Islamic countries, is one of tolerance at home and a
desire to reach out abroad...
At a preview of the videos here today, presided over by the American
ambassador, Ralph L. Boyce, and attended by Indonesian journalists and
academics, the reception was mixed.
Indeed, inside the State Department, some diplomats who have lived in
Islamic countries criticized the scripts before their release for being
patronizing and too simplistic, department officials said...
-----
DISPLAY AT MOSQUE CALLED BIAS INCIDENT
Nik Bonopartis, Poughkeepsie Journal, 10/30/2002
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/today/policecourts/stories/po103002s1.shtml
A banner posted on the property of a local mosque is being investigated
as
a “bias incident,” according to the Dutchess County Sheriff's Office.
The sign, which read “Love It or Leave It,” was discovered by
landscapers
early Tuesday outside the Mid Hudson Islamic Association mosque on All
Angels Hill Road in Wappinger.
The banner was nailed to a slope on the northern side of the mosque and
measured about two feet high and 30 feet long, with black lettering on
a
white background, officials said. Surrounding the banner were 13 small
American flags, which were stuck into the ground.
No damage was done to mosque property, Sgt. Jonathan Hughes said.
Aziz Ahsan, a member of the association, said the appearance of the
sign
was surprising, given how local residents reached out to the Muslim
community after Sept. 11, 2001.
"We are not going anywhere," he said. "The Jews are here to stay, the
Muslims are here to stay, the Christians are here to stay. Now let's
start
figuring how we can live in peace, because we are all Americans."
Hughes said deputies were taking the incident seriously to prevent
escalation.
"We're treating this one as a bias incident, but it certainly spurs
further
investigation," he said.
-----
UNEASE WITH ISLAM
Steven Waldman and Deborah Caldwell, ABC News, 10/28/2002
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/islam021028.html
No one would have been surprised if, after 9/11, rage-filled Americans
blamed Islam as the culprit.
After all, the nation was just attacked in the name of Allah. Then, it
might have been assumed, the antagonism would have faded as people
gained a
more nuanced understanding of Islam and the terrorists' twisted use of
doctrine.
Instead, something close to the opposite has happened. A surprising new
ABCNEWS/Beliefnet poll shows that after starting out surprisingly
tolerant,
public opinion of Islam has become more negative.
The percentage of Americans having an unfavorable view of Islam has
jumped
from 24 percent in January 2002 to 33 percent now.
The portion of Americans who say that Islam "doesn't teach respect for
other faiths" rose from 22 percent to 35 percent…
Why did public opinion shift?
The most significant moment in 2001 on this issue was when President
Bush
stood before the nation just days after the Sept. 11 terror attacks and
declared, "Islam is a religion of peace." He followed that up with a
series
of symbolic gestures: hosting a Ramadan dinner at the White House (a
first)
last November, posing for pictures with the Koran on his desk, inviting
American Muslim leaders to his office, and visiting a Washington
mosque...
But conservative Christians were quietly unhappy with Bush's posture.
One
group, the Virginia-based Family Policy Network, encouraged members to
"thank Franklin Graham for his faithfulness to Christ in the face of
criticism."
That was a reference to comments made by Billy Graham's evangelist son,
in
which he described Islam as a "wicked, violent" religion comments he
repeated numerous times in the last year…
-----
TORN BETWEEN CROSS AND CRESCENT
Manya A. Brachear, Dallas Morning News, 10/26/2002
http://www.dallasnews.com/religion/stories/102602dnrelcustody.1b3b7.html
An anti-Muslim backlash documented since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks
last year has put American Muslims at risk of losing more than their
dignity, advocates say. Some fear losing their children.
According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a
Washington-based
Muslim advocacy group, more than a dozen Muslim parents nationwide have
been sued since September 2001 for custody of their children by
non-Muslim
ex-spouses and grandparents who don't want the children reared by the
Muslim parent.
That compares with two such lawsuits reported in the year leading up to
the
terrorist attacks. Most of the cases are scattered across the South and
Midwest. At least five are in Texas, the most in any state...
Judges are urged to find a way for children to have a relationship with
both parents while also protecting them, Mr. Lampson said. But Will
Harrell, executive director of the ACLU's Texas chapter, said many
judges
are a product of an evangelical Christian movement to dominate the
state's
school board and family courtrooms in recent elections.
"All those people who recently compared Muhammad to terrorists are the
same
people who dominate the political agenda and whose policy is being
reflected," Mr. Harrell said. "Their religious intolerance is being
exemplified in this process. They happen to be in the position to
perpetuate the bigotry..."
-----
LETTER: PROFESSORS PART OF DEMOCRACY'S NECESSARY DISSENT
Sam Labrier, Montreal Gazette, 10/30/2002
Words can't describe how disgusted I felt after reading Sue
Montgomery's
Oct. 28 column about the Web site Campus Watch, "Campus Watch an
eye-opener
for those who care about debate." Daniel Pipes, the man behind the
site,
stated that he wants Noam Chomsky to be taught in universities as much
as
he wants Stalin or Hitler to be taught. To compare Noam Chomsky, a man
who
supports more democracy, freedom and transparency in the U.S.
government,
to people like Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin just shows how ignorant
Mr.
Pipes is when it comes to their positions…
Mr. Pipes claims his Web site will monitor and gather information on
professors who fan the flames of disinformation and ignorance. Can we
please say what he really means? Namely, that it will monitor any
professor
who doesn't fall in line with the U.S. government's hard-line position.
Because after all, no one fans the flames of disinformation and
ignorance
more than the U.S. government.
This is dangerous to the freedoms the American revolutionaries fought
for.
Would the United States exist if Britain had had a weapon like this to
search out and quench dissent in the 13 colonies? The United States was
founded on dissent. It is a necessary feature of a healthy democracy…
-----
THE RAMADAN FAST-A-THON
Muslim Student Association - National, 10/30/2002
Alhamdulillah, MSA National is pleased to announce and encourage all
MSA’s
to take part in the Ramadan Fast-a-thon!
Based on the success of our brothers and sisters at MSA Knoxville, the
program, insha’Allah, will be a wonderful display of Islam’s concern
for
those less fortunate in our very own communities. We are striving for
all
MSA’s to host their fast-a-thon on the same day, NOVEMBER 14th, though
any
day in Ramadan will work.
Program Details:
Local MSA chapters encourage the non-Muslim students of their
respective
universities to attempt the fast for one day. For each student that
pledges
to, local business sponsors donate $1 or more to a local emergency food
provider. The goal is to encourage hundreds of students on each campus
to
fast, thereby raising at least the same amount, in dollars, from each
MSA.
At the conclusion of the fast, students are invited to break their
fasts
together with a meal prepared by the MSA and/or the local Muslim
community.
A resource packet including detailed tips, sample press releases, and
much
more has been prepared to give your MSA all it needs to host its own
fast-a-thon. Be sure to check it out at www.fast-a-thon.org. Be sure to
register your MSA as a participant in this national movement.
-----
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Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 10/31/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: FAITH AND FORGIVENESS
* CAIR LIBRARY UPDATE
* CAIR-FL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE THIS WEEKEND
* CAIR RAMADAN PUBLICITY KIT NOW ONLINE
* CANADIAN MP STARTS ONE-MAN BOYCOTT OF U.S. TRAVEL (National Post)
- Canada Criticizes New US Border Controls (AFP)
- U.S. Refuses To Discontinue Border Interrogations (Globe and Mail)
- Editorial: A Perilous Border (Toronto Globe and Mail)
* DANIEL PIPES: GREAT LEAPS OF UTTER NONSENSE (Chicago Tribune)
* ANTI-WAR DEMOCRATS SHOULD REPLACE LANTOS WITH ABU-GHAZALAH (Daily
News)
* LOCAL MUSLIMS SET TO OBSERVE RAMADAN (Times-Picayune)
* POLL: SUPPORT SLIPS FOR IRAQ ACTION (AP)
- U.S. Sets Meeting On Exploiting Iraqi Oil After Hussein (OGI)
* ISRAELI PARTY HELPS PALESTINIANS TO EMIGRATE (BBC)
* D.C. SEMINAR ON PEACE, JIHAD AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION
* CALL FOR PAPERS: THE JOURNAL OF ISLAMIC LAW & CULTURE
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: FAITH AND FORGIVENESS
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "O Lord, forgive all my
sins, great and small, first and last, open and secret."
Sahih Muslim, Hadith 230
A person asked the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), "What is
faith?"
The Prophet replied: "When a good deed becomes a source of pleasure for
you
and an evil deed becomes a source of disgust, then you are a believer."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 8
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 1353 sponsorships for $150 book and
tape packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country.
Take
part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library
package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
CAIR RAMADAN PUBLICITY KIT NOW ONLINE
Dear Imam, activist, community leader, committee, brother or sister:
As-salaamu alaykum. Peace to you.
CAIR's RAMADAN 2002 PUBLICITY RESOURCE KIT has been developed to assist
your community in publicizing Ramadan events and activities. It is
designed
to provide you with the raw materials with which you can contact the
media
and, through them, people of other faiths in your area.
GO TO: http://www.cair-net.org/ramkit2002
-----
CAIR-FL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE THIS WEEKEND
WHAT: CAIR Florida's Leadership Conference: From Challenge to
Opportunity
WHEN: Saturday, November 2, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (Workshops) and 6 to
9 p.m. (Dinner)
WHERE: Hilton Hotel Ft. Lauderdale Airport, 1870 Griffin Rd, Dania
Beach,
FL 954-920-3300
SPEAKERS & FACILITATORS:
Dr. Agha Sayeed, AMA Chairman
Imam Muhammad Musri, ISCF, Orlando
Imam Zaid Malik, ICNEF, Jacksonville
Arsalan Iftikhar, CAIR-St. Louis
Dr. Parvez Ahmed, CAIR-FL
Dr. Mohammed Qazi, AMA-Orlando
Roland Foulkes, City of Broward County
Altaf Husain, MSA National President
Candidates for the Florida Gubernatorial elections have been invited to
speak during dinner.
REGISTRATION: Individual $40 Student $25 (lunch, dinner and all
workshop
materials)
Dinner only $30
Baby Sitting $10
To Register: Call 954-916-5661, Email info@cair-florida.org, or visit
www.cair-florida.org
-----
SYRIAN-BORN BRAMPTON MP STARTS ONE-MAN BOYCOTT OF U.S. TRAVEL
Sheldon Alberts, National Post, 10/31/02
http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?id=B4659A5E-D98A-4788-A258-7E14BABB92CD
A Bush administration law requiring Canadian citizens born in Iran,
Iraq,
Libya, Sudan or Syria to be photographed and fingerprinted when
entering
the United States was denounced as "inappropriate" yesterday by
Canada's
Foreign Affairs Minister and prompted one Liberal MP to launch a
personal
boycott of travel to the United States.
Sarkis Assadourian, the Syrian-born MP for Brampton Centre, said
yesterday
he considers the new U.S. rules an affront on his dignity as a Canadian
citizen and a blemish on America's reputation as Canada's best friend.
"I don't have a choice where I was born. So why are they holding it
against
me?" "I will not travel to the U.S. unless the U.S. ambassador here
assures
me my dignity as a Canadian citizen," said Mr. Assadourian, who was
born in
Aleppo, Syria, in 1948 but moved to Canada in 1970.
The political uproar stems from rules introduced on Sept. 11 that the
United States says are designed to protect the country from terrorism.
The
National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) lists
nationals
of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria as being "an elevated national
security risk" and requires them to undergo fingerprinting,
photographing
and registration upon entering the country…
For Mr. Assadourian, who studied for two years in Chicago, the new U.S.
border measures have damaged the image of the United States as Canada's
best friend.
"I don't think this is a way to make friends. If Americans tell us they
are
our best friends, I don't think they should treat your best friend in
this
fashion," he said.
SEE ALSO:
CANADA CRITICIZES NEW US BORDER CONTROLS ON VISITORS BORN IN MIDDLE
EAST
Agence France Presse, 10/31/02
The Canadian government made clear Wednesday it was highly upset with
new
US immigration controls, which include fingerprinting and photographing
arrivals born in Arab and Muslim countries.
Foreign Minister Bill Graham told reporters here that Ottawa was
warning
its own citizens born in Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan or Syria that they
might
wish to think carefully about travel to the United States.
Earlier, in the House of Commons, Graham denied the government had
warned
those Canadian citizens not to travel to the United States. However, he
did
say that the latest US measures were "a matter of great concern to this
government and of great concern to Canadians.
"It is not true that we have told Arab-origin Canadians not to travel
to
the United States. We have informed them (of) the administrative issues
which the United States has adopted for its own security.
The new tension between the two North American allies follows the
deportation by the United States of a Canadian citizen, Mohamed Arar,
to
Syria earlier this month.
The man was denied access to Canadian consular officials, despite
travelling on a Canadian passport as he returned home to Canada from
Tunisia -- via the United States.
Under a new passport-control system begun September 11, the US
Immigration
and Naturalization Service more closely tracks the movements in the
United
States of individuals born in certain countries, including Syria.
---
U.S. REFUSES TO DISCONTINUE SPECIAL BORDER INTERROGATIONS
Campbell Clark, Toronto Globe and Mail, 10/31/02
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/PEstory/TGAM/20021031/UBORDN/Headlines/headdex/headdexNational_temp/1/1/26/
OTTAWA -- Canada's pleas to the U.S. to stop special border
interrogations
of Canadians born in the Middle East have fallen on deaf ears, Foreign
Affairs Minister Bill Graham conceded yesterday.
Although he blasted the practice as inappropriate and a violation of
the
Americans' own Constitution, he said his efforts to raise the issue
with
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell have not produced results.
"I pointed out to my counterpart, Mr. Powell, that in our view,
Canadian
citizens are Canadian citizens . . . and that it would be inappropriate
under both our constitutions -- our Charter and even the U.S.
Constitution
-- to do this…"
The NDP and Tories called on Mr. Graham to take tougher action,
however,
insisting that he call in U.S. ambassador Paul Cellucci to make
Canada's
outrage clear.
And they said that a series of incidents, including the lengthy jailing
of
a man from a Quebec border town who filled up at a gasoline station
just
inside the border without reporting to U.S. Customs, show that the
"best
friend" treatment of Canadians at the border is rapidly becoming a
thing of
the past...
---
EDITORIAL: A PERILOUS BORDER
Toronto Globe and Mail, 10/31/02
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/PEstory/TGAM/20021031/EPASS/Headlines/headdex/headdexEditorials_temp/2/2/3/
One of the most famous lines in American poetry is Robert Frost's "Good
fences make good neighbours." If that is true, poorly built fences can
make
uneasy neighbours.
In the name of post-Sept. 11 security, the United States has erected
some
ill-conceived and offensive barriers to what should be a relatively
free
flow of Canadians across the border.
Consider the following. Ottawa has just issued a report warning
Canadians
of Iranian, Iraqi, Libyan, Sudanese and Syrian origin to be wary of
entering the United States. The travel advisory follows on the heels of
the
detention in New York of a Canadian passport-holder of Syrian descent
who
was then deported, not to Canada but to Syria…
As Foreign Affairs Department spokesman Reynald Doiron has said,
Canadians
should be exempt from the latter. "It penalizes certain Canadians based
upon their country of birth rather than any reasonable suspicion of
wrongdoing. These Canadian citizens were security-screened both when
they
immigrated to Canada and when they became citizens. Both U.S. and
Canadian
constitutions protect the rights of citizens domestically against this
kind
of discrimination and we should not abandon those principles when it
comes
to our common border…"
-----
DANIEL PIPES: GREAT LEAPS OF UTTER NONSENSE
Don Wycliff, Chicago Tribune, 10/31/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-0210310240oct31,0,7327251.column
Last Friday, while all the talking heads who had filled the airwaves
with
their expert opinions during the D.C.-area sniper crisis were wiping
egg
from their faces, Pipes was declaring in his column that the outcome
was
really quite unsurprising and elementary. "It came as no surprise," he
wrote, "to learn that the lead suspect as the Washington, D.C.-area
sniper
is John Allen Muhammad, an African-American who converted to Islam
about 17
years ago. Nor did it surprise that seven years ago he provided
security
for Louis Farrakhan's 'Million Man March.' Even less does it amaze that
he
reportedly sympathized with the Sept. 11 attacks carried out by
militant
Islamic elements."
And why was what so many others found remarkable "no surprise" to
Pipes?
Because, he said, "it fits into a well-established tradition of
American
blacks who convert to Islam turning against their country."
Huh? "Well-established tradition"? "Turning against their country"…?
In speaking of an alienation that "goes back decades," Pipes is being
either disingenuous or willfully ignorant. Only in very recent decades
has
America ceased to impose alienation on its black citizens. The wonder
is
not that an Elijah Muhammad defied the draft during World War II; the
wonder is that many more African-Americans did not.
Finally, to suggest that John Allen Muhammad undertook his alleged
homicidal odyssey out of some ideological motivation is not only to pop
off
without so much as a shred of evidence, it is to go against the
evidence
that does exist and that suggests this was a man with a terribly
diseased
mind.
Daniel Pipes has done well over the last few years, hammering away at
the
dangers of militant Islam. But his column on the sniper suspect just
demonstrates the wisdom of an old expression: When the only tool you've
got
is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
-----
ANTI-WAR DEMOCRATS SHOULD REPLACE LANTOS WITH MAAD ABU-GHAZALAH
Palo Alto Daily News, 10/25/02
http://www.paloaltodailynews.com/projs/editorials/102502a.html
At age 74, it's time for Congressman Tom Lantos to retire. Not because
of
his age, but because his views on the most serious issue facing the
nation
-- war with Iraq -- are so wildly out of sync with his constituents.
But since Lantos isn't going to step down, we're recommending voters
make
that choice for him and vote for his opponent, Maad Abu-Ghazalah, a
40-year-old software entrepreneur and attorney from Pacifica.
You may recall that it was Abu-Ghazalah who put up a billboard on
Highway
101 describing Attorney General John Ashcroft as "The Ethnic Profiler,"
with the catch line "suspicious looking immigrants beware."
Abu-Ghazalah, or Maad as he tells people to call him, is a Palestinian
who
was born in Nablus on the West Bank and came to the U.S. when he
entered
college. He has a bachelor's degree, a graduate degree from the
University
of Virginia in computer science and a law degree from Santa Clara
University…
If elected, Abu-Ghazalah would be the first Muslim to serve in
Congress.
He's is running as a Liberarian, but calls himself a libertarian with a
small l. He sounds like a Democrat on most issues, but particularly on
the
war against Iraq...
Abu-Ghazalah agrees Saddam Hussein should be disarmed, but through
non-violent means involving the U.N. And he said the U.S. should have
the
same policy toward all countries suspected of possessing weapons of
mass
destruction -- Israel, Iraq, India and North Korea, to name a few…
-----
LOCAL MUSLIMS SET TO OBSERVE RAMADAN
Diana Chandler, Times-Picayune, 10/31/02
http://www.nola.com/t-p/
Thousands of Muslims in the greater New Orleans area will begin their
annual fast of Ramadan on Wednesday at the sighting of the new moon,
observing one of the five pillars of Islam. The remaining pillars of
Islam
are the declaration of faith, daily prayers, charity and the pilgrimage
to
Mecca.
During the month, adult Muslims abstain from food, drink and sensual
pleasures from dawn until sunset, hoping to learn discipline,
self-restraint and generosity, according to the Council on
American-Islamic
Relations. Participants eat breakfast before sunrise, and an evening
meal
after sunset.
Ernest Abdullah is the principal of the Clara Muhammad School at 2700
Magnolia St., a ministry of the New Orleans Masjid Al-Islam, a mosque
with
about 200 members in the New Orleans area. He describes Ramadan as a
time
of "abstaining from the things that are good for us. It's like
exercise. It
stimulates your muscles. If you can stay away from the good things, you
can
stay away from the bad things."
Abdullah's imam, Wali Abdel-Ra-Oof, leads one of 10 mosques in the New
Orleans area, which have a combined membership of about 15,000,
Abdullah said.
Each mosque will hold individual services during Ramadan, coming
together
on Dec. 6 for the Feast of the Fast-Breaking, plans for which have not
been
finalized in New Orleans...
The New Orleans Masjid Al-Islam eats together at the mosque every
Sunday
after sunset during Ramadan. Children do not participate in Ramadan
until
they are 12 or 13, Abdullah said.
-----
POLL: SUPPORT SLIPS FOR IRAQ ACTION
Will Lester, Associated Press, 10/31/02
WASHINGTON - Public support for military action against Iraq, while
still
in the majority, is slipping amid increased concerns about
consequences,
says a new poll. Six in 10 fear Iraq would use chemical or biological
weapons in response.
Just over half, 55 percent, support military action against Iraq to
replace
Saddam Hussein, according to the poll by the Pew Research Center for
the
People & the Press. That is down from 64 percent in mid-September. And
support for such action drops by half - to 27 percent - if the United
States is not joined by allies in such an effort.
"In addition to concerns about whether it is a multilateral effort, the
public has deep concerns about chemical or biological attacks on U.S.
troops, casualties or the higher risk of domestic terrorism," said
Andrew
Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center. He said the concerns about
the
increased risk of terrorism here are almost 20 points greater than in
1991,
before the Gulf War and the Sept. 11 attacks...
---
US SETS MEETING ON EXPLOITING IRAQI OIL AFTER HUSSEIN
Oil and Gas International, 10/30/02
http://oilandgasinternational.com/departments/world_industry_news/oct02_meeting.html
The US State Department has pushed back its planned meeting with Iraqi
opposition leaders on exploiting Iraq's oil and gas reserves after a US
military offensive removes Saddam Hussein from power to early December.
According to a source at the State Department, all the desired
participants
are not yet available.
The Bush administration wants to have a working group of 12 to 20
people
focused on Iraqi oil and gas to be able to recommend to an interim
government ways of restoring the petroleum sector following a military
attack in order to increase oil exports to partially pay for a possible
US
military occupation government - further fueling the view that
controlling
Iraqi oil is at the heart of the Bush campaign to replace Hussein with
a
more compliant regime...
-----
ISRAELI PARTY HELPS PALESTINIANS TO EMIGRATE
James Reynolds, BBC, 10/31/02
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2377273.stm
Ahmani is a mother of six, living in Ramallah. Her husband is in an
Israeli
jail and the family finds it hard to make a living. A few weeks ago she
answered an advertisement placed in a Palestinian newspaper. It offered
free help and advice to anyone wanting to emigrate from the West Bank
and
Gaza. It was placed neither by Palestinians nor by foreign companies,
but
rather by a far right Israeli political party called Moledet or
Homeland -
a party that believes in removing Palestinians from the West Bank and
Gaza
by choice or by force…
Ahmani is aware of who is helping her out but that does not bother her.
"I
don't feel uncomfortable because they will give us a good life," she
says.
"This is what I am looking for as a mother. I am looking for peace, and
work, good education for my kids and also for food." For many years,
what
Israelis call "transfer" was little more than a fringe belief promoted
by
Moledet and its leader Rehavam Zeevi. But a year ago Zeevi was killed
by
Palestinian gunmen and since then his ideas have begun to win more…
-----
D.C. SEMINAR ON PEACE, JIHAD AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION
WHAT: Two day international seminar sponsored by The Association of
Muslim
Social Scientists (AMSS), The International Institute of Islamic
Thought
(IIIT) & the Islamic, Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(ISESCO)
WHEN: Saturday, November 2 - Sunday, November 3
WHERE: Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (CMCU) Georgetown
University
Themes to be addressed:
* Jihad, War and Peace in the Islamic Authoritative Texts
* Religion: A Tool for Conflict Resolution
* Positive Attitude Towards the "Other
* Political Violence and the Nature and Causes of Terrorism
* Religious and Cultural Roots of War and Peace
* Intercommunal Harmony and Tolerances: Historical Experiences of
Muslims
* Misconceptions of Islam in the West: Sources and Methods
* Political Domination, Imperialism, Colonialism, and their Roles in
Wars
and Conflicts
* Strategies of Peacemaking: Local, Regional and International
Panelists:
Sulaymann Nyang; Jamal Badawi; Maher Hathout; Ingrid Mattson; Fathi
Othman;
John Voll; Louis Cantori; Asma Afsaruddin; Ibrahim Kalin; Waleed El
Ansary;
Agha Saeed; M. Hakan Yavuz; Abdul Aziz Said; Ahmed Sadri; Kamran Asghar
Bokhari; Jahan Stanizai; Zaman Stanizai; Amr Abdalla; Tesnim Khriji;
Qamar-ul Huda; Zahid Bukhari; Zainab Al-Alwani; Mohammad Sharif; Joseph
Lumbard; Jerald Dirks; Imad ad-Dean Ahmed; Jocelyne Cesari; Anas Shaikh
Ali; Muqtedar Khan; Ejaz Akram; Bob Crane; Arshad A. Ahmed; Louay Safi;
and
Mohammad Abu Nimr.
Saturday Banquet Keynote Speaker Dr. John Esposito
Sunday Luncheon Keynote Speaker - Lord Nazeer Ahmed
For more information, visit http://www.amss.net and http://www.iiit.org
Registration required on site. No registration fees
Purchase Banquet Ticket for $35.00 at registration. No charge for
luncheon
Your participation is welcomed and appreciated
-----
CALL FOR PAPERS: THE JOURNAL OF ISLAMIC LAW & CULTURE
The Journal of Islamic Law and Culture seeks papers for its winter
issue,
"Immigration, Identity, and Transnational Politics." The journal
encourages
authors to submit papers focusing on the intersectionality of law,
politics, and citizenship. At the center of this discourse are theories
on
the continual remapping of the world and reshaping of identities
according
to political boundaries. This topic is timelier than ever in the United
States and abroad, particularly since the tragic events of September
11,
2001, and the subsequent efforts in peace and war.
Papers are welcome which address U.S. immigration policy and the INS,
the
Patriot Act, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and neo-colonialism in
the
postmodern world. Comparative topics are also encouraged. However,
articles
must elaborate on the relevance of their topic to the contemporary
Muslim-American community. The Journal welcomes scholarly articles from
legal as well as social science scholars. The former should follow The
Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation or The Association of Legal
Writing
Directors' ALWD Citation Manual, while the latter should follow the
Chicago
Manual of Style. All notes and references should be in footnotes, not
endnotes.
Please submit your article for consideration on a 3 1/2" diskette,
formatted in Microsoft Word. Two hard copies of the manuscripts should
be
submitted in Microsoft Word to the editorial review board. Submissions
should be in 12 point font and double-spaced. The Journal is a
refereed
publication. The process is double-blind. Abstracts should be
submitted by
November 15th, 2002. Papers are due February 15th, 2003
Submit to:
Professor Aminah Beverly McCloud
Journal of Islamic Law and Culture
Department of Religious Studies
SAC 431
DePaul University
2320 N. Kenmore Ave.
Chicago, Il 60614
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS 11/1/2002
HEADLINES:
* VERSE OF THE DAY: THE PARABLE OF THE BARE STONE
* CAIR LIBRARY UPDATE
* CAIR RAMADAN PUBLICITY KIT NOW ONLINE
* TRIAL DATE SET FOR WHIRLPOOL DISCRIMINATION CASE (U.S. Newswire)
* INCITEMENT WATCH: COULTER SAYS BEING MUSLIM A MEDICAL CONDITION
- Incitement Watch: Cal Thomas Says Snipers Following True
Islam
* THE PROPHET ORIANA (Providence Journal-Bulletin)
* CANADIAN MUSLIMS WELCOME CHANGE IN U.S. PROFILING POLICY
- U.S. Bows To Canada's Pressure (Newsday)
* CRONKITE: SOLO ACTION MAY SPARK WAR (AP)
- If You Can't Pronounce Iraq, Don't Invade It (Baltimore Sun)
* CLERGY PANEL OUSTS WICCAN, MUSLIM (Chicago Tribune)
* TECHNICAL TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES FOR MUSLIM COMMUNITY GROUPS
-----
VERSE OF THE DAY: THE PARABLE OF THE BARE STONE
“O ye who believe! Cancel not your charity by reminders of your
generosity
or by injury,- like those who spend their substance to be seen of men,
but
believe neither in God nor in the Last Day. They are in parable like a
hard, barren rock, on which is a little soil: on it falls heavy rain,
which
leaves it (Just) a bare stone. They will be able to do nothing with
aught
they have earned.”
Holy Quran, Surah 2, Verse 264
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 1360 sponsorships for $150 book and
tape packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country.
Take
part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library
package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
CAIR RAMADAN PUBLICITY KIT NOW ONLINE
Some people may have experienced difficulty downloading the Ramadan Kit
in
Microsoft Word format. We have since corrected the problem and the kit
is
now available in both Word and Acrobat Reader formats.
GO TO: http://www.cair-net.org/ramkit2002
-----
TRIAL DATE SET FOR WHIRLPOOL DISCRIMINATION CASE
Muslim Workers Allegations Include Racial Discrimination, Religious
Hostility at Whirlpool
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Muslim workers in Tennessee have
added new charges of racial discrimination to a lawsuit against a
Whirlpool
Corp. (NYSE:WHR ) plant in that state. In an amended complaint filed
with
the court, seven new plaintiffs joined 16 other current and former
employees, primarily Somali immigrants, who in April this year sued the
household appliance giant's manufacturing plant in La Vergne, Tenn.,
alleging religious discrimination…
The original lawsuit was initiated after one of the employees contacted
the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Washington-based
Islamic
civil rights and advocacy group. Attempts at mediation prior to the
filing
of the suit were rejected by Whirlpool. At a recent hearing, the
Honorable
Aleta Trauger, the United States District Judge presiding over the
litigation, has scheduled trial for July 2004. Due to the number of
Plaintiffs, there will be a number of "mini-trials" for each
plaintiff. The court has also ordered that any new plaintiffs must be
added to the lawsuit within three months…
The suit seeks an order compelling Whirlpool to provide reasonable
accommodation for the plaintiffs religious practices, as well as
compensatory and punitive damages for the financial losses and
emotional
pain and suffering caused by the discrimination…
-----
INCITEMENT WATCH: COULTER SAYS BEING MUSLIM A MEDICAL CONDITION
Muslim Media Makeovers
Ann Coulter, 10/30/02
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=108&ncid=742&e=9&u=/021031/51/2khm1.html
"His (DC sniper) condition? He's a Muslim. That's his condition and his
diagnosis. It may be time to update the DSM-IV by adding "Jihad
Impulse-Control Disorder" to its index of official diagnoses…"
---
INCITEMENT WATCH: CAL THOMAS SAYS SNIPERS FOLLOWING TRUE ISLAM
It’s Not Over
Cal Thomas, 10/29/02
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/calthomas/ct20021029.shtml
It is past time to stop worrying about political correctness and the
names
we might be called - such as intolerant bigoted Islamophobes - and
start
telling the truth. America's enemies are among us. They are here to
kill
us. The two men arrested in Maryland are the first wave following the
9/11
airplane hijackings. Surely others will follow, because their religion
and
history commission them to kill all infidels. Anyone who is a Christian
or
a Jew, or insufficiently fundamentalist, is fair game. They intend to
hunt
us down like deer in their scope sights...
-----
THE PROPHET ORIANA
Philip Terzian, Providence Journal-Bulletin, 11/1/02
http://www.projo.com/opinion/columnists/content/projo_20021030_30clterz.59906.html
Now, nearly 30 years later, and 72 years old, Oriana Fallaci lives in
New
York and has embarked on a second act. In the wake of Sept. 11, she has
written a brief, incoherent screed against Islam called "The Rage and
the
Pride," which is selling well in Europe and has made her very popular
in
certain circles.
She recently spoke to a friendly audience at the American Enterprise
Institute, where she described the Muslim "hatred for the West (as) a
fire
fed by the wind," and likened believers in Islam to creatures who
separate
"like protozoa into cells from two to infinity." It is no great
surprise to
learn that Fallaci compares herself to the child in the Grimms' fairy
tale
who observed that the emperor had no clothes: The only difference
between
"moderate" and "radical" Islam, she declares, is "the length of the
mullahs' beards." And while she is full of admiration for the United
States, she deplores the "lack of passion" in America for a full-scale
war
against followers of Mohammed.
In ordinary times, I suppose, Oriana Fallaci would be properly regarded
as
the crank she is, and a crank suffused with a stunning ignorance about
Islam. But we are living in a moment when just about anything can be
said
about certain things we know little about, and Americans' unfamiliarity
with Islam and the Muslim and Arab worlds has fed all manner of
bigotry.
Moreover, the foolish laws in France, Belgium, Italy and Switzerland
that
can make criticism of religion a criminal offense _ and have been
invoked
against "The Rage and the Pride" _ have made Fallaci an unlikely hero
to
certain Americans...
-----
CANADIAN MUSLIMS WELCOME CHANGE IN U.S. PROFILING POLICY
U.S. Must Make Good On Assurances And Resolve Arar Case, Says CAIR-Can
(Ottawa, Canada - 10/31/02) - A national Canadian advocacy organization
today commended the Canadian government's efforts in securing recent
assurances from U.S. authorities that Canadian citizens born in several
Middle East and North African countries will not be fingerprinted and
photographed upon entry into the United States.
Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham stated today that he had received
the
assurances from US Ambassador Paul Cellucci.
In a statement released this afternoon, CAIR-CAN wrote:
"The Canadian government's vocal protest against discriminatory US
requirements has been admirable and has, it appears, secured a
rescinding
of the US law for Canadian citizens.
"Our government must continue to press the US to make good on its
promise
and ensure that Canadians are not racially profiled or denied their
fundamental liberties in traveling to or through the US.
"We call on Mr. Graham to insist that the US government resolves the
issue
of Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen who was illegally and inhumanely
deported
by the US to Jordan in early October."
The issue of the United States’ discriminatory treatment of Canadian
citizens born in selected Muslim countries came to public attention
through
CAIR-CAN’s work on behalf of the Arar family.
CAIR-CAN also praised the diligent efforts of NDP leader Alexa
McDonough
and Progressive Conservative leader Joe Clark as playing a significant
role
in securing the US assurances.
-END-
Contact: Riad Saloojee
Council on American-Islamic Relations CANADA (CAIR-CAN)
P.O. Box 13219, Ottawa, ONT, K2K 1X4
E-mail: canada@cair-net.org
Tel: 1-866-524-0004
Fax: (613) 254-9810
URL: www.caircan.ca
---
U.S. BOWS TO CANADA'S PRESSURE
William Douglas, Newsday, 11/1/02
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wowarn012986747nov01,0,443922.story
Washington - The Canadians were clearly angry. In a most unneighborly
act,
their government slapped a travel advisory on their big southern
neighbor
this week, warning some Canadians of Middle Eastern ancestry to avoid
the
United States if they could.
It was the sort of warning normally issued in connection with the
world's
roughest neighborhoods, such as Pakistan, Yemen and other lands where
Westerners could be targeted for murder for political ends. But
Canadian
officials said they were fed up with what they perceive as
overzealousness
on the part of Washington in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. In
a
week when the State Department unveiled a $15-million public relations
campaign aimed at convincing Muslims overseas that it's OK to be a
Muslim
in the United States, the unusual Canadian maneuver was a public
embarrassment for the U.S. government.
But by yesterday evening, seeking to end months of Canadian ire, the
Bush
administration had agreed to alter its approach to Canadian visitors.
In Ottawa, Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham declared victory when
he
informed the House of Commons that U.S. Ambassador Paul Cellucci had
told
him Canadians would no longer be subjected to strict measures that were
introduced on the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The
travel advisory, however, will remain in place for now, he said…
Canada's complaints come just as the State Department debuted a series
of
two-minute mini-documentaries in Indonesia designed to reduce
anti-American
sentiment in the Muslim world.
"This [Canadian passport flap] certainly doesn't help the U.S. effort
to
reach out to the Arab world," said Riad Saloojee of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations-Canada. "There is perceived by many Canadian
Arabs and Muslims racial profiling in America, not just of American
citizens, but Canadian citizens."
-----
CRONKITE: SOLO ACTION MAY SPARK WAR
Associated Press, 11/1/02
PHOENIX - Solitary action by the United States against Iraq could lead
to
World War III, former CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite says.
“I see a great danger if we go it alone or with Great Britain as our
only
ally,” Cronkite said at a news conference Thursday before an annual
award
in his name was presented to longtime ABC sportscaster Al Michaels.
Cronkite said he believes if the United States fails to unite world
opinion
before going to war with Iraq, the result will be an Arab world united
against the United States.
One scenario could be an overthrow of the Pakistani government by
factions
already angered about the country's cooperation with the United States
in
removing the Taliban from power in Afghanistan, he said.
Another possibility could be China taking advantage of the situation to
strengthen military and economic ties to the Middle East at the expense
of
the United States, according to the 85-year-old Cronkite, who was the
anchor of the CBS Evening News from 1962-81…
---
IF YOU CAN'T PRONOUNCE IRAQ, DON'T INVADE IT
G. Jefferson Price III, Baltimore Sun, 11/1/02
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/4409186.htm
If the United States actually is going to invade Iraq and occupy it for
a
while, at least people in charge of this idea might start pronouncing
it
correctly. It's not "eye-rack" as the leaders of the Washington cabal
advocating invasion and occupation tend to pronounce it. It's
"ih-rock."
The failure to pronounce properly the names of places where the United
States has sent troops and tried to take charge is symptomatic of
historical failures going back at least as far as Vietnam.
In Vietnam, the pronunciations always seemed to have a sort of U.S.
Southern twang to them. This may have been because President Johnson
was a
Texan. Vietnamese places sounded like music scores, body parts or
automobile parts: "Kan-toe," "My Toe," and "Cam-ran…"
-----
CLERGY PANEL OUSTS WICCAN, MUSLIM
Chicago Tribune, 11/1/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0211010219nov01.story
WAUPUN, Wis. - The first Wiccan to serve as a prison chaplain in
Wisconsin
and a Muslim chaplain were both ousted from the Waupun Clergy
Association,
which now allows only Christians as members.
Muslim Imam Ronald Beyah said last week's action included him so it
wouldn't appear the group was targeting the person who caused concern,
Jamyi Witch, the Wiccan chaplain. Members of the association said it
was
founded for Christian ministers, but ambiguous bylaws meant Beyah was
included two years ago, followed by Witch last December.
Lutheran Pastor Kenneth Spence, who proposed the new policy, said he
had
nothing against Witch and Beyah "as persons, but it's a matter of
principle."
Wiccans celebrate nature and worship various gods and goddesses.
Followers
are sometimes called witches, though many prefer the term Wiccan.
-----
TECHNICAL TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES FOR MUSLIM COMMUNITY GROUPS
Faith and Service Technical Education Network (FASTEN) is part of Pew
Charitable Trusts’ comprehensive effort to enhance the faith
community’s
efforts to serve those most in need through their Religion and Social
Welfare Policy Strategy
FASTEN will increase the knowledge of faith-based organizations, public
administrators, and private funders on effective practices in
faith-based
social service delivery. FASTEN is part of a historical and
broad-based
effort to work for and with those members of our society most in need.
FASTEN will provide:
> high quality research information on effective practices in
faith-based
social service delivery;
> educational materials and tool kits;
> workshops and symposia;
> a web-based resource center that collects and distributes materials;
and
> a peer-to-peer network that allows practitioners to advise,
encourage,
and mentor one another.
FASTEN is a new initiative of the Center for Faith and Service, a
division
of the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC).
FASTEN Director Mark Scott will be visiting several cities in the U.S.
and
is eager to meet with Muslim community-based organizations in those
cities
interested in participating in the program. His travel itinerary is as
follows:
November 6 - 8: Pasadena, CA
Phone contact: 626-449-4000
November 8 - 12: Memphis, TN
Phone contact: 901-747-3700
November 19 20: Philadelphia, PA
November 26 - 30: Las Vegas, NV
December 11 - 12: Waco, TX
For further information, contact:
Mark Scott,
Executive Director, FASTEN
National Crime Prevention Council,
1000 Connecticut Ave., NW, 13th Floor
Washington, DC 20036-5325
202-261-4142
E-MAIL: mscott@ncpc.org
-----
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https://www.cair-net.org/asp/membership.asp
TO TAKE PART IN CAIR'S VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE, GO TO:
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/voting.asp
-----
To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to:
http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to: cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 11/3/2002
HEADLINES:
* BENEATH THE STEREOTYPES LIES A RICH HERITAGE (San Francisco
Chronicle)
* MUSLIM SCHOLARS DENIED U.S. VISAS FOR RAMADAN (Tulsa World/AP)
- RESOURCES: 8 TIPS ON SHARING RAMADAN WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS
- MUSLIMS APPROACH HARMONIC JOURNEY (St. Petersburg Times)
- ISLAM AT WORK (Wichita Eagle)
- MUSLIM RAPPERS REFLECT ON RAMADAN (Religion News Service)
* 'MUHAMMAD' MOVIE SETS OUT RELIGIOUS HURDLES (Los Angeles Times)
* AUTHOR CANCELS U.S. TOUR OVER RACIAL PROFILING (Ottawa Citizen)
- CANADIAN HELD IN SYRIA IS NO TERRORIST (Montreal Gazette)
* ARAB WORLD SEES A RESURGENCE OF ISLAMIC POLITICS (Los Angeles Times)
* CHECHENS CONFLICT IS STEEPED IN CZARIST PAST, STALIN-ERA EXILE (AP)
* POLICE INVESTIGATE ISRAELI DEFENCE MINISTER OVER WAR CRIMES (SMH)
-----
HIDDEN ISLAM: BENEATH THE WESTERN STEREOTYPES LIES A RICH CULTURAL
HERITAGE
Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle, 11/3/02
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/11/03/IN96782.DTL
The tragedy of Saddam Hussein is more than just a tragedy of war and
killing and suffering. It's a tragedy of imagery and information. For
more
than 20 years, Hussein has been the only Iraqi that Americans have
really
known. While we learn everything there is to know about his madness and
personal habits (his ex-mistress told ABC recently that Hussein dyes
his
hair, regularly uses Viagra and wears relaxation masks to reduce
wrinkles),
the rest of Iraq remains much of a mystery.
Three years ago, when the great Iraqi poet Abdul Wahab al-Bayati died
at
age 73, the nightly TV news programs in the United States ignored it.
Al-Bayati was one of the Muslim world's greatest living poets, a man
who
could write about love and passion and betrayal with poignancy and
verve,
as in his poem "Secret of Fire":
On the last day, I said to her:
You are the fire of the forests
The water of the river
The secret of the fire Half of you cannot be described
The other half: a priestess in the temple of Ishtar.
Poetry aside, most Americans only get a small snapshot of the Muslim
world,
but this frozen image of menace, fear, foreboding and foolery is often
enough to deceive us into making judgments.
Islam shouldn't be seen through this prism alone because it ignores the
vibrant culture that has existed for centuries in Egypt, Libya, Iran,
Iraq,
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Jordan and other
Muslim
countries. The poets, painters, writers, photographers, singers,
filmmakers
and artists who live in these countries create sublime work that
reflects
their diversity of faith, and occasionally -- very occasionally -- the
work
becomes widely known in the West...
"By and large, Muslims remain a one-dimensional community," says Agha
Saeed, head of the nation's largest Muslim political organization, the
American Muslim Alliance, which is based in Newark. "When you become a
one-dimensional community, people only have one dimension to deal with
you…
"Very few," says Omar Ahmad, board chairman of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, when asked how many Americans know Darwish
and
poems like "State of Siege." "It's not just him but other poets in the
Arab
world, or 20th century poets like Ahmad Shawqi from Egypt, who we call
'Prince of the Poets.' "
"For a long time," says Ahmad, "poetry was the medium of communication
for
people in the Middle East. In the Islamic world, poetry was like movies
today..."
Agha Saeed, who is from Pakistan and lectures in political science and
ethnic studies at UC Berkeley and California State University at
Hayward,
says people change their perception of Islam when they encounter Muslim
writers and thinkers for the first time. Earlier last month, when the
American Muslim Alliance held its convention in Edison, N.J., Saeed saw
how
FBI officials reacted to meeting Muslim professors.
"Three officials from the FBI came and had a public discussion with our
other panelists, including Sulayman S. Nyang, who was born in Africa,
is
now an American citizen and is former chair of ethnic studies at Howard
University," Saeed says. "They were surprised, I think, to see people
in a
different context where you had panelists who are scholars, activists,
civil rights attorneys, professors. The FBI had had only one experience
of
Muslims so far -- that was of Muslims as suspects, and this was perhaps
the
first time where they saw us as scholars and civilized thinkers. It's
my
impression that, in a small way, it changed their understanding of what
the
community is all about…"
-----
MUSLIM SCHOLARS STRUGGLE TO GET VISAS TO ATTEND RAMADAN CELEBRATIONS
Associated Press from Tulsa World, 11/3/02
http://www.tulsaworld.com/currentsearch/WorldSearchDisplay.asp?ID=021102_Ne_a12times
TULSA, Okla. - U.S. Muslim communities that have invited Muslim
scholars to
recite the Quran from memory during Ramadan celebrations may have to
make
changes as scholars struggle to get U.S. visas.
Increased security and restrictions on immigration visas may disrupt
tradition at Tulsa's Al Salaam mosque when Ramadan begins next week.
Muslim scholars, usually from the Middle East, have been brought to the
mosque to recite the entire Quran from memory during Ramadan, Islam's
lunar
month of fasting, prayer and spiritual reflection. "This year, because
of
what appears to be a reluctance of the State Department to grant visas
to
Islamic scholars, many Muslim communities may not be able to practice
their
annual routine," said Mujeeb Cheema, spokesman of the Islamic Society
of
Tulsa…
Recitation of the entire Quran from memory during Ramadan is an ancient
tradition in Islam.
The recitation is part of nightly evening prayers during the month of
Ramadan, a 29- or 30-day lunar month which occurs 11 days earlier each
year
on the western calendar.
Two scholars, one from Egypt and the other from Turkey, have been
invited
to recite the Quran in Tulsa, but neither has been granted a visa,
Cheema
said.
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American Islamic Relations
in
Washington, D.C., said his organization has received complaints from
all
parts of the United States about visa problems for visiting scholars.
"We're considering approaching the State Department about it," he said,
"but it's unlikely to be resolved for this year."
Hooper said the U.S. government seems to be concerned the scholars
won't
return to their home country.
"I believe most are ones who have come in previous years and have gone
back, so that hasn't been the case," Hooper said.
If neither of the foreign scholars receives a visa, the Tulsa Muslim
community has identified three of their own people who each have
memorized
different portions of the Quran, and together will be able to recite
the
entire book, Cheema said.
"We strongly prefer the overseas option, because that ensures a fully
committed person, who has no other job-related obligations during the
day,
and can focus on this laborious undertaking," Cheema said…
SEE ALSO:
RESOURCES: 8 TIPS ON SHARING RAMADAN WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS
http://www.soundvision.com/Info/ramadan/neighbors.asp
Ramadan is a great opportunity to share Islam and more specifically,
its
values of spirituality, generosity and kindness with others, especially
your neighbors. It's a great time to do Dawa. And Dawa is very much
needed
in the current atmosphere of anger, tension and sadness in the wake of
September 11, 2001.
---
MUSLIMS APPROACH HARMONIC JOURNEY
WAVENEY ANN MOORE, St. Petersburg Times, 11/2/.02
http://www.sptimes.com/
Search using the term "Ramadan."
A couple who converted from Protestantism to Islam head toward
simultaneous
joys. And they wish people who might judge them understood the true
meaning
of their faith.
The lives of Freddie and Lori Allen are brimming with expectancy.
Their first child is due in less than two weeks, and in a few days,
they
will begin the monthlong spiritual journey that makes up one of the
most
important obligations of their Islamic faith. It is a spiritual walk
that
likely will begin Wednesday, with the sighting of the new crescent
moon,
when Muslims worldwide will start Ramadan, the holy month of penitence,
fasting, forgiveness and renewal.
For the first time since converting to the faith, Mrs. Allen will not
fast.
Nursing mothers, children, the elderly and those who are ill are exempt
from the fast that stretches from sunrise to sunset.
She will miss the annual discipline, she said this week.
"There's going to be a void there," she said, "because I want to fast."
Besides abstaining from food and drink during daylight hours, Muslims
also
are required to refrain from smoking and sexual relations as part of
the
fast. During Ramadan, which commemorates the anniversary of God's
revelation of the Koran - the holy book of Islam - to the prophet
Mohammed,
believers also are required to say extra prayers…
---
ISLAM AT WORK
ABE LEVY, Wichita Eagle, 11/2/02
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/living/religion/4424183.htm
He's the only known Muslim on the early shift at General Electric
jet-engine overhaul facility in Arkansas City. During a break, he lays
down
a small pad in an open office to spend a few minutes with God.
His employer supports his practice. If not, he said the company would
have
to fire him.
"I really don't care, because to me, who is the one who created the job
to
start with? He is God," Al-Mosrati said. "He made the job available for
everyone. This is part of saying thank you to God."
Like members of other minority faiths in the nation, Muslims sometimes
must
make an extra effort to practice their faith in the workplace, where
well-grounded Christian holidays and customs are more readily accepted…
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations
in
Washington, D.C., said Muslims are making progress.
"Over the years, companies have adapted fairly well to increased
religious
diversity in the workplace," Hooper said. "I think they have to. There
are
not just Muslims but Buddhists and Hindus."
---
MUSLIM RAPPERS REFLECT ON RAMADAN
HOLLY LEBOWITZ ROSSI, Religion News Service, 11/1/02
http://www.religionnews.com
It's new. It might seem contradictory. Sometimes it's even
controversial.
But the musical genre of Muslim rap, whose lyrics are meant to be
positive
influences on their young audiences, is gaining ground and attention in
the
American Muslim community.
The rappers aspire to be role models for young people by living lives
that
are faithful to the principles of Islam, a mission that is especially
poignant during the holy month of Ramadan.
Ramadan, which is expected to begin Wednesday, is a time of spiritual
reflection and deep prayer when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset
each
day and deepen their commitment to their faith.
Some Muslim rappers express themselves through lyrics dedicated to the
themes of the holy month, while others work on their personal faith by
not
performing during that period.
Joshua Salaam, whose three-person rap group Native Deen has performed
at
Muslim conventions and private events across the country, says that
Ramadan
is a special time for him as an artist and a Muslim. ""I think that all
Muslims pretty much view Ramadan the same way. We look to it as a month
that you can correct your life," said Salaam…
SEE ALSO: http://www.nativedeen.com
-----
'MUHAMMAD' MOVIE SETS OUT RELIGIOUS HURDLES FOR MAKERS
Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times, 11/3/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-movie3nov03.story
MUSCAT, Oman - As Ahmed bin Khalifan and his two sons hurried toward
the Al
Shatti Plaza movie complex, he knew exactly what he wanted to see.
Not "Bad Company" with Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins. "Too vulgar, too
American," said the 35-year-old plumbing contractor. And not "K-19: The
Widowmaker," with Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson. "The reviews were
bad," he
said. The Khalifans, arriving in a late-model Lexus, were headed for
the
animated feature "Muhammad: The Last Prophet," which is attracting
respectable, if not blockbuster, audiences throughout the Middle East
since
opening Oct. 16…
That the 90-minute movie was even made is a testament to the
collaboration
between a former Disney animation director and a Middle Eastern
businessman
eager to break into the movie business.
"When we began, people were very skeptical but I knew there would be an
audience if we did things right," said Muwaffak Harithy, whose other
credits include working in his family's construction, maintenance, real
estate and portfolio management interests.
"This movie is a bridge maker, a way to show Islam the way it truly
is,"
said Harithy, chairman of Syria-based Badr Intl. "The journey has been
the
reward..."
For openers, director and producer Richard Rich -- selected by Harithy
because of his animation experience and track record of successful
religious films -- faced an obstacle that few moviemakers encounter:
His
hero could not appear on screen.
Islamic law considers it a sin to display images of Muhammad, the 7th
century prophet who spoke out against corrupt political and military
leaders in Mecca, was driven into exile, and later led a battle to
liberate
the holy city from nonbelievers.
"We knew from day one that our main character could not be seen and
could
not be heard," Rich said. "Our goal was to be true to Islam, not to
give
our version or interpretation of it…"
-----
CELEBRATED AUTHOR CANCELS U.S. TOUR OVER RACIAL PROFILING
Ottawa Citizen, 11/03/02
http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/story.asp?id={E4E01014-DA05-4DFD-842F-FF0517534199}
TORONTO -- Rohinton Mistry, one of Canada's most celebrated authors,
has
cancelled his U.S. book tour, complaining that he has faced
"unbearable"
humiliation as a result of racial profiling in American airports.
"I don't find this is the random check that they talk about, not when
they
happen to have it at every single stop, every single airport. The
random
process becomes 100-per-cent certitude," said Mr. Mistry last night
during
a public interview with the CBC's Shelagh Rogers in Toronto, part of a
reading and book signing. The Indian-born author said he recently
decided
to cancel stops in six U.S. cities because of discriminatory treatment
at
the border. Nominated for this year's Man Booker Prize, Mr. Mistry was
touring the U.S. at the end of September and early October to promote
his
new book, Family Matters.
"And when it keeps happening every single time, you get into this
convoluted logic, trying to convince yourself about why it's happening.
'Perhaps it's something about my beard, maybe I should change my
beard.' "
It was this train of thought -- which he characterized as "trying to
appease a bad policy" -- that prompted him to call off the tour.
In a letter sent to bookstores informing them Mr. Mistry had cancelled
his
tour over his treatment by U.S. officials, his U.S. publicist at Random
House wrote: "As a person of colour he was stopped repeatedly and
rudely at
each airport along the way -- to the point where the humiliation to him
and
his wife (with whom he has been travelling) has become unbearable."
The author has raised his complaints amid a cross-border rift over
racial
profiling, which began after the U.S. started to fingerprint,
photograph
and register Canadian citizens originally from certain Muslim
countries.
The U.S. has backed down and will no longer automatically register
Canadians from certain countries. But Canadians can still be registered
at
the discretion of U.S. border authorities…
SEE ALSO:
CANADIAN HELD IN SYRIA IS NO TERRORIST: COLLEAGUES
PATTI EDGAR, Montreal Gazette, 11/2/02
http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=a1037328-0b7d-46f0-8e91-fd762505de24
Colleagues in a Boston software company are rallying around a Canadian
detained in Syria, claiming he is simply a Muslim businessman too busy
for
terrorism.
With his dark beard and imperfect English, Maher Arar's co-workers in
Boston's MathWorks once teased him about how easily he could fill the
role
of terrorist in a Hollywood movie.
When co-workers learned the engineer had been detained at New York John
F.
Kennedy Airport on Sept. 26 and deported to his birth country on
suspicion
of belonging to an organization like Al-Qa'ida, shock and disbelief
spread
through the building, said salesman John Luczkow. Arar was a brilliant
but
serious engineer who worked for MathWorks for two years, said Luczkow
from
his Boston office yesterday.
When Arar decided to move back to Canada in 2001 and start his own
consulting firm, the friends kept in touch.
"Up until the time I was last in contact with him, Maher was working
full-time on developing his business," Luczkow said. "He was a master
of
our software and no one could be at his level of acquaintance with our
tools without putting the proper time into it. How could he have time
for
anything else?"
In a letter sent to the Department of Foreign Affairs this week,
Luczkow
wrote that he was ashamed of the conduct of his government and hopes
Canadian authorities will continue to pressure Syria to allow him to
return
to Ottawa…
"We think this is bogus," McGarrity said. "He was probably grabbed by
some
immigration folk, got pissed off with them and wasn't co-operative, and
they just punished him."
-----
ARAB WORLD SEES A RESURGENCE OF ISLAMIC POLITICS
David Lamb, Los Angeles Times, 11/2/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-arabs2nov02.story
CAIRO - Gripped by frustration and a sense of powerlessness,
particularly
in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, multitudes of Arabs
are
embracing a more conservative interpretation of Islam to define their
identity and reclaim some faith in the future.
The growing influence of Islamism, Arab scholars and Western analysts
generally agree, has turned religion into the leading political force
in
the region. It is, they say, the most significant political movement
since
Pan-Arabism, preached by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser in the
1950s
and '60s, and a source of concern to Arab regimes that allow little
democracy or freedom of expression…
"The moderate Muslim is looking for a Muslim ideology he can identify
with,
one that doesn't put him on a collision course with world powers and
doesn't lead to catastrophic killings or psychotic acts like we've
seen,"
said Frank Vogel, an Islamic scholar at Harvard University. "What he
doesn't want is some kind of new Western or global order imposed on him
willy-nilly that has nothing to do with his Islamic identity or
authenticity.
"But 'moderate Muslim' doesn't mean what many people think. A
mainstream
Muslim often does believe in things like religion having a role in
politics
and in state law. At first blush those beliefs seem fundamentalist. But
if
we mistranslate them as extremist, we'll misjudge what's going on in
the
Middle East and we'll fail to play a positive role in the emergence
there
of moderate and successful political systems…"
-----
CONFLICT BETWEEN CHECHENS AND RUSSIA IS STEEPED IN CZARIST PAST,
STALIN-ERA EXILE
David McHugh, Associated Press, 11/1/02
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAXZZ5V08D.html
MOSCOW (AP) - On his tough bricklayer's fingers, Akhmad Arsamakov ticks
off
the members of his family who suffered under Moscow's rule. Father
deported
by Stalin; grandfather joined a hopeless mountain rebellion against the
Soviets in the 1940s; great-great grandfather led resistance to Czarist
troops in the 1860s, was captured and then disappeared.
"All of us suffered," Arsamakov, 51, said. "But this is the story of
every
Chechen. Not 'almost' every Chechen. Every Chechen."
Considering that within living memory the entire population of Chechnya
was
expelled from its homeland, the lanky construction worker's remark
doesn't
sound like an exaggeration…
Sharply etched folk memories of conflict with Moscow are a big part of
being from Chechnya, a Muslim chip in the mosaic of ethnic groups that
make
up the North Caucasus.
The current conflict, as Arsamakov's family history suggests, is only
the
latest chapter. The other North Caucasus groups eventually gave up or
were
defeated. But the Chechens have been resisting Russian rule since the
early
19th century.
It took the Czarist army 42 years to subdue the New Jersey-sized
territory
and attach it to the expanding Russian empire in 1859. Russian troops
burned villages, executed resisters and battled fighters under
legendary
rebel leader Imam Shamil...
-----
POLICE INVESTIGATE NEW ISRAELI DEFENCE MINISTER OVER WAR CRIMES
Chris McGreal and Brian Whitaker, Sydney Morning Herald, 11/2/02
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/11/01/1036027036796.html
Lieutenant-General Shaul Mofaz, named as Israeli Defence Minister by
the
Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, is under investigation by British police
for
alleged war crimes in the occupied territories.
The appointment of General Mofaz, a former army chief of staff, to such
a
key post has confirmed suspicions that Mr Sharon would lurch further to
the
right after the Labour Party walked out of the coalition government on
Wednesday…
The investigation was ordered after lawyers representing several
Palestinian families presented the DPP with a dossier demanding General
Mofaz's arrest under the Geneva Convention. The dossier accuses him of
crimes resulting from Israel's "targeted assassinations" policy and the
destruction of Palestinian homes.
In a 17-page letter sent to the British Justice Minister, a human
rights
lawyer, Imran Kahn, also accused General Mofaz of breaching the
convention
banning the use of torture while he was head of the Israeli Army…
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 11/4/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: THE REAL MEANING OF RAMADAN
* CAIR LIBRARY UPDATE
* INCITEMENT WATCH: NATIONAL REVIEW SAYS WRAP MUSLIMS IN PIGSKINS/LARD
* CAIR RESPONDS RESOLUTELY AS 9/11 PUTS ITS FAITH TO THE TEST (PR Week)
* RAMADAN REMINDS MUSLIMS OF FAITH DURING TRYING TIMES (Contra Costa
Times)
- Holy Month of Ramadan starts in Egypt on Wednesday (Reuters)
- Moving Beyond the Mosque (Miami Herald)
- The Fast Begins (Star Ledger)
- Crescent Follows New Moon (Star-Ledger)
- Ground Broken For Fort Worth Mosque (Fort Worth Star Telegram)
* ISLAM, NATION OF ISLAM, FIVE PERCENT: THREE DIFFERENT RELIGIONS (AP)
* CIVIL LIBERTIES/THE CONSTITUTION ISN'T OPTIONAL (Star Tribune)
* OTTAWA SLAMS U.S. VISA PLAN (Toronto Star)
* AMNESTY ACCUSES ISRAEL OF WAR CRIMES (AP)
- Attack of the Oxymorons (Antiwar)
* PARTY WITH ISLAMIC ROOTS WINS TURKISH ELECTIONS (AP)
- A Religious Turk Vaults To Power (Christian Science Monitor)
* CARVE-UP OF OIL RICHES BEGINS (Observer)
* CHECHNYA'S SAVAGE WAR COMES HOME TO MOSCOW (Toronto Sun)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: THE REAL MEANING OF RAMADAN
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "If a person does not
give
up false accusations and bad behavior while fasting, God has no need of
his
giving up food or drink."
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 8, Hadith 83
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 1364 sponsorships for $150 book and
tape packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country.
Take
part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library
package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 20
-----
INCITEMENT WATCH: NATIONAL REVIEW SAYS WRAP MUSLIMS IN PIGSKINS/LARD
Pigs, Jews & War
Jonah Goldberg, National Review, 11/4/02
http://www.nationalreview.com/goldberg/goldberg110102.asp
I am fascinated by this idea of wrapping dead terrorists in pigskin and
lard. This is what the Russians - who understand far better than
Americans
how to deter Muslim terrorists - are doing with Chechen terrorists. The
idea is that some Muslims believe they cannot enter heaven if they're
wrapped in pork, which may be the other white meat here but is the
unclean
meat over there. Which is just another example of the growing rift
between
our two civilizations, as many Americans consider being swaddled in
pork
products to be heaven itself. Eternity in bacon… mmmmm…"
In March of this year, a National Review writer suggested that "nuking
Mecca" would "send a signal" to Muslims.
ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE.)
Contact Freddie Mac, one of the National Review's major advertisers, to
politely suggest they consider running their ads in publications that
promote tolerance and interfaith understanding.
CONTACT:
Mr. Leland C. Brendsel
Chairman and CEO
Freddie Mac
8200 Jones Branch Drive
McLean, VA 22102-3110
TEL: 703-903-2000, 800-424-5401
FAX: 703-903-3495
E-MAIL: ella_lee@freddiemac.com, corprel@freddiemac.com,
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org, jonahnro@aol.com
-----
CAIR RESPONDS RESOLUTELY AS 9/11 PUTS ITS FAITH TO THE TEST
Sherri Deatherage Green, PR Week, 11/4/02
http://www.prweek.com/thisweek/index.cfm?ID=163078&site=3
When September 11 threw a high-beamed spotlight on Islam, the Council
on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) didn't squint in the glare.
The most personal and sensitive of topics - religion - suddenly seemed
connected to a tragedy of unthinkable magnitude. Many reporters who
rarely
covered theology scrambled to understand Islam and how its American
adherents responded to and were affected by the terrorist attacks. CAIR
became arguably the most outspoken among a handful of organizations to
which journalists turned for the Muslim perspective. CAIR was founded
in
1994 by local activists in the Washington, DC area who felt the need
for a
'professional Muslim voice,' particularly on civil rights issues,
recalls
Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR's communications director and one of its original
members. The organization's goal was to 'promote a positive image of
Islam
and Muslims in America…'
Before 9/11, CAIR strove to establish itself as a credible
spokes-organization in the eyes of religion writers and other
journalists
covering issues such as labor relations and civil rights. CAIR
regularly
sent 'Islam-Infonet' e-mails to journalists, as well as 'CAIR-Net'
postings
to Muslims throughout the US. Hooper began sending daily news updates
to
both e-mail lists after 9/11, along with occasional action alerts
rallying
supporters to write letters to lawmakers or media outlets or otherwise
apply grassroots pressure...
Since then, CAIR has spoken out as an advocate of Muslim detainees,
against
waging war on Iraq, and with indignation about fundamentalist
Christians'
unfavorable depictions of the prophet Muhammad. It embarked on a quest
to
provide books on Islam to 17,000 libraries nationwide. It also took Fox
News to task for what it sees as an unfair and sensational pattern of
putting Muslims on the defensive against talk-show guests like Pat
Robertson...
-----
RAMADAN REMINDS MUSLIMS OF FAITH DURING TRYING TIMES
Jack Chang, Contra Costa Times, 11/4/02
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/4440373.htm
The month-long rite comes at a key juncture for its practitioners
A year ago, suicidal airplane attacks in New York and U.S. bombs
falling in
Afghanistan preceded the arrival of Ramadan, the holiest time of the
year
for more than 1 billion Muslims around the world.
In the eyes of many Muslim-Americans, affairs have only worsened since
then, and the holy month, which is expected to begin this Wednesday,
will
be awash in sadness.
A threatened U.S. attack on Iraq will surely mean the deaths of
thousands
of Iraqi civilians, local Muslims said. Hundreds more Palestinians and
Israelis have died in the Holy Land after a year's worth of army
incursions
and suicide bombings. Muslims in the United States have found
themselves
the targets of government investigation and detention. Ramadan is a
time
when Muslims retreat within their souls and make themselves more
sensitive
to the sufferings of their sisters and brothers. This year, even more
so
than last year, people observing Ramadan will be exposing themselves to
a
lot of pain and strife, said Pittsburg resident Naim Shahab.
"In the month of Ramadan, most people are getting closer to God and
being
more religious, and that's good," said Shahab, who serves as president
of a
mosque on Concord Boulevard. "If war happens, it will be disturbing not
just for Muslims but for everyone else, too..."
SEE ALSO:
HOLY MONTH OF RAMADAN STARTS IN EGYPT ON WEDNESDAY
Reuters, 11/4/02
CAIRO, Nov 4 (Reuters) - The Muslim fasting month of Ramadan will begin
on
Wednesday in Egypt, an Egyptian religious official said on state
television
on Monday.
Ahmed al-Tayyeb, Egypt's official Mufti who is responsible for issuing
religious opinions, said the Islamic month of Ramadan would begin on
Wednesday since the new moon had not been sighted on Monday night.
Ramadan, lasting 28 or 29 days, begins on the first day after the new
moon
is sighted. Since the moon was not sighted on Monday, it must appear on
Tuesday night…
---
MOVING BEYOND THE MOSQUE
Donna Gehrke-White, Miami Herald, 11/4/02
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/4437738.htm
A new moon will usher in Ramadan this week, the holiest time of the
year
for the world's 1.2 billion Muslims.
Many of the nation's approximately 7 million Muslims will use the month
of
fasting and spiritual renewal -- which begins Tuesday or Wednesday,
depending on the sighting of a crescent moon -- to continue their quest
to
make inroads into the mainstream, from helping the homeless to working
with
Christians and Jews to promote peace. It's a mission begun after Sept.
11
and reflects a new strategic thinking among many Muslim leaders.
'The key to Muslims' future in America is the integration of Muslims
into
the mainstream of America,'' says Mohammad Javed Qureshi, a founder of
the
Sunrise mosque, Islamic Foundation of South Florida, and a board member
of
the Florida chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR), an
Islamic advocacy group. "For the longest time Muslims might have felt
that
if they integrated into the mainstream of America they would be
compromising their religious beliefs," he added. "We are finding out
that
is not the case."
Qureshi, for example, helped plan Sunday's Picnic for Peace at TY Park
in
Hollywood, an outing sponsored by Jews and Muslims for Peace, a Broward
group that started up after 9/11.
The new activism is carrying over into Islamic schools. Since Sept. 11,
students and staff at Nur Ul-Islam Academy in Cooper City have visited
homeless shelters, fed the poor, and donated blood to the American Red
Cross, says Kem Hussain, president of the school, which runs from
kindergarten to 12th grade...
---
THE FAST BEGINS
Patricia C. Turner, Star-Ledger, 11/3/02
http://www.nj.com/living/ledger/index.ssf?/base/living-0/1036318719229030.xml
When the new moon appears this week across North America, an estimated
7
million Muslims in the United States will begin the 30-day observance
of
Ramadan.
In doing so, they will join an estimated 1.2 billion Muslims worldwide
in a
period of fasting, prayer and reading of the Quran.
During Ramadan, Muslims are asked to refrain from eating, drinking,
smoking
and other sensual pleasures from the break of dawn to sunset. Those who
are
able say the fifth of their daily prayers in a mosque, where they
recite
special prayers and hear the imam read from the Quran, beginning to
end,
over 27 days. Others say their prayers wherever they are, whether at
work
or at home. The fast usually is broken with dates and water, and they
then
eat whatever they would ordinarily eat. Working to help other Americans
understand the Muslim faith is the Center for Understanding Islam,
which
was founded three days after Sept. 11.
The center is "a Muslim think-tank to present an enlightened
understanding
of Islam within the Muslim community, and to provide information and
education to the community at large," said Afshan Siddiqui of
Piscataway, a
volunteer for the group. "CUI focuses on education and emphasizes the
common humanity of all faiths…"
"Muslims look forward to Ramadan as a period of spiritual reflection
and
renewal. It is also a time when people of other faiths can learn more
about
Islam and the American Muslim community," said Omar Ahniad, board
chairman
of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based
Islamic
civil rights and advocacy group.
---
CRESCENT FOLLOWS NEW MOON
KEVIN D. CONOD, Star-Ledger, 11/3/02
http://www.nj.com/living/ledger/index.ssf?/base/living-0/1036318712229031.xml
A BEAUTIFUL CRESCENT moon will grace the evening sky this week. When
the
moon's night side is facing us, it is described as a "new moon." This
occurs at 3:34 p.m. tomorrow. As the sun sets, the moon will not be
visible, since its daytime side is facing away from us.
Sunset is about 4:49 p.m. on Tuesday. If you watch the west after
sunset
and the skies are very clear, you may spot a razor-thin crescent moon
hanging in the twilight. As the sky gets darker, look for the reddish
star
Arcturus to the right of the moon. If you miss it on Tuesday, check it
out
Wednesday or Thursday.
This is more than just a pretty sight to some. The Muslim calendar runs
according to the moon. The months begin when the lunar crescent is
first
seen with the naked eye. As mentioned, the new moon is invisible. It
takes
about 24 hours for the crescent to become visible, thus it is likely to
be
spotted on Tuesday night and marks the beginning of a new month.
---
GROUND BROKEN FOR FORT WORTH MOSQUE
Gustavo Reveles Acosta, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 11/4/02
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/4439919.htm
The region's newest mosque will serve more than just the Fort Worth
Muslim
population and open its doors to anyone who wants to worship God, an
Islamic leader said Sunday during the center's groundbreaking.
"After September 11, it has become important that we open up to the
community and not just stay within our own," said Imam Moujahed Bakhach
of
the Islamic Association of Tarrant County. "This building will be a
place
where we will welcome Muslims and non-Muslims to hear the word of God
Almighty. All will be welcomed."
The association could open Masjid Al-Ibrahime Mosque, 4901 Diaz Ave.,
in
about eight months. Funds are still being raised for the $3.5 million
project.
The 46,000-square-foot west Fort Worth center will serve the 2,300
people
now praying at Masijid Jamia Jama Mosque on Fletcher Avenue and the 150
students in the Texas School of Islamic Studies.
Yasmeen Khan, a member of the Islamic association, said the mosque is
needed to meet the needs of the Muslim community.
"We really needed something that was specific for us. The new mosque
will
improve our services," she said…
-----
ISLAM, NATION OF ISLAM, FIVE PERCENT: THREE VERY DIFFERENT RELIGIONS
Rebecca Cook, Associated Press, 11/4/02
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/94026_muslimglnc03.shtml
SEATTLE - John Allen Muhammad told people he was Muslim. He belonged to
the
Nation of Islam. And some law enforcement sources speculate he may
believe
in, or be influenced by, a fringe group called the Five Percent
movement.
These three groups have radically different beliefs, values and
cultures.
Perhaps the only thing they have in common is that none of their
members
want to be associated with the main suspect in serial sniper shootings
that
killed 10 people in the Washington, D.C. area.
An estimated 30,000 Muslims live in Seattle. No one knows how many
Nation
of Islam members there are, but meetings held in a Central District
community center regularly draw 10 to 20 people. Even less is known
about
the local membership of the Five Percent network, but mainstream
Muslims
believe it's very small.
A look at the three very different religions:
Islam is a monotheistic faith, like Judaism and Christianity. Its
followers, called Muslims, believe that the prophet Mohammad was the
final
messenger of God, last in a series that include Moses and Jesus. The
Quran
is the holy book of Islam…
The Nation of Islam started in the 1930s in Detroit, when Wallace D.
Fard
preached that he came from Mecca with the message that blacks were
members
of an ancient tribe called Shabazz, merging Islam with black
empowerment.
Nation followers believe Fard was divine and his successor Elijah
Muhammad
was a prophet - contradicting mainstream Islam's belief that there is
one
god and the ancient Muhammad was the final prophet.
Mainstream Muslims do not consider the Nation of Islam part of their
religion...
The group known as the Five Percent movement started as a splinter
group
from the Nation of Islam but has its own completely different spiritual
beliefs.
The 39-year-old movement refers to black men as "gods" and black women
as
"earths." They believe only 5 percent of the population is enlightened.
While the group teaches a positive message of black pride, self-respect
and
uplifting families, it has also been associated with gang activity in
prisons.
The Five Percent movement has influenced hip-hop culture, and the
group's
imagery and phrases surface in songs by such artists as Busta Rhymes,
the
Wu-Tang Clan and Brand Nubian.
-----
CIVIL LIBERTIES/THE CONSTITUTION ISN'T OPTIONAL
Star Tribune, 11/4/02
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/3404036.html
Yasser Esam Hamdi is a special American. So special, in fact, that the
U.S.
government has kept him locked up in a windowless cell for more than
six
months -- forbidden contact with anyone but his jailers. His pleas for
a
lawyer have been denied. Yet Hamdi hasn't been charged with any crime.
How can this be? Ask the White House, which argues that Hamdi is "by no
means an everyday American." Born in Baton Rouge but raised largely in
Saudi Arabia, the 22-year-old student was part of a Taliban unit
captured
in Afghanistan last year. The government deems him an "enemy combatant"
who
can be held incommunicado as long as the conflict -- the ongoing and
potentially endless war on terror -- persists…
Hamdi's plight recalls the days of the Japanese internment camps -- the
shame of World War II. Back then, having the wrong ethnicity was enough
to
justify indefinite lockup. These days, it seems, being caught on the
wrong
battlefield is enough to scotch due process. Once citizen Hamdi was
nabbed
in Afghanistan, the government says, he lost all rights he once had.
But saying this doesn't make it so. As a throng of civil-liberties
groups
and law scholars have told the court, the White House can't
legitimately
bar judicial review of a citizen's rights merely by claiming he's an
enemy
combatant -- whatever that vague term may mean. If it could, citizens
like
Hamdi would enjoy even fewer rights than foreigners like Zacarias
Moussaoui
-- the so-called "20th hijacker" of Sept. 11 -- and others facing
terrorism
charges.
That's senseless, as is this business of fighting for U.S. freedom by
squelching it. The Constitution, after all, isn't a sometime thing --
reserved for good Americans who stay home and out of trouble. Its
protections were written to apply to the most and least ordinary of
Americans -- to the innocent, and to those who may well be guilty.
If the United States has a case to make against citizen Hamdi, let it
prosecute him in open court. Give him a chance to consult with a
lawyer,
confront his accusers and mount a defense. If no accusation can stand
against the man, it's inexcusable -- and unconstitutional -- to detain
him.
Surely the appellate court will say so.
-----
OTTAWA SLAMS U.S. VISA PLAN
Tim Harper, Toronto Star, 11/4/02
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1035773964834&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News&col=968793972154
Immigration Minister Denis Coderre says Washington appears to be making
up
security policy as it goes and he will seek to head off another
restriction
on those travelling to the United States from Canada.
Yesterday, Coderre said he will meet with Foreign Affairs Minister Bill
Graham this morning to discuss Ottawa's response to a move by
Washington
that could require landed immigrants in Canada from 50 Commonwealth
countries to obtain visas for travel to the United States.
If the move by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is
imposed, it would mean citizens of such countries as Pakistan, India,
South
Africa and Jamaica would need visas to enter the United States, even
though
they are living in Canada and, until now, have enjoyed the same ease of
entry into the U.S. as Canadians…
The latest move comes on the heels of a U.S. decision to end a policy
that
Ottawa said targeted Canadians of Arab descent who were subjected to
photographing and fingerprinting upon arrival in the United States.
"They backtracked last week. Are they going to backtrack again?"
Coderre
asked in an interview yesterday on CTV's Question Period. "Is this
improvisation?"
Coderre said he is particularly concerned that the policy would affect
landed immigrants in this country because they are in the process of
becoming Canadian citizens.
"What's behind this? Is it against Canada? I don't think so. I think
now
it's security at any cost, but what is their definition of security?
"Is it somebody who looks different? Coderre asked.
"A Muslim is a potential terrorist? What's that? That's clearly not the
Canadian way and I have to look for answers here…"
-----
AMNESTY ACCUSES ISRAEL OF WAR CRIMES
Ramit Plushnick-Masti, Associated Press, 11/4/02
JERUSALEM - Israel committed "war crimes," including unlawful killings,
in
Jenin and Nablus during a broad military offensive in those West Bank
cities in April, the human rights group Amnesty International said
Monday.
The Israeli military defended the offensive, saying it was launched
against
Palestinian militants in response to suicide bombings against Israeli
civilians.
Amnesty International also said that Shaul Mofaz, a former army chief
of
staff who was to become defense minister Monday, could be charged with
war
crimes for overseeing the military actions in Jenin and Nablus...
In the Amnesty report, titled "Israel and the Occupied Territories:
Shielded from Scrutiny - IDF violations in Jenin and Nablus," Amnesty
said
there is "clear evidence that some of the acts committed by the Israel
Defense Forces ... were war crimes."
Israeli carried out "unlawful killings, torture and ill-treatment of
prisoners, wanton destruction of hundreds of homes," according to
Amnesty.
Soldiers also blocked access to ambulances and denied humanitarian
assistance, leaving the wounded and dead lying in the streets for days,
and
used Palestinians as "human shields" while searching for suspected
militants, Amnesty said…
SEE ALSO: Amnesty Report: IDF Violations in Jenin and Nablus
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE151542002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\ISRAEL/OCCUPIED+TERRITORIES
---
ATTACK OF THE OXYMORONS
Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com, 11/4/02
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/justincol.html
Only Bush can save Sharon, now. Under cover of a regional
conflagration,
the ultra-nationalist dream of a Greater Israel could be quickly
accomplished. While all eyes are on Baghdad, what is happening on the
West
Bank could be contained to the back pages, a sidebar, at most, to the
main
event. Pressure on the President to make war is increasing, with
hotheads
like Charles Krauthammer demanding to know why the President is "going
wobbly" while others confidently predict the outbreak of hostilities
sometime early next year, or perhaps even sooner.
Why war? Why now? For the answer, forget about oil - Iraq's oil isn't
going
anywhere, but the Sharon government may not last out the year. Look to
the
internal political dynamics of the U.S., and specifically within the
President's own party, where a coalition of Christian fundamentalists
and
the neoconservative friends of Israel - who rationalize a radical
policy of
expansionism as "self-defense." - are beating the war drums for all
they're
worth…
-----
PARTY WITH ISLAMIC ROOTS WINS TURKISH ELECTIONS
Tom Rachman, Associated Press, 11/4/02
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - After an overwhelming victory in Turkey's
elections,
a party with Islamic roots pledged to maintain the nation's pro-Western
stance, quickly moving to soothe worries that the country would undergo
a
radical shift toward Islam.
The Justice and Development Party won a parliamentary majority in
Sunday's
elections - the first time in 15 years that any party has been in a
position to govern alone - largely due to voter fury over a devastated
economy.
The win could concern Turkey's powerful and firmly secular military,
which
in the past forced a pro-Islamic government from power. However, the
victorious Justice party stressed it didn't want confrontation.
At a celebration at party headquarters, leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan
said:
"We will not spend our time dizzy with victory. We will build a Turkey
where common sense prevails."
A party official called on supporters not to shout religious slogans
such
as "Allah is Great!"
With 99.9 percent of ballot boxes counted, Erdogan's party had 34
percent
support, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported. The
center-left
Republican People's Party had 19 percent…
SEE ALSO:
A RELIGIOUS TURK VAULTS TO POWER
Ilene R. Prusher, Christian Science Monitor, 11/4/02
http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2002/1104/p01s03-woeu.html
KAYSERI, TURKEY - Abdullah Gul bounds into each shop on a main drag of
this
central Turkish city, extending a hearty handshake, a pearly smile, and
the
greeting of politicians everywhere.
"How are you doing?" he asks cheerily. "Not so great," is a common
reply.
In a country in its deepest economic slump since 1945, few businessmen
in
the heartland are as ebullient as Mr. Gul.
"Hold on ... things are going to change soon," vows Gul, who many here
expect will be the next prime minister.
Early returns Sunday show that Gul's Justice and Development Party, or
AK
Party had 34 percent of the vote, and enough seats in parliament to
form a
government without coalition partners.
As a result, Turkey will see the ascension of an untested political
party
with an Islamist pedigree at a moment in history when US military
intervention in neighboring Iraq and entrance to the European Union
loom as
large as the imposing 6th century Byzantine fortress walls over
Kayseri,
Gul's hometown…
"We don't call ourselves an Islamic party. Religion is a universal
thing,
and a party is a political thing - and this should not be linked to
religion," says Gul, who wears a neat suit and striped tie, which he
takes
off after a vigorous round of campaigning in the sun.
-----
CARVE-UP OF OIL RICHES BEGINS
Peter Beaumont and Faisal Islam, Observer (UK), 11/3/02
http://www.observer.co.uk/focus/story/0,6903,825099,00.html
The leader of the London-based Iraqi National Congress, Ahmed Chalabi,
has
met executives of three US oil multinationals to negotiate the carve-up
of
Iraq's massive oil reserves post-Saddam.
Disclosure of the meetings in October in Washington - confirmed by an
INC
spokesman - comes as Lord Browne, the head of BP, has warned that
British
oil companies have been squeezed out of post-war Iraq even before the
first
shot has been fired in any US-led land invasion.
Confirming the meetings to US journalists, INC spokesman Zaab Sethna
said:
'The oil people are naturally nervous. We've had discussions with them,
but
they're not in the habit of going around talking about them.'
Disclosure of talks between the oil executives and the INC - which
enjoys
the support of Bush administration officials - is bound to exacerbate
friction on the UN Security Council between permanent members and
veto-holders Russia, France and China, who fear they will be squeezed
out
of a post-Saddam oil industry in Iraq…
-----
CHECHNYA'S SAVAGE WAR COMES HOME TO MOSCOW
Eric Margolis, Toronto Sun, 11/3/02
http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/margolis_nov3.html
There is no excuse for taking civilians hostage. The Moscow outrage was
an
act of terrorism, as Russia insists. But it was a smaller act of terror
within a greater one: Moscow's ongoing war to crush the Chechen
independence movement, an inconvenient cause ignored by the outside
world.
The hostage-taking in Moscow was a desperate act by desperate people
without voice or hope.
The Chechen, a Muslim people of the Caucasus Mountains, have fiercely
battled Russian occupation for 300 years. In hidden genocide during the
1940s, Stalin had thousands of Chechen shot and 500,000 (half the
population) sent in cattle cars to frigid Central Asian concentration
camps, where 25% died…
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Chechnya, led by Gen. Jhokar
Dudayev, declared independence. While Moscow allowed other republics
independence, Chechen were denied freedom because of important oil
pipelines that ran through their territory and Kremlin fears other
Muslim
peoples of the Caucasus would seek independence…
-----
TO BECOME A CAIR MEMBER, GO TO:
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/membership.asp
TO TAKE PART IN CAIR'S VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE, GO TO:
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/voting.asp
-----
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To reach the list moderator, send a message to: cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 11/5/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: CHARITY
- Easy Dawah Tip
* CAIR LIBRARY UPDATE
* CAIR FUNDRAISERS SUCCESSFUL NATIONWIDE
* NOTIFY CAIR IF YOU ARE VISITED BY THE FBI
- CAIR Meets with CHP
* SUPERMARKET CHAIN ACKNOWLEDGES RAMADAN
- Eid Stamps Available Online
* RAMADAN LIKELY STARTS TUESDAY NIGHT (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
- Holy Month of Ramadan an Anxious Time for U.S. Muslims (AP)
- Female Converts Embrace Islam, Defy Stereotypes (Cox News)
* PORTLAND POLICE CREATE MUSLIM/ARAB ADVISORY COUNCIL
- BOP and INS Accommodate Ramadan Observances (DOJ)
* INCITEMENT WATCH: COLUMNIST COMPARES ISLAM TO NAZISM
* JEWISH LEADER DECLARED BRAIN DEAD (AP)
* OPPOSITION TO WAR WITH IRAQ ON RISE (New Jersey Journal)
- Attack Iran the Day Iraq War Ends, Demands Israel (Times)
- Britain Says Targeting Iran Would be "Grave Error" (Reuters)
- Israel Quietly Helping U.S. Prepare For War with Iraq (USA Today)
* TURKEY, TOO, SEES GAINS BY ISLAMISTS (Christian Science Monitor)
- Turkey's Voters Have Delivered the 'Wrong' Result (Independent)
* EDITORIAL: MORAL CLARITY (Washington Post)
* EDITORIAL: THE 'SWARTHY' FACTOR (Ottawa Citizen)
* GRAHAM TO FIGHT VISA BATTLE QUIETLY (Toronto Star)
- Canada Must Speak Out On American Visa Plan (Toronto Star)
- The Case of Omar Khadr (Toronto Globe and Mail)
* BRITAIN CRITICIZES ISRAEL OVER SETTLEMENTS, FENCE (Reuters)
* U.S. QUALIFIES OPPOSITION TO "TARGETED KILLINGS" (Reuters)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: CHARITY
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "The believer's shade on
the
Day of Resurrection will be (what he gave in charity)."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 604
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "When you smile at your
brother (in faith), or enjoin what is reputable, or forbid what is
objectionable, or direct someone who has lost his way, or help a man
who
has bad eyesight, or remove (debris) from the road, or pour water from
your
bucket into your brother's, it counts as charity."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 594
EASY DAWAH TIP:
Most daily newspapers have special rates for religious institutions
that
advertise on the paper's religion page. The religion page is usually
published on Saturdays and contains ads for churches, synagogues and
other
houses of worship in the area. Try calling the newspaper to ask what it
would cost to publish a business card-sized ad containing a hadith
similar
to those above. You could headline the ad "Hadith of the Week" and
include
contact information for local mosques. Let CAIR know how about your ad
so
we can inform others.
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 1369 sponsorships for $150 book and
tape packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country.
Take
part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library
package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 320
-----
CAIR FUNDRAISERS SUCCESSFUL NATIONWIDE
Alhamdulillah (praise be to God) - This past weekend, CAIR held
fundraisers
in Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, and Cleveland. All the functions exceeded
expectations in terms of attendance and donations collected.
The weekend events follow similarly successful fundraisers in
Washington,
D.C., and Canada.
CAIR would like to thank all those who worked so hard to make these
gatherings a success. May God reward you and bless you. Ramadan
Mubarak.
-----
NOTIFY CAIR IF YOU ARE VISITED BY THE FBI
Several Muslim communities have reported a recent increase in visits by
the
FBI to mosques and individual Muslims. In order to document this trend
and
inform community members of their legal rights, CAIR is requesting that
anyone visited or contacted by the FBI contact our Civil Rights
Department
by calling (202) 488-8787 or e-mailing jsalaam@cair-net.org.
SEE ALSO:
CAIR MEETS WITH CHP
CAIR Northern California recently met with top California Highway
Patrol
(CHP) and Department of Justice officials to discuss concerns of the
Muslim
community and ways in which CHP can better provide services and
protection
to the Muslim community in that state.
Discussions centered on providing objective information to the CHP
about
Islam and Muslims. CAIR will also seek to educate members of the Muslim
community about the important role members of the CHP play in
protecting
all Californians.
"We hope that the results of our meeting will translate into positive
outcome for our community as well as for the CHP," said CAIR Northern
California Executive Director Helal Omeira, who attended the meeting.
CONTACT:
CAIR Northern California
3000 Scott Blvd. Ste. 104
Santa Clara, CA 95054
Phone: 408-986-9874
Fax: 408-986-9875
E-mail: cair_nca@cair-california.org
-----
SUPERMARKET CHAIN ACKNOWLEDGES RAMADAN
The national supermarket chain Stop & Shop has included Ramadan
greetings
to the Muslim community in its weekly circular advertisement. More than
eight million copies of this advertisement were distributed to hundreds
of
Stop & Shop stores in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey,
and
Rhode Island.
ACTION REQUESTED: Send a note of appreciation to:
EMAIL: barry.berman@stopandshop.com, cavallone@stopandshop.com
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org, corp.communications@ahold.com
TEL: 781-380-8000
SNAIL MAIL TO:
Public Affairs Department
The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company
P.O. Box 1942
Boston, Massachusetts 02105
SEE ALSO:
EID STAMPS AVAILABLE ONLINE
http://shop.usps.com/cgi-bin/vsbv/postal_store_non_ssl/home.jsp
Click on "HOLIDAY STAMPS ARE HERE."
-----
RAMADAN LIKELY STARTS TUESDAY NIGHT
Patricia Rice, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 11/4/02
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/news/30236FACFF189D3D86256C680018025C?OpenDocument&highlight=2%2Cramadan&headline=Ramadan+likely+starts+Tuesday+night
Tuesday night, the first sliver of the new moon is expected to be
sighted
in the Western Hemisphere, signaling for Muslims the beginning of the
monthlong observance of Ramadan. If the new moon is seen, area mosques'
answering machines will announce that the holy month of prayer,
contemplation, fasting and almsgiving has begun.
The region has about 14,800 Muslims who attend mosques, according to
the
2000 survey of Religious Congregations and Memberships in the United
States…
At the Daar-Ul-Islam mosque in west St. Louis County, members recently
raised $100,000 for the Indiana-based Islamic Society of North America,
which helps mosques and immigrant groups. The mosque's religious
leader,
Imam Muhammad Nur Abdullah, is the society's president. He is in Saudi
Arabia but will return by the end of Ramadan.
"All (Islamic Society of North America) money stays in this country,"
said
Jim Hacking, a mosque member and St. Louis admiralty lawyer.
Many Muslims here also plan to give some zakat to the Islamic
Foundation of
St. Louis' building fund as it begins to build a new school adjacent to
the
mosque. The grade school now meets in the mosque basement.
"We are about ready to break ground," said Barbara Qureshi of West
County,
a former Islamic Foundation board member…
---
LIKE LAST YEAR, HOLY MONTH OF RAMADAN AN ANXIOUS TIME FOR U.S. MUSLIMS
Wayne Parry, Associated Press, 11/5/02
PATERSON, N.J. - The threat of war and the sniper shootings case
promise to
make the holy month of Ramadan an anxious time for U.S. Muslims, just
as it
was last year after the terrorist attacks.
"It would be like on Christmas Day, if Christians felt they were in the
position of guilt by association," said Hodan Hassan, a spokeswoman for
the
Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations.
At the holiest time of the year "you feel like you have to defend your
faith and defend yourself and prove that you are a real American," he
said.
In Islam, Ramadan marks God's revelation of the Quran, the Muslim holy
book, to the Prophet Muhammad nearly 1,400 years ago. Muslims abstain
from
food, drink, and sex during daylight hours in an act of sacrifice and
purification. The holiday is marked on a lunar calendar and begins at
the
first sighting of the crescent moon, which should take place on
Wednesday
in the United States, according to Khalid Shaukat, a lunar observation
consultant for major Islamic groups.
Last year, the holiday came two months after the attacks on the World
Trade
Center and the Pentagon.
Hundreds of Muslims, many from the Northeast, were detained or arrested
by
authorities looking for terrorists. American bombs were falling on
Afghanistan…
While Muslims will continue to fast, pray and gather with family as
they
have done for centuries, this Ramadan will be more restrained and
anxious,
many say.
"Our teaching is that anything that happens to us is a test," said
Nabil
Abbassi, president of the Islamic Center of Passaic County in Paterson,
one
of the most influential mosques in New Jersey. "There were beautiful,
pleasant, easygoing times before, and they were a test of how we
handled
blessings...
---
FEMALE CONVERTS EMBRACE ISLAM, DEFY STEREOTYPES
Eileen E. Flynn, Cox News, 11/5/02
http://www.coxnews.com/newsservice/stories/2002/1105-RAMADAN.html
AUSTIN, Texas - This month, Milazzo, 27, will observe her first
Ramadan,
which begins Wednesday. From dawn to sundown, Muslims, in order to
contemplate their faith and put aside everyday concerns, are forbidden
to
eat, drink, smoke or have sexual relations.
Milazzo joins roughly 1.2 billion Muslims worldwide, including more
than 7
million in the United States and about 5,000 in the Austin area.
A former Catholic who recently converted, Milazzo knows that Ramadan
isn't
the only challenge before her. She also senses the importance of
showing
her community what it means to follow Islam and that isn't at odds with
her
role as a modern woman.
The Washington-based Council on American Islamic Relations estimates
about
20,000 people -- most of them women -- convert to Islam in the United
States each year.
The religion has come under harsh scrutiny since the Sept. 11 attacks,
and
Milazzo said many non-Muslims hold misconceptions about the rituals and
beliefs she has adopted and her role as a woman in particular.
That she turns to prayer to solve a problem or peppers her conversation
with phrases like "insha'Allah," meaning "God willing," since
converting in
September doesn't mean her independent personality has suddenly morphed
into submissiveness, she said.
"I'm a very strong woman, and I believe that every woman should have a
chance to be heard and seen," Milazzo said. "And in Islam I think they
are.
All the Muslim women I know are very outspoken and opinionated..."
It's important for people in the United States to witness Western women
embracing Islam, said Hodan Hassan, a spokeswoman for the Council on
American Islamic Relations.
Television images of oppressed women in Afghanistan do not represent
the
true face of Islam but rather reflect cultural practices that most
Muslim
women find unacceptable, Hassan said.
"I think women like those who've converted and who now take it upon
themselves to teach the truth about Islam to their friends, to their
neighbors and their coworkers . . . are our best ambassadors," she
said.
"They can break the stereotype that unfortunately is prevalent that
Muslim
women are subservient, are invisible, are abused by their husbands or
brothers..."
-----
PORTLAND POLICE CREATE MUSLIM/ARAB ADVISORY COUNCIL
CHIEF KROEKER CREATES MUSLIM/ARAB POLICE ADVISORY COUNCIL
News Release, 11/4/02
On Monday, November 04, 2002, at 6:00 p.m., Portland Police Chief Mark
A.
Kroeker and Assistant Chief Andrew Kirkland will host the first meeting
of
the newly formed Muslim/Arab Police Advisory Council. The meeting will
take
place in the Chief's Conference Room on the 15th floor of the Justice
Center. Media is invited to attend the introductory portion of the
meeting
prior to the planning session.
Advisory council members will meet tonight to develop guidelines for
creating an ongoing dialog between the Portland Police Bureau and the
Muslim/Arab Community. Once established, the advisory council will
meet on
an ongoing basis with Assistant Chief Andrew Kirkland.
The Co-Chairpersons of the committee are Mr. Wajdi Said of the Muslim
Education Trust and Imam Mohammad Najieb, Imam of the Muslim Community
Center of Portland.
For further information, contact:
Sergeant Brian Schmautz
Public Information Officer
Phone: 503-823-0010
Pager: 503-790-1779
SEE ALSO:
BOP AND INS ACCOMMODATE RAMADAN OBSERVANCES
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and the Immigration and
Naturalization
Service (INS) require their facilities and facilities holding INS
detainees
to make reasonable accommodations for religious observances, including
fasting and collective prayer during Ramadan. For example, INS
detention
standards state:
"Detainees will have the opportunity to engage in group religious
activities, consistent with the safe, secure and orderly operation of
the
facility...When a detainee's religion requires special food services,
either daily or during certain holy days or periods that involve
fasting,
restricted diets, etc., staff will make all reasonable efforts to
accommodate them. This will require, among other things, modifying
menus to
exclude certain foods or food combinations, providing meals at unusual
hours, etc."
For more information, see the "Religious Practices" chapter of the INS
Detention Operations Manual at
http://www.ins.gov/graphics/lawsregs/guidance.htm or
http://www.ins.gov/graphics/lawsregs/relpract.pdf and the BOP's Inmate
Religious Beliefs and Practices Technical Reference Manual at
http://www.nicic.org/pubs/2002/017613.pdf.
If you believe that an INS facility or a facility housing INS detainees
is
failing to make reasonable accommodations for Ramadan observances,
please
contact Elizabeth Herskovitz at (202) 616-7809. If you believe that a
BOP
facility is failing to make reasonable accommodations, please contact
the
BOP's Chaplaincy Services Branch at (202) 514-9740. If you have any
questions or concerns, please let me know.
Joseph Zogby
Special Counsel on Post-9/11 National Origin Discrimination
Civil Rights Division
U.S. Department of Justice
Joseph.Zogby@usdoj.gov
-----
INCITEMENT WATCH: COLUMNIST COMPARES ISLAM TO NAZISM
Of course, the great majority of Muslims are peaceful - so what?
Dennis Praeger, Creators Syndicate, 11/5/02
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29546
The point here is that the threat to civilization emanating from within
Islam is no more obviated by the fact that the great majority of
Muslims
are not violent than the threat that emanated from Nazism was obviated
by
the peaceful behavior of the great majority of Germans, or the threat
from
Soviet Communism was nullified by the nonviolence among the great
majority
of Russians…
SEE:
http://www.creators.com/opinion_Shell.cfm?pg=biography.html&columnsname=pra
SEND POLITE NOTES OF CONCERN TO: dennisprager@dennisprager.com,
info@creators.com
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org
NOTE: Remember that hostile comments will be used to further defame
Islam
and Muslims.
-----
JEWISH LEADER DECLARED BRAIN DEAD
Sandra Marquez, Associated Press, 11/5/02
LOS ANGELES - Irv Rubin, the Jewish Defense League leader who was
jailed on
charges of plotting to bomb a mosque and the office of an Arab-American
congressman, has been declared brain dead after what federal
authorities
called a suicide attempt.
Rubin used a razor to slash his neck and throat and then fell or jumped
from a prison balcony at about 5:30 a.m. Monday as he and other inmates
lined up for breakfast, said U.S. Marshal's spokesman Bill Woolsey.
"We're told that he is brain-dead and on life support," said Rubin
attorney
Peter Morris. Rubin's wife and two sons were called to his bedside, he
said…
Rubin and associate Earl Krugel were arrested Dec. 11 on charges of
plotting to bomb the King Fahd mosque in suburban Culver City and an
office
of Rep. Darrell E. Issa, R-Calif., who is the grandson of Lebanese
immigrants.
Rubin and Krugel were arrested after an FBI informant delivered an
explosive powder that authorities believed was the last component in
making
pipe bombs. The charges carry up to 40 years in prison upon conviction.
Rubin, who by his own account has been arrested more than 40 times,
joined
the JDL early in the 1970s and quickly moved up, becoming chairman in
1985.
In 1989, the leader of the rival Jewish Defense Organization was
charged
with firing shots at Rubin and wounding three others in New York.
Mordechai
Levy was convicted of assault…
-----
OPPOSITION TO WAR WITH IRAQ ON RISE
Peter Weiss, New Jersey Journal, 11/4/02
http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1036408300314790.xml
Opposition to waging war against Iraq continues to grow in Hudson
County,
but residents are not optimistic that it can be avoided, according to
the
latest poll conducted by New Jersey City University for The Jersey
Journal.
The poll show that 48.6 percent of Hudson residents are opposed to
attacking Iraq, while 36.4 percent favor the initiative.
But 56.7 percent think there will be a war with Iraq while only 27
percent
think it will be avoided.
In an NJCU poll conducted two months ago, 40.7 percent opposed war with
Iraq and 41.7 percent were in favor. Those figures changed very
slightly in
a poll taken last month.
Also increasing is the number of people who think the United States
should
wait for its allies to join in attacking Iraq...
"Clearly during the last five weeks, the opinion of county residents
about
a war against Iraq has moved from division to opposition," said the
poll
supervisors, Dr. Fran Moran, of the political science department, and
Dr.
Bruce Chadwick, of the English Department…
---
ATTACK IRAN THE DAY IRAQ WAR ENDS, DEMANDS ISRAEL
Stephen Farrell, Times (UK), 11/5/02
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-469972,00.html
Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has called on the international
community to target Iran as soon as the imminent conflict with Iraq is
complete.
In an interview with The Times, Mr Sharon insisted that Tehran - one of
the
"axis of evil" powers identified by President Bush - should be put
under
pressure "the day after" action against Baghdad ends because of its
role as
a "centre of world terror". He also issued his clearest warning yet
that
Israel would strike back if attacked by Iraqi chemical or biological
weapons, no matter how much Washington sought to keep its controversial
Middle Eastern ally out of any war in Iraq…
SEE ALSO:
BRITAIN SAYS TARGETING IRAN WOULD BE "GRAVE ERROR"
Reuters, 11/5/02
LONDON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Britain has dismissed Israeli calls to target
Iran after any military action on Iraq, saying it would be the "gravest
possible error" to threaten hostilities against Tehran.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the Times in London on Tuesday
that Iran posed a threat to the Middle East and Europe and should be
targeted as soon as any conflict with Iraq were complete.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw responded saying political engagement was
better than confrontation.
"I profoundly disagree with him and I think it would be the gravest
possible error to think in that way," he told BBC radio.
In Tehran, an Iranian official described Sharon's remarks as "ominous
dreams of a war criminal."
---
ISRAEL QUIETLY HELPING U.S. PREPARE FOR WAR WITH IRAQ
John Diamond, USA Today, 11/4/02
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002-11-03-israel-usat_x.htm
WASHINGTON -- Israel is secretly playing a key role in U.S.
preparations
for possible war with Iraq, helping train soldiers and Marines for
urban
warfare, conducting clandestine surveillance missions in the western
Iraqi
desert and allowing the United States to place combat supplies in
Israel,
according to U.S. Defense and intelligence officials.
The activities are designed to help shorten any U.S.-led war with Iraq
and
reduce the risk that Israel would be attacked during such a conflict.
Israel's involvement is highly sensitive. The perception that the
United
States is working with the Jewish state to wage war against a Muslim
country could undercut the already shaky support for an invasion among
friendly Arab states…
Because Israel's activities are classified, they have drawn little
attention or criticism in the Middle East. "The Americans have asked us
to
keep a low profile, and we accept that," an Israeli official says…
-----
TURKEY, TOO, SEES GAINS BY ISLAMISTS
Ilene R. Prusher, Christian Science Monitor, 11/5/02
http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2002/1105/p01s04-wosc.html
ISTANBUL, TURKEY - For 80 years, the leaders of Turkey - a Muslim
majority
nation - have built walls between mosque and state.
On Sunday, voters here ousted the ruling parties, and swept into power
a
new political party with Islamic roots, leaving many unsure of whether
those walls are still welcome by most Turks.
Turkey's election - coming on the heels of gains by Islamic parties in
Pakistan in October and in Morocco in September - is seen by some
analysts
as a sign that more Muslims worldwide are turning to religion-based
political movements.
Domestic factors - from frustration with government corruption to
resentment toward oppressive regimes - are fueling this trend. But, in
some
places, there's a perception of a post-Sept. 11 polarization between
Islam
and the West. Voters also are being drawn to a better vision than the
one
they've heard from secular politicians. "At the level of ideology,
these
organizations seem to be more coherent, more exact their program, than
what
they hear from anyone else," says Dr. Emad Shahin, an expert on Islamic
political movements at The American University in Cairo, Egypt.
"One reason for the success of Islamic parties is good organization.
They
have the neighborhood infrastructure, the continuity of seeing people
at
the mosque every week or every day - and at the same time, there is an
inability of the nation-state to provide basic services and to fulfill
basic needs of the people," he says. Shahin points out that Islamists
often
provide assistance that the government does not…
---
TURKEY'S VOTERS HAVE DELIVERED THE 'WRONG' RESULT
Robert Fisk, Independent (UK), 11/5/02
http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=348902
Muslim Turkey will not tolerate the breakup of Iraq, and it will
sympathise
with the thousands of Iraqi Muslims likely to die in Washington's
invasion…Now Turkey has produced another "wrong" result as it practises
the
democracy so touted by the Americans.
This adds another dangerous equation to President Bush's forthcoming
adventure in Iraq - and yet another reason why the Americans, despite
their
public demand for democracy in the Middle East, will secretly hope that
the
contagion of democracy doesn't spread any further in the region.
-----
EDITORIAL: MORAL CLARITY
Fareed Zakaria, Washington Post, 11/5/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5348-2002Nov4.html
Thank goodness for moral clarity. President Bush's black-and-white
picture
of the war on terror has apparently made sense of Russia's complicated
struggle with the Chechens. The White House offered its wholehearted
support to President Vladimir Putin in the aftermath of the Moscow
theater
siege, despite accounts of a heavy-handed Russian operation that had
little
regard for the lives of the hostages or the terrorists. (The latter
were
shot dead despite being unconscious.) But that's all understandable.
Russia
is, after all, fighting terrorism.
Bush's spokesman, Ari Fleischer, revealed that "the president's first
reaction [to the events in Russia] is sorrow that other nations around
the
world are being victimized by terrorists." The notion of Moscow as
victim
in this conflict is strange. To review the history briefly: The
Chechens
were forced into the Russian empire in 1862, after 45 years of bloody
resistance. They were granted independence in 1918, but in 1920 the
Soviet
Union invaded the country again and brutally suppressed periodic
revolts.
In 1944 Joseph Stalin applied a Stalinist solution to the Chechnya
problem.
He deported most of its inhabitants to Central Asia -- more than a
half-million -- and burned their villages to the ground. (Stalin's
successor, Nikita Khrushchev, allowed the survivors to return to their
lands in the late 1950s.) In 1990, as the Soviet Union was breaking up,
a
national conference of all Chechen political groups declared
independence.
Russia refused to recognize it and in 1994 launched the first Chechen
war.
After two bloody years Moscow was unable to win and signed a peace
treaty
with the Chechens. In 1999 Russia reinvaded Chechnya, and since then it
has
had 100,000 troops in this republic, the size of Vermont…
-----
EDITORIAL: THE 'SWARTHY' FACTOR
Raywat Deonandan, Ottawa Citizen, 11/05/02
http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/
WASHINGTON - As a Canadian living in the United States, I'm often asked
about the differences between our countries. One such difference is the
extremism of viewpoints expounded by media pundits: In the U.S.,
commentators more often take stances that are deliberately politically
incorrect or inciting. In the wake of the "war on terror," however,
such
positions have polarized even further, in some cases transcending
incorrectness and abutting racism. No other topic brings out such
attitudes
more effusively than the issue of racial profiling in airports.
Many mainstream writers, who may have been cowed in more peaceful
times,
have come out in favour of the practice, from Ann Coulter calling for
the
deportation of all "suspicious-looking swarthy males," to Newsweek
contributing editor Stuart Taylor's declaration that "the mathematical
probability that a randomly chosen Arab passenger might attempt a
mass-murder-suicide hijacking -- while tiny -- is considerably higher
than
the probability that a randomly chosen white, black, Hispanic, or Asian
passenger might do the same."
It's worth pointing out that virtually all of the U.S. commentators on
the
pro-profiling side of the argument, Ms. Coulter and Mr. Taylor
included,
are white, and so suffer only inconvenience, not slit-eyed scrutiny,
from
airport-security personnel. But many of us "swarthy-looking men" --
including, most recently, award-winning Canadian author Rohinton Mistry
--
take exception to the practice, not because it is inconvenient, but
because
it is unfair, inefficient and not based upon any sound logical
principles.
Just ask Vahid Zohrehvandi, a U.S. citizen of Iranian birth, who was
removed from a commercial flight and interrogated by police because, in
the
words of a flight attendant, the pilot "did not like how he looked…"
-----
GRAHAM TO FIGHT VISA BATTLE QUIETLY
Allan Thompson, Toronto Star, 11/5/02
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1035773999274&call_page=TS_Canada&call_pageid=968332188774&call_pagepath=News/Canada&col=968350116467
Canada should use quiet diplomacy to try to kill a proposal that would
require Canadian landed immigrants born in many Commonwealth countries
to
get visitor visas before entering the U.S., Foreign Affairs Minister
Bill
Graham says.
But his cabinet colleague, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Denis
Coderre, went much further, slamming the U.S. plan as a possible
example of
racial profiling and said he was so annoyed he will use a trip to
Washington next week to take up the matter with his U.S. counterparts.
"We might have a situation of racial profiling," Coderre told
reporters.
"Personally I was annoyed by seeing that you have now two kinds of
landed
immigrants." News of the U.S. proposal, defended by the Americans as a
security measure, comes only days after the Bush administration backed
down
on a policy that had required Canadian citizens born in a handful of
Arab
and Muslim countries to be fingerprinted and photographed when entering
the
U.S…
---
EDITORIAL: CANADA MUST SPEAK OUT ON AMERICAN VISA PLAN
Toronto Star, 11/5/02
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1035773996568&call_page=TS_Editorial&call_pageid=968256290204&call_pagepath=News/Editorial&col=968350116795
Sadly, American security officials are once again targeting some
Canadian
citizens and legal residents for special treatment at border crossings
and
airport departure gates.
Indeed, the Americans have tossed common sense to the winds in their
zeal
to nab "undesirables."
Last week, they announced, and then reversed, a plan to question,
photograph and fingerprint Canadian citizens born in Iran, Iraq, Syria,
Libya and Sudan. Now, it is learned Washington is proposing legislation
to
require Canadian landed immigrants from about 50 Commonwealth countries
to
obtain visas before crossing the border. Foreign nationals from
Pakistan,
India, South Africa, Jamaica and other Commonwealth countries will need
a
passport and visa before entering the U.S…
This is Muslim-focused racial profiling, excessive zeal and contempt
for
due process with no slack cut for the people Americans describe as
their
best friend and closest ally. Yet they'd be the first to howl in rage
if we
began singling out their citizens and legal residents on "green cards"
this
way.
These recent actions raise deep concerns about how serious Washington
is
about the idea of "free and open" borders with Canada…
---
EDITORIAL: THE CASE OF OMAR KHADR
Toronto Globe and Mail, 11/5/02
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/PEstory/TGAM/20021105/EOMAR/Editorials/commentEditorials/commentEditorials_temp/2/2/3/
If Omar Khadr were back home in Ontario, he would have just finished
writing his Grade 10 literacy exam. Instead, the 16-year-old is stuck
somewhere in the maw of the U.S. fight against al-Qaeda-sponsored
terrorism.
A Canadian citizen, he was captured by American forces on July 27 after
being wounded during a battle in Afghanistan that left one U.S. soldier
killed and four others wounded. Canada learned of his capture only on
Aug.
20, when U.S. officials sought verification of his identity.
We know little for sure about what took place. There have been
allegations
from unnamed sources that he fired at soldiers or threw a grenade. U.S.
authorities are saying only that the boy was wounded, was given medical
care and is being treated as a "person under control" -- a phrase U.S.
officials have adopted to describe enemy combatants captured in
Afghanistan. Some civil libertarians say it is an attempt to do an end
run
around the protections of the Geneva Conventions that deal with those
captured in wartime.
-----
BRITAIN CRITICIZES ISRAEL OVER SETTLEMENTS, FENCE
Dominic Evans, Reuters, 11/5/02
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain criticized Israel Tuesday for expanding
Jewish
settlements in the occupied West Bank and for routing a planned
security
fence so as to annex land on which Palestinians want to set up a state.
In a marked shift of tone toward the Jewish state, Foreign Secretary
Jack
Straw told parliament Britain would complain to Israel over the route
of
the fence, which he said was effectively annexing a significant area of
the
West Bank.
"Whilst I fully understand the need for security for the state of
Israel...It looks as though the route taken by this fence is partly on
a
basis of security and partly on a basis of what land is available," he
said. "That is unacceptable."
"Conjoined with a fence around Jerusalem, another seven percent of the
West
Bank will be annexed by this fence," he said.
Around 70,000 Palestinians would be trapped between the new barrier and
the
1967 "green line" border between Israel and the West Bank, putting
pressure
on them to leave their homes, he said.
"It is unacceptable and we shall be making representations to the
government of Israel about it," Straw said…
Condemning the expansion of Israeli settlements across the West Bank,
Straw
said they now covered 41 percent of the territory and encircled Arab
East
Jerusalem.
"These are illegal settlements. It is wholly wrong that the government
of
Israel should have continued to extend them," he said. "This is
unlawful…"
-----
U.S. QUALIFIES OPPOSITION TO "TARGETED KILLINGS"
Jonathan Wright, Reuters, 11/5/02
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States Tuesday qualified its
opposition
to "targeted killings", saying it applied in the context of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict because of the effect on Middle East peace
negotiations.
The qualification, advanced by State Department spokesman Richard
Boucher,
gives the United States room to try to justify the killing of six men
in a
car in Yemen Monday.
The killing, apparently by a rocket from an unmanned U.S. drone, was
similar to Israel's lethal attacks on Palestinian militants, which the
United States has repeatedly condemned…
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told CNN in an interview
Tuesday
that the attack on the car in Yemen was a "a very successful tactical
operation…"
Asked directly for U.S. policy on "targeted killings", he said: "Our
policy
on targeted killings in the Israeli-Palestinian context has not
changed."
For months, State Department spokesmen have responded to questions
about
Israeli killings with the standard unqualified phrase: "We are against
targeted killings…"
-----
TO BECOME A CAIR MEMBER, GO TO:
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/membership.asp
TO TAKE PART IN CAIR'S VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE, GO TO:
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/voting.asp
-----
To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to:
http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to: cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 11/6/2002
HEADLINES:
* CAIR HQ OFFICE HOURS CHANGE FOR RAMADAN
* HADITH OF THE DAY: THE GATES OF HEAVEN ARE OPEN
* CAIR LIBRARY UPDATE
* CAIR PARTICIPATES IN S.E. ASIA TOUR
* U.S. MUSLIMS LAUNCH PR CAMPAIGNS TO DEFEND ISLAM (MSNBC)
- CAIR-DFW/ICNA to Launch Ramadan Billboard
- Islamic Resource Group Announces Ramadan Project
- Muslims Open Doors to Their Neighbors (Chicago Tribune)
- Wary Muslims to Begin Ramadan (Akron Beacon Journal)
- Muslim Teenagers Form Link from Koran to U.S. Mainstream (LA Times)
- Muslim U.S. Workers Hope to Break Image (Washington Post)
- Editorial: Learning a Lesson for Ramadan (NY Times)
- Bush Sends Best Wishes for Ramadan (AP)
* DROP BIRTHPLACE FROM PASSPORT: WATCHDOG (Toronto Star)
- Woman Tells Of Humiliation by U.S. Officials (Toronto Globe and
Mail)
* POLITICS SHOULD HAVE NO PART IN IMMIGRATION HEARINGS (Detroit Free
Press)
* DEPT OF JUSTICE INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE FOR LAW STUDENTS
* THE FBI HAS BUGGED OUR PUBLIC LIBRARIES (Hartford Courant)
* FILING OPPOSES GIVING POLICE MORE LATITUDE IN SURVEILLANCE (NY Times)
* INDIAN MUSLIMS TO PRAY FOR RIOT DEAD DURING RAMADAN (Reuters)
* U.S. MUSLIM AD DRIVE GETS THUMBS DOWN IN SE ASIA (Reuters)
-----
CAIR HQ OFFICE HOURS CHANGE FOR RAMADAN
During Ramadan, CAIR's Washington, D.C., headquarters will be open from
8
a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: THE GATES OF HEAVEN ARE OPEN
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Ramadan, a blessed
month,
has come to you during which God has made it obligatory for you to
fast. In
it, the gates of Heaven are opened, the gates of hell are locked...He
who
is deprived of its good has indeed suffered deprivation."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 611
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 1395 sponsorships for $150 book and
tape packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country.
Take
part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library
package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 320
-----
CAIR PARTICIPATES IN S.E. ASIA TOUR
CAIR Government Affairs Director Jason Erb has returned from a two-week
study tour to South East Asia sponsored by the Asia Foundation, a
non-governmental organizations (NGO) working to advance the mutual
interests of the United States and the Asia Pacific region.
The trip was designed to increase face-to-face interaction between
Americans and South East Asians and included young professionals from a
number of groups.
The trip included meetings with representatives of local NGOs,
government
ministries and U.S. representatives in the region. Delegates focused on
issues of protecting human rights, building sustainable civil society
institutions and exploring U.S.-Asia relations.
CONTACT: jerb@cair-net.org
-----
U.S. MUSLIMS LAUNCH PR-STYLE CAMPAIGNS TO DEFEND ISLAM
Ursula Owre Masterson, MSNBC, 11/6/02
http://www.msnbc.com/news/830635.asp?0dm=C19ON
NEW YORK, - As Ramadan gets underway, the war on terror heats up and
military action against Iraq looms, Muslim communities across America
are
on a PR mission to explain what their religion is all about. From
political
fundraisers and food drives to open houses at Mosques, grass roots
Muslim
groups are working hard to shake off the bad image Islam earned in many
Americans' eyes after the Sept. 11 attacks - an image they fear may get
more tarnished with the prospect of another war in the Arab world.
"Over the past year, we realized that the media was essentially
painting
the entire population of 1.2 billion Muslims with one stroke as bad,"
explained Anwar Hasan, founder and president of the Maryland-based
Howard
County Muslim Council. "That's why we're trying to reach out to the
community now, to remove the fear and ultimately make America a better
place..."
Hasan's efforts to raise the profile of American Muslims while
highlighting
their contributions to society are not alone. Outreach programs run by
local Mosques and universities have sprung up nationwide. In Corpus
Christi, Texas, Muslim community leaders have opened the doors of their
Mosque to groups like the YWCA for interfaith tea and coffee socials.
They've also participated in blood drives and walk-a-thons...
In September, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a
Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group, launched the
Library Project (www.libraryproject.org), which aims to distribute a
collection of reading materials and DVDs about Islam to the country's
16,000 public libraries, 95 percent of which have sought new materials
on
Islam and Middle Eastern history since September 2001, according to the
advocacy group Libraries for the Future.
According to CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, the group has
gotten 1,100 sponsorships so far and is well on track to achieving its
goal
of placing the package in most of the nation's libraries within a
year's time.
"With the growth of anti-Muslim rhetoric, we're seeing a greater need
to
reach out and explain ourselves," said Hooper. "An isolationist
attitude
will only feed the bigots out there..."
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-DFW/ICNA TO LAUNCH RAMADAN BILLBOARD
The Dallas/Fort Worth chapters of CAIR and Islamic Circle of North
America
(ICNA) are sponsoring a billboard at the intersection of I-35E and
Beltline
Road. Thousands of commuters pass this intersection each day. The
billboard, will be up from November 7-10 and will read:
Muslims wish you a Happy Ramadan.
"EVEN A SMILE IS CHARITY," Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
www.cair-net.org
www.whyislam.org
For questions on Islam call: 1-877-WHY-ISLAM
---
ISLAMIC RESOURCE GROUP ANNOUNCES RAMADAN PROJECT
(News Release)
"Educate the Educators"
Building upon the momentum generated by its participation in Minnesota
Education Professional Conference that drew over 12,000 educators, the
IRG
is planning to make available a package of books and video that will
help
sufficiently equip the educators in public schools to teach about
Islam.
Each of the resources has been approved by public school educators as
acceptable materials for presenting
Islam in the classroom.
Although there is an overwhelming demand for Islamic resources in
public
schools, at this time, the plan is to make available this package to at
least 500 educators in Minnesota public schools. Each package is
expected
to cost $35.
The package consists of:
* "Teaching About Islam and Muslims in Public School Classrooms - A
Handbook for Educators"
* Islam - Empire of Faith (PBS Documentary)
* Qur'an
* Discover Islam - the Reader
* An Educator's Guide to Islamic Religious Practices - CAIR
Publication
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Islamic
Resource
Group at IslamicResource@yahoo.com.
All donations to IRG are tax-deductible.
URL: www.IslamicResourceOnline.org
TEL: 612-676-0165
---
MUSLIMS OPEN DOORS TO THEIR NEIGHBORS
Jeff Coen, Chicago Tribune, 11/6/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0211060265nov06.story
During the past few weeks, a Washington-based organization has offered
local, like-minded groups a kit replete with talking points on how to
promote themselves in the nation's media and sell themselves to the
public.
But the effort had nothing to do with Democrats or Republicans or
Tuesday's
election. The organization is the Council on American-Islamic
Relations,
and the target date is Wednesday--the beginning of the Muslim holy
month of
Ramadan. Ramadan is the month on Islam's lunar calendar set aside for
daytime fasting to learn discipline and self-restraint, as called for
in
the Koran.
Leaders of the country's estimated 7 million Muslims are using the
traditional month of prayer and fasting as a signature event to
introduce
their non-Muslim neighbors to their Islam--the global religion of peace
and
mercy. The hope is a month of open houses at mosques, interfaith
dinners
and community presentations during Ramadan might lead to a better
understanding of one of the world's great faiths.
"Every year Ramadan presents an opportunity to educate others," said
Ibrahim Hooper, council spokesman. "Of course the last two Ramadans
it's
not been the best of atmospheres, but that just means it's critical
that
people learn about Islam.
"It's ignorance that leads to stereotyping and prejudice."
The organization has put together a how-to packet that it now offers
online, www.cair-net.org, instructing Muslim groups on ways to contact
the
media, schools and libraries.
The trend of opening up Ramadan and using it as a springboard is
readily
apparent in the Chicago area, where local mosques and Muslim groups are
planning "Taste of Islam" events, lectures, food drives and school
presentations.
The Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago is urging a
month
of outreach, which it plans to cap with a Nov. 26 interfaith dinner
attended by Cardinal Francis George.
Amina Saeed, director of community relations for the Chicago council,
said
her group is encouraging the breaking of the fast, or Iftaar, to take
place
with doors open to local residents who live near mosques in the city
and
suburbs.
"We realize we can't assume that people know what Islam is and who
Muslims
are," Saeed said. "We need to educate people, and that means talking to
them."
---
WARY MUSLIMS TO BEGIN RAMADAN
Colette M. Jenkins, Akron Beacon Journal, 11/5/02
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/living/religion/4446446.htm
Despite the backlash felt by American Muslims since 9/11, Hamza Yahya
Bonchu followed his heart and mind.
"It would have been a spiritual conflict for me if I had not done what
I
know to be right," said Bonchu, 24, who converted to Islam in March. "I
had
accepted Islam as the truth, and I simply had to submit to and accept
that
truth."
Bonchu, who was born in Canton and now lives in Kent, changed his name
from
Mark to Hamza as a symbol of his commitment to a "new way of life." And
this week -- today or Wednesday depending on when the new moon is
sighted
-- he'll begin a 30-day dawn-to-dusk fast in observance of Ramadan, the
holiest month for those of the Islamic faith. "I know it's a month of
deep
spiritual reflection and a time for evaluating where you're at," he
said.
"I've fasted before but not during Ramadan. I really can't imagine what
it
will be like -- fasting as a whole community and celebrating breaking
the
fast together. I'm sure there will be many blessings to be had during
the
month."
Still, this isn't likely to be an easy time for Bonchu and other
Muslims in
the United States.
The Islamic community has been the target of increased violence,
harassment
and discrimination since Sept. 11, and a possible war looms.
---
MUSLIM TEENAGERS FORM LINK FROM KORAN TO U.S. MAINSTREAM
William Lobdell, Los Angeles Times, 11/6/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ramadan6nov06.story
Each evening for a month, a handful of teenage boys across Southern
California will recite from memory a chapter of the Koran -- Islam's
holy
book -- to crowds gathered at mosques. Just one of these evening
prayers
can take up to 90 minutes.
By the end of the 30 days of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month that began
at
sundown Tuesday, the boys will have chanted in ancient Arabic all 6,391
verses of the Koran.
This doesn't just mark an impressive feat of mental agility, local
Muslim
leaders say. It also signals the emergence of the next generation of
Islamic leadership in America: native-born Muslims who are devout
enough to
spend years committing the Koran to memory but who are also able to
blend
in easily with the local culture. Outside the Islamic Society of Orange
County mosque in Garden Grove last week, Nasir Jiwa, 17, looked like
any
other U.S. teenager. Dressed in jeans and a long-sleeve shirt, he rode
a
scooter and joked with friends.
Tonight, Nasir will be leading prayers at the Islamic Society of
Fountain
Valley mosque.
"We are the next generation," said Nasir, a student at Orange Coast
College
who said he started to memorize the Koran five years ago. "I feel like
this
is my country and this is my religion. Of course, I feel a sense of
responsibility..."
"It's very heartwarming to see Muslims born and raised in America
become
part of the leadership and taking us into new directions," said Sabiha
Kahn, a spokeswoman for the Southern California chapter of the Council
for
American-Islamic Relations...
---
MUSLIM U.S. WORKERS HOPE TO BREAK IMAGE
Caryle Murphy, Washington Post, 11/6/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10429-2002Nov5.html
When two planes hit the twin towers of the World Trade Center, FBI
special
agent Ammar Y. Barghouty was on a training course. Nadia Aman was about
to
leave home for her job at the U.S. Commerce Department. And Mirza Baig
was
in his White House office, where his first thought was, "God, don't let
it
be a Muslim."
But it was.
Ever since, these young Muslims who work for a government that is
vigorously waging a war on terrorism -- acts often committed in the
name of
Islam -- have faced the unusual challenge of being in the middle of the
battle...
They spoke of living amid two countervailing winds, one bringing acts
of
kindness and support from professional colleagues and neighbors, the
other,
bigoted attacks on Islam by some Christian leaders and media
commentators.
Several told of extra scrutiny at airports, even when flying on
government
business...
---
EDITORIAL: LEARNING A LESSON FOR RAMADAN
Asma Gull Hasan, New York Times, 11/6/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/06/opinion/06HASA.html
Ramadan begins tonight, but this year I don't have much enthusiasm for
telling people I'm fasting. With the Rev. Jerry Falwell referring to
Muhammad as a "terrorist" and the Rev. Franklin Graham calling Islam a
"very evil and wicked religion," I can't help but feel that anything
that
sounds Islamic will be perceived as anti-American.
If you had told me at Ramadan two years ago that I would swallow hard
before entering airport security or before logging onto my e-mail
account
(for fear of receiving another nasty, anti-Muslim message), I would
have
laughed. I have a hard time believing many things this Ramadan: that my
mother's donation to feed a Muslim family in Bosnia probably landed her
name on a list at the Justice Department; that my grandmother can't ask
a
relative to take money to the shrines of Sufi saints in Pakistan and
India
like she always does for fear of coming under suspicion for laundering
money for terrorist causes; that I can't attend a mosque gathering to
open
the holiday without worrying that my license plate number will be put
in a
file of mosque-goers.
If self control means resolving my frustration at not feeling free to
practice my faith as I did as a little girl, if self control means not
being able to give to charity at the precise time my God has asked me
to
help others, then I now know why God wanted Muslims to learn self
control…
-----
BUSH SENDS BEST WISHES FOR RAMADAN
Associated Press, 11/6/02
WASHINGTON - President Bush sent his "best wishes for a blessed time"
on
Tuesday to Muslims preparing to celebrate Ramadan, their faith's holy
month
of daytime fasting.
Calling Islam "a peace-loving faith," Bush celebrated the diversity
that
the millions of American Muslims bring to the United States and praised
Muslim nations that support the U.S. war against terror.
"Muslims observe this month by renewing their dedication to caring for
those in need, doing good deeds, and strengthening family and community
ties," Bush said in a statement. "These actions reflect many of the
values
that Muslims share with people of other faiths across our nation and
around
the world, including courage, compassion and service."
-----
DROP BIRTHPLACE FROM PASSPORT: WATCHDOG
Bruce Cheadle, Toronto Star, 11/6/02
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1035774032016&call_page=TS_Canada&call_pageid=968332188774&call_pagepath=News/Canada&col=968350116467
OTTAWA - The federal privacy commissioner wants Canada to remove place
of
birth from the information on its passports in an effort to thwart
tough
new U.S. border screening measures.
"This information is ... irrelevant since a Canadian citizen is a
Canadian
citizen, without distinction," George Radwanski said today in an open
letter to Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham.
But Foreign Affairs had already considered removing birthplace from
passports and decided it would only make matters worse for Canadian
travellers, a spokesperson said.
The U.S. began a new entry and exit process for visitors on Sept. 11
that
demands increased scrutiny of anyone born in selected Arab and
predominantly Muslim countries - regardless of their citizenship.
Most travellers born in Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria are being
finger-printed, photographed and interviewed, while people of
Pakistani,
Saudi or Yemeni origin are also receiving extra attention from the U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service...
Radwanski's letter today said listing birthplace on passports is both
unnecessary and potentially misleading.
"Some Canadians, born abroad while their parents were travelling or
residing temporarily in a country, may have no real connection
whatsoever
to the country of their birth," he wrote.
"Others, although born in Canada, may have a strong attachment to their
country of ethnic origin."
---
WOMAN TELLS OF HUMILIATION BY U.S. OFFICIALS
Victor Malarek, Toronto Globe and Mail, 11/6/02
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/PEstory/TGAM/20021106/UHASSXE/national/national/nationalTheNationHeadline_temp/1/1/32/
A Canadian woman questioned by U.S. immigration officers at the
preclearance area of Vancouver International Airport over the weekend
says
she is worried about personal information entered into a computer
database.
Behnaz Tehrani-Ami, a research consultant, was on her way to Orlando,
Fla.,
with her husband to attend an international neuroscience conference
when
U.S. officials noticed that her Canadian passport says she was born in
Iran.
Yesterday, Ms. Tehrani-Ami described her treatment from that point on
as
"humiliating" and "intimidating."
Ms. Tehrani-Ami said she was escorted into an office where a female
customs
officer accosted her with a barrage of questions.
"She asked me questions about my ties to Iran: 'When did you come to
Canada; when had you last been back to Iran; why did you go there; do
you
have family there; do you hold an Iranian passport; do you plan to
visit
there in the future?' et cetera.
"She proceeded to tell me about the procedures a person like myself has
to
go through before entering the U.S. They would have to register me,
meaning
they have to conduct another interview, fingerprint and photograph me.
I
was told that subsequent to this registration process, if I were
admitted
to the U.S., I could only leave the U.S. through designated exit ports,
and
if I were to stay more than 30 days or travel within the U.S., I would
have
to report to an official."
Ms. Tehrani-Ami, who came to Canada in 1988, became a Canadian in 1991
and
married a Canadian this year, told the officer that she and her husband
decided against travelling to the United States if it means being
subjected
to this procedure.
Instead of being allowed to leave, they were sent to a waiting room.
Several minutes later, a male customs officer called Ms. Tehrani-Ami
into
the office and asked more questions, entering the information into the
U.S.
national-security entry-exit registration-system computer database.
The female customs officer made a photocopy of her passport.
"She proceeded to tell me that if I chose not to comply with their
registration process, the next time I attempted to enter the U.S., I
could
be denied entry. I replied that I am a Canadian citizen and that, as
our
government had stated just two days earlier, all Canadian citizens are
to
be treated equally regardless of their place of birth," Ms. Tehrani-Ami
said...
-----
EDITORIAL: POLITICS SHOULD HAVE NO PART IN IMMIGRATION HEARINGS
Jonathan S. Martel, Detroit Free Press, 11/6/02
http://www.freep.com/voices/columnists/emartel6_20021106.htm
At issue is whether U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft can mandate
secret
deportation proceedings for individuals he labels "special interest" --
based on undisclosed suspicions of a link to terrorism. Under the
government's policy, my client Rabih Haddad of Ann Arbor and hundreds
of
others like him were arrested, jailed and in many instances deported
under
a complete blackout of information: The government refuses to disclose
whether the person is being held or even the existence of hearings, and
the
public, press and family are all excluded…
The Court of Star Chamber -- which held secret trials before the king's
council in the palace of Westminster -- was abolished in 1641, and
today
that practice is commonly associated with totalitarian dispensation of
justice, not ours. And as Judge Thurman Arnold noted in his memoirs
reflecting on my law firm's 1950s leadership in representing victims of
the
McCarthy Era: "On mature consideration of this matter, I have finally
come
to the conclusion that the secret loyalty boards when they made their
secret findings must have sat around a bubbling cauldron throwing in
this
and that like the witches in 'Macbeth...'"
-----
DEPT OF JUSTICE INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE FOR LAW STUDENTS
The U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division has a number of
volunteer internship opportunities for law students. Those interested
in
applying, especially members of communities that suffered from
post-9/11
national-origin or religious discrimination, should visiting the
following
websites:
http://www.usdoj.gov/oarm/fall2001/civil_rights_various.htm
http://www.usdoj.gov/oarm/fall2001/civil_rights_housing.htm
http://www.usdoj.gov/oarm/fall2001/civil_rights_cor.htm
http://www.usdoj.gov/oarm/lawvolunteer.html
-----
THE FBI HAS BUGGED OUR PUBLIC LIBRARIES
Bill Olds, Hartford Courant, 11/3/02
http://www.ctnow.com/features/lifestyle/hc-privacy1103.artnov03col.story
Some reports say the FBI is snooping in the libraries. Is that really
happening?
Yes. I have uncovered information that persuades me that the Federal
Bureau
of Investigation has bugged the computers at the Hartford Public
Library.
And it's probable that other libraries around the state have also been
bugged. It's an effort by the FBI to obtain leads that it believes may
lead
them to terrorists.
Many members of the public regularly use computers in libraries to
access
the Internet for research purposes or to locate information about
particular interests. It's also not uncommon for students and others to
communicate with friends and relatives through e-mail from there.
The FBI system apparently involves the installation of special software
on
the computers that lets the FBI copy a person's use of the Internet and
their e-mail messages. (Don't ask me how I know about this because I
can't
reveal how I was able to collect the information.) Members of the
public
who use the library have not been informed that the government is
watching
their activities. It's not just the computers. Circulation lists that
show
which books someone borrowed are also accessible to the government…
-----
FILING OPPOSES GIVING POLICE MORE LATITUDE IN SURVEILLANCE
Ford Fessenden, New York Times, 11/6/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/06/nyregion/06DECR.html
A 1985 consent decree that curtails police monitoring of political
groups
does not fetter the New York Police Department in its pursuit of
terrorists, a group of civil liberties lawyers contended in papers
filed
yesterday in Federal District Court in Manhattan.
The Police Department's request to scuttle much of the agreement, made
in a
motion to the court last month, would permit officers to gather
intelligence without evidence of criminal activity, a dangerous
authority
that even the Federal Bureau of Investigation does not have, the
lawyers
contended. "They want no rules," said Jethro Eisenstein, one of the
lawyers
who negotiated the consent decree, known as the Handschu agreement, and
who
opposed the city's motion. "It is that kind of thinking that led us to
bring the lawsuit -- that you can identify large groups of people as a
threat and what you ought to do is sic law enforcement on them."
The city signed the agreement to end a suit over surveillance of
political
groups in an era of revelations that the F.B.I. and the police in many
cities had harassed and intimidated people engaged in controversial
political activities…
-----
INDIAN MUSLIMS TO PRAY FOR RIOT DEAD DURING RAMADAN
Reuters, 11/6/02
AHMEDABAD, India - Muslims in India's western state of Gujarat will
hold
special prayers during the holy month of Ramadan to remember hundreds
slaughtered this year in the country's worst religious violence in a
decade.
Mufti Shabbir Ahmed Siddiqui, the priest of the biggest mosque in the
state's commercial capital, Ahmedabad, said on Wednesday he would ask
Gujarat's minority Muslims to observe peacefully the fasting month,
which
in India begins on Thursday.
More than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, died in a wave of revenge
killings
in Gujarat after 58 Hindu activists were burnt to death in a train in
February. Human rights groups say the death toll was more than 2,500.
"We remember daily our brothers and sisters who lost their lives during
the
riots but Ramadan will be a special occasion to remember them in a
special
way," Siddiqui told Reuters…
-----
U.S. MUSLIM AD DRIVE GETS THUMBS DOWN IN SE ASIA
Jalil Hamid, Reuters, 11/6/02
KUALA LUMPUR - A U.S. government-funded television advertising campaign
showing American Muslims living and worshipping freely has received bad
reviews from Muslims in Malaysia and Indonesia, two of its main target
audiences.
Broadcast in Malaysia this week and Indonesia last week, the series of
short documentaries seeks to dispel any notion that Muslims in the
United
States are a persecuted minority.
But critics say the ads, funded by the State Department, fail to
address
the root causes of anti-U.S. sentiment among Muslims, namely
Washington's
support for Israel, the injustices suffered by Palestinians and the
plight
of ordinary Iraqis.
"The U.S. is spending millions of dollars to change public opinion in
the
Muslim world which is against U.S. views," said Ghani Shamsuddin, head
of
Malaysia's Ulama (Islamic scholars) Association. "But I don't think it
will
work…"
The ads will also run in newspapers in Indonesia, the world's most
populous
Muslim nation, and in mainly Muslim Malaysia as well as on some
pan-Arab
television networks during Islam's holy month of Ramadan, which started
on
Wednesday.
Dadi Darmadi, a moderate Muslim intellectual in Indonesia said the
campaign
reinforced a message that Washington is not an enemy of Islam.
"But it overlooks the fact that there are flaws in the U.S. foreign
policy
with regards to Muslim countries," said Darmadi, who runs the Centre
for
the Study of Islam and Society in Jakarta.
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 11/7/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: MODERATION IN FAITH
* CAIR LIBRARY UPDATE
* U.S. WANTS PRINTS OF MUSLIM VISITORS (Washington Post)
- Muslims Say New DOJ Guidelines More Of The Same - Racial Profiling
* ISLAMISTS GAIN VOTES AS U.S. ACTS (New York Times)
* ONE U.S. CITIZEN AMONG DEAD QAEDA SUSPECTS-YEMEN (Reuters)
* EDITORIAL: ARE MUSLIMS TREATED FAIRLY (Ottawa Citizen)
* IMMEDIATE JOB OPPORTUNITY -- CAIR-OHIO
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: MODERATION IN FAITH
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) once said to a companion: "I
have
been informed that you fast all day and stand in prayer all night." The
companion told the Prophet that information was correct. The Prophet
then
said: "Do not do that. Observe the fast sometimes but also leave (the
fast)
at other times. Stand up for the prayer at night and also sleep at
night.
Your body has a right over you, your eyes have a right over you and
your
wife has a right over you."
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 7, Hadith 127
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 1420 sponsorships for $150 book and
tape packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country.
Take
part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library
package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 320
-----
U.S. WANTS PRINTS OF MUSLIM VISITORS
Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post, 11/7/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19891-2002Nov6.html
The Justice Department announced yesterday that it will require
thousands
of students, workers and other men from five Muslim countries who are
temporarily residing in the United States to be fingerprinted and
photographed, the latest step in its program to register visitors from
countries linked to terrorism.
Authorities launched the registration program less than two months ago
at
airports, where they began gathering extensive information from
arriving
citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria -- countries allegedly
involved in terrorism -- and other people suspected of links to terror.
Now the program will be expanded to include male citizens of those
countries who entered the United States before Sept. 11, 2002, and plan
to
stay until at least mid-December, officials said yesterday…
U.S. groups representing Muslims and Arab Americans have denounced the
plan
as ethnic profiling.
Jeanne Butterfield, executive director of the American Immigration
Lawyers
Association, said the program would be a burden on visitors and yield
few
positive results.
"They're telling us this will make us safe from terrorists. But the
terrorists aren't the ones who are going to come forward and register,"
she
said. Under the plan, anyone who fails to register could be deported.
A Justice Department official said visitors from the five countries
were
being summoned because the nations are on the State Department's list
of
official sponsors of terrorism. But the list of those required to
register
would probably grow, said the official, who spoke on condition of
anonymity...
Under the new measure, which takes effect Nov. 15, men ages 16 and
older
from the five nations must register with a U.S. immigration officer by
Dec.
16. They must present travel documents and proof of residence, such as
school registrations, and be interviewed, fingerprinted and
photographed.
They must check in with authorities once a year...
---
MUSLIMS SAY NEW DOJ GUIDELINES MORE OF THE SAME - RACIAL PROFILING
(Washington, D.C., 11/7/02) - In a response to yesterday's Department
of
Justice announcement of new fingerprinting and registration
requirements
for Muslim visitors already in the country, CAIR Chairman of the Board
Omar
Ahmed issued the following statement:
"All Americans, Muslims included, have supported legitimate efforts to
increase security and prevent another terrorist attack. Unfortunately,
the
Justice Department's expansion of its policy to fingerprint and
photograph
Muslim visitors is unlikely to help accomplish those goals. They amount
to
little more than a "round up the usual suspects" approach to fighting
terrorism."
"What is most alarming of this recent announcement is the limited time
in
which those affected by the policy change can be adequately informed.
As
result, a large number of legal visitors are now potentially subject to
immediate deportation."
"In addition, treating Muslim visitors like criminals will create
resentment in nations we need to enlist in the war on terrorism, and it
will further stigmatize the American-Muslim community."
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-MAIL:
cair@cair-net.org; Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787 or 703-861-7294,
E-MAIL:
hhassan@cair-net.org
-----
ISLAMISTS GAIN VOTES AS U.S. ACTS
Neil Macfarquhar, New York Times, 11/6/02
www.nytimes.com
CAIRO, Nov. 5 - The perception that Washington remains hostile toward
Islam
is helping drive the victories of some religiously oriented parties
across
the Islamic and Arab world, experts in the region said today.
Most Islamist parties have been gradually gaining supporters for years
as
secular parties have failed to solve grinding economic and social
problems.
But their sudden gain in votes in recent elections in Pakistan,
Bahrain,
Morocco and Turkey is being viewed as a sign that voters - at least in
those few countries that actually allow free elections - want to assert
pride in their faith to the outside world.
"The population in Turkey, the population in Pakistan or the population
in
Morocco did not vote for Islamic parties just because they believe they
have the capacity to solve social and economic problems," Muhammad
Darif, a
professor of political science at the Hassan II University law school
at
Mohammedia, Morocco, said in a telephone interview.
"Arab and Muslim populations think the war against terrorism is nothing
but
a war against Islam, the culture of Islam, the Arab culture," Professor
Darif added. "The Islamist parties have been able to exploit this…"
-----
ONE U.S. CITIZEN AMONG DEAD QAEDA SUSPECTS-YEMEN
Mohammed Sudam, Reuters, 11/7/02
ADEN - One of the six al Qaeda suspects killed in a car blast in Yemen
at
the weekend carried U.S. nationality and all were "dangerous" members
of
the extremist network, a Yemeni official said on Thursday.
The six were killed when their car exploded in the eastern Marib
province
on Sunday. Yemeni authorities refused to comment on the cause of the
car
blast -- which according to U.S. officials was a rocket from an
unmanned
CIA drone.
One of the dead, Qaed Senyan al-Harthi, also known as Abu Ali, was a
key
suspect in the 2000 suicide bombing of the U.S. warship Cole in a
Yemeni
port that killed 17 U.S. sailors.
"Investigations by Yemeni authorities found that Harthi was accompanied
by
five dangerous members of the al Qaeda network who were not ordinary
passengers," the official told Reuters.
He said that one of the six, identified by a government newspaper as
Ahmed
Hijazi, had U.S. nationality, but it was not clear if he was of Yemeni
origin...
-----
EDITORIAL: ARE MUSLIMS TREATED FAIRLY
Riad Saloojee, Ottawa Citizen, 11/4/02
http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=274e1c6e-5aa0-4d23-84f8-3cfbe0d68306
This case has generated a national outcry in Canada. That Mr. Arar was
Arab
and Muslim was insignificant. The public outcry was not confined to
just
those who share his faith or ethnicity. Canadians' outrage stemmed from
the
fact that the United States broke a defining feature of
international human-rights law when it deported a citizen of another
country to the place of his birth, where he would have faced
foreseeable
harm. More specifically, however, Canadians took umbrage at how Mr.
Arar
was treated…
Canadians have, admirably, taken up this issue seriously. If the
popular
media are a gauge of public opinion, the response to Mr. Arar's
predicament
has been overwhelming: There have been several newspaper editorials in
support of Mr. Arar. And his wife, Mounia, herself a Canadian citizen,
has
been the eloquent and often-invited advocate of her husband on
television
and radio. The pressure continues to mount. This is not an issue of
passing
fancy.
And this, for me, appears to be a solid vindication of the ethic of
multiculturalism. Although we can disagree about the practical
actualization of the policy, there is little doubt in my mind that the
Canadian reaction to the Arar case demonstrates an amazing meeting of
the
minds. For as vast a vista as Canada is, our shared sacred spaces
include
legal beliefs that emanate from the wellspring of a fundamental and
near
universally accepted ethic: equality, the rule of law, procedural
fairness,
transparency, justice and compassion.
-----
IMMEDIATE JOB OPPORTUNITY -- CAIR-OHIO
Job Title: Director of Cleveland office
Position: Full time
Job Description:
This position will entail directing all CAIR-Ohio, Cleveland office
activities which includes but not limited to the following:
- Interaction with local Muslim community on a regular basis.
- Media activism which includes writing press releases, giving
interviews
and issuing statements
- Manage all CAIR office administration needs
- Fund raising activities which includes on-going fund raising efforts
and
organizing yearly fund raising dinner.
- Ability to deal with civil right cases.
Qualifications:
Candidate must have a university degree. Good organizational and
management
skills, Excellent communication skills both verbal and written. Legal
background is a plus.
Salary: Negotiable.
PLEASE SEND YOUR RESUME NO LATER THAN NOVEMBER 29, 2002.
EMAIL (IN THE BODY OF THE TEXT, NO ATTACHMENTS PLEASE):
ohio@cair-net.org
BY MAIL:
CAIR-Ohio
Attn: Cleveland Office
4700 Reed Road, Suite B
Columbus, Ohio 43220
Fax (614)451-3222
-----
TO BECOME A CAIR MEMBER, GO TO:
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/membership.asp
TO TAKE PART IN CAIR'S VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE, GO TO:
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/voting.asp
-----
To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to:
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To reach the list moderator, send a message to: cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
VA MUSLIM FILES DISCRIMINATION SUIT AGAINST MARRIOTT
Lawsuit alleges ethnic and religious harassment, threats
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/8/02) - A Virginia Muslim has filed suit against
Marriott International and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company alleging he
was
discriminated against because of his religion and ethnicity. The
lawsuit,
filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia,
alleges
that coworkers and management created a hostile work environment, and
cited
numerous incidents of verbal harassment, threats and physical
intimidation.
The plaintiff, who began working as a cook at the Ritz Carlton in
Washington, D.C., in March of this year, says anti-Muslim comments made
by
coworkers in front of a manager were ignored. In one instance, the
Muslim
employee claims several coworkers called him "the suicide bomber" and
often
asked him if he had attended flight school "like the hijackers."
After filing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission
(EEOC), the plaintiff received his "right to sue" from the government
body
in July. He also received a letter of support from the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Washington-based Islamic civil
rights
and advocacy group.
"It is unfortunate that the Ritz-Carlton has not fulfilled its basic
obligation to ensure a work environment free of racial and religious
hostility," said CAIR Civil Rights Manager Joshua Salaam. Salaam added
that
Marriott must live up to its commitment to workplace diversity that
states:
"It [diversity] is the only way to attract, develop and retain the very
best talent available."
SEE: http://www.marriott.com/corporateinfo/
The suit seeks $350,000 in compensatory damages and an additional
$350,000
in punitive damages.
Marriott International is the world's leading lodging company, with
some
2,600 owned or franchised properties in 65 countries. Its hotel brands
include Courtyard, Fairfield Inn, Marriott, Renaissance, Residence Inn,
SpringHill Suites, and Ritz-Carlton.
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726 E-MAIL -
cair@cair-net.org; Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787 or 703-861-7294
E-MAIL:
hhassan@cair-net.org
ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE.)
Contact Marriot International to ask that they live up to their
commitment
to diversity in the workplace.
CONTACT:
Mr. William J Shaw
President and COO
Marriott International, Dept. 52-988
Marriott Drive
Washington, D.C. 20058
TEL: 301-380-3000
FAX: 301-380-3969
E-MAIL:kim.manthei@marriott.com, gordon.lambourne@marriott.com,
scott.carman@marriott.com, june.farrell@marriott.com
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org
-----
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http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 11/8/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: FORGIVING INJURIES
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* CAIR OFFICIAL PARTICIPATES IN MA MOSQUE GROUNDBREAKING
- A Mosque in the Making (Boston Globe)
* CAIR-MICHIGAN ANNUAL FUNDRAISING BANQUET
* CAIR REPS TO VISIT 60+ CITIES
* MUSLIM STUDENTS WALK OUT OF OHIO HIGH SCHOOL (MSNBC)
* BUSH CAREFUL IN MUSLIM-AMERICAN RELATIONS (Reuters)
* AMERICANS IMPOSING RACIST AGENDA (Montreal Gazette)
- Muslims Encouraged to Report Harassment at Border (CMLCA)
- Detained Palestinian Sues for Release (AP)
* CIA KILLED U.S. CITIZEN IN YEMEN MISSILE STRIKE (Washington Post)
- Amnesty Questions U.S. Over Yemen Strike (Reuters)
* EDITORIAL: SNIPER WASN'T SHOOTING FOR ISLAM (Atlanta Journal)
* NY SCREENING OF DOCUMENTARY ON POST 9/11 LIFE FOR AMERICAN MUSLIMS
* MSNBC PROGRAM ON ISLAM IN AMERICA THIS WEEKEND
* FUNDS AVAILABLE FOR ANTI-BIAS PROGRAMS
* TREASURY DEPT ISSUES GUIDELINES ON CHARITABLE BEST PRACTICES
* PALESTINIAN TOWN IN ISRAEL CHOKEHOLD (AP)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: FORGIVING INJURIES
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Whoever suffers an
injury
and forgives (the person responsible), God will raise his status to a
higher degree and remove one of his sins."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 998
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 1432 sponsorships for $150 book and
tape packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country.
Take
part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library
package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 320
-----
CAIR OFFICIAL PARTICIPATES IN MA MOSQUE GROUNDBREAKING
CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper participated yesterday in a
groundbreaking ceremony for the new Islamic Society of Boston Cultural
Center. Hooper spoke about the vital role local Islamic institutions
can
play in fostering interfaith understanding.
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Rep. Michael E. Capuano (D-MA) also
spoke
at the event.
---
A MOSQUE IN THE MAKING
Peter Demarco, Globe Correspondent, 11/8/02
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/312/metro/A_mosque_in_the_making+.shtml
After 10 years of planning, city officials and leaders of the Islamic
Society of Boston plunged ceremonial shovels into the dirt on a Roxbury
corner yesterday to launch construction of what will be the largest
mosque
and Islamic center in New England - a spiritual home for the state's
growing Muslim population…
-----
CAIR-MICHIGAN ANNUAL FUNDRAISING BANQUET
WHAT: CAIR-Michigan invites you for Iftar & Dinner at its annual
Fundraising Banquet: "Ensuring a Safe and Secure Future for Muslims in
America"
WHEN: Sunday, November 17, 5 P.M.
WHERE: Islamic Association of Greater Detroit - 865 W. Auburn Rd.,
Rochester
Hills, MI 48307
GUEST SPEAKER: Alex Kronemer, Executive Producer, Unity Productions
Guests will see an Exclusive Preview of Mr. Kronemer & Mr. Wolfe's new
documentary - "Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet"
Tickets: $50/person, $25/student donation
Babysitting is available upon request.
-----
CAIR REPS TO VISIT 60+ CITIES
In an effort to stay in touch with the needs and concerns of the
American
Muslim community, CAIR representatives will visit more than 60
communities
across the Midwest and east coast during the month of Ramadan. At each
location, representatives will offer presentations on CAIR's work in
the
areas of civil rights, voter registration, media relations, and
educational
initiatives. If you are interested in having CAIR visit your community
this
month, contact CAIR Community Affairs at (202) 439-5432.
-----
MUSLIM STUDENTS WALK OUT OF OHIO HIGH SCHOOL
MSNBC, 11/7/02
http://www.msnbc.com/local/wcmh/a1382279.asp
COLUMBUS, Ohio - A group of Muslim students walked out of their
classrooms
Thursday at Brookhaven High School because they said they were not
allowed
to pray.
During Ramadan, Muslims are required to pray at specific times, but
school
administrators said that would interrupt classes, NewsChannel 4's Larry
Roberts reported.
Contrary to what many people think, students are allowed to pray at
school,
but it must be at a time set aside at their request and in a designated
area, Roberts reported.
But some Muslim students at Brookhaven said their requests for prayer
time
were denied.
The students are fighting for five minutes to say their noontime
Ramadan
prayers.
"If religion is not preached in Columbus Public Schools, why do we have
Christmas break? Why do we have Easter break?" student Amren Youssouf
said.
Columbus Public Schools spokesman Michael Straughter said the district
is
not saying the students can't pray, but just not during instructional
time.
Brookhaven officials said individual prayer time will be allowed, but
not
for groups, since that would be more disruptive. But that's still a
problem
for Muslim students.
The students said they do not blame the principal. They said he has
done
all he can to help them. But they are trying to reach out to the
district
for a compromise. Ramadan started Wednesday and lasts for 29 days
-----
BUSH CAREFUL IN MUSLIM-AMERICAN RELATIONS
Randall Mikkelsen, Reuters, 11/7/02
http://reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=politicsnews&StoryID=1699421
WASHINGTON - Seeking to strengthen relations with Muslim Americans as
he
heads toward possible war with Iraq, U.S. President George W. Bush
opened
the White House on Thursday to Muslim leaders for a Ramadan-season
dinner.
As he courts an estimated seven million U.S. Muslims, Bush's efforts to
discourage a backlash over the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks are coming into
conflict with increasing antipathy to Islam shown by core supporters
among
conservative Christians.
He also faces deep concern among Muslim Americans over what they see as
heavy-handed law enforcement tactics used in the campaign against
terrorism
and unbalanced U.S. policies in the Middle East.
"We've seen a significant absence or silence on the rising tide of
anti-Muslim rhetoric (from conservative Christians)," said Ibrahim
Hooper
of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
"It's good in a way for him repeat the mantra of Islam is a religion of
peace, but I think it would have more impact if he spoke specifically
to
those who are his constituents and supporters and told them to
basically
'knock it off,"' he said...
-----
EDITORIAL: AMERICANS IMPOSING RACIST AGENDA
Janet Bagnall, Montreal Gazette, 11/8/02
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/columnists/story.asp?id=E48EB4CF-DF1D-4414-BB88-756E1104FC2B
The United States is hell-bent on treating as a potential terrorist
anyone
who is Muslim or Arab or, failing that, dark-skinned enough to pass for
one. And Canadians are being asked to go along with it.
Never mind that John Walker Lindh, the "American Taliban," is a white
American or that Richard Reid, the British shoe-bomber, was
insufficiently
swarthy to attract airport security attention. Or that the men involved
in
the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks had all entered the United States from
countries other than Canada. American security forces are sticking by
their
decision that every Canadian born in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Saudi
Arabia, Pakistan, Yemen or Sudan must be fingerprinted and photographed
if
he or she travel to the U.S. For reasons that remain unfathomable,
Foreign
Affairs Minister Bill Graham has thrown in the towel and withdrawn a
travel
advisory for Canadians born in those countries.
The danger of being born in one of these countries was made amply clear
last month when Canadian engineer and Ottawa resident Arar Maher
vanished
from a New York airport while waiting for his connecting flight home to
Canada. The U.S, totally unrepentant, finally admitted deporting him to
Syria, the birthplace he had last seen at age 17.
Maher might never see Canada again because the U.S. has decided it can
unilaterally determine the fate of any individual on its territory,
regardless of international laws…
Americans have the right to secure their borders. They do not have the
right to impose a racist agenda on the rest of the world. The thing
with
racial profiling is you can only stop once you've turfed every single
member of the profiled group out of the country or into a camp, much
like
what happened to the Japanese during World War II in the U.S. and
Canada.
We were supposed to have learned something from that miscarriage of
justice.
The other problem with racial profiling is that it's ridiculous. It
achieves nothing. Twenty per cent of the world's population is Muslim.
What
are the Americans going to do? Set up files on billion individuals and
then
persecute any of them who dares set foot on Americian soil?
And we're supposed to go along with this? I don't think so.
SEE ALSO:
MUSLIMS ENCOURAGED TO REPORT HARASSMENT AT BORDER POINTS
Canadian Muslim Civil Liberties Association (CMLCA) is renewing its
call to
Muslims to report all harassment at border points in Canada. This
includes
those going into the US as well as those returning to Canada.
Documented cases of harassment enables organisations like CMCLA and
CAIR-CAN to speak with authority and credibility on the issue and gives
us
an opportunity to help.
Incident report forms can be downloaded from www.caircan.ca, or
alternatively, can be filled online at www.cmcla.org. You may also call
CAIR-CAN at 1-866-524 0004 to report.
All reports are held as confidential.
Canadian-Muslim Civil Liberties Association
885 Progress Avenue, Suite UPH14,
Toronto, Ontario M1G 3H3
Email: cmcla@cmcla.org
---
DETAINED PALESTINIAN SUES FOR RELEASE
Wayne Parry, Associated Press, 11/8/02
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=228295&contrassID=1&subContrassID=8&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - A Palestinian activist detained as part of the
post-Sept. 11 dragnet is suing the federal government for holding him
too
long, claiming he must be allowed to stay in the U.S. because, as a
Palestinian, there is no nation to which he can be deported.
The activist, Farouk Abdel-Muhti, also claims he was repeatedly
transferred
between county jails in New Jersey in retaliation for his criticism of
the
U.S. government's foreign policy.
Abdel-Muhti, 55, has been held behind bars for more than six months,
the
general standard the government set for itself in judging what is a
reasonable length of time a person can be held before being deported.
"He's got nowhere to go," said his lawyer, Joel Kupferman. "The law
says
they can only hold him six months, and it's been more than six months.
They
can't keep him in jail indefinitely."
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Newark, names the INS, U.S.
Attorney General John Ashcroft, Passaic County Jail Warden Charles
Meyers
and others as defendants…
-----
CIA KILLED U.S. CITIZEN IN YEMEN MISSILE STRIKE
Dana Priest, Washington Post, 11/8/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25630-2002Nov7.html
A U.S. citizen was among the people killed in the pilotless missile
strike
on suspected al Qaeda terrorists in Yemen Sunday, administration
officials
confirmed yesterday, adding a new element to an attack that reflects
the
evolving nature of the U.S. war on terrorism around the world.
Ahmed Hijazi and five other suspected al Qaeda operatives were killed
by a
five-foot long Hellfire missile launched from a remote controlled CIA
Predator aircraft as they rode in a vehicle 100 miles east of the
Yemeni
capital, Sanaa.
Hijazi held U.S. citizenship and was also a citizen of an unidentified
Middle Eastern country, a senior administration official confirmed. He
was
not born in the United States, but resided here for an unknown period
of
time, the official said.
With him in the vehicle, said Yemeni and U.S. government officials, was
a
senior al Qaeda leader, Abu Ali al-Harithi, who is suspected of
masterminding the October 2000 attack on the destroyer USS Cole.
Hijazi's citizenship highlights the different approaches pursued
simultaneously by the administration as it wages its war on terror. In
some
cases since Sept. 11, American citizens have been arrested and afforded
traditional legal rights in the criminal justice system. In others,
they
have been captured and held indefinitely in military brigs as "enemy
combatants." Now, at least in Hijazi's case, a citizen has been killed
in a
covert military action...
"This ought to be a last resort for the United States," said Jeffrey H.
Smith, former general counsel at the CIA. The preferable route, he
said,
would be to capture and try terrorists, and share the evidence of guilt
with the world.
---
AMNESTY QUESTIONS U.S. OVER YEMEN STRIKE
Reuters, 11/8/02
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20021108_257.html
LONDON - Human rights group Amnesty International wrote to U.S.
President
George W. Bush on Friday to question Washington's role in a missile
attack
on al Qaeda suspects in Yemen.
Six men suspected of membership of the militant Islamic network died in
a
car blast on Sunday that the United States said was due to a missile
fired
from an unmanned CIA aircraft.
"If this was the deliberate killing of suspects in lieu of arrest, in
circumstances in which they did not pose an immediate threat, the
killings
would be extra-judicial executions in violation of international human
rights law," the London-based rights group said in a statement.
"The United States should issue a clear and unequivocal statement that
it
will not sanction extra-judicial executions."
The attack, which deputy U.S. defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz termed
"a
highly successful tactical operation," killed a leading suspect in the
bombing of U.S. destroyer Cole two years ago…
-----
EDITORIAL: SNIPER WASN'T SHOOTING FOR ISLAM
Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 11/8/02
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/opinion/1102/08snipe.html
The discovery that the weapon used in the Washington-area sniper
attacks
was also used to kill an Atlanta man on Sept. 21 --- 11 days before the
spree began up North --- has brought a frightening story much closer to
home.
It also confirms the absurdity of efforts by some to link those tragic
attacks to Islamic terrorism.
Yes, the main adult suspect in the killings is a man named John
Muhammad.
But robbery and mayhem, not politics, seem to have been his motivation.
If
that makes him an Islamic terrorist, then Timothy McVeigh was a
Christian
terrorist and David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam killer, was a Jewish
terrorist. It is also true that Muhammad flirted for a while with the
Nation of Islam, the cult headed by Louis Farrakhan. But traditional
Islam
and the Nation of Islam have very little in common; Islam and Judaism
are,
in fact, more closely related than Islam and the Nation of Islam.
And yet some, including New York Times columnist William Safire, have
tried
to depict Muhammad as part of the great Islamic dagger aimed at the
heart
and soul of America. The increasingly shrill Daniel Pipes, at one point
a
respected voice on Middle Eastern affairs, has accused the news media
of
having "shut their eyes" to Muhammad's jihadic spree. "When Muslims
engage
in terrorism against Americans," Pipes wrote, "the guiding presumption
must
be that they see themselves as warriors in a jihad against the 'Great
Satan.' "
And in the words of conservative writer Mark Steyn, "When two Muslim
males
embark on a clinical, unprovoked campaign of infidel-killing, 'possible
terrorism' also seems a reasonable conclusion. It doesn't matter
whether
they were acting on orders or simply improvising."
Such rhetoric is nonsense. It smacks of fear-mongering, of an effort to
frighten an already anxious populace into accepting anti-Islamic
policies
that it would otherwise never tolerate.
It is terrorism by another means.
SEND NOTES OF APPRECIATION TO: letters@ajc.com
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org
-----
NY SCREENING OF DOCUMENTARY ON POST 9/11 LIFE FOR AMERICAN MUSLIMS
WHAT: Baraka Productions invites you to the premiere screening of
BROTHERS
& OTHERS directed by Nicolas Rossier. Brothers and Others: The Impact
of
September 11th on Muslims and Arabs in America is a one hour video
documentary that follows a number of immigrant and American families as
they struggle under the heightened climate of suspicion, FBI and INS
investigations and economic hardships that erupted in the USA following
the
attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11th,
2001.
WHEN: Thursday, November 21 at 6:30 P.M.
WHERE: The Screening Room, 54 Varick Street (just below Canal)
New York, NY 10013 Tel: (212)334-2100
Press and industry, please call our reservation hotline: (212)528-3801
or
email us: info@barakaproductions.com
A $8 donation to be used for the "Emergency Family Fund" of CAIR-NY
will be
greatly appreciated.
-----
MSNBC PROGRAM ON ISLAM IN AMERICA THIS WEEKEND
On Sunday, November 10 at 10 P.M. (EST), MSNBC will air a program
titled
Islam in America - Faith Under Fire
For further information, go to:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/MSNBCINVESTIGATES_Front.asp
-----
FUNDS AVAILABLE FOR ANTI-BIAS PROGRAMS
The September 11th Anti-Bias Project is a joint initiative of The
National
Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) and the ChevronTexaco
Foundation to address the increased bias, bigotry, and racism being
faced
by some groups and individuals, especially South Asians, Muslims and
Arabs,
in the wake of the September 11th attacks.
The project calls for a national Request for Proposals (RFP) to be
distributed by NCCJ to identify innovative and replicable approaches
that
foster understanding and build bridges across ethnic, racial, cultural
and
religious groups. This is a wonderful opportunity for many of you who
are
affiliates of the Pluralism Project and many local interfaith councils
and
interreligious initiatives.
The ChevronTexaco Foundation is providing $1.5 million to support the
project. The RFP is available at http://www.nccj.org. Please note, it
is
due on November 22, 2002.
NCCJ and the ChevronTexaco Foundation are committed to funding
replicable
models of efforts that do one or more of the following for the affected
communities:
Educate the general population regarding their issues
Create leadership outreach opportunities
Promote inclusive collaborations
Affect systemic change
The September 11th Anti-Bias Project will award one-year grants from
January 2003 to December 2003 of not less than $25,000 and not more
than
$100,000. Recipients will receive full funding by January 2003 and have
until December 2003 to fulfill the goals and objectives outlined in
their
respective proposals. Recipients will be required to submit a final
report
detailing their work to be featured in a "replicable initiatives"
document
that will be distributed widely.
Please see the RFP for additional details. I encourage you to apply for
funding as this is a great opportunity to strengthen your existing
programs, and create new opportunities and partnerships.
-----
TREASURY DEPT ISSUES GUIDELINES ON CHARITABLE BEST PRACTICES
Press Release, Department of Treasury, 11/7/02
http://www.treasury.gov/press/releases/po3607.htm
Response to Inquiries from Arab American and American Muslim
Communities
for Guidance on Charitable Best Practices
Recently, members of the Arab American and American Muslim communities
have
expressed concern to the U.S. Department of the Treasury about the
decline
of charitable giving in their communities in the aftermath of the
Treasury
Department's blocking actions against three of the communities'
charities. They have asked for guidance on ways to enhance future
charitable giving. In response, the Treasury Department has developed
voluntary best practices guidelines for the U.S.-based charities in
their
communities, to assist those charities in avoiding any ties to
terrorist
organizations that might lead to further blocking actions…
The guide is available at
http://www.treasury.gov/press/releases/docs/tocc.pdf
-----
PALESTINIAN TOWN IN ISRAEL CHOKEHOLD
JAMIE TARABAY, Associated Press, 11/8/02
JENIN, West Bank (AP) - Israel's renewed occupation of Jenin - now in
its
third week - has left its mark everywhere: tanks have knocked down
electricity poles and palm trees lining streets, and a military curfew
confines tens of thousands of residents to their homes…
In the past two years of fighting, Israeli troops have repeatedly
entered
Jenin, a stronghold of militias linked to Hamas, Islamic Jihad and
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. In a major military
offensive in April, the deadliest battle raged in the adjacent Jenin
camp,
with 52 Palestinians and 23 Israeli soldiers killed.
The London-based human rights group Amnesty International alleged this
week
that Israeli forces committed war crimes in Jenin and the city of
Nablus
during the April offensive…
For Jenin Mayor Walid Abu Mowais, the Israeli presence is an
administrative
nightmare. "If they destroyed 70 percent of Jenin's infrastructure in
April, they finished the rest this time," said Abu Mowais…
Most of Jenin has been without running water since mid-October because
of a
technical problem with the pump in the main well. The Jenin governor
said
Israel has kept a repair team from coming from the town of Ramallah…
Palestinians say the current siege is far worse than the one in April,
particularly with the start of Ramadan, Islam's holy month, earlier
this week…
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 11/10/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: A CHEERFUL COUNTENANCE
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT
* 2 CHARGED IN MOSQUE VANDALISM (Washington Post)
- FLA. MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO HATE CRIME (AP)
* LET NEIGHBOURLY LOVE TRANSFORM MIDEAST DEBATE (Montreal Gazette)
* COMMENTARY: ON GOP AND RAMADAN (Providence Journal)
* PENTAGON PLANS COMPUTER SYSTEM TO PEEK AT PERSONAL DATA (NY Times)
* IN SEARCH FOR IDENTITY, WEIGHING ARAB AND AMERICAN (Wash. Post)
* RAMADAN AND THE WORKPLACE (UPI)
* PENTAGON PROBES ANONYMOUS RELEASE OF DETAINEE PHOTOS (CNN)
* WAR PLAN IN IRAQ SEES LARGE FORCE AND QUICK STRIKES (NY Times)
* CHECHENS VIEW THEMSELVES AS HOSTAGES OF WAR (Wash. Post)
* ISRAELI SOLDIERS "SHARE" PALESTINIAN FAMILY'S HOME (Reuters)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: A CHEERFUL COUNTENANCE
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Don't consider anything
insignificant out of good things, even if it is that you meet your
brother
with a cheerful countenance."
Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1209
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT
Take part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and
objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 320
-----
2 CHARGED IN MOSQUE VANDALISM
Sterling Teens Painted Swastikas, Sheriff's Officials Say
Abhi Raghunathan, Washington Post, 11/10/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30485-2002Nov8.html
Two teenage boys have been charged with felony hate crime for
vandalizing a
mosque in Sterling the weekend after Sept. 11 this year. The Loudoun
County
Sheriff's Office said they appear to have acted alone.
The youths, ages 14 and 16, were also charged Wednesday with five
counts of
misdemeanor destruction of property and one count of felony destruction
of
property, sheriff's officials said.
A tan wall of the nearly completed mosque was spray-painted with black
swastikas and racial obscenities, and six vehicles in the neighborhood
were
sprayed with black lines.
Sheriff's officials charged the 16-year-old with a second count of
felony
hate crime, contending that he returned within 48 hours of the first
incident and spray-painted another swastika on the back of the
building.
Sheriff's officials did not release the suspects' names because they
are
juveniles but said both are Sterling residents. The penalty they could
receive if convicted could vary because of their ages. Officials said
no
court date had been set…
Mosque officials had increased security around the complex during the
9/11
anniversary because they were concerned about the possibility of such
an
incident. The vandalism took place Sept. 13 or 14, after security was
relaxed.
"We are happy that the perpetrators were caught," said Yasir Syeed,
community relations director of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society,
known
as the Adams Center, which runs the mosque on 46903 Sugarland Rd.
"Also, we
are happy these were two individuals and not a group..."
On Sept. 11, 2001, vandals spray-painted violent messages on walls,
carpets
and doors of another space that the Adams Center used at Community
Plaza in
Sterling. The center's director received a call the next morning from
someone threatening Muslims. Sheriff's officials are still
investigating
that incident.
SEE ALSO:
FLA. MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO HATE CRIME
Associated Press, 11/9/02
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - A man pleaded guilty to a hate crime charge
Friday
for driving his pickup truck into a mosque and yelling anti-Muslim
threats,
the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Charles D. Franklin, 41, could be sentenced to 20 years in prison at a
hearing Feb. 18.
He drove his truck into the door of the Islamic Center Mosque and
shouted
slurs against Islam and threats against Muslims during his arrest,
federal
prosecutors said. No one was injured in the crash March 25…
-----
LET NEIGHBOURLY LOVE TRANSFORM MIDEAST DEBATE
If Jews and Muslims dealt with each other as individuals, we'd all be
better off
SHEEMA KHAN, Montreal Gazette, 11/9/02
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/
Sheema Khan is chairman of the Ottawa-based Council on American-Islamic
Relations - Canada
As the raw feelings of pain, fear, and hate spill over from the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict to Jewish and Arab/Muslim communities in
Canada, I cannot help but remember our Montreal neighbours of 19 years,
Sally and Bob Venor. Sally died in 1995; Bob, one year later.
We had moved into the house next to the Venors in N.D.G. We were
Muslims of
Indo-Pakistani origin; they were Jewish. While our political views on
the
Middle East differed, it was the guiding principles of Islam and
Judaism
that defined our relationship. The monotheistic essence of both
doctrines
provided a spiritual bond. The importance of honouring one's neighbour
provided the basis of a relationship based on love, dignity and
respect.
I still remember Sally, a woman of boundless optimism and generosity,
telling us how she would include our family in her Friday Sabbath
prayers.
She was a devout woman who prayed often, and educated us about Jewish
rites. She would bake cakes and send them over; take us out to lunch on
occasion to Ben Ash; and always tell us how proud she was of us. And
even
more significant, she would say:
"Palestinians are people like everyone else. They deserve to be treated
fairly." She mentioned that her friends would often chastise her for
such
views. But she did not care. Her love for humanity extended to all.
As a deeply spiritual woman, she was one of the few who supported my
personal renewed commitment to Islam. During the completion of my Ph.D
in
chemical physics at Harvard, I underwent personal changes that
reflected
spiritual evolution from within. This included a change in lifestyle,
wherein prayer, modesty, and gratefulness filled a void. I chose to
wear
the Islamic headscarf, much to the consternation of my friends and
family.
Yet, there was Sally, fully supportive of the spiritual choice I had
made.
Our bond was irrevocably strengthened.
We also shared the recognition that minorities were vulnerable to
prejudice. I had been involved in combating media stereotypes of
Muslims,
when news broke of the murder of four Concordia University professors
by
one of their own, Valerie Fabrikant, who happened to be Jewish. Sally
was
so distraught, worried that people would make wrongful generalizations
about Jews. "Do you also worry about that?" she asked.
"Yes, I do," I replied, "but I will not let the media define who I am.
Our
community is young, and many people do not know Muslims as individuals,
or
our values. Besides, I am sure most people will not draw conclusions
about
Jews from this tragedy, because your community is such an integral part
of
our society. The bigots will, but they always look for anything. And I
know
you personally; the thought never crossed my mind that the two of you
had
anything in common."
Sally died a few days before my wedding. I had eagerly looked forward
to
having her attend my big day. I wanted her to be at the mosque to
witness
the simplicity of an Islamic wedding contract. And I wanted her to be
part
of the celebration the following day - she was just like family.
Instead, I cried many tears at her funeral, saddened by her departure,
yet
grateful for her friendship. I worried for Bob, her husband, for the
two
had been inseparable. He, too, had been a wonderful neighbour, ready to
offer help at a moment's notice. He was quieter than Sally, and was a
man
of generous deeds. One year later, I wept at his funeral.
Sally and Bob come to my mind now more than ever, because they embodied
hope at times of tension. They were supporters of Israel. But that did
not
make them anti-Palestinian. And I supported the Palestinian cause
without
being anti-Jewish. Even during times of upheaval overseas - the
invasion of
Lebanon, the massacres at Sabra and Shatilla, the first intifada - we
maintained our unique relationship. Sadly, the current rhetoric, in its
efforts to dehumanize "the other" through bitter words, takes away from
the
tremendous human potential that exists right here in Canada to make a
difference for the better.
Surely, the simple human virtues of our friendship can be replicated
throughout neighbourhoods, cities and nations. Sally, in her belief in
the
basic goodness of people, would have agreed.
-----
COMMENTARY: ON GOP AND RAMADAN
Arsalan Tariq Iftikhar, Providence Journal, 11/10/02
http://www.projo.com/opinion/contributors/content/projo_20021110_10ctars.22249.html
Arsalan Tariq Iftikhar is Midwest communications director for the
Council
on American-Islamic Relations.
ST. LOUIS - NOVEMBER this year proves to be a significant crossroads
for a
considerable part of humanity. For a fifth of the global population,
this
month symbolizes a cleansing of their souls through fasting during
daylight
hours.
For Americans, this month presages a shift in our governmental
structure,
which will give the president's party control of both houses of our
legislature. Both of these occurrences are important to many people and
for
many Americans, including myself; we feel the effect and impact of both
of
these occurrences in our lives…
A Republican majority almost assures any Supreme Court nominee of his
to
pass senatorial confirmation and revisit such issues as abortion,
prayer in
school and the marginalization of our constitutional liberties. Many
analysts also believe that had the Democrats remained true to their
opposition to President Bush's unlawful war song on Iraq, perhaps
senatorial control might have remained with the status quo. It is sad
to
note that Democratic opposition to the war on Iraq may have been
stronger
had this not been an election year.
As most Muslims use Ramadan for pause and reflection, I earnestly hope
that
our elected leaders will use that same pause and reflection in deciding
which path on the crossroads our country will take. We must not forget
that
our country is one based on the essence of law, where individuals'
rights
are paramount to those of the government.
Although I am saddened to see that the checks and balances that were
once
in place have all but disappeared overnight, I have faith in the
collective
will of my people…
-----
PENTAGON PLANS A COMPUTER SYSTEM THAT WOULD PEEK AT PERSONAL DATA OF
AMERICANS
JOHN MARKOFF, New York Times, 11/9/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/09/politics/09COMP.html
The Pentagon is constructing a computer system that could create a vast
electronic dragnet, searching for personal information as part of the
hunt
for terrorists around the globe - including the United States.
As the director of the effort, Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter, has
described
the system in Pentagon documents and in speeches, it will provide
intelligence analysts and law enforcement officials with instant access
to
information from Internet mail and calling records to credit card and
banking transactions and travel documents, without a search warrant…
In order to deploy such a system, known as Total Information Awareness,
new
legislation would be needed, some of which has been proposed by the
Bush
administration in the Homeland Security Act that is now before
Congress.
That legislation would amend the Privacy Act of 1974, which was
intended to
limit what government agencies could do with private information.
The possibility that the system might be deployed domestically to let
intelligence officials look into commercial transactions worries civil
liberties proponents.
"This could be the perfect storm for civil liberties in America," said
Marc
Rotenberg, director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in
Washington "The vehicle is the Homeland Security Act, the technology is
Darpa and the agency is the F.B.I. The outcome is a system of national
surveillance of the American public..."
-----
IN SEARCH FOR IDENTITY, WEIGHING ARAB AND AMERICAN
Hanna Rosin, Washington Post, 11/9/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30326-2002Nov8.html
SEATTLE -- For Arab Americans, carefully and self-consciously choosing
the
public face they present to their neighbors is a fact of life since
Sept.
11, 2001. And that caution is not confined to Seattle, a city that
prides
itself on tolerance and an absence of immigrant ghettos. Throughout the
country now "there is a sense that somebody's watching," said Muneer
Ahmad,
an American University law professor who has studied the effect of
racial
profiling. "Even in private interactions, at the dinner table, families
will warn each other about what to say and how to say it."
How they have responded to that anxiety parallels the experience of
another
ethnic group that faced hostility and suspicion: Japanese Americans
during
World War II. Faced with loyalty hearings and confinement to internment
camps, Japanese Americans after the war gravitated toward two poles --
"extra assimilationist" and those who "clung to their ethnic identity,"
such as the famous "no-no boys" who refused to swear allegiance to the
United States and instead went to jail, said Leti Volpp, author of the
essay, "Citizen and the Terrorist."
-----
RAMADAN AND THE WORKPLACE
YASMIN SATI, United Press International, 11/8/02
The American work place and people of Islamic faith have been making
mutual
adjustments for recognizing the religious observance of Ramadan…
As the observance has become more familiar in American society, the
workplace has been encouraged to provide flexibility. At issue is the
question of scheduling to accommodate the month of fasting, according
to
Marta Nieburg, an human resource manager with TriNet, an outsource
provider
of benefits, payroll, and human resource. Also, the workplace cannot
restrict religious obligations because there are legal protections for
religious accommodations under the Title VII Act of 1964, said Hassan
Mirza, Civil Rights Consultant for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations. The workplace must "reasonably" accommodate a religious
request,
unless that request causes an "undo hardship," Mirza added.
"A significant loss of revenue for the workplace, for example, is
considered an undo hardship," he said.
Any labor dispute must be reported to the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission that will decide whether the request is reasonable or an
undo
hardship, on a case-by-case situation.
Title VII protects religious accommodations among many others, such as
race, for only non-governmental positions. The government has it's own
legal protection under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993,
Mirza
said.
The act says that "the government shall not burden a person's exercise
of
religion except when there is a compelling government interest," Mirza
said. In that case, it will not be considered discrimination if the
government refuses the request. Again, a considerable loss of money is
considered a compelling government interest.
"Human Resources are very much aware of religious rights as it's
becoming
more and more prevalent," Mirza said…
-----
PENTAGON PROBES ANONYMOUS RELEASE OF DETAINEE PHOTOS
CNN, 11/8/02
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/11/08/detainees.pictures/
CNN's Barbara Starr reports the Pentagon is looking into the release of
photos that seem to show restrained detainees being transported.
(November 8)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Pentagon is investigating an apparently
unauthorized release of photographs of detainees on a U.S. military
transport plane out of Afghanistan.
Several electronic images were e-mailed to news organizations,
including
CNN. A Pentagon spokesman says the photographs appear to be genuine. It
is
not known who took or e-mailed the pictures.
The images show men wearing hoods and headphone-type ear protection.
The
men are held to the floor of what appears to be an open interior area
of a
C-130 transport by chains, leg cuffs and other restraints. A large U.S.
flag hangs from the ceiling.
The men are under heavy guard. In one shot, a military police officer
is
shown addressing a restrained and blindfolded man seated with his arms
behind him. Other men in uniform are shown relaxed and seated along the
sides of the cargo area.
-----
WAR PLAN IN IRAQ SEES LARGE FORCE AND QUICK STRIKES
David E. Sanger, Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker, New York Times,
11/10/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/10/international/middleeast/10MILI.html
WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 - President Bush has settled on a war plan for Iraq
that
would begin with an air campaign shorter than the one for the Persian
Gulf
war, senior administration officials say. It would feature swift ground
actions to seize footholds in the country and strikes to cut off the
leadership in Baghdad.
The plan, approved in recent weeks by Mr. Bush well before the Security
Council's unanimous vote on Friday to disarm Iraq, calls for massing
200,000 to 250,000 troops for attack by air, land and sea. The
offensive
would probably begin with a "rolling start" of substantially fewer
forces,
Pentagon and military officials say...
The military plan calls for the quick capture of land within Iraq,
which
would be used as bases to funnel American forces deeper into the
country.
That approach is intended to relieve some of the diplomatic pressure
created by massing troops and initiating attacks from neighboring
nations,
including Saudi Arabia.
Under the plan, United States and coalition forces could operate out of
such forward bases in northern, western and southern Iraq, building on
lessons learned in Afghanistan, where the military seized a similar
outpost
south of Kandahar…
One senior official, drawing on comparisons with the American
occupation of
Japan in 1945, said, "Our message will be that the faster we find the
weapons and arrest Saddam's guys, the faster they get some normalcy…"
-----
CHECHENS VIEW THEMSELVES AS HOSTAGES OF WAR
Sharon LaFraniere, Washington Post, 11/10/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33331-2002Nov9.html
GROZNY, Russia -- It was 20 seconds past 7:30 p.m. last Sunday, by the
stopped clock on the wall, when a twirling mortar shell lobbed from the
Russian military's main base plunged through the roof of a one-room
red-brick house, leaving a melon-size hole, and struck Mariat
Nasarkhoeva.
The woman, 23 and two months pregnant, died instantly. The explosion
scorched the white blanket that swaddled her 5-month-old.
On Wednesday her sister-in-law, Dasha Nasarkhoeva, held the boy aloft
in
the room where Mariat died. The family's women gathered behind her, she
cursed the Russian artillerymen behind barbed wire barriers a few
hundred
yards away.
"They exterminate us like sheep," she said, while other scarf-shrouded
heads nodded in agreement. "We are ready to die like those terrorists.
I
say it from the depths of my soul. All of us say the same."
Lest anyone misunderstand, Dasha Nasarkhoeva would never say she
admires
the approximately 50 Chechen terrorists whose seizure of a packed
Moscow
theater last month led to the deaths of 128 hostages when Russian
commandos
launched an assault. "Was it right? Of course not," she said.
But she does sympathize with them. To Nasarkhoeva, the Russian soldiers
who
killed her sister-in-law are no less terrorists than the Chechen
hostage-takers who threatened to blow up 763 innocents if Russia did
not
end its war in the republic. Her view is an article of faith to many
Chechens, prisoners of a conflict that has raged in two phases since
1994,
reducing their city to ruins and their lives to nightmares.
Practically every one of three dozen Chechens interviewed this week in
Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, equated themselves with the Moscow
hostages who sweated out the terror of the theater for 58 hours, with
but
one difference: In Chechnya, they said, people have suffered far
longer…
-----
ISRAELI SOLDIERS "SHARE" PALESTINIAN FAMILY'S HOME
Mohammed Assadi, Reuters, 11/10/02
JENIN, West Bank, Nov 10 (Reuters) - The Taha family of Jenin was glad
to
see the backs of its uninvited guests -- Israeli soldiers who spent
five
days in its home as the army searched the West Bank city for
Palestinian
militants.
"Don't clean this carpet because they spilled sardine oil on it. Throw
it
away," Nabiha Taha told her 13-year-old daughter Duaa after the
soldiers
left their apartment and dozens of other houses as part of a pullback
to
the edges of the city on Sunday.
Hundreds of troops rolled into Jenin on October 25, commandeering some
50
buildings as lookout posts during house-to-house sweeps for
Palestinians
suspected of involvement in militant groups behind suicide attacks in
Israel.
For the Tahas, the five days soldiers spent in their home seemed longer
than the past two years of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed.
"Each time they brought in cartons of canned food and other supplies, I
said to myself they would never leave," Nabiha Taha said as she, her
two
daughters and neighbours cleaned the apartment after the troops left.
The family of six was forced to stay in two rooms in the apartment,
with
some 10 soldiers occupying the other half of the residence. Everyone
used
the same bathroom.
"We spent such sleepless nights," Taha said. "They sang and sometimes
they
danced after midnight. It was so horrible…"
The Tahas said they had to adapt to the different moods of soldiers who
kept changing shifts.
"They humiliated us. Many of them were shouting at us," Nabiha Taha
said.
"I cannot believe that they are gone now. But who knows, they may come
back.
She said she had to ask for the soldiers' permission each time she
wanted
to prepare the evening meal when Muslims break their day-time fast
during
the holy month of Ramadan.
"They became the owner of the house and we, the unwelcome guests," she
said…
Many residents interviewed by Reuters reported thefts of money and
valuables after their houses were searched…Israeli tanks and bulldozers
damaged water mains, several electricity poles, telephone lines and
shop
signs during the operation.
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
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In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 11/11/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: DO GOOD, DESPITE EVIL
- VERSE OF THE DAY: AN ATOM'S WEIGHT OF GOOD
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT
* SIX MEMBERS OF MN MUSLIM FAMILY DIE IN CAR ACCIDENT (AP)
* U.S. PLANS NATION-BUILDING IN IRAQ (Wall Street Journal)
- AFTER IRAQ, BUSH WILL ATTACK HIS REAL TARGET (Toronto Sun)
* POPPY A PERFECT SYMBOL IN A 'DISENCHANTED WORLD' (Montreal Gazette)
* TEMPERS FLARE AFTER U.S. SENDS CANADIAN CITIZEN TO SYRIA (NY Times)
- MISTRY SAID NO. WE MUST ALL SAY NO (Globe and Mail)
* SNIPER TRAGEDY REVIVES TIRED CANARDS (Chicago Tribune)
* PORTLAND, PLEASE SINGLE OUT MUSLIMS (Portland Tribune)
* RELIGIOUS RHETORIC AS CAMPAIGN BEGINS IN INDIA STATE (Reuters)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: DO GOOD, DESPITE EVIL
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Do not be people
without
minds of your own, saying that if others treat you well you will treat
them
well and that if they do wrong you will do wrong. Instead, accustom
yourselves to do good if people do good and not to do wrong if they do
evil."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1325
VERSE OF THE DAY: AN ATOM'S WEIGHT OF GOOD
"Then [on the Day of Judgment] shall anyone who has done an atom's
weight
of good see it! And anyone who has done an atom's weight of evil shall
see it.
The Holy Quran, Chapter 99, Verses 7-8
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT
Take part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and
objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
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OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 320
-----
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) recommended saying the
following
upon hearing of a death or calamity: "We belong to God and to Him shall
we
return." Sahih Muslim, Hadith 456
SIX MEMBERS OF FAMILY DIE ON WAY TO SAN DIEGO
Associated Press, 11/11/02
ARLINGTON, Wyo. (AP) - A crash on a snow-slickened highway in Wyoming
killed six members of a Minnesota family who were traveling to San
Diego to
visit relatives and check out prospects for buying a business and
moving to
California.
Husband and wife Ghulam and Ayesha Khan, 43 and 31 years old,
respectively,
were killed along with their two children, son Mohammed R. Khan, 15,
and
daughter Suman, 8. The family of four is from the Minneapolis suburb of
Fridley.
Ayesha's mother, Zaneb Begum, 66, of Fridley, and Ayesha's brother,
Mohammed A. Khan, 29, of St. Paul, also were killed when a semitrailer
truck slammed into the Khans' minivan Saturday.
Relatives converged at a St. Paul apartment on Sunday, trying to
console
the sister of Ayesha and Mohammed Khan and urging her to eat. Another
sister, in India, fainted when she heard the news, family members said.
Ghulam, Ayesha, the elder Mohammed and Zaneb immigrated to Minnesota
from
Hyderabad, in southern India, about a decade ago…
"They wanted a better life," Khaudeja Bano, of St. Paul, said of the
family's reason for immigrating to the United States. "They hoped all
of
the family could be together and that they could have a better future
for
their kids."
The six left Fridley after their Friday afternoon prayers. They were
fasting for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan…
SEE ALSO:
Relatives, friends grieve for family killed on icy road in Wyoming
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/3423107.html
Services will be held Thursday afternoon at the Islamic Center of
Minnesota-Columbia Heights, 4056 7th St. N.E. (http://www.myicm.org/)
CONTRIBUTIONS FOR FUNERAL EXPENSES MAY BE SENT TO:
Islamic Cemetery Association
c/o Islamic Institute
P.O. Box 130154
Roseville, MN 55113
Please notify CAIR of your donation by e-mailing cair@cair-net.org.
(Any excess contributions will go to the "Burial of the Needy Fund.")
-----
U.S. PLANS NATION-BUILDING IN IRAQ
Bush May Station Troops, Push for International Body to Run
Post-Hussein
State
David S. Cloud and Carla Anne Robbins, Wall Street Journal, 11/11/02
http://online.wsj.com/public/us
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is planning to keep thousands of
U.S.
troops in Iraq if Saddam Hussein is overthrown, and to create an
international civil authority, possibly headed by an American, that
would
administer the country for at least two years before a new Iraqi
government
takes full control.
The far-reaching U.S. role being envisioned for a post-Hussein Iraq, as
described by senior officials involved in the planning, is a sharp
departure for the Bush administration, which has been deeply skeptical
of
nation-building elsewhere. Top Pentagon officials, who opposed
broadening
the U.S. military's mission in Afghanistan, are some of the most
enthusiastic proponents of an ambitious U.S.-led effort to rebuild Iraq
and
transform it into a stable democratic society, arguing that the
undertaking
is the key to stabilizing the entire Middle East.
Officials expect the U.S. military would directly govern Iraq for at
least
three to four months in the potentially chaotic period after Mr.
Hussein's
ouster. During that time it would set three priorities: delivering
humanitarian supplies, securing any weapons of mass destruction and
maintaining basic order. Several thousand Iraqi exiles are likely to be
trained as police to assist U.S. troops, officials said…
Also unsettled is the question of how central a role should be played
by
exiled Iraqis, including Ahmed Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National
Congress, an umbrella organization of anti-Hussein groups. Mr. Chalabi
has
strong ties to senior Pentagon officials and aides in Mr. Cheney's
office,
but is greatly mistrusted by the State Department. The current
consensus
seems to relegate Mr. Chalabi and other exile leaders to an advisory
role
for any international administration, along with respected leaders
still
inside Iraq who are expected to emerge during any war and its
aftermath.
Whether Pentagon officials will accept this is unknown. Some argue the
U.S.
should quickly give its blessing to a provisional government headed by
Mr.
Chalabi and his group. They warn that if the U.S. awaits elections
before
designating new Iraqi leaders, it will have little control over who
emerges. "It would be a very good idea to bring in Iraqis as quickly as
possible" after Mr. Hussein exits, a Pentagon official said. "And of
all
the opposition groups, the only one really interested in establishing a
democracy is the INC."
U.S. officials say they still aren't certain what they would do if an
Iraqi
military leader decides to stage a coup before a U.S. invasion begins,
or
in the early days of a military operation. The White House has urged
the
Iraqi military to do just that, but officials say privately that such a
move could complicate matters…
SEE ALSO:
AFTER IRAQ, BUSH WILL ATTACK HIS REAL TARGET
ERIC MARGOLIS, Toronto Sun, 11/10/02
http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/margolis_nov10.html
Bush's victory is clearly a mandate to proceed with his crusade against
Iraq. Preparations for war are in an advanced stage. The U.S. has been
quietly moving heavy armour and mechanized units from Europe to the
Mideast. Three division equivalents and a Marine heavy brigade are now
in
theatre. An armada of U.S. warplanes is assembling around Iraq, which
is
bombed almost daily. U.S. special forces are operating in northern
Iraq,
and, along with Israeli scout units, in Iraq's western desert near the
important H2 airbase. The war could begin as early as mid-December if
there
is no coup against Saddam Hussein.
But for all the propaganda about wicked Saddam, Iraq is not the main
objective for the small but powerful coterie of Pentagon hardliners
driving
the Bush administration's national security policy. Nor is it for their
intellectual and emotional peers in Israel's right-wing Likud party.
The
real target of the coming war is Iran, which Israel views as its
principal
and most dangerous enemy. Iraq merely serves as a pretext to whip
America
into a war frenzy and to justify insertion of large numbers of U.S.
troops
into Mesopotamia…
-----
POPPY A PERFECT SYMBOL IN A 'DISENCHANTED WORLD'
RIAD SALOOJEE, Montreal Gazette, 11/10/02
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/
Riad Salojee is the executive director of the Council on
American-Islamic
Relations.
We've found conventional, chemical and nuclear methods of killing one
another and elevated security high above fundamental needs. Consider
that
half the world's governments spend more on defence than they do on
health.
And that world military expenditures in 2001 topped $839 billion, while
an
estimated 1.3 billion people survive on the equivalent of less than $1
U.S.
a day.
Still, the slick rationale for war insists that aggressors must be
ousted.
And what of the consequences? The International Committee of the Red
Cross
estimates that one out of every two casualties of "war" is a civilian,
mostly women and children, caught in the crossfire. Indeed, there are
more
landmines planted in Cambodia than people. And Cambodia is just one of
the
64 countries around the world littered with about 100 million
anti-personnel landmines, which cause 500 deaths and injuries per week.
And the last tired rationale, that conflict is necessary to preserve
democracy, too, is suspect. The Centre for International Policy
estimates
that about 80 per cent of U.S. arms exports to the developing world go
to
non-democratic regimes...
Just next door, our mighty neighbour prepares the public for another
war.
Drumming up support for a renewed assault on Iraq, the Bush
administration
exhausts every specious argument. The Washington Post's Dana Milbank
writes
that, for George W. Bush, "facts are malleable" and that statements on
Iraq's military capability are "dubious, if not wrong." The CIA's
former
head of counterterrorism notes with greater candour: "Basically, cooked
information is working its way into high-level pronouncements…"
-----
TEMPERS FLARE AFTER U.S. SENDS A CANADIAN CITIZEN BACK TO SYRIA
DANIEL J. WAKIN, New York Times, 11/11/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/11/international/middleeast/11SYRI.html
DAMASCUS, Syria - Fifteen years after leaving Syria, Maher Arar finds
himself back in his homeland, lost in the murky world of its security
apparatus.
He is a Canadian citizen who has lived in Canada and the United States,
but
the United States authorities deported him to Syria on Oct. 10 on
suspicions of belonging to a terrorist group. That decision has tested
American-Canadian relations and apparently figures into the quiet
relationship that the United States and Syria are working out in
fighting
terrorism. American officials claim that Mr. Arar is a member of Al
Qaeda,
but the Canadians say they have no such information. The Syrians are
questioning Mr. Arar closely, Western diplomats say, but officially the
Syrian government has expressed outrage that he was deported to Syria
instead of Canada.
"It's not democratic, or civilized, really," said Bouthaina Shaaban, a
government spokeswoman, in an interview. She suggested that the United
States would protest such an action affecting one of its citizens. "If
any
other country did this, they would label that quite strange," she said…
SEE ALSO:
MISTRY SAID NO. WE MUST ALL SAY NO
HEATHER MALLICK, Globe and Mail, 11/9/02
http://www.globeandmail.com
Search using the term "Mistry."
That dignified man, Canadian novelist Rohinton Mistry, is now in my
personal pantheon because he said that simple word "No."
He gave up his U.S. book tour halfway through because his treatment at
airports was consistently racist, rude, humiliating and ultimately
unbearable. And you know what that makes him.
It makes him the modern Rosa Parks.
A quiet "No" can work wonders. I don't mean on the American airport
officials who take him aside for scrutiny, questions, luggage
dissection
and shoe examination so that passengers stare in fear and loathing. I
don't
mean on an American government that announces it will zero in on
Canadian
citizens born in certain countries. Mr. Mistry isn't from one of those
countries and isn't even a Muslim. He just isn't white.
Rosa Parks was tired that day in 1955. She didn't want to give up her
seat
to a white man, and that small decision led to a revolution. The only
difference between then and now was that she had no expectation of
getting
away with it. In 2002, we have a government that gets upset about
racism
dished out to Canadian citizens, as do Globe and Mail readers who are
seething over not just the treatment of Mr. Mistry, but all the
bullying at
the border…
I read the transcript of a shooting at an Israeli checkpoint in Hebron
last
year. An Israeli soldier asked a Palestinian man, a municipal worker
with a
pass, "Where are you going?" The man responded, "Why are you asking
me?"
So the soldier shot the man's foot off. The Globe ran the photo of him
on
the ground, his face in a rictus of agony, with his foot and half of
his
calf hanging by a thread. The ground was pooled with blood. "9:05" was
inked on the victim's forehead to indicate the time of tourniquet and
he
was taken away to a legless future…
A Canadian woman told The Globe this week of her ordeal at the U.S.
border
where she was held, interrogated and threatened with fingerprinting and
photographing after it was noticed on her Canadian passport that she
was
born in Iran. At this point, she gave up and said she didn't want to
cross
the border. But had she already? Nobody, including the U.S. security
people, could say…
-----
SNIPER TRAGEDY REVIVES TIRED CANARDS
Salim Muwakkil, Chicago Tribune, 11/11/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/oped/chi-0211110234nov11.story
Since the list of victims included four African-Americans, it's highly
unlikely the snipers were inspired by the black nationalist ideology of
the
Nation of Islam. But when one of the alleged snipers' was identified as
both an African-American and a Muslim, some pundits acted as if they
had
hit the bogeyman jackpot.
Many began warning about a possible "fifth column" of domestic Muslims
allied with the Islamists abroad.
Frank Gaffney Jr., a neo-conservative ideologue who is often disguised
as
an "analyst," penned an article suggesting just that in the Oct. 29
edition
of National Review Online.
Titled "The Enemy Within," the article asked, "(A)re African-American
Muslims actually seen as useful, and are they being employed, for other
purposes as well--perhaps including as cannon fodder for terrorist
operations?"
Gaffney's ideological running buddies, Michael Ledeen of the American
Enterprise Institute and New York Post columnist Daniel Pipes, have
written
well-placed commentaries spinning the same tale of Al Qaeda's black
allies.
These polemicists either are uninformed about Islam's deep roots in
this
country, or are being disingenuous.
Any serious study of American history reveals long-term links between
African-Americans and Islam. These links originated in a radically
different historical context than that of the Islamists. Attempts to
connect these disparate Islamic strains to a unified terrorist movement
can
only inflame rather than inform the public…
-----
PORTLAND, PLEASE DON'T DO IT - DON'T SINGLE OUT MUSLIMS
Stanley Cohen, Portland Tribune, 11/8/02
http://www.portlandtribune.com/viewcurr.cgi?id=14759
Attorney Stanley Cohen represents Portland Sheik Mohamed Abdiraman
Kariye
and other Muslims being investigated as possible terrorists.
With the recent broadside upon the Muslim community in Portland by the
so-called Joint Terrorism Task Force, cheered on by some in your local
media and other self-professed "terrorism experts," Portland has
finally
come of age, or should I say aged, but without much grace, dignity or
understanding.
Long before the aftermath of Sept. 11, Muslims were targeted throughout
the
United States not for what they had done but because of who they were.
In
New York, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Chicago, South Florida, Texas and
elsewhere, we have seen a systematic attack upon an entire community by
law
enforcement and others who have sought to exploit uncertainty and
unease
both at home and abroad to further their own political and economic
agendas. To say that Muslims have been targeted because of their
association, speech and beliefs is a given that most of us recognize,
although few will admit.
Although not unprecedented, in the last decade we have seen not just a
dramatic proliferation in grand jury abuse throughout the nation but a
frightening rise in the use of secret evidence and clandestine
tribunals
directed against Muslims, always of course in the name of national
security. Illegal surveillance of Muslim communities has become
commonplace, and law enforcement has shown no hesitancy in its
nationwide
strategy to infiltrate mosques and to disseminate half-truths and
outright
lies about respected imams and Islamic activists throughout the United
States…
-----
RELIGIOUS RHETORIC AS CAMPAIGN BEGINS IN INDIA STATE
Thomas Kutty Abraham, Reuters, 11/11/02
GODHRA, India, Nov 11 (Reuters) - The Hindu nationalist leader of
India's
Gujarat state, scene of deadly religious riots earlier this year,
launched
an election campaign for state polls on Monday with an unabashed appeal
to
Hindu sentiment.
Five people died in Hindu-Muslim clashes elsewhere in the western
state, as
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chief Minister Narendra Modi travelled to
the
town of Godhra, where sectarian violence began earlier this year at the
start of the campaign…
Police have been put on high alert to prevent a recurrence during the
campaign of the worst outbreak of Hindu-Muslim violence in India in a
decade. But Modi openly played the religious card during his first day
on
the trail…
Police said three people were killed in communal violence in Mahudha, a
town northwest of the state's main city, Ahmedabad, as campaigning
began…
The latest deaths underlined the simmering communal tensions in
Gujarat,
which has a long history of religious violence.
Modi's government was accused of turning a blind eye to the carnage in
February and March when mobs came armed with petrol cans and swords to
attack Muslims in reprisal for the Godhra train massacre. It has denied
the
charges.
-----
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453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
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In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MUSLIM GROUP OPENS NEW OFFICE IN CALIFORNIA
Office will promote religious diversity in state capital
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/12/02) - The Council on American-Islamic
Relations
(CAIR) announced today that it has opened a new office in Sacramento,
Calif. CAIR-Sacramento joins 14 other offices the Washington-based
Islamic
civil rights and advocacy group has nationwide and in Canada.
An article in today's edition of the Sacramento Bee newspaper profiles
the
new CAIR office. The article states:
"Sacramento's Muslim population has doubled in the last 15 years to
40,000,
said Rashid Ahmad, a Pakistani-born engineer who is helping organize
the
Sacramento Valley CAIR chapter…Ahmad, who has brought local Muslims
together with Jews, Asian Americans and numerous other ethnic and
religious
groups, said CAIR has had a tremendous effect nationally because it's
not a
religious group, nor does it endorse candidates. Instead, it's a
grass-roots advocacy group that has managed to get its message across
in a
polite, reasoned way...
"The Sacramento CAIR chapter will lobby legislators on Muslim issues,
such
as the state bill, signed last summer, that makes it a crime to sell
food
advertised as 'halal,' meeting Muslim dietary restrictions, when it
does
not. The local chapter also will sponsor voter registration and
education
forums, and mediate discrimination cases."
SEE: "Capital-Area Muslims Help to Build Tolerance"
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/5169747p-6178758c.html
"By opening this office, we will be better able to broaden our already
extensive grass-roots support, improve our ability to serve the needs
of
the Muslim community in California and promote tolerance and religious
diversity in our society," said CAIR Board Chairman Omar Ahmad. Ahmad
added
that CAIR plans to open five more offices around the country over the
next
three months.
There are an estimated seven million Muslims in America and some 1.2
billion worldwide. Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in
this
country and around the world.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR-Sacramento, Rashid Ahmad, 916-825-0027; CAIR-National,
Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-MAIL:
cair@cair-net.org;
Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787 or 703-861-7294, E-MAIL:
hhassan@cair-net.org
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 11/12/2002
HEADLINES:
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* VERSE OF THE DAY: BEAUTIFUL PREACHING
* INCITEMENT WATCH: US EVANGELIST SAYS MUSLIMS 'WORSE THAN NAZIS' (AFP)
* DETROITERS CAUGHT IN WIDENING INVESTIGATION (Detroit Free Press)
- U.S. to Randomly Check Cars in Mich. (AP)
- A Sept. 11 Detainee's Long Path to Release (Washington Post)
- Avoid Travel to U.S., Muslim Congress Advises (Toronto Star)
* GUIDELINES ON NEW INS REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS
* MUSLIMS SERVE HISTORY TO GUESTS FOR RAMADAN (Chicago Tribune)
* VISITORS TO MUSLIM GROUP'S WEB PAGE TAKEN TO ANTI-ISLAM SITE (AP)
* EDITORIAL: A LOWER PROFILE WOULD MAKE THE U.S. A SMALLER TARGET (LA
Times)
* FLOWERS, BALLOONS ADORN PALESTINIAN CHILD FUNERAL (Reuters)
* CHECHNYA IS CAUGHT IN GRIP OF RUSSIA'S ANTITERROR WRATH (NY Times)
- Putin Unleashes His Fury Against Chechen Guerrillas (NY Times)
* DEATH TOLL IN RIOTS IN INDIA'S GUJARAT STATE RISES TO SIX (AFP)
* GRAD STUDENT MIMICKED SADDAM OVER THE AIRWAVES (Village Voice)
* VA DISCUSSION ON CHALLENGES FACING U.S. ARABS AND MUSLIMS
* NATIONAL MUSLIM WOMEN'S CONFERENCE FOCUSES ON CONSENSUS-BUILDING
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 1466 sponsorships for $150 book and
tape packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country.
Take
part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library
package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 320
-----
VERSE OF THE DAY: BEAUTIFUL PREACHING
"Invite (all) to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful
preaching;
and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious: for thy
Lord
knoweth best who have strayed from His Path and who receive guidance."
The Holy Quran, Chapter 16, Verse 125
-----
INCITEMENT WATCH: US EVANGELIST SAYS MUSLIMS 'WORSE THAN NAZIS'
Matthew Lee, Agence France Presse, 11/12/02
WASHINGTON - A popular US televangelist's accusation that Muslims are
"worse than the Nazis" and call for Jews to wake up to the threat drew
fire
on Tuesday from a leading American-Islamic group which warned the
comments
could spark violence.
In his remarks, Christian preacher and conservative commentator Pat
Robertson said Muslims were bent on exterminating Jews...
"Somehow I wish the Jews in America would wake up, open their eyes and
read
what is being said about them," Robertson told viewers of his Christian
Broadcasting Network news program late Monday. "This is worse than the
Nazis," said the one-time presidential hopeful, who has been highly
critical of Islam in the past. "Adolf Hitler was bad, but what the
Muslims
want to do to the Jews is worse."
Robertson, whose previous anti-Islam comments have been denounced by
Jewish
and Muslims groups alike, said those who criticized him -- whom he
termed
"so-called doves" -- did not understand the situation.
"If I say something that Islam is, you know, an erroneous religion,
then I
get criticized by the Anti-Defamation League," he said, referring to
the
prominent US-based Jewish advocacy group.
"You just want to say: 'When are you going to open your eyes and see
who
your enemy is.' Those people want to destroy Jews," Robertson said.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Tuesday denounced
Robertson's remarks as "lies, distortions and outright bigotry."
"It's a shame coming from someone who claims to be a man of the cloth,"
said Hodan Hassan, a spokeswoman for the group.
"He is doing a lot more to increase tensions and maybe violence among
different ethnicities and religions than sowing the seeds of peace,"
she
said, maintaining that Robertson was using two passages from the Koran
"deceitfully."
"It's outlandish and a total distortion," Hassan said, noting that the
Koran contains numerous calls for inter-faith harmony and demands
respect
for other religions…
-----
DETROITERS CAUGHT IN WIDENING INVESTIGATION
Tamara Audi, Detroit Free Press, 11/12/02
http://www.freep.com/news/metro/watch12_20021112.htm
Convinced that Al Qaeda terrorists are hiding in southeast Michigan,
federal investigators have focused much of the government's secret war
on
terrorism in metro Detroit neighborhoods.
The result is a massive, extraordinary network -- with undercover
agents
infiltrating Arab and Muslim communities, street informants feeding
information to investigators, and cooperative, but wary, community
leaders
acting as cultural guides into the local Arab world.
The breadth of the probe is astounding. Every aspect of Arab immigrant
life
is being watched, from IRS scrutiny of international Muslim charities
and
businesses, to FBI surveillance of local meeting places, according to
court
records and interviews with federal officials, Muslim leaders and
defense
lawyers...
Investigations similar to the effort in Michigan are playing out in
other
areas with emerging Arab populations, including Los Angeles, Chicago
and
New York. But in many cases, the road has often led back to Michigan.
Mark Corallo, a U.S. Justice Department spokesman in Washington, D.C.,
said
of the probe: "It's the largest investigation in the history of the
United
States."
Federal officials stress that they do not think they are unfairly
targeting
an ethnic or religious group. The FBI, Corallo said, is interested in
"all
kinds of people in all kinds of places."
But Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, a Washington-based civil rights group, said the government
appears to be narrowing in almost exclusively on Arabs and Muslims.
"We don't believe that just going to every Muslim individual or
activist or
anyone you can think of results in effective law enforcement," Hooper
said...
With new antiterrorism laws, such as the USA Patriot Act adopted last
year
to allow agencies to share information more easily, investigators can
cast
a wider net than ever.
"We have done things under the Patriot Act that we weren't able to do
before," said Mark Kroczynski, special agent in charge of the IRS
criminal
investigation division in Detroit...
SEE ALSO:
U.S. TO RANDOMLY CHECK CARS IN MICH.
DAVID RUNK, Associated Press, 11/12/02
KIMBALL TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - Border Patrol agents began stopping
drivers
at unannounced, rotating checkpoints Tuesday in two areas of Michigan,
looking for illegal immigrants, potential terrorists and drug or
weapons
smugglers.
The main purpose of the checkpoints is to stop immigrant smuggling,
said
Loretta Lopez-Mossman, acting chief patrol agent for the Border
Patrol's
Detroit sector…
Lopez-Mossman said everyone would be stopped wherever a checkpoint is
set
up and there will be no profiling aimed at Arabs or others.
Michigan is home to about 350,000 Arab-Americans, more on a percentage
basis than any other state. The population is concentrated in
southeastern
Michigan…
A civil liberties group raised concerns about the new searches.
"We believe it's going to be very hard for them to do this without
violating people's civil rights, or profiling people based on their
ethnicity or accent," said Kary Moss, executive director of the
American
Civil Liberties Union in Michigan.
Since Sept. 11 of this year, more than 14,000 foreign visitors from
Iran,
Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria have been fingerprinted at U.S. border
crossings and 179 have been arrested, Attorney General John Ashcroft
said
last week. The countries are considered as high-risk for terrorism.
The Justice Department also announced last week that thousands of men
from
the five countries who arrived in the United States between Jan. 1 and
Sept. 10 will also have to be fingerprinted and photographed.
---
A SEPT. 11 DETAINEE'S LONG PATH TO RELEASE
Amy Goldstein, Washington Post, 11/12/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40897-2002Nov11.html
Before Tony Oulai stepped out of a government car on Saturday at
Orlando
International Airport, an immigration agent unlocked his handcuffs and
slipped them off his wrists.
It had been 422 days since Oulai, a pilot from a prominent West African
family, was arrested with flight manuals and a stun gun in the federal
campaign to detain suspected terrorists after the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks.
It was 359 days since an immigration judge had ordered him deported for
the
routine violation of overstaying his student visa. But Oulai -- the
first
material witness in the terrorism probe to speak publicly about his
experiences -- was finally on his way to his native Ivory Coast…
---
AVOID TRAVEL TO U.S., MUSLIM CONGRESS ADVISES
Leslie Scrivener, Toronto Star, 11/12/02
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1035774253910&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154
Wahida Valiante, a Thornhill social worker, has lived in Canada for 41
years. She says that for the first time in her life she fears
travelling to
the United States, where her son is studying.
And yesterday, the Canadian Islamic Congress, of which Valiante is
vice-president, issued an advisory warning Canadian Muslims to avoid
heading south.
"The U.S. is not safe for Muslims right now," said Mohamed Elmasry,
national president of the congress, responding to a tightening of
security
at Canada-U.S. border crossings.
The warning comes in the second week of Ramadan, the month of fasting
for
Muslims and traditionally a time when Muslims exchange visits and
reunite
with family.
Valiante has been a Canadian citizen since the mid-1960s and wears
hijab,
the Islamic head covering. Her passport shows that she was born in
Pakistan.
She was planning to visit her son, who is studying in Seattle, in the
next
few weeks.
Valiante said the warning was issued because the federal government has
provided no clear direction for Muslims.
"There is confusion," she said. "I've been here so long and yet I don't
know what protection our government is providing us…"
-----
GUIDELINES ON NEW INS REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS
Important information for those affected by law change:
The Immigration and Naturalization Service has announced a new
regulation
requiring male visitors to the United States who are 16 years or older
from
Libya, Sudan, Syria, Iraq and Iran to appear before, register with, and
provide requested information to the Immigration and Naturalization
Service
on or before December 16, 2002. Failure to register before the deadline
will make you deportable.
This new regulation applies to citizens from these five countries who
are
in the United States on non-immigrant males 16 years or older who
entered
the United States prior to September 10, 2002.
This regulation excludes permanent residents (green card holders),
naturalized citizens, people who will leave before December 16, and
people
who have applied for asylum prior to November 6, 2002.
To register you need not make an appointment. You should show up at a
local
INS office. (The link below contains a list of offices.)
When you register you must:
(1) Answer questions under oath before an immigration officer,
(2) Present your passport and the Form I-94 issued upon admission, and
any
other forms of government-issued identification to the immigration
officer
including;
(3) Provide proof of residence, such as, title to land or a lease or a
rental agreement, proof of matriculation at an educational institution,
and
proof of employment;
(4)Such other information as is requested by the immigration officer.
During Registration individuals:
(1) Shall be fingerprinted and photographed by the immigration office
(2) Shall appear, within 10 days of each anniversary of the date on
which
they were registered under this Notice, before an immigration officer
and
answer questions under oath.
(3) Shall advise the Immigration and Naturalization Service, through
the
filing of Form AR-11, of any change of address within 10 days of such
change of address.
(The outline above is not intended to substitute for the legal advice
of a
competent attorney.)
To view the official INS regulation visit:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2002_register&docid=fr06no02-147
-----
MUSLIMS SERVE HISTORY TO GUESTS FOR RAMADAN
Deborah Horan, Chicago Tribune, 11/12/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0211120013nov12,0,6534863.story
Columbus traveled with Arabs to the New World, Jefferson had a copy of
the
Koran in his library, and African Muslim slaves were brought to the
Americas, said a speaker at a weekend feast celebrating the Islamic
holy
month of Ramadan.
"Islam has been a part of America since its inception," Khurram
Mozaffar, a
Muslim activist, told Muslim and non-Muslim dinner guests at the
Islamic
Foundation in Villa Park. The feast is among several being held nightly
across the Chicago area during the holy month of fasting, which began
Wednesday and ends in the first week of December.
The guests came to celebrate iftar, which marks the end of the daily
fast.
Mozaffar said his speech was intended to educate the church members,
librarians and other non-Muslims in attendance about the region's
Islamic
community, particularly in the wake of recent events.
"After Sept. 11, all my in-boxes and voice mails were filled with
messages
from my non-Muslim friends who wanted me to explain to them what they
were
seeing on TV," Mozaffar said. "It occurred to me that if we don't speak
then they'll turn to other sources that might be less accurate."
Over the weekend, Muslims across Chicago held similar events as part of
a
Ramadan outreach program loosely coordinated by the Council of Islamic
Organizations. During the rest of the holy month, mosques in
Schaumburg,
Bridgeview, Libertyville, Chicago and Villa Park plan to invite
businesspeople, church leaders, city officials and the public to feast,
listen to speakers and perhaps gain a better understanding of Islamic
customs...
---
VISITORS TO MUSLIM GROUP'S WEB PAGE TAKEN TO ANTI-ISLAM SITE
Associated Press, 11/12/02
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Some visitors to the Web site of the Muslim Student
Organization at the University of Missouri-Columbia found a message
reading
"Death to the Islamic Infestation."
The message contained a pop-up window that automatically directed
viewers
to an anti-Islam site, Stopislam.com.
A university official, however, said no crime had been committed. The
administrators of the anti-Islam site - identified only by their first
names - purport to be from the United States, Israel, India, Sudan and
Britain.
The message containing the pop-up first appeared on the Muslim group's
site
on Thursday, said Alaa El-Burin, president of the organization. A check
on
Monday night found the message had been removed.
However, two other messages in the guestbook, one dated Aug. 26 and the
other dated Sept. 22, attacked Islam.
One, signed "Mohammed," was written as a message from Allah - Islam's
name
for God. It exhorted Muslims to "rise up and get horribly slaughtered
by
the civilized nations of the world…"
"It's a reflection of hatred and ignorance against Muslims," El-Burin
said…
Meanwhile, El-Buri said officials at the Muslim Student Organization
plan
to discuss how to make their Web site more secure.
She also complained about the general hostility toward Muslims and
noted a
recent speech on campus by Ann Coulter, a best-selling author and
television commentator known for her conservative views.
Coulter, invited by the Mizzou Intercollegiate Studies Institute, spoke
to
more than 200 people at the MU School of Law in September.
"She made really bad jokes (about Muslims) like, invading them and
converting them into Christianity," El-Buri said. "She was rude and
loud."
-----
EDITORIAL: A LOWER PROFILE WOULD MAKE THE UNITED STATES A SMALLER
TARGET
Christopher Layne and Benjamin Schwarz, Los Angeles Times, 11/12/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-layne12nov12,0,4522318.story?coll=la%2Dnews%2Dcomment%2Dopinions
The Bush administration's recently enunciated National Security
Strategy
revolves around maintaining or augmenting America's overwhelming
military,
economic and political preponderance. But the United States needs to
come
to grips with an ironic possibility: The very preponderance of power
may
now make us not more secure but less so, and a diminished global
presence
might actually achieve more of our ultimate foreign policy goals.
Hegemony is a seductive goal. In the abstract, it makes sense that the
U.S.
should seek to amass as much power as possible to enjoy something close
to
absolute security. But as history shows, hegemonic empires almost
automatically elicit universal resistance, which is why all such
aspirants
have eventually exhausted themselves...
-----
FLOWERS, BALLOONS ADORN PALESTINIAN CHILD FUNERAL
Nidal al-Mughrabi, Reuters, 11/12/02
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Balloons like the one toddler Nafez
Meshal
was trying to catch when he was shot dead by Israeli soldiers adorned
the
funeral stretcher that carried the Palestinian boy's body Tuesday.
Nafez's father Khaled said he was holding the 2-year-old boy in his
arms
outside their house Monday when the wind gently carried away his
balloon, a
gift for the child for the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Nafez struggled away from his father's grip to reach for the balloon as
it
drifted away. "He did not move but a few inches before he was shot,"
Khaled
Meshal said at the funeral.
The boy was shot dead in the Gaza Strip's Rafah refugee camp Monday
night
by what witnesses called unprovoked gunfire into the neighborhood from
an
Israeli army watchtower, medics said.
The Israeli army said troops fired after they were shot at.
Tuesday, the toddler and an 8-year-old boy, who died of wounds from
tank
shelling, were buried after massive funerals. Hospital officials said
Mohammed Abu Naja was wounded in October in shelling which the Israeli
army
said was a response to Palestinian gunfire...
-----
CHECHNYA IS CAUGHT IN GRIP OF RUSSIA'S ANTITERROR WRATH
Sabrina Tavernise, New York Times, 11/12/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/12/international/europe/12CHEC.html
CHECHEN-AUL - Near the grassy edge of the cemetery lay the bodies of
five
young men, waiting for burial. Their faces were bruised and torn. Some
necks bore traces of rope marks. The men of this small town stood
silently
in a circle around them, their hands occasionally rising to their faces
in
a Muslim prayer.
The five men were taken from their homes here in Chechnya after
midnight on
Oct. 27, less than 48 hours after Russian forces ended the 57-hour
siege of
a Moscow theater by Chechen terrorists. Ten groups of about 15
Russian-speaking men in black-and-gray camouflage wearing black masks
went
to each house, witnesses said. The witnesses did not wish to be
identified
because they fear for their lives…
But the deadly raid here in Chechen-Aul, a small town of 8,000 south of
Chechnya's capital, Grozny, appears to reflect intensifying Russian
pressure on Chechnya since the Chechen attack on civilians at the
theater
in Moscow. In the two weeks since the theater siege ended, at least
five
municipalities in Chechnya have been cordoned off by Russian troops for
house to house searches for rebels and weapons, a rise from the one or
two
simultaneous searches that is usual, the witnesses and Russian human
rights
workers said…
---
PUTIN UNLEASHES HIS FURY AGAINST CHECHEN GUERRILLAS
Elaine Sciolino, New York Times, 11/12/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/12/international/europe/12RUSS.html
BRUSSELS, Nov. 11 -- In an outpouring of vitriol and insults, President
Vladimir V. Putin of Russia today accused rebels in the breakaway
province
of Chechnya of being international terrorists who believe that all
non-Muslims deserve to die. The verbal assault was unusual, not only
because of what Mr. Putin said but also because of where he said it --
at a
staid summit meeting of the 15-nation European Union.
"They talk about the need to kill all non-Muslims, all cross-bearers,"
Mr.
Putin told a joint news conference with European Union leaders,
referring
to his Chechen opponents. "If you are Christian, your life is
threatened.
If you reject your religion and become an atheist you are also in
danger.
If you will decide to become Muslim, even this will not save you
because
traditional Islam is from their perspective hostile to their purposes
and
goals..."
But in a more accurate translation, as heard on NTV in Moscow and
translated by The New York Times, his words sounded far more menacing.
"If
you want to become a complete Islamic radical,'' he said, ''and are
ready
to undergo circumcision, then I invite you to Moscow. We're a
multidenominational country. We have specialists in this question as
well.
I will recommend that he carry out the operation in such a way that
after
it nothing else will grow…"
-----
DEATH TOLL IN RIOTS IN INDIA'S GUJARAT STATE RISES TO SIX
Agence France Presse, 11/12/02
AHMEDABAD, India - The death toll in the riot-hit western Indian state
of
Gujarat has risen to six, with another two people killed in sectarian
violence overnight, a police spokesman said Tuesday.
A Hindu and a Muslim were killed late Monday, after two groups clashed
following an argument in Gujarat's Mehsana district, 40 kilometres (25
miles) from here. Police said the men were killed during a firefight
between the two groups.
Twenty-one people -- five Muslims and 16 Hindus -- were injured in the
clash, the spokesman said.
On Monday, two Hindus were stabbed to death after an election rally in
the
Kheda district of Gujarat. A bomb later destroyed a shop in the same
area,
killing the owner and injuring his son.
Mourners carrying the bodies of the stab victims, killed after an
election
rally addressed by Gujarat's chief minister Narendra Modi, went on the
rampage, looting and burning shops and damaging cars, police said.
Another body with stab wounds was found on a highway in Kheda but
police
were not sure if the killing was linked to the sectarian violence.
More than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, have died in communal
violence in Gujarat since February sparked by the torching of a train
carrying Hindu activists allegedly by Muslims.
Human rights groups have accused Modi's administration of turning a
blind
eye to violence against Muslims…
-----
GRAD STUDENT MIMICKED SADDAM OVER THE AIRWAVES
Ian Urbina, Village Voice, November 13 - 19, 2002
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0246/urbina.php
Twice a week, for $3000 a month, an Iraqi student took a taxi from his
Harvard campus apartment to a recording studio rented by the Rendon
Group,
a public relations firm with ties to the U.S. government. His job:
Translate and dub spoofed Saddam Hussein speeches and newscasts for
broadcast throughout Iraq. Ian Urbina reports.
-----
VA DISCUSSION ON CHALLENGES FACING U.S. ARABS AND MUSLIMS
WHAT: Al-Hewar Center holds a discussion on "Challenges for Arabs and
Muslims in the U.S."
WHEN: Wednesday November 13 at 8 P.M.
WHERE: Al-Hewar Center, 124 Park Street SE, Vienna, VA
PARTICIPANTS: Taha Jaber Al-Alwani, President, Graduate School of
Islamic
and Social Sciences
CONTACT: 703-281-6277; alhewar@alhewar.com; http://www.alhewar.com
-----
NATIONAL MUSLIM WOMEN'S CONFERENCE FOCUSES ON CONSENSUS-BUILDING
WHAT: The North American Council For Muslim Women (NACMW) National
Conference
WHEN: Friday November 22, 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. and Saturday November 23, 9
A.M.
to 12:30 P.M.
WHERE: George Washington University, 800 21st Street, NW - Marvin
Center,
Room 301, Washington, D.C.
Roundtable discussions on:
Raising Muslim Girls as Change Agents
Self Ownership of Morality & Moral Agency
Freedom in Choice of Career & Husband
Marriage: Partnership or Grown Up Childhood?
Leadership & Involvement: Muslim Community & Mainstream Society
RSVP is necessary: Leave name, phone, email, days attending at (703)
641-8451
The North American Council for Muslim Women
P.O. Box 942
Great Falls, VA 22066
E-MAIL: nacmw@aol.com
-----
TO BECOME A CAIR MEMBER, GO TO:
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/membership.asp
-----
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To reach the list moderator, send a message to: cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
BUSH AGAIN URGED TO REPUDIATE ANTI-MUSLIM HATE
Jimmy Swaggart to U.S. Muslims: "If you say one word, you're gone"
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/13/02) - A prominent national Islamic civil
rights
and advocacy group today again called on President Bush and other
elected
officials to repudiate anti-Islamic rhetoric, just as American Muslims
repudiate anti-Christian or anti-Semitic hate speech.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) made that request
following two more in a series of attacks on Islam and Muslims by
right-wing and evangelical commentators. (CAIR recently issued a
statement
opposing anti-Semitism that read in part: "Just as we ask others to
condemn
anti-Muslim rhetoric…we must challenge those who would fan the flames
of
anti-Semitism.")
In a November 10 broadcast, televangelist Jimmy Swaggart referred to
the
Prophet Muhammad as a "sex deviant" and "pervert." He also called for
the
expulsion of all foreign Muslim university students in the United
States
and for profiling of airline passengers "with a diaper on their head
and a
fan-belt around their waist." Of American Muslims, Swaggart said: "We
ought
to tell every other Moslem (sic) living in this nation that if you say
one
word, you're gone."
SEE: rtsp://www.freedomstream.net/jsm/jsm_111002.rm
Forward your media player to minute 39.
CAIR also called on the president to repudiate similar comments made
this
week by televangelist Pat Robertson describing Muslims as being "worse
than
the Nazis." (AFP, Reuters) Robertson has in the past called the Prophet
Muhammad "an absolute wild-eyed fanatic," a "robber" and a "brigand."
He
also called Islam "a monumental scam" and claimed the Quran, Islam's
revealed text, "is strictly a theft of Jewish theology." (A charity
created
by Robertson, recently received a $500,000 grant under the president's
faith-based initiative.)
In October, evangelical leader Jerry Falwell referred to the Prophet
Muhammad as a "terrorist" on the CBS news program "60 Minutes." At
least 10
people died in India during Hindu-Muslim clashes triggered by Falwell's
comments. Franklin Graham, another evangelical leader, has called Islam
an
"evil and wicked religion."
These and other attacks on Islam come as the State Department is
engaged in
a worldwide ad campaign to portray Americans as being free of
anti-Muslims
bias.
"It is time for the president to step up to the plate on the issue of
Islamophobia in America. Merely repeating the mantra that Islam is a
'religion of peace' does little to stem the rising tide of anti-Muslim
hate
or to mitigate the negative impact that hate has on Muslim families,"
said
CAIR Board Chairman Omar Ahmad.
He said the president's silence on this issue serves to divide America
along religious lines, harms our nation's image worldwide and hinders
the
international effort to combat terrorism by alienating allies in the
Muslim
world.
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-MAIL:
cair@cair-net.org; Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787 or 703-861-7294,
E-MAIL:
hhassan@cair-net.org
NOTE: CAIR offers an e-mail list designed to be a window to the
American
Muslim community. Subscribers to the list, called CAIR-NET, receive
news
releases and other materials dealing with American Muslim positions on
issues of importance to our society.
To SUBSCRIBE to CAIR-NET, go to: http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
-----
To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to:
http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to: cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 11/13/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: A GOOD WORD
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* INCITEMENT WATCH: D'SOUZA - ISLAM PRODUCES OIL AND DEAD BODIES
- Incitement Watch: Terrorism Has 'Everything to Do with Islam'
* MUSLIM GROUP CRITICIZES US TELEVANGELIST ROBERTSON (Reuters)
- AJC Criticizes Robertson for Comments Denigrating Islam
- Editorial: Trashing Islam (Yahoo News)
* DANIEL PIPES AND "THE WAR ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM" (The Nation)
* SCHOOL, STUDENTS SETTLE PRAYER ISSUE (Columbus Dispatch)
* MUSLIMS JOIN FORCES TO SHOW POSITIVE SIDE (Sydney Morning Herald)
* MUSLIM TRAVELER TO U.S. SPEAKS OUT
* THIS WAY FORWARD FOR MUSLIMS (Toronto Globe and Mail)
* BUSH FIGHTS FOR ANOTHER CLEAN SHOT IN HIS WAR (Independent)
* GUJARAT GENOCIDE AWARENESS WEEK STARTS TODAY
* INTERACTIVE WEBSITE ON RAMADAN
* SMITHSONIAN PREVIEWS PROPHET MUHAMMAD DOCUMENTARY
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: A GOOD WORD
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "A man speaks a good
word,
not realizing its worth, for which God records for him His good
pleasure
till the day he meets Him. A man also speaks an evil word, not
realizing
its importance, for which God records for him His displeasure till the
day
he meets Him."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1241
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 1472 sponsorships for $150 book and
tape packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country.
Take
part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library
package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 320
-----
INCITEMENT WATCH: D'SOUZA SAYS ISLAM PRODUCES OIL AND DEAD BODIES
Audience Offended By Author
Sarah Okeson, PJ Star, 11/13/02
http://www.pjstar.com/news/topnews/g100994a.html
PEORIA - Professional provocateur Dinesh D'Souza, who founded a
bestiality
club during his days at Dartmouth, started his speech in Peoria by
comparing his tussles with the college's administration to wrestling a
pig:
Everyone gets dirty and the pig enjoys it.
The conservative author Tuesday briefly traced the history of Islamic
civilization - it was great, but Western civilization overtook it, he
said
- in his talk to the Peoria Area World Affairs Council at the
Contemporary
Art Center.
But what drew challenges from the audience were his insults and
controversial views.
"Islam today seems to produce two things," D'Souza said. "Oil and dead
bodies. Islamic radicalism is gaining ground in the Middle East as a
way of
coping with humiliation. It's gaining influence in the 22 countries of
the
Middle East because it offers, if you will, a way out…"
D'Souza, who tempered his remarks somewhat after being challenged and
seemed eager to end his talk, has built a career on doing this sort of
thing, challenging taboos with an enthusiasm usually seen in
adolescents…
-----
INCITEMENT WATCH: TERRORISM HAS 'EVERYTHING TO DO WITH ISLAM'
Marc Morano, CNSNews.com, 11/13/02
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200211\NAT20021113a.html
(CNSNews.com) - Robert Spencer, author of Islam Unveiled and an adjunct
fellow at the conservative think tank Free Congress Foundation,
believes
Islam's theological foundation is creating many of today's terrorists
and
would-be terrorists.
Spencer's book takes a critical look at the religion of Islam, its holy
book, The Koran, its prophet Muhammad and concludes that the religion
is
producing violent behavior in a significant numbers of its adherents.
"The religious motivation [for terrorism] is paramount for millions of
these people and if we don't recognize that, we are going to be ill
equipped in the face of what we are up against," Spencer told
CNSNews.com.
Spencer believes the U.S. is not prepared to fight a war on terrorism
because the nation fails to understand the true nature of Islam…
Ibrahim Hooper, communications director for the Council on
American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR), was more blunt in defending Islam from charges that
it
encourages terrorism.
"When people of other faiths commit crimes or violent acts, people
don't
generalize to the whole faith, but when a Muslim commits a violent act,
somehow it is an indictment to their entire faith," Hooper told
CNSNews.com...
Hooper believes that since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, there has been
"a
new cottage industry of defamatory attacks on Islam."
"If you want to make a buck now, attack Islam," Hooper said. "When it
is
done to Christianity or Judaism, people in authority object. When it is
done to Islam, it gets a pass," he added…
-----
MUSLIM GROUP CRITICIZES US TELEVANGELIST ROBERTSON
Reuters, 11/13/02
WASHINGTON - An American Muslim group on Tuesday condemned
televangelist
Pat Robertson's comment that Muslims' attitudes toward Jews were "worse
than the Nazis" and urged U.S. President George W. Bush to repudiate
the
remarks.
In a recent broadcast, Robertson said that Muslims were bent on killing
Jews and that any hope of negotiating a peace agreement by giving
Muslims
territory was an illusion…
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) spokesman Ibrahim Hooper
responded to those remarks on Tuesday: "We would call on elected
leaders
and religious leaders to repudiate these kinds of comments. Time and
again
we see attacks on Islam go unchallenged."
"We would call on President Bush to specifically repudiate these
attacks.
Saying that Islam is a religion of peace is not enough. These people
respect President Bush and if he said: 'Knock it off, you're setting up
a
civilizational conflict, which does nobody any good,' they would
listen,"
he added.
Other U.S. Christian conservatives, who largely supported Bush's
election,
have angered Muslims with some recent remarks, including conservative
preacher Jerry Falwell's statement last month that the prophet Mohammed
was
a "terrorist…"
Recalling Falwell's statements, Hooper said: "It does incredible damage
to
America's image in the Muslim world just at a time when we need allies
in
the war on terrorism."
Bush has not criticized such comments but he has tried to promote
tolerance
toward Muslims by visiting a mosque after the Sept. 11 attacks and by
hosting a White House Iftar, the meal breaking daily fasts during the
Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
SEE ALSO:
AJC CRITICIZES REV. PAT ROBERTSON FOR COMMENTS DENIGRATING ISLAM
http://www.ajc.org/InTheMedia/PressReleases.asp?did=682
November 13, 2002 - NEW YORK -- The American Jewish Committee today
sharply criticized the Rev. Pat Robertson for his sweeping condemnation
of
Islam.
"While there are highly disturbing trends of anti-Semitism and, more
generally, intolerance in the Muslim world, the Rev. Robertson's
wholesale
denigration of an entire faith, by calling Muslims 'worse than Nazis,'
is
outrageous," said David A. Harris, executive director of the American
Jewish Committee…
---
EDITORIAL: TRASHING ISLAM
Maggie Gallagher, Yahoo.com, 11/12/02
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/021113/105/2o56v.html
Meanwhile, at about the same time, New York Times reporter Maureen Dowd
was
touring Saudi Arabia, mesmerized by what she saw as the internal
contradictions of Islamic repression: "Frederick's of Hollywood-style
lingerie shops abound, even though female sexuality is considered so
threatening that the mere sight of a woman's ankle will cause
civilization
to crumble," she ponders...
Fellow New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof was even worse,
apparently
spending his precious visa in Saudi Arabia going up to veiled Saudi
women
and asking them why they did not show him a little leg...
What is it with these stereotypical puerile Americans -- ignorant,
provincial, obsessed with sexual license as the marker of human
liberty?
Elites who claim to want to promote a better understanding of Islam
should
start by realizing that democracy and human rights do not require
sexual
libertinism. To suggest that in order to modernize, Muslim societies
need
to embrace the worst of the trashy commercialism of Western culture is
not
true and deeply self-defeating...
-----
DANIEL PIPES AND "THE WAR ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM"
Kristine McNeil, The Nation, 11/11/02
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20021125&c=1&s=mcneil
The year since Congress passed the USA Patriot Act has brought an
ever-growing enemies list from our nation's thought police…
Based in Philadelphia and headed by anti-Arab propagandist Daniel
Pipes,
Campus Watch unleashed an Internet firestorm in late September, when it
posted "dossiers" on eight scholars who have had the audacity to
criticize
US foreign policy and the Israeli occupation. As a gesture of
solidarity,
more than 100 academics subsequently contacted the Middle East Forum
asking
to be added to the list. In response, Pipes has since posted 146 new
names,
all identified as supporters of "apologists for suicide bombings and
militant Islam." He also claims "most of the writers are academics from
fields other than Middle East studies (and so are not qualified to
judge
the work of the academics we listed)." By this standard, he is
similarly
unqualified, as he is not a professor and his PhD was earned in
medieval
history. Of the Campus Watch eight, seven are modernists. Hamid Dabashi
of
Columbia teaches and writes about both medieval and modern Iranian
social
history…
As with redbaiting during the 1950s, the leaders of these current
attacks
are exploiting the fear and anxiety the American public feels about
enemies
abroad in order to advance their own political agenda. Now with access
to
the Internet, Pipes and his supporters have been able to expand their
attacks into a virtually limitless campaign of harassment and
intimidation.
Since the dossiers were first posted, the targeted professors have been
inundated with hostile spam, rendering their e-mail accounts almost
useless, and most have been victims of "spoofing," in which their
identities are stolen and thousands of offensive e-mail messages sent
out
in their names. More than one scholar has received telephone death
threats.
When University of Michigan history professor Juan Cole reported that
he
and his colleagues had been disabled by thousands of hate messages a
day
since their dossiers were posted, Pipes claimed to be shocked, shocked!
at
the response his website has elicited. "If Professor Cole has in fact
been
subject to such harassment, Campus Watch joins him in demanding that
whoever stands behind this reprehensible behavior cease immediately,"
he
told the History News Network, but he has yet to post a statement on
the site.
The Campus Watch site is a showcase for the signature distortions on
which
Pipes has built his twenty-five-year career. He twists words, quotes
people
out of context and stretches the truth to suit his purpose…
Aside from the dossiers, the site's McCarthyite "Keep Us Informed"
section
has provoked the most outrage, as it encourages students to inform on
their
professors, rather than challenge them openly as part of the academic
process…
Pipes is notorious in the academy for calling Muslims "barbarians" and
"potential killers" in a 2001 National Review article and accusing them
of
scheming to "replace the [US] Constitution with the Koran," in a
similar
piece in Insight on the News. Along these lines, a 1990 National Review
article insisted that "Western European societies are unprepared for
the
massive immigration of brown-skinned peoples cooking strange foods and
maintaining different standards of hygiene.... All immigrants bring
exotic
customs and attitudes, but Muslim customs are more troublesome than
most."
In addition to running the Middle East Forum, serving on a Defense
Department antiterrorism task force and writing columns for the
Jerusalem
and New York Post, Pipes is also a regular contributor to the website
of
Gamla, an organization founded by former Israeli military officers and
settlers that endorses the ethnic cleansing of every Palestinian as
"the
only possible solution" to the Arab-Israeli conflict…
-----
SCHOOL, STUDENTS SETTLE PRAYER ISSUE
Columbus Dispatch, 11/13/02
http://www.dispatch.com/
A dispute over Ramadan prayers at Brookhaven High School has been
resolved,
a Columbus Public Schools spokesman said yesterday.
Andrew Marcelain said eight or nine students, some of whom left class,
gathered outside the school to pray on Thursday. It was the second day
of
Ramadan, the holiest month of the year for Muslims.
The students later met with Principal Robert Murphy, who explained the
district's policy on prayer in schools, Marcelain said. The students
returned to class and were not disciplined.
The district allows students to pray as long as they do not disrupt
their
or others' class time, Marcelain said.
Ahmad Al-Akhras, president of the Ohio chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, said he talked with the students and
expected
to meet with school officials.
"We support the students' decision to pray at school. . . . At the same
time, we maintain that these acts should not also be disruptive to the
school," Al-Akhras said yesterday.
During Ramadan, a time of reflection and fasting, Muslims are
encouraged to
be diligent about prayer and to try to pray in groups.
-----
MUSLIMS JOIN FORCES TO SHOW POSITIVE SIDE
Linda Morris, Sydney Morning Herald, 11/13/02
http://www.smh.com.au/
A national civil rights and media advocacy group will be established in
the
wake of the Bali bombings to promote greater understanding of
Australia's
Muslim community.
It will be closely modelled on the Council on American-Islamic
Relations
which offers an Islamic perspective on issues of importance to the
American
public.
Organiser Kuranda Seyit, a spokesman for the Australian Federation of
Islamic Councils, said a grassroots body giving a single strong voice
to
Australian Muslims should be up and running by early next year. The
move
comes amid growing concerns about the reporting of Muslim issues in the
Australian media…
The executive director of the Washington-based Council on
American-Islamic
Relations, Nihad Awad, recently visited Sydney at the invitation of the
Federation of Australian Muslim Students and Youth.
The council works with media professionals to help shape a positive
image
of Islam and monitors local, national and international media to
challenge
negative stereotypes of Islam and Muslims.
Mr Seyit said the Australian version of the council would be based in
Sydney with a chapter in Melbourne. Eventually it would have a presence
in
all states. "Hopefully it will become the voice of the Australian
Muslim
community, effective in creating trust in the community, inclusive of
all
minorities and sects and transparent..."
-----
MUSLIM TRAVELER TO U.S. SPEAKS OUT
In an e-mail to CAIR, a frequent visitor to the United States speaks
out
against new INS registration guidelines targeting nationals from
specific
Muslim countries:
"As I type this email, I am stricken with despair and sadness. I am a
dual
citizen of the UK and Syria; accordingly, though I am present in the
U.S.
as a British citizen, I just found out today that I am required to show
up
at an INS interview center for a "Special Registration" process.
Apparently, I am to be fingerprinted, photographed, and interviewed,
and
then my data is to be entered into a terrorist screening computer
database.
I find this practice morally reprehensible and a smack in the face of
any
civil liberties the government of this nation claims to stand for. This
process is akin to saying that all African-American males of a certain
age
group need to be registered as potential drug dealers in a drug
trafficking
screening computer database...
While I understand the need to track foreigners in this country, I take
great offense to the notion that I should be profiled and targeted
because
of a nationality and/or a religion. The mere idea that I would be
placed on
such a computer database worries me in terms of my future. In this age
of
global connectivity, will this list come back to haunt me if I change
jobs,
if I visit my family overseas, if I start my own business, or if I give
Zakat or charitable donations? I am so distraught and offended that I
am
entertaining throwing everything I worked so hard for and going back to
Syria; where with its less-than-perfect human rights records, I was
never
treated with this humiliation...
When I came to the U.S. to study and work, I was in love with this
country
and what it stood for. I grew up admiring the United States in its
pursuit
of happiness, justice, and liberty for all. I watched American movies,
listened to American music, I had American friends, and I even sported
an
American accent over my British one. Today, I am questioning those
convictions…
-----
EDITORIAL: THIS WAY FORWARD FOR MUSLIMS
Sheema Khan, Toronto Globe and Mail, 11/13/02
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/PEstory/TGAM/20021113/COSHEEMA/Headlines/headdex/headdexComment_temp/2/2/5/
Sheema Khan is chair of the Council on American-Islamic Relations,
Canada.
Long before Sept. 11, Muslim scholars and activists were asking,
"What's
wrong with the Muslim world?" The consensus can best be summarized by
the
Koranic verse, "God does not change the condition of people until they
change what is within themselves."
Classical Muslim scholars explained this verse to mean that God showers
blessings upon people, and only changes their condition when they
forget
their humble beginnings, substituting gratefulness with arrogance.
Thirteen centuries later, as Muslim populations emerged from
colonialism,
activists returned to this verse, albeit with a different take.
Wretched
conditions will not change, they exhorted, until people take the
initiative
to change their own condition. It was, in essence, a call to recover
the
dynamic Islamic tenet of personal responsibility for one's actions
before
the Creator...
-----
EDITORIAL: BUSH FIGHTS FOR ANOTHER CLEAN SHOT IN HIS WAR
Robert Fisk, Independent (UK), 11/13/02
http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=349952
I'm a cynical critic of the US media, but last month Newsweek ran a
brave
and brilliant and terrifying report on the Chechen war. In a deeply
moving
account of Russian cruelty in Chechnya, it recounted a Russian army
raid on
an unprotected Muslim village. Russian soldiers broke into a civilian
home
and shot all inside. One of the victims was a Chechen girl. As she lay
dying of her wounds, a Russian soldier began to rape her. "Hurry up
Kolya,"
his friend shouted, "while she's still warm."
Now, I have a question. If you or I was that girl's husband or lover or
brother or father, would we not be prepared to take hostages in a
Moscow
theatre? Even if this meant - as it did - that, asphyxiated by Russian
gas,
we would be executed with a bullet in the head, as the Chechen women
hostage-takers were? But no matter. The "war on terror" means that
Kolya
and the boys will be back in action soon, courtesy of Messrs Putin,
Bush
and Blair…
-----
GUJARAT GENOCIDE AWARENESS WEEK STARTS TODAY
Press release, Indian Muslim Council, 11/13/02
AMC, CAIR, ICNA and ISNA have endorsed Indian Muslim Council's call
that
the second week of Ramadan that starts on Wednesday the 13th of
November be
observed as the Gujarat Genocide Remembrance Week and the Friday
November
15 as the Gujarat Genocide Remembrance Day…
Actions Requested:
- Hold special prayer services especially after the nightly taraweeh
prayers for the thousands of innocent victims who were brutally killed,
maimed and gang-raped and also for hundreds of thousands who were
displaced
from their homes…
- Write to the media and your Senator and Congressperson to send a
fact-finding delegation to Gujarat India. The contact addresses of your
representatives can be obtained from Congress.org or from
www.imacweb.org
or by calling 202-224-3121
- Collect donations to help the education and advocacy work of IMC-USA
to
prevent future genocides of Indian Muslims. Send donations to IMC-USA,
265
Sunrise Highway, Suite1-355, Rockville Centre, NY 11570
-----
INTERACTIVE WEBSITE ON RAMADAN
The British newspaper, The Guardian, has set up the following
interactive
website on Ramadan:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/flash/0,5860,837833,00.html
-----
SMITHSONIAN PREVIEWS PROPHET MUHAMMAD DOCUMENTARY
WHAT: The Freer Gallery previews excerpts of the upcoming PBS
documentary
"Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet." A panel discussion with producer
Alexander
Kronemer, calligrapher Muhammad Zakariyah, congressional staff member
Jameel Johnson, and others following the screening.
WHERE: The Freer Gallery, Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.
WHEN: Thursday, November 14, 7 P.M.
For further information, call (202) 357-4880
-----
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https://www.cair-net.org/asp/membership.asp
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MUSLIMS WELCOME PRESIDENT'S REMARKS ON ISLAMOPHOBIA
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/13/02) - The Council on American-Islamic
Relations
(CAIR), a prominent Islamic civil rights and advocacy group, tonight
reacted positively to remarks by President Bush that repudiated
rhetorical
attacks on Islam by evangelical leaders.
In a meeting today with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, the
president
said: "Some of the comments that have been uttered about Islam do not
reflect the sentiments of my government or the sentiments of most
Americans. Islam, as practiced by the vast majority of people, is a
peaceful religion, a religion that respects others." He also said: "By
far,
the vast majority of American citizens respect the Islamic people and
the
Muslim faith…Ours is a country based upon tolerance...And we're not
going
to let the war on terror or terrorists cause us to change our values."
Earlier in the day, CAIR issued a call for the president and other
elected
officials to condemn anti-Islamic rhetoric in America. That request,
one of
several addressed to the president in the recent past, came following
attacks this week on Islam, the Prophet Muhammad and Muslims by
televangelists Jimmy Swaggart and Pat Robertson.
SEE: "Bush Again Urged to Repudiate Anti-Muslim Hate"
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/article.asp?page=NR&ID=992
Media reports quoted White House officials who said the president's
remarks
were prompted by recent attacks on Islam, particularly those of Pat
Robertson, who said on Monday that Muslims are "worse than the Nazis."
"He
(Bush) wanted (to make) a clear statement," a senior White House
official
told Reuters.
"It is encouraging to hear President Bush address the issue of
Islamophobic
rhetoric in our society. We hope the president's rejection of
anti-Muslim
hate speech will be followed by similar statements from other elected
officials and from mainstream religious leaders," said CAIR
Communications
Director Ibrahim Hooper.
Hooper said Robertson's and Swaggart's smears were just the latest in a
series of Islamophobic remarks by right-wing and evangelical
commentators.
Jerry Falwell recently called the Prophet Mohammed "a terrorist," while
Franklin Graham claimed Islam is an "evil and wicked religion."
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-MAIL:
cair@cair-net.org; Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787 or 703-861-7294,
E-MAIL:
hhassan@cair-net.org
ACTION REQUESTED:
Send notes of appreciation to:
E-MAIL: president@whitehouse.gov
TEL: 202-456-1111.
FAX: 202-456-2461
MAIL:
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
COPY all correspondence to: cair@cair-net.org
-----
FULL TEXT OF REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BUSH:
I'll remind the secretary general that our war against terror is a war
against individuals whose hearts are full of hate. We do not fight a
religion.
As a matter of fact, by far the vast majority of American citizens
respect
the Islamic people and the Muslim faith. After all, there are millions
of
peaceful (sic) loving Muslim Americans.
Some of the comments that have been uttered about Islam do not reflect
the
sentiments of my government or the sentiments of most Americans.
Islam, as practiced by the vast majority of people, is a peaceful
religion,
a religion that respects others.
Ours is a country based upon tolerance, Mr. Secretary General. And we
respect the faith and we welcome people of all faiths in America. And
we're
not going to let the war on terror or terrorists cause us to change our
values.
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 11/14/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: CARE FOR ORPHANS
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* CANADIAN MUSLIMS REJECT MESSAGE OF VIOLENCE
* EDITORIAL: YOU ARE A SUSPECT (NY Times)
* REPORT: ATTACKS ON MUSLIMS SHOULD HAVE BEEN ANTICIPATED (AP)
- U.S. Officials Should Have Been Prepared For Hate Crimes (HRW)
* POWELL CRITICIZES FALWELL, ROBERTSON (AP)
- Bush Embraces Islam As Peaceful Faith (AP)
- Bush Takes On Christian Right Over Anti-Islam Words (Reuters)
- Bush Repudiates Anti-Muslim Rhetoric (AFP)
* NEW YORK'S PAKISTANI AREAS LIVE WITH FEAR (Wall Street Journal)
- Tough Rules Start Friday For 3,000 U.S. Visitors (KR/Tribune)
- Ashcroft's Law West -- And East -- Of The Pecos (LA Times)
- NY Rally Against Racial Profiling And Police/Ins Harassment
* POWELL TO TRY TO SOOTHE HARD FEELINGS (AP)
- Edmonton Man Not Allowed To Enter U.S. (Canadian Press)
* THE MOMENT THAT AMERICAN ISLAM GREW UP (Beliefnet)
* KEEP FREE SPEECH ALIVE ON CAMPUS (Pacific News Service)
- Faculty And Alumni Group Urges Divestment (Yale Daily News)
* JDL LEADER IRV RUBIN DIES AT 57 (AP)
* FUND SET UP FOR MINNESOTA FAMILY KILLED IN CAR CRASH
* CHILDREN'S MAGAZINE HIGHLIGHTS RAMADAN
* ANNAN: ISRAEL MUST GIVE UP ARAB LAND (AP)
- Israeli Rights Group Says Army Using Human Shields (Reuters)
* HINDU GROUP VOWS TO DEFY BAN ON MARCH IN GUJARAT (Reuters)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: CARE FOR ORPHANS
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "If anyone strokes an
orphan's head...he will have blessings for every hair over which his
hand
passes. And if anyone treats well an orphan girl or boy under his care,
he
and I will be together in Paradise like this (and the Prophet held two
fingers close together)."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1282
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 1481 sponsorships for $150 book and
tape packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country.
Take
part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library
package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 320
-----
CANADIAN MUSLIMS REJECT MESSAGE OF VIOLENCE
(OTTAWA, CANADA - 14/11/02) - The Canadian office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) today condemned recent comments
apparently made by Osama bin Laden in a newly-released audiotape. The
tape
praises recent terror attacks and explicitly names Canada as an ally of
the
U.S.
In a statement released today, CAIR-CAN wrote:
"Canadian Muslims condemn recent comments apparently made by Osama bin
Laden that call for violence against innocent civilians.
"Islam forbids attacks on innocent civilians. Canadian Muslims do not
see
Bin Laden as either a representative or a spokesperson for Islam."
CONTACT: Naeem Saloojee at 613-254-9704, E-mail: Canada@cair-net.org
-----
EDITORIAL: YOU ARE A SUSPECT
William Safire, New York Times, 11/14/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/14/opinion/14SAFI.html
WASHINGTON - If the Homeland Security Act is not amended before
passage,
here is what will happen to you:
Every purchase you make with a credit card, every magazine subscription
you
buy and medical prescription you fill, every Web site you visit and
e-mail
you send or receive, every academic grade you receive, every bank
deposit
you make, every trip you book and every event you attend - all these
transactions and communications will go into what the Defense
Department
describes as "a virtual, centralized grand database."
To this computerized dossier on your private life from commercial
sources,
add every piece of information that government has about you - passport
application, driver's license and bridge toll records, judicial and
divorce
records, complaints from nosy neighbors to the F.B.I., your lifetime
paper
trail plus the latest hidden camera surveillance - and you have the
supersnoop's dream: a "Total Information Awareness" about every U.S.
citizen.
This is not some far-out Orwellian scenario. It is what will happen to
your
personal freedom in the next few weeks if John Poindexter gets the
unprecedented power he seeks…
-----
REPORT: ATTACKS ON ARABS AND MUSLIMS SHOULD HAVE BEEN ANTICIPATED
Deborah Kong, Associated Press, 11/14/02
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Sept-11-Backlash.html
U.S. authorities responded quickly and vigorously to the post-Sept. 11
backlash against Arabs and Muslims, but they should have been better
prepared for such violence, according to a report by Human Rights
Watch.
After the terrorist attacks, a wave of hate crimes against people
perceived
to be Arab and Muslim swept the nation. The violence, which included
murder, beatings, arson, vandalism and death threats, was especially
pronounced in the months just after the attacks.
"Government was great reacting" to the hate crimes, said Amardeep
Singh,
U.S. program researcher at Human Rights Watch and author of the report.
"Once the backlash occurred, people went into action. We want to move
the
government to the point where they're proactive in dealing with the
issue…"
The report, released Thursday, is based on interviews with hate crime
victims, community activists, police, prosecutors, civil rights
agencies
and on news reports. It focuses on six cities - Dearborn, Mich.;
Seattle;
Phoenix; Los Angeles; New York; and Chicago - that have large Arab,
Muslim
or South Asian populations or experienced high levels of backlash.
Singh recommends that officials develop specific plans for dealing with
backlash and build relationships with Arab and Muslim communities. In
almost every case, that did not happen before Sept. 11, he said.
Without that, if a police officer needed "to go out and help a
community or
protect a community, you don't know where to go," Singh said…
---
U.S. OFFICIALS SHOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER PREPARED FOR HATE CRIME WAVE
Press Release, Human Rights Watch, 11/14/02
http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/11/usahate.htm
(New York, November 14, 2002) - Public officials tried vigorously to
contain a wave of hate crimes in the United States after September 11,
Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Nevertheless,
anti-Muslim hate crimes in the United States rose 1700 percent during
2001.
The report documents anti-Arab and anti-Muslim violence and the local,
state and federal response to it.
The forty-one page report, "We Are Not the Enemy," draws on research
with
police, prosecutors, community activists, and victims of hate crimes in
six
cities (Seattle, Washington; Dearborn, Michigan; Chicago, Illinois; Los
Angeles, California; Phoenix, Arizona; and New York, New York) to
review
steps taken by government officials to prevent and prosecute hate
crimes
after the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. The
report
also examines the scope and extent of these hate crimes, which included
murder, assault, arson, and vandalism…
After September 11, prominent officials at all levels of government,
beginning with President George W. Bush, condemned "backlash" violence.
In
the report, Human Rights Watch documents the actions that accompanied
the
public commitment to protect vulnerable groups. The key practices
reviewed
are backlash planning, police deployment, bias crime tracking,
prosecution
and outreach to Arab and Muslim communities...
-----
POWELL CRITICIZES FALWELL, ROBERTSON
Associated Press, 11/14/02
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-2170824,00.html
WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Colin Powell, responding to
anti-Muslim remarks by conservative Christian leaders, said Thursday,
"This
kind of hatred must be rejected."
Powell, speaking to a gathering of businessmen at the State Department,
echoed remarks on Wednesday by President Bush, who took issue with
comments
by Christian Coalition leader Pat Robertson and the Rev. Jerry Falwell.
Powell said, "We will reject the kinds of comments you have seen
recently
where people in this country say that Muslims are responsible for the
killing of all Jews."
He added that this kind of language ``must be spoken out against. We
cannot
allow this image to go forth of America, because it is an inaccurate
image
of America...
In a similar vein Bush said on Wednesday that some recent comments
about
Islam "do not reflect the sentiments of my government or the sentiments
of
most Americans."
---
BUSH SEEKS DISTANCE FROM CHRISTIAN LEADERS' REMARKS
Scott Lindlaw, Associated Press, 11/14/02
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20021114/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_islam_1
WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush characterized Islam as a peaceful
faith, seeking to distance himself from controversial remarks by two
conservative Christian leaders.
"Some of the comments that have been uttered about Islam do not reflect
the
sentiments of my government or the sentiments of most Americans," Bush
told
reporters as he met with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on
Wednesday.
"Islam, as practiced by the vast majority of people, is a peaceful
religion, a religion that respects others."
"Ours is a country based upon tolerance, Mr. Secretary-General," Bush
said.
"And we respect the faith and we welcome people of all faiths in
America,
and we're not going to let the war on terror or terrorists cause us to
change our values."
Though Bush never mentioned their names, his remarks came in response
to
recent comments by Christian leaders Pat Robertson and the Rev. Jerry
Falwell, the administration said…
A senior official said the administration recognized that such comments
had
angered Muslims abroad and caused them to question whether they
represent
the opinions of the White House and of the American people.
Bush's remarks came on the same day the Council on American-Islamic
Relations urged Bush to repudiate anti-Islamic rhetoric, citing
comments by
Falwell and others.
"It is time for the president to step up to the plate on the issue of
Islamophobia in America," said the group's board chairman, Omar Ahmad.
"Merely repeating the mantra that Islam is a 'religion of peace' does
little to stem the rising tide of anti-Muslim hate or to mitigate the
negative impact that hate has on Muslim families…"
---
BUSH TAKES ON CHRISTIAN RIGHT OVER ANTI-ISLAM WORDS
Randall Mikkelsen, Reuters, 11/14/02
http://news.yahoo.com/fc?tmpl=fc&cid=34&in=us&cat=bush_administration
WASHINGTON - U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday took on the
Christian right core of his political base, denouncing anti-Islamic
remarks
made by religious leaders including evangelist Pat Robertson.
Bush said such anti-Islamic comments were at odds with the views of
most
Americans…
"He (Bush) wanted a clear statement," a senior White House official
said.
Spokeswoman Angell Watts of Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network
said
she had no immediate comment.
A representative of a Muslim-American civil rights group, which had
stepped
up calls for Bush to repudiate such remarks, welcomed Bush's words.
"Obviously, we'd like to hear him repudiate these people by name, but
we
appreciate that he's moving in that direction," said Ibrahim Hooper of
the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
"It's encouraging to see that the president is finally addressing the
issue
of Islamophobia in America by addressing specific attacks on Islam.
This is
a new stance, and it's one that we would encourage and support," Hooper
said...
---
BUSH REPUDIATES ANTI-MUSLIM RHETORIC
Olivier Knox, Agence France Presse, 11/14/02
WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush Wednesday sternly repudiated
recent
anti-Muslim rhetoric from some US Christian figures, calling Islam a
"peaceful religion" that most Americans respect…
"Ours is a country based upon tolerance," said Bush. "We respect the
faith
and we welcome people of all faiths in America. And we're not going to
let
the war on terror or terrorists cause us to change our values."
But Swaggart also took aim at Bush himself for saying "that the Koran
is a
book of love and peace. Mr President, that has got to be the most
asinine,
idiotic, ridiculous, utterly ludicrous statement that I have heard in
my
life…"
Swaggart's other remarks, including a call for the expulsion of all
foreign
Muslim students from the United States and for US Muslims who object to
share their fate, drew loud applause from his audience.
And, after complaining that he was recently subjected to an airport
security check, Swaggart said security personnel ought to target anyone
"with a diaper on their head and a fan-belt around their waist…"
-----
NEW YORK'S PAKISTANI AREAS LIVE WITH A LINGERING FEAR
Marjorie Valbrun And Ann Davis, Wall Street Journal, 11/14/02
www.wsj.com
NEW YORK -- At Public School 217, classmates were teasing Iraj Shaheen.
"You are from a terrorist country," one little girl told the
eight-year-old
boy last fall. Iraj's father, Afzal Shaheen, had come to the U.S. from
Pakistan 12 years earlier. He owned an electronics store in the Midwood
section of Brooklyn that employed five people. But Mr. Shaheen was
seeing
sales slump as some of his fellow Pakistani immigrants, who make up the
bulk of the store's customers, left the country in the wake of Sept.
11.
Mr. Shaheen, 42, worried that he would be deported. He had entered the
country on a tourist visa that expired in 1990. He says he had always
intended to seek legal status but hadn't made it a priority.
"I considered the U.S. my homeland," Mr. Shaheen says. "We worked hard
and
were paying our taxes." But in May, he and his wife and three children
moved to Toronto, leaving the store in the care of his brother.
Here in the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn, the country's largest
Pakistani-immigrant community has been deeply shaken in the 14 months
since
the attacks. Terrorism fears have led to the arrest, jailing and
deportation of residents. Anxiety about U.S. government scrutiny has
seeped
into the daily lives of once-optimistic merchants and professionals.
Some
families, like the Shaheens, have left for Canada or Pakistan.
A good measure of the unease among the more than 150,000 Pakistanis in
New
York stems from immigrants' failure to secure legal residency. Still,
the
government's pursuit of terrorism's tendrils has had a tremendous and
little-seen cost. Many families who were leading productive lives, some
who
are here legally and some who aren't, have now seen those lives turned
upside down…
---
TOUGH RULES START FRIDAY FOR 3,000 U.S. VISITORS
Phillip O'Connor, Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, 11/14/02
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-aimmig14nov14,0,5331683.story
ST. LOUIS _ Beginning Friday, about 3,000 visitors from five Muslim
countries must report to local offices of the Immigration and
Naturalization Service across the country to be fingerprinted,
photographed
and interviewed.
The registration of males between the ages of 16 and 45 from Iran,
Iraq,
Libya, Syria and Sudan is the latest effort by the federal government
to
tighten the tracking of visitors from countries that the U.S. State
Department considers sponsors of terrorism. The fingerprints, photos
and
interview details will be compared against information contained in
criminal, terrorism and immigration databases, according to a spokesman
for
the U.S. Department of Justice.
Since the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System began this
Sept.
11, more than 14,000 have registered and been interviewed at airports
and
other ports of entry. Of those, officials arrested 179 on criminal
charges
or immigration violations.
The registration that begins Friday is aimed at non-immigrant workers,
students and others who arrived as temporary visitors in the United
States
before Sept. 11. Those who fail to register are subject to fines,
imprisonment and deportation.
Some Islamic and Arab groups have criticized the new measures as ethnic
profiling.
"It just falls in line with the ongoing attitude of 'round up the usual
terrorism suspects,' " said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council
on
American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based civil rights and
advocacy
group. "The attitude seems to be if you roust enough Muslims and Arabs
something will pop up.
"We have a growing list of policies that are targeting Muslims and
Arabs in
this country and it's a disturbing trend," Hooper said. "It's not been
demonstrated that any of these policies have been productive in
fighting
terrorism..."
---
EDITORIAL: ASHCROFT'S LAW WEST -- AND EAST -- OF THE PECOS
Jonathan Turley, Los Angeles Times, 11/13/02
http://www.latimes.com/la-oe-turley13nov13,0,2629067.story
If there is one legal principle that seems to guide Atty. Gen. John
Ashcroft, it is this: Possession is nine-tenths of the law.
In holding citizens and noncitizens, Ashcroft has claimed unilateral
authority to dictate how and where they will be tried and, most
important,
executed.
In the last few weeks, he has taken this control to a new level,
defying
states and judges who do not conform to his demands for speedy justice.
For some officials in Maryland, Ashcroft virtually took on the role of
a
body snatcher in the aftermath of the arrest of the Washington sniper
suspects. Though many observers thought that Maryland would have the
clear
claim for the first prosecutions as the state with the first and most
murders in the case, the state's historical caution in using the death
penalty did not sit well with Ashcroft.
So the Justice Department simply took possession of both suspects. What
followed was a prosecutorial version of EBay. For a week, all the
prosecutors were dialing in their bids to Ashcroft, publicly shilling
for
their ability to deliver the death penalty in a jiffy. Virginia had the
advantage, promising not only to ice both defendants but also to
execute
their Chevy Caprice to seal the deal. Ashcroft handed the two over to
Virginia like kitchen appliances on layaway plan…
---
NY RALLY AGAINST RACIAL PROFILING AND POLICE/INS HARASSMENT
WHAT: Rally and march against NYPD and INS post-9/11 sweeps in
immigrant
communities.
WHEN: Saturday, November 16, 1 P.M. to 3 P.M.
WHERE: Gather at One Police Plaza and March to INS, 26 Federal Plaza
Subways: 4/5/6 & N/R to City Hall
(One Police Plaza is located just east of NYC Municipal Building, 1
Centre
Street.)
For further information, contact the 9/11 Coalition for Constitutional
and
Human Rights at 212-870-2002.
-----
POWELL TO TRY TO SOOTHE HARD FEELINGS
Sonya Ross, Associated Press, 11/14/02
http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-powell-canada1114nov14,0,1350035.story
WASHINGTON - His diplomatic agenda may still center on Iraq, but
Secretary
of State Colin Powell is expected to say something Thursday to soothe
Canada's irritation over the treatment two of its citizens received at
tightly secured U.S. borders.
Powell was heading to Ottawa on Thursday for a luncheon meeting with
Foreign Minister Bill Graham and other Canadian officials. The State
Department described the session as a general consultation with a
friendly
ally ahead of the NATO summit next week in Prague.
But Powell also was keenly aware of sore feelings in Canada over the
way
the United States handled two Canadian citizens at border crossings.
One,
who holds dual Canadian-Syrian citizenship, was detained at a New York
airport and ultimately deported to Syria...
U.S. officials made much of the border security arrangements it struck
with
Canada in the months following the Sept. 11 attacks. But Canada now is
a
critic of the U.S. National Security Entry-Exit Registration System,
which
authorizes taking fingerprints and photographs of people born or
holding
citizenship in any of five countries the United States says sponsor
terrorism: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria.
Canadian officials said the policy is discriminatory. At the height of
Canada's pique, Graham issued a travel advisory warning Canadians born
in
those five countries to avoid going into the United States…
---
EDMONTON MAN NOT ALLOWED TO ENTER U.S.
Canadian Press, 11/14/02
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/front/RTGAM/20021114/wmus1114/Front/homeBN/breakingnews
Edmonton - American authorities who prevented an Edmonton man from
entering
the United States denied Wednesday that he was stopped because he's a
Muslim.
Alan Tuckett, of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, says
they
have information that indicates this gentleman is inadmissible to the
United States.
Mr. Tuckett says it has nothing to do with the man's place of birth or
his
nationality or his religion or ethnic heritage.
He adds, it's specific to him as an individual and he has been advised
of
what that information is.
Forty-four-year-old Jamal Cherkaoui, a Lebanon-born Australian citizen
and
a landed immigrant in Canada for the last 18 years, charged Tuesday
that
U-S officials refused to let him board a flight Sunday from Edmonton to
Orlando.
Mr. Cherkaoui insisted on Wednesday that customs officers did not cite
a
reason for stopping him.
But he but speculates it might be because Canadian immigration
authorities
detained him for 24 hours about 18 years ago when he came to Canada on
a
visitor's visa with a one-way ticket.
-----
THE MOMENT THAT AMERICAN ISLAM GREW UP
Michael Wolfe, Beliefnet.com, 11/13/02
http://www.beliefnet.com/frameset.asp?pageLoc=/story/116/story_11622_1.html&boardID=47725
In the months after September 11th, American Muslims heard again the
familiar, high-pitched grating sounds of Islam being defined for us by
others. On television, from the Capitol, from the pulpit, in the
classroom,
and worst of all on videotapes from Osama bin Laden's caves, we
listened to
commentators, politicians, scholars, and rich terrorists in exile tell
us
the "real meaning" of our faith. We heard anti-American fanatics quote
the
Qur'an to justify mass murder, and we heard anti-Muslim bigots quote it
back--both sides using bad translations and phrases out of context.
And most of what we heard we didn't like because it was not accurate.
Publicly, we tried to counter these distortions--on air, in meetings,
at
our mosques, through visits to churches and synagogues. Since then, we
have
sought to replace them with a truer interpretation: that Islam is a
peaceful, progressive, inherently forgiving and compassionate religion.
Anyone who believes otherwise misses the core values of Islam…
We not only talked about what had gone wrong, but about how things
ought to
be. We began to conceive, and then voice and then, finally, put to
paper
ideas about how we want to define Islam in this century. Since
September
11th, American Muslims began to do something extraordinary. We began to
take back Islam…
-----
KEEP FREE SPEECH ALIVE ON CAMPUS
Mitra Ebadolahi, Rita Hamad and Shadi Hamid, Pacific News Service,
11/12/02
http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=b9f4d18d382493212efc45725e4e56f3
American college and university campuses have long been vibrant places
for
personal and political expression. But since Sept. 11, 2001, students
of
Middle Eastern descent, ourselves included, have encountered increasing
hostility toward our right to speak to politically controversial
matters.
It's a troubling extension of the post-Sept. 11 climate, where
intimidation, hate crimes and a loss of basic civil liberties have
become
pervasive realities for Arabs and Muslims in America.
All of us know young Muslim women who for days and even weeks would not
venture outside their dorms because they wear hijab (an Islamic head
covering) and felt they would be targeted. For them, the scoffing
comments
or annoyed stares have simply become too much to bear. All of us also
know
international students from the Middle East who have pulled out of
their
courses to return home due to a sense of being no longer welcome here.
When criticizing U.S. foreign policy, we too have been told to "Go back
home," despite the fact that we are American citizens…
---
FACULTY AND ALUMNI GROUP URGES DIVESTMENT
Jessamyn Blau, Yale Daily News, 11/13/02
http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=20729
A group of Yale faculty and alumni announced Tuesday that it has
initiated
a petition to campaign for University divestment from Israel.
With a paid advertisement in the Yale Daily News Tuesday, the Yale
Divest
from Israel Campaign, or YDIC, publicized its petition and Web site --
www.yaledivestnow.org -- and suggested that the group might eventually
bring legal action against Yale. The Yale campaign joins a grass-roots
effort at approximately 50 other universities where administrators are
being urged to consider divesting from corporations that conduct
business
in Israel.
The petition requests that the University divest from all of its
holdings
in Israel. Because not all of these holdings are public, it also
requests
that Yale disclose any investments it has in Israel...
Lawyer and University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign professor Francis
Boyle
-- a technical adviser for the petition at Yale -- said he thought Yale
had
an "excellent" corporate responsibility policy.
"If the responsible people at Yale sit down and apply their law to the
war
crimes over there, they will come to the conclusion that Yale must
divest,"
Boyle said.
Near Eastern Languages and Literatures Chairman Dimitri Gutas said he
signed the petition because he considers the situation in Israel to be
a
"quite brutal occupation." He said he was also concerned about Israel's
violations of U.N. resolutions.
"Israel has been blatantly disobeying U.N. resolutions, and we are
supporting it with our tax money," Gutas said…
-----
JDL LEADER IRV RUBIN DIES AT 57
Greg Risling, Associated Press, 11/14/02
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-2170281,00.html
LOS ANGELES - Jewish Defense League leader Irv Rubin, who made a career
out
of confronting those he considers enemies of Israel and the Jewish
people,
died in a hospital after attempting to commit suicide in jail last
week,
authorities said. He was 57.
Rubin had been in a medically induced coma since Nov. 4 but died at
about
11:45 p.m. Wednesday, said Adelaida De La Cerda, a spokeswoman at Los
Angeles County-USC Medical Center. No other details were immediately
available.
Federal officials said Rubin slashed his neck with a prison-issued
razor
blade on Nov. 4 and tumbled 18 feet over a railing at the federal
Metropolitan Detention Center.
The apparent suicide attempt occurred just hours before Rubin was to
make a
court appearance on charges he allegedly plotted to bomb a Southern
California mosque and the office of Rep. Darrell E. Issa, R-Calif., who
is
the grandson of Lebanese immigrants. Fellow JDL member Earl Krugel was
also
arrested in connection with the alleged scheme…
-----
US CATHOLIC BISHOPS SAY IRAQ WAR NOT JUSTIFIED
Reuters, 11/14/02
http://reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=politicsnews&StoryID=1739813
WASHINGTON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - America's Catholic bishops urged
President
George W. Bush and other world leaders to "step back from the brink of
war"
with Iraq, saying it is not clear such a conflict would be justified.
"Based on the facts that are known to us, we continue to find it
difficult
to justify the resort to war against Iraq, lacking clear and adequate
evidence of an imminent attack of a grave nature," the U.S. Conference
of
Catholic Bishops said in a statement released late on Wednesday…
"We fear that a resort to war, under present circumstances ... would
not
meet the strict conditions in Catholic teaching for overriding the
strong
presumption against the use of military force," the bishops said...
-----
FUND SET UP FOR MINNESOTA FAMILY KILLED IN CAR CRASH
The Islamic Center of Minnesota has opened a Memorial Fund account at
the
Wells Fargo Bank MN to help the families of the six members of the Khan
family that passed away in the tragic accident last Saturday.
Please make your contribution made out to 'The Islamic Center of
Minnesota
f.b.o. Khan Family Memorial Fund' and mail it to 'Wells Fargo Bank MN,
c/o
Khan Family Memorial Fund, 6315 University Ave. NE, Fridley, MN 55432.
----
CHILDREN'S MAGAZINE HIGHLIGHTS RAMADAN
Highlights for Children magazine has an excellent article on Ramadan in
its
November 2002 issue. The article included the following excerpt from
"Hungry, Happy Ramadan" by Um Yaqoob: "It is the holy month of Ramadan
(rah
mah DAHN), one of the hardest but happiest times of the year for
Muslims.
The month starts when the crescent moon of the month Islamic month
appears.
Every day for the following twenty-nine or thirty days, Muslims
everywhere
in the world observe the fast..."
The editor-in-chief has reported several negative comments and
subscription
cancellations in response to the article.
ACTION REQUESTED:
Contact the editors at Highlights to thank them for publishing an
article
that educates children about Ramadan.
EMAIL: Kent L. Brown Jr., Editor-in-Chief, email:
KLBrown@Highlights-corp.com
and Christine Clark, Editor, email: eds@highlights-corp.com
COPY TO: ohio@cair-net.org, cair@cair-net.org
This article would be an excellent way to educate kids' classmates and
teachers about Ramadan. Consider ordering the single issue of
Highlights
containing this article. (price: $3.95, November 2002, Vol. 57, Number
11,Issue no. 613), call 1-888-876-3809, visit www.Highlights.com, or
send a
request with check to Highlights for Children, PO Box 182167, Columbus,
Ohio 43218-2167. Please specify that you're ordering because of the
article
on Ramadan.
-----
ANNAN: ISRAEL MUST GIVE UP ARAB LAND
Barry Schweid, Associated Press, 11/14/02
http://www.austin360.com/aas/news/ap/ap_story.html/Intl/AP.V7532.AP-US-Mideast.html
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday
denounced
Israel as an expropriator of Arab land and said it must surrender
nearly
all of the territory for peace with the Arabs.
Annan, in a speech at the University of Maryland, also accused the
Israeli
government of imposing ``condition upon condition'' to block peace
negotiations.
He said Palestinian farmers have been shot by extremist settlers intent
on
robbing them of their olive harvest and driving them off the land to
which
the Palestinians are entitled.
The tone was different at the State Department, where spokesman Richard
Boucher said he did not have "any particular comment" on the biggest
Israel
sweep on the West Bank in months…
Annan, who met with President Bush at the White House after his speech,
drew applause from students assembled in a university field house as he
repeatedly criticized Israel and its policies…
The Palestinians ``have a right to their own state, supported by the
United
Nations and by public opinion worldwide,'' Annan said. The only
solution is
for Israel to relinquish ``nearly all the territory'' the Arabs lost in
the
1967 Mideast War and to live side by side with a Palestinian state, he
said...
---
ISRAELI RIGHTS GROUP SAYS ARMY USING HUMAN SHIELDS
Reuters, 11/14/02
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L14267863
JERUSALEM - An Israeli human rights group accused the Israeli army on
Thursday of using Palestinians as human shields in operations against
militants despite its promise to end the practice.
Israel's Supreme Court banned the tactic last August after an incident
in
which soldiers in the West Bank forced the neighbour of a suspected
militant to knock on his door and deliver their ultimatum to surrender.
The militant shot and killed the man.
"On at least five occasions since that incident...the army has
implemented
the 'good neighbour' policy," said Yael Stein, a researcher who wrote a
report on the tactic for B'Tselem, which monitors Israeli human rights
violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip...
In its report, B'Tselem said the army "has been using Palestinians as
human
shields and ordering them to execute military acts that pose a real
danger
to their lives for an extended period of time…"
-----
HINDU GROUP VOWS TO DEFY BAN ON MARCH IN GUJARAT
Reuters, 11/14/02
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/DEL233807
AHMEDABAD, India - A powerful Hindu group in India's riot-scarred
Gujarat
state vowed on Thursday to defy a ban on a march that the election
commission said could trigger religious violence in the run-up to
assembly
polls next month.
The independent election commission charged with ensuring a free and
fair
vote in Gujarat on December 12 said on Wednesday the procession should
be
stopped because it could trigger Hindu-Muslim clashes and affect the
election process.
But the hardline Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a sister group of the
Hindu
nationalist party that rules Gujarat and heads the federal coalition,
said
the march to awaken Hindu consciousness would begin on November 17 and
end
on December 6 as planned.
"To hold a religious rally is our right -- nobody can take that away
from
us," the VHP's firebrand general secretary, Pravin Togadia, told a news
conference.
"The objective is to defend our country, our faith. It will be the road
map
to realising our dream of a Hindu nation..."
Togadia said the procession, led by Hindu priests, would start from the
town of Godhra where 59 Hindu activists were killed in February when
their
train was torched by a suspected Muslim mob.
Hindu mobs went on a rampage after the train attack and more than 1,000
people, most of them Muslims, were killed across Gujarat in India's
worst
religious violence in a decade. Human rights groups said the death toll
was
2,500…
-----
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-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 11/15/2002
HEADLINES:
* VERSE OF THE DAY: FEED THE NEEDY
* CAIR PROJECT HIGHLIGHTED IN LIBRARY MAGAZINE
* MEDIA REQUEST: MUSLIM EMPLOYEES AND RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION
* DC MUSLIMS STAFF RAMADAN "FEED THE NEEDY" PROGRAM
* CAIR-CAN FILES COMPLAINT OVER SWAGGART SMEARS
* CAIR REPS VISIT 6 STATES ON RAMADAN TOUR
* ARAB COMMUNITY CHARGES ETHNIC BIAS (Orlando Sentinel)
- Mideast Men Chafe At Order to Register (Atlanta Journal)
- EEOC Reaches Settlement on NC Discrimination Case
- Judge Stays Deportation of Somalis (AP)
* SIN OF EXTREMISM NOT LIMITED TO ISLAM (Reason)
- The Plan to Turn Muslims into Bible Believers (Dallas Observer)
- US Evangelist Says Terror War Not "Against Islam" (Reuters)
* TAXI RIDE BRINGS MECCA'S MEANING CLOSER TO HOME (Chicago Tribune)
* FAMILY GETS MUSLIM FUNERAL (St. Paul Pioneer Press)
* A PALESTINIAN CAMP MOURNS ITS SLAIN CHILDREN (New York Times)
- Christians Split Over Support for Israel (St. Paul Pioneer Press)
- 3 U.S. Activists Detained In Israel (AP)
* SF BAY AREA SHARE YOUR LUNCH DAY
* CALIF. IFTAR TO HIGHLIGHT GUJARAT TRAGEDY
* CAIR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA OFFERS INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY
* DC SEMINAR ON RAMADAN AND SPIRITUALITY
-----
VERSE OF THE DAY: FEED THE NEEDY
Hast thou ever considered [the kind of person] who denies the Judgment
(to
come)? Behold, it is this [person] who drives the orphan away with
harshness and feels no urge to feed the needy.
The Holy Quran, Chapter 107, Verses 1-3
-----
CAIR PROJECT HIGHLIGHTED IN LIBRARY MAGAZINE
CAIR's Library Project is highlighted in the November 2002 edition of
"American Libraries," the trade magazine for the American Library
Association. (SEE: http://www.ala.org/alonline/toc/toc1102.html) CAIR
has
received 1481 sponsorships for $150 book and tape packages on Islam to
be
placed in libraries across the country. Take part in this
first-of-its-kind
campaign by sponsoring an 18-item "library package." Our goal is to,
inshallah, send accurate and objective information about Islam to
America's
16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 320
-----
MEDIA REQUEST: MUSLIM EMPLOYEES AND RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION
A journalist writing an article about religious holidays in the
workplace
is looking for examples of Muslim employees who have experienced the
challenge of needing to take time off for a religious holiday. She is
looking for both positive and negative stories (where they met with
resistance from the employer). Those interested in sharing their
experience
should email sachacohen@yahoo.com
-----
- MEDIA ADVISORY -
DC MUSLIMS STAFF RAMADAN "FEED THE NEEDY" PROGRAM
WHAT: Beginning Sunday, November 17, Muslims in the nation's capital
will
take part in a first-of-its-kind Ramadan "Feed the Needy" program, in
cooperation with a local church. During the two-week program, Muslim
volunteers will serve food to the homeless. The food served will be
donated
by companies in the local Islamic community.
Ramadan (rom-a-don) is the month on the Islamic lunar calendar during
which
Muslims abstain from food, drink and other sensual pleasures from break
of
dawn to sunset. The fast is performed to learn discipline,
self-restraint
and generosity, while obeying God's commandments. Fasting (along with
the
declaration of faith, daily prayers, charity, and pilgrimage to Mecca)
is
one of the "five pillars" of Islam.
WHEN: November 17-21 and November 24-27
Set-up: 3-5 p.m.
Serving: 5-8 p.m.
(Muslim volunteers will break their fast and perform their prayers at
the
site.)
WHERE: First Congregational Church
Homeless Women's Dinner Program
945 G Street, NW (Basement)
Washington, D.C. (Near Metro Center and Gallery Place Metro stops.)
CONTACT: Imam Johari, Muslim Chaplain of Howard University,
202-345-5233
-----
CAIR-CAN FILES COMPLAINT OVER SWAGGART SMEARS
(OTTAWA, CANADA - 11/15/02) - The Canadian office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) today filed a complaint with the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)
regarding comments made on Toronto-based station CFMT by televangelist
Jimmy Swaggart.
In a November 10 broadcast, Swaggart referred to the Prophet Muhammad
as a
"sex deviant" and "pervert." He also called for the expulsion of all
foreign Muslim university students in the United States and for
profiling
of airline passengers "with a diaper on their head and a fan-belt
around
their waist." Of American Muslims, Swaggart said: "We ought to tell
every
other Moslem (sic) living in this nation that if you say one word,
you're
gone."
This is not the first time Swaggart has attacked Islam on Canadian
television. In 1985, he attacked the Koran on a show broadcast on
Global
TV. Global President David Mintz assured the Muslim community that the
network would not "permit anyone at any time to talk against another
person's religion." He also enclosed a letter of apology from Jimmy
Swaggart in which the televangelist promised that such attacks against
Islam "will not happen again."
CAIR-CAN Executive Director Riad Saloojee stated, "Mr. Swaggart's
comments
are shocking and clearly incite hatred against Muslims. We are calling
on
the CRTC to ensure that the Canadian media does not provide a voice to
Mr.
Swaggart's repeated anti-Islamic rhetoric."
- END -
CONTACT: Riad Saloojee at 613-254-9704; E-mail: Canada@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR REPS VISIT 6 STATES ON RAMADAN TOUR
CAIR representatives have so far traveled to six states (Florida,
Texas,
Louisiana, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania) in their tour of communities
across the Midwest and east coast during the month of Ramadan. At each
location, representatives offered presentations on CAIR's work in the
areas
of civil rights, voter registration, media relations, and educational
initiatives. If you are interested in having CAIR visit your community
this
month, contact CAIR Community Affairs at (202) 439-5432.
-----
ARAB COMMUNITY CHARGES ETHNIC BIAS
Roger Roy, Orlando Sentinel, 11/15/02
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-asecarabreax15111502nov15,0,5457993.story
Dozens of members of Orlando's Arab-American community packed a federal
courtroom Thursday to hear the charges against businessman Jesse Maali
and
accused authorities of targeting him because he is Palestinian.
"He's being wrongly persecuted because of his ethnicity," Maali's
attorney,
Mark NeJame, said at a news conference at the steps of Orlando's
federal
courthouse. "His biggest crime is that he is a Middle Eastern man in
2002."
Maali, 57, a Muslim Palestinian-American who has made a fortune with
his
real estate, restaurant and souvenir-shop ventures, was indicted with a
partner and three employees Thursday on charges of conspiracy to
launder
money and violate immigration laws.
But some of the 80 or so Arab-Americans who rushed to the courthouse
when
they learned of Maali's arrest said he and the others are victims of
anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiments that they said have spiraled since
the
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"I'm waiting for it to happen to me next," businessman Mohammad Lutfi
said.
"So is everyone else here. They all know they could be next, just
because
they're Arab…"
Prosecutors said the investigation began three years ago, long before
the
2001 terrorist attacks.
But at a bail hearing for Maali and the others, Arab-Americans in the
courtroom groaned when Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia Hawkins Collazo
asked that the defendants be held without bail because Maali had
"financial
ties to Middle Eastern organizations who advocate violence."
Collazo did not elaborate, and the judge agreed to hold the men until
another hearing scheduled for Monday. But Collazo's assertion triggered
an
angry response.
"It's just a bunch of garbage," said NeJame, a Lebanese-American, after
the
hearing. "It's a scare tactic. It's wrong..."
---
MIDEAST MEN CHAFE AT ORDER TO REGISTER
Mark Bixler, Atlanta Journal Constitution, 11/15/02
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/friday/news_d34d8974f06262d800d6.html
Beginning today, several thousand men from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and
Syria in the United States must register with the Immigration and
Naturalization Service. They will be fingerprinted, photographed and
questioned in an expansion of a federal program to track foreign
students,
tourists and businesspeople from certain Arab and Muslim nations.
The goal is to ensure that those who entered the country with visas are
complying with the terms. People who fail to register by Dec. 16 face
deportation, a change that shocked Hani Al-Ikhwan, a 20-year-old Syrian
student at Georgia Perimeter College in Clarkston.
"It's like I'm a criminal," he said Thursday. "It's not what I heard
about
America back in Syria --- that there's freedom, that you can do what
you
want and that there's no discrimination."
The requirement affects men who are 16 or older and who entered the
United
States with a nonimmigrant visa before Sept. 10 this year (men from
many
Arab and Muslim countries who came after that date were fingerprinted
and
photographed upon their arrival)…
Al-Ikhwan, the Syrian student, wondered why he has to register while
his
Bolivian roommate does not. Foreign students, he said, "came here to
study.
We didn't come here to do anything wrong…"
---
EEOC AND NORTH CAROLINA MEDICAL PRACTICE REACH $35,000 SETTLEMENT IN
POST-9/11 BACKLASH DISCRIMINATION CLAIM
Press Release, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
http://www.eeoc.gov/press/11-13-02.html
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC)
today announced a voluntary pre-litigation settlement under Title VII
of
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 of an employment discrimination claim
related
to the tragic events of September 11. The settlement was reached
between
the EEOC and a Wilmington, N.C.-based medical practice that treats
patients
with kidney disease and provides dialysis treatments.
According to the EEOC, former employee Karen Crisco worked for the
Medical
Clinic as a licensed practical nurse for over three years. The agency's
Charlotte District Office alleged that, during the fall of 2001, Ms.
Crisco
was subjected to a hostile work environment because of her religion and
her
romantic relationship with a Muslim man whom her co-workers believed to
be
of Middle Eastern or Arab descent. The EEOC asserted that Ms. Crisco's
hostile work environment included verbal harassment and derogatory
remarks
related to the events of September 11.
Ms. Crisco alleged that two days before September 11, 2001, she
converted
to Islam and, a month later, requested that she be allowed to wear a
religious head scarf ("Hijab") to work. The EEOC alleged that, after
Ms.
Crisco wore the head scarf for one day, the medical practice advised
her
that she had to remove it, stating that her appearance had frightened
numerous patients. The EEOC asserted that the Medical Clinic failed to
accommodate Ms. Crisco's religious beliefs and constructively
discharged
her based on her religion…
CONTACT: Reuben Daniels, Jr. (EEOC) at (202) 663-4801
-----
JUDGE STAYS DEPORTATION OF SOMALIS
Gene Johnson, Associated Press, 11/14/02
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=webins14&date=20021114&query=somalia
A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Immigration and
Naturalization
Service from returning five immigrants to Somalia, after their lawyers
argued that the INS can't deport them to a country that effectively has
no
government.
The five men, who have been convicted of crimes or immigration
violations,
had been scheduled to be moved from Seattle to El Paso, Texas, on
Thursday,
before being deported to Somalia sometime later.
But at the request of the civil liberties group Hate Free Zone Campaign
of
Washington, lawyers from the Seattle-based firm of Perkins Coie took on
their case, filing an emergency petition in U.S. District Court on
Wednesday. Late in the day, Judge Marsha Pechman granted a temporary
restraining order barring the INS from deporting the men. She scheduled
a
hearing for Nov. 22.
"When people are deported, the INS has to follow some basic steps,"
said
Pramila Jayapal, executive director of the Hate Free Zone Campaign.
"You
can't deport somebody back to a country without getting permission from
the
country. There is no government in Somalia to give permission..."
The attorneys pointed to a case in Minneapolis last March, when a
federal
judge ruled that a Somali man convicted of assault could not be
deported,
as Somalia lacked a government to accept him. That case is on appeal in
the
8th Circuit.
Seattle INS spokesman Garrison Courtney said Thursday that the agency's
policy in deportations is to follow guidelines for international
travel.
Since Somalia doesn't require travel documents for entry, he said, the
INS
doesn't have to seek permission to return the men.
U.S. District Judge John Tunheim in Minneapolis rejected that argument,
saying "the silence of a nonfunctioning government in a lawless
territory -
with grave risks to the deported alien - cannot constitute acceptance…"
-----
SIN OF EXTREMISM IS NEITHER COMMON TO ALL MUSLIMS NOR LIMITED TO ISLAM
Cathy Young, Reason Online, December 2002
http://www.reason.com/0212/co.cy.ecumenical.shtml
President Bush has stressed repeatedly that America's war on terrorism
is
not a war on Islam, which, he asserts, is a "religion of peace"
perverted
by fanatical extremists. But from the start dissenting voices have said
that Islam itself poses a threat to Western civilization and that its
inherently violent and oppressive nature was being whitewashed for the
sake
of political correctness.
One of the first salvos was fired by the Rev. Franklin Graham, who in
October 2001 called Islam "a very evil and wicked religion." (He later
insisted he was denouncing Islamic extremism, not all Muslims.) More
recently, the Rev. Jerry Falwell told 60 Minutes that Islam's founder,
Mohammed, was a "terrorist." Curiously, in this debate the defense of
Islam
is usually the province of secularist liberals, while the harshest
criticism comes from religious ultraconservatives whose views sometimes
overlap with those of Islamic fundamentalists…
---
THE BATTLE PLAN IS TO TURN MUSLIMS INTO BIBLE BELIEVERS
Thomas Korosec, Dallas Observer, 11/14/02
http://www.dallasobserver.com/issues/2002-11-14/feature.html/1/index.html
As a missionary student taking Islamic studies courses at Southwestern
Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Logan has joined a small
but
vigorous movement among evangelical Christians to spread their faith to
the
Muslim world. Under the conservative leadership of the Southern Baptist
Convention, the seminary last fall became the third evangelical school
in
the United States offering a program for those who see Islam's 1.2
billion
adherents as their spiritual frontier…
"We are a seminary, not a university," says Samuel Shahid, a
Palestinian-born Christian who heads the program. As such, he says,
students are expected to take what they learn and put it into practice
saving souls, either among Muslims living in the United States or in
the
Muslim world.
That aim understandably has its critics. Some question the ethics
behind
the methods used in the field. Others worry that the urgent need to
preach
complicates relief efforts in places such as the Sudan, where religious
violence is constant. Yet others worry that it breeds mistrust at a
time
when Christians and Muslims should be working toward acceptance and
mutual
understanding.
A more appropriate response, though, might just be a big shrug.
Evangelicals have long had a dream for missions among Muslims, and
despite
anecdotal accounts to the contrary, academics and internal church
reports
suggest they have merely spun their wheels in the desert sand…
"If you read their materials, you will see they try to seek out the
weak
and the vulnerable. In this society it's lonely students. In Muslim
countries, it's areas that are vulnerable for lack of food or housing
or
medical care," says Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on
American
Islamic Relations, a Washington-based Islamic-rights organization.
"They
have step-by-step plans on how to suck people into their web. They say
they
are helping, but what they really want from you is your faith. When you
go
with a Bible in one hand and food in another, you're taking advantage
of
your economic and political power to force your way. That isn't
Christian
charity…"
---
US EVANGELIST SAYS TERROR WAR NOT "AGAINST ISLAM"
Reuters, 11/15/02
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Christian evangelist leader Franklin Graham said
Thursday he did not view the U.S. counterterror campaign as a war on
Islam,
a day after President Bush criticized anti-Islamic remarks by
conservative
Christian leaders.
"I agree with the president that 'our war against terror is a war
against
individuals whose hearts are filled with hate.' This is not a war
against
Islam," Graham said in a release.
Graham, who gave the sermon at Bush's inaugural church service in 2001,
is
the son of evangelist Billy Graham. He is president of the relief
organization Samaritan's Purse and also of the Billy Graham
Evangelistic
Association.
Franklin Graham has drawn criticism for comments on Islam, including
remarks on a Fox Television show in August in which he said the Koran
preaches violence. "If you buy the Koran read it for yourself, and it's
in
there. The violence that it preaches is there," he said…
-----
TAXI RIDE BRINGS MECCA'S MEANING CLOSER TO HOME
Mary Schmich, Chicago Tribune, 11/15/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/printedition/chi-0211150178nov15.story
I might not have given much thought to the fact that we're in the midst
of
Ramadan if the cabbie hadn't had a chant plugged into his tape player
as
the cab sailed down LaSalle Street on Thursday. The music was a welcome
vacation from the usual taxi serenade of rock 'n' roll, hip-hop, news
drones and sports barkers.
"What are you listening to?" I asked. Surely the unusually smooth sound
explained the unusually fluid ride. Maybe I could buy a copy.
The cabbie glanced into the rearview mirror. He was a tall, middle-age
black man, sitting erect in the front seat under a boxy blue cap. It
was
his tape from Mecca, he said in a baritone lilt I couldn't quite place.
He'd made the pilgrimage to Muhammad's hometown, the holiest place in
Islam, back in 1994, he said. The trip was every Muslim's duty. This
was
the tape handed to each pilgrim upon leaving Mecca's gates.
The cabbie went on to say that the tape keeps him company and keeps him
focused during the Islamic holy month, now in its second week. He
passed a
full Ramadan prayer schedule into the back seat, just FYI…
-----
FAMILY GETS MUSLIM FUNERAL
Nancy Ngo, St. Paul Pioneer Press, 11/15/02
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/local/4522543.htm
When Amin Kader heard that six members of a Twin Cities Muslim family
had
died in a highway crash in Rawlins, Wyo., last weekend, he immediately
picked up the phone to see how soon the bodies could be returned.
The small town had only one hearse. The bodies would have to be brought
to
the airport one by one. The nearest commercial airport was more than
300
miles away. It would take up to a week. But to Kader, president of the
Islamic Institute of Minnesota, time was of the essence.
"It was impossible. We decided to send someone," he said. Kader put two
morticians on the road Monday morning to pick up the bodies in a truck
large enough to hold the entire family and transport them back to the
Twin
Cities.
On Thursday, the Khan family received a traditional Muslim funeral
after a
prayer service at a Columbia Heights mosque...
Islamic belief calls for burying the dead as soon as possible so they
can
rest in peace and so family and friends do not grieve longer than they
must. Also, burying sooner also means the dead do not have to be
embalmed,
which is seen as a disturbance to the body...
-----
A PALESTINIAN CAMP MOURNS ITS SLAIN CHILDREN
Joel Greenberg, New York Times, 11/15/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/15/international/middleeast/15ISRA.html
RAFAH, Gaza Strip - Posters of children killed by Israeli Army gunfire
covered the walls of the alleys among the bullet-scarred buildings of
this
refugee camp today, a reminder that two 2-year-olds were shot dead
there in
three days this week. An 8-year-old boy died of wounds received last
month
in the daily violence here, along the border with Egypt.
Groups of grieving men sat in three condolence tents today, receiving
visitors paying their respects. This evening, another camp resident was
killed. Khaled Abu Hilal, 37, was fatally shot in his home near an
Israeli
Army position on the border, residents said…
-----
CHRISTIANS SPLIT OVER SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL
Stephen Scott, Saint Paul Pioneer Press, 11/15/02
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/local/4522471.htm
Plane tickets to Tel Aviv are what they have in common.
But two groups of Minnesotans who left for the West Bank this week
travel a
path within Christianity that diverges sharply, one toward solidarity
with
Israel, the other toward support for Palestinians.
Their roles in a fierce Middle East drama rewrite the age-old script
about
how one religion deals with another. For some of them, the climax stops
nothing short of the apocalypse.
"We have a sort of fault line at work within Christianity that I would
say
is very disturbing,'' said Richard Landes, a history professor at
Boston
University and director of its Center for Millennial Studies."This
bizarre
split within the Christian community has literally crossed wires.''
In one camp, a dozen Christians from Minnesota and Wisconsin this week
are
seeking to bring about justice by living among Palestinians and helping
with the olive harvest.
At the same time, 20 other Christians from the Twin Cities have been
touring the West Bank in solidarity with Israel…
---
3 U.S. ACTIVISTS DETAINED IN ISRAEL
Associated Press, 11/15/02
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-israel-foreign-activists1115nov15,0,1569380.story
JERUSALEM (AP) - Three Americans were detained Friday during a
demonstration against Israel's construction of a security fence near
the
West Bank town of Tullkarem.
The three were among 10 activists arrested as they tried to block
Israeli
bulldozers clearing land for the fence. About 100 Palestinians took
part in
the demonstration and one of them was among those detained.
Robert Smith, of St. Paul, Minn., said soldiers threw concussion
grenades
and tear gas, then dragged protesters away. At least one of the
activists
was severely beaten, he said.
An army spokeswoman said demonstrators scuffled with troops and threw
rocks
but offered no further details.
Smith said the activists belong to a pro-Palestinian group called the
International Solidarity Movement…
-----
SF BAY AREA SHARE YOUR LUNCH DAY
WHAT: Second Annual Share your Lunch Day - Meals are prepared and
handed
out to the homeless in San Francisco.
WHEN: Saturday, November 16, 2002 at 10 A.M.
WHERE: Meet at the Muslim Community Association, 3003 Scott Blvd.,
Santa Clara
If you would like to volunteer, please go to
http://www.masyouthgive.org/html/volunteer.asp
or visit MCA website at http://www.mca-sfba.org/
-----
CALIF. IFTAR TO HIGHLIGHT GUJARAT TRAGEDY
WHAT: The Indian Muslim Council (IMC) cordially invites you to Gujarat
Awareness Community Iftar at the MCA, Santa Clara, CA.
WHEN: Sunday, Nov 17th
WHERE: MCA, Santa Clara
Featuring:
Quran Recitation
Gujarat Exhibition
Exclusive Gujarat Video
IMC Presentation
Talk by Imam Khalid Griggs
For more information, please visit http://www.imc-usa.org/events/ or
E-mail: media@imc-usa.org
-----
CAIR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA OFFERS INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY
(Anaheim, CA, 11/13/2002) - CAIR-LA is now accepting applications for
its
Winter 2003 internship program. The program is designed to empower our
community by helping young Muslims gain skills in public relations,
media
relations, research and development, public outreach, government
relations,
and in defending civil/legal rights. Interns will be offered college
credit
or financial compensation.
Internships will be held at CAIR's office in Southern California.
Interns
must obtain sponsors to provide for their travel, living expenses
(housing
& food) and transportation arrangements.
Candidates must be pursuing a bachelor's degree or an advanced degree.
(Exceptions will be made for highly qualified applicants.)
Internships are offered in the following categories:
- Government Relations
- Media Relations
- Community Outreach & Development
- Civil Rights
- Education
Winter internships run from January 6 - March 21, 2003.
Applications must be received by December 7, 2002.
For an application, contact Maryam Dadabhoy
Email: maryam@cair-california.org
Tel: 714.776.1847
-----
DC SEMINAR ON RAMADAN AND SPIRITUALITY
WHAT: DC Council of the MSA in conjunction with the Georgetown
University
Community presents Reenergizing Ramadan: Individual Spirituality and
Campus
Activism. A day long seminar to be concluded with Iftar/Dinner and
Taraweh
WHEN: Sunday, November, 17 from 12 P.M to 9 P.M.
WHERE: Georgetown University, Intercultural Center (ICC) Room 115, 37TH
and
O Sts
Washington, DC 20057
For further information, contact Sr. Lina Hashem at
dc-chair@msa-national.org or Sr. Nada Unus at
dc-secretary@msa-national.org. Call 703-622-5953
-----
TO BECOME A CAIR MEMBER, GO TO:
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/membership.asp
-----
To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to:
http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to: cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 11/17/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: COMFORT THE SICK
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT
* PBS TO AIR 'MUHAMMAD: LEGACY OF A PROPHET'
* DANIEL PIPES: BRANDED A BIGOT (Oregonian)
- Daniel Pipes: War of the Diatribes (Weekend Australian)
* AGENCIES MONITOR IRAQIS IN THE U.S. (New York Times)
- Total Information Awareness (Washington Post)
- Poindexter's Laboratory (Reason)
- Ashcroft's Shadowy Disciple (Village Voice)
- Agency Confirms Air-Travel Blacklist (Salon.com)
- Anti-Terror Checking Starts (Detroit Free Press)
- For 9/11 Hero, Humiliation: Muslim Must Report to INS (Newsday)
- Post-9/11 Immigrant Treatment Protested (Newsday)
* US TELEVANGELIST RENEWS ASSAULT ON ISLAM (Agence France Presse)
* RAMADAN: FINDING A LITTLE TASTE OF HOME (Newsday)
- Unlikely Duo Teaches Tolerance (Newsday)
* STUDENTS OBJECT TO REMOVAL OF ISLAMIC BANNER (Montreal Gazette)
* INMATES OK'D TO WEAR RELIGIOUS CAPS (AP)
* BOND FORMS OVER NEW MOSQUE (Washington Post)
* AMAZON DENIES BACKING ISRAEL (BBC)
* ARMY REVEALS AMBUSH DIDN'T KILL WORSHIPERS (Washington Post)
* FISK: U.S. EXPLOITING GRIEF, NO IRAQ-TERRORIST LINK (Montreal
Gazette)
- Iraqi Army is Tougher Than US Believes (Guardian)
* EX-TALIBAN SAYS TORTURED IN U.S. CUBA PRISON-REPORT (Reuters)
- UN has Evidence of Abuses by Afghan Warlord (Reuters)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: COMFORT THE SICK
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "When you go to visit a
sick
person, express hope that he will live long. That will not change
anything,
but it will comfort him."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 483
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT
Take part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and
objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 320
-----
PBS TO AIR 'MUHAMMAD: LEGACY OF A PROPHET'
Wednesday, December 18, 2002, from 9 p.m.-11 p.m.
(Please check your local PBS listings as times may vary.)
http://www.pbs.org/previews/2002fall/mulp.html
-----
DANIEL PIPES: BRANDED A BIGOT
DOUGLAS CARD, Oregonian, 11/17/02
http://www.oregonlive.com/commentary/oregonian/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/editorial/1037364940235880.xml
Last summer I suffered collateral damage as the protagonists in the
Middle
East conflict brought the verbal war home to Oregon. In his column in
the
New York Post, controversial columnist Daniel Pipes listed me as one of
several leftist anti-Semites at U.S. universities whose extremist
rhetoric
encouraged attacks on Jewish students.
Based on the false claims of a disgruntled student, Pipes charged that
I
had called Israelis "baby-killers" and "bashed Israelis and Jews at
every
opportunity" in my University of Oregon sociology class last fall.
This accusation of racism cut to the root of who I am and what I do as
a
sociologist. It has been one of the most painful experiences of my
life.
From here to Jerusalem, where it also was published, it libeled my
name
and the university's…
I've learned many things from this terrible ordeal. Although I value
both
freedom of the press and academic freedom, this case is a reminder that
these freedoms must be accompanied by the thoughtful exercise of
civility
and professional responsibility. Never should we impugn the character
of
another without first carefully checking the facts.
Once the accusations are out there, they are hard to dispel. In fact,
with
Pipes' column still on his Web site, I and others he attacked have
received
hundreds of incredibly vicious spam e-mails in the past few weeks, some
of
which were responses to forged messages from my "hijacked" e-mail
identification…
We must not allow intimidation to replace thoughtful, open-minded
discourse
in our communities and on our campuses during this time of ethnic
conflicts
and increasing nationalism…
SEE ALSO:
DANIEL PIPES: WAR OF THE DIATRIBES
Peter Rodgers, Weekend Australian, 11/16/02
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/
Peter Rodgers is a former Australian ambassador to Israel.
Militant Islam Reaches America
By Daniel Pipes, Norton, 296pp, $49.95
READING Daniel Pipes's latest book, brimming with dire warnings of
Islamic
threats, made me deeply envious. I so wish I could be a polemicist,
then
I'd never have to worry about accuracy and balance, about passing off
egregious nonsense as alarming statement of fact, about repetition and
self-contradiction. I, too, could trumpet mediocre fictions as
insightful
prophecies…
In bursts of the political correctness he otherwise deplores, he draws
a
line between militant Muslims -- with their utopian ideas and ready
resort
to violence -- and the bulk of the world's billion-plus Muslim
population.
But he has swallowed very hard to make this distinction. We should not
be
taken in by his claim to be neutral on Islam. What he detests are
Muslims
per se. Muslims confident that they have the best religion (as if this
attitude is not found among the other two people of the book: Jews and
Christians); Muslims who revel in some of the most robust birthrates in
the
world (family values clearly having no place in the world of Islam);
Muslim
immigrants, brown-skinned people cooking strange food with customs more
troublesome than most; and even reformist Muslims, who sneakily
appropriate
from the West…
Pipes's solution to the problem of militant Islam amounts to supporting
its
enemies, whoever they are and no matter what they do, just as it
earlier
made sense to stick by Saigon or Augusto Pinochet in Chile. It was, of
course, the US's later determination to stick by those fighting the
Russian
communists in Afghanistan that led the CIA into bed with Osama bin
Laden.
How little we learn...
-----
AGENCIES MONITOR IRAQIS IN THE U.S. FOR TERROR THREAT
DAVID JOHNSTON and DON VAN NATTA Jr., New York Times, 11/17/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/17/politics/17INTE.html
WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 - The Bush administration has begun to monitor
Iraqis
in the United States in an effort to identify potential domestic
terrorist
threats posed by sympathizers of the Baghdad regime, senior government
officials said.
The previously undisclosed intelligence program involves tracking
thousands
of Iraqi citizens and Iraqi-Americans with dual citizenship who are
attending American universities or working at private corporations, and
who
might pose a risk in the event of a United States-led war against Iraq,
officials said.
Some of the targets of the operation are being electronically monitored
under the authority of national security warrants. Others are being
selected for recruitment as informers, the officials said.
In the event of an American invasion of Iraq, officials would intensify
the
program's mission through arrests and detentions of Iraqis or Iraq
sympathizers if they are believed to be planning domestic terrorist
operations…
Next week, federal authorities plan to begin interviewing
Arab-Americans,
asking them to report suspicious activity related to Iraq, a senior
government official said. The interviews will be voluntary, but in the
past, such efforts have been criticized by Arab-American groups. The
F.B.I.
is planning to meet with Arab-American civic leaders to explain the
nonclassified aspects of the operation, officials said…
SEE ALSO:
TOTAL INFORMATION AWARENESS
Washington Post, 11/16/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61653-2002Nov15.html
ANYONE WHO deliberately set out to invent a government program with the
specific aim of terrifying the Orwell-reading public could hardly have
improved on the Information Awareness Office. Tucked away in the outer
reaches of the Defense Department, brandishing an eerie and cryptic
logo --
an all-seeing eye atop a pyramid and the slogan "Scientia Est Potentia"
("Knowledge Is Power") -- the office is headed by retired Rear Adm.
John M.
Poindexter, the Reagan administration official who was convicted in the
wake of the Iran-contra scandal of five felony counts of lying to
Congress,
destroying official documents and obstructing the congressional inquiry
into the affair. Not surprisingly, there have already been some
fast-breathing reactions to recently published information about the
office, including allegations that it is funded by the Homeland
Security
Bill (it isn't) and that Adm. Poindexter has compiled a computer
dossier on
every American (he hasn't, or not yet)…
Because the legal system designed to protect privacy has yet to catch
up
with this technology, Congress needs to take a direct interest in this
project, and the defense secretary should appoint an outside committee
to
oversee it before it proceeds. Privacy concerns need to be built into
the
technology from the beginning -- if the public decides, after being
fully
acquainted with the possibilities, that it is to be built at all.
---
POINDEXTER'S LABORATORY
The know-it-all plan to fight terrorism
Jacob Sullum, Reason, 11/15/02
http://reason.com/sullum/111502.shtml
"We're just as concerned as the next person with protecting privacy,"
John
Poindexter recently told The Washington Post. Maybe, if the next person
happens to be J. Edgar Hoover.
Poindexter, a former national security adviser, now heads the
Information
Awareness Office (IAO), a new division of the Pentagon's Defense
Advanced
Research Projects Agency. This obscure little office with a blandly
creepy
name has a grand mission: Total Information Awareness-in a word,
omniscience.
"The goal of the Total Information Awareness (TIA) program," the IAO's
Web
site explains, "is to revolutionize the ability of the United States to
detect, classify and identify foreign terrorists-and decipher their
plans-and thereby enable the U.S. to take timely action to successfully
preempt and defeat terrorist acts." Accordingly, the IAO is developing
hardware and software to look for suspicious patterns in vast
collections
of information, including travel itineraries, credit card purchases,
bank
accounts, e-mail messages, Web site visits, and medical records.
That's where you come in. You're probably not a terrorist, but the
government can't be sure until it puts your information in a huge,
centralized database, where Poindexter's computers can sniff it over.
You
haven't visited any terrorist havens, purchased books about weapons,
read
subversive online propaganda, or undergone plastic surgery lately, have
you?
No need to answer-the government will know soon enough if Poindexter's
vision is realized. As he put it in a speech he gave this year, "We
must
become much more efficient and more clever in the ways we find new
sources
of data, mine information from the new and old, generate information,
make
it available for analysis, convert it to knowledge, and create
actionable
options."
Given the amount of data Poindexter wants to collect, the government
would
be not just mining but strip mining, scooping up huge piles of
information
in the hope of finding a useful nugget. "By definition, they're going
to
send highly sensitive, personal data," noted a computer scientist
interviewed by the Post. "How many innocent people are going to get
falsely
pinged? How many terrorists are going to slip through?"…
---
ASHCROFT'S SHADOWY DISCIPLE
Nat Hentoff, Village Voice, 11/15/02
http://villagevoice.com/issues/0247/hentoff.php
The government [under the USA Patriot Act] can use [its powers] on
people
who aren't suspected of committing a crime. Innocent people can be
deprived
of any clue that they are being watched and that they may need to
defend
themselves. -Lincoln Caplan, editor, Legal Affairs ("A Magazine of Yale
Law
School"), November-December 2002
In covering the highly visible and contentious midterm national
elections,
the press, in all its manifestations, totally ignored the Bush
administration's ceaseless attacks on the Bill of Rights, orchestrated
by
Attorney General John Ashcroft. So did the candidates, editorial
writers,
and commentators.
This silence on the deterioration of the liberties we are fighting to
protect gives Ashcroft all the more encouragement to pursue his plans,
as
reported in the October 21 Legal Times, to prepare "a second round of
counterterrorism legislation. . . . Lawmakers could see a draft bill in
January, after the new Congress convenes"-with the Republicans in
control,
and most Democratic leaders silent accomplices of Ashcroft…
Ashcroft has restored the reckless spirit of COINTELPRO by again giving
the
FBI the power to conduct investigations under such loose guidelines
that
the Fourth Amendment might as well be obsolete…
---
FEDERAL AGENCY CONFIRMS AIR-TRAVEL BLACKLIST OF 1,000 PEOPLE
Peace activists and civil libertarians fear they're on it.
Dave Lindorff, Salon.com, 11/15/02
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2002/11/15/no_fly/index.html
Barbara Olshansky was in Newark International Airport at the JetBlue
departure gatelast March when an airline agent at the counter checking
her
boarding pass called airport security. Olshansky was subjected to a
close
search and then, though she was in view of other travelers, was ordered
to
pull her pants down. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks may have created a
new
era in airport security, but even so, she was embarrassed and annoyed…
Olshansky and her colleagues are, apparently, not alone. For months,
rumors
and anecdotes have circulated among left-wing and other activist groups
about people who have been barred from flying or delayed at security
gates
because they are "on a list."
But now, a spokesman for the new Transportation Security Administration
has
acknowledged for the first time that the government has a list of about
1,000 people who are deemed "threats to aviation" and not allowed on
airplanes under any circumstances. And in an interview with Salon, the
official suggested that
Olshansky and other political activists may be on a separate list that
subjects them to strict scrutiny but allows them to fly…
The agency has no guidelines to determine who gets on the list,
Steigman
says, and no procedures for getting off the list if someone is
wrongfully
on it…
---
ANTI-TERROR CHECKING STARTS
Certain visitors from 5 targeted nations must report to INS
KIM NORTH SHINE AND NIRAJ WARIKOO, Detroit Free Press, 11/1/6/02
http://www.freep.com/news/metro/ins16_20021116.htm
Students, tourists, businessmen and any other visitors to the United
States
who are male, at least 16 years old and hail from one of five nations
labeled sponsors of terrorism by the United States must report to an
Immigration and Naturalization Service office by Dec. 16 or face
criminal
charges or deportation.
The requirement that nonimmigrants from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria and
Sudan
complete special registration took effect Friday. It is intended to
keep
track of U.S. visa holders and evict any who are deemed a danger to
national security, U.S. Department of Justice spokesman Jorge Martinez
said…
After the initial registration and interview, the men must report every
12
months and provide proof of residency, employment or enrollment in
school
to prove they are in compliance with their visas.
Registrants are fingerprinted, photographed and interviewed by an
immigration inspector. The process lasts about 10 minutes, Martinez
said…
Local Arab Americans said they support the government's efforts to keep
the
country safe, but they worry that it's unfairly singling out people by
nationality…
---
FOR 9/11 HERO, HUMILIATION: MUSLIM MUST REPORT TO INS
Ron Howell, Newsday, 11/17/02
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-mus1117,0,7204316.story
Shahram Hashemi had been widely praised as a hero of Sept. 11, who
steered
a dozen people to safety after the World Trade Center's south tower
collapsed.
His alma mater, LaGuardia Community College, hailed him as a role model
for
young Muslims in New York.
But now the Adelphi University honors student says he feels humiliated:
Last week, he received a letter from the university telling him to
report
to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to be photographed
and
fingerprinted.
"This is very degrading and humiliating," said Hashemi, 28, who is from
Iran and is here on a student visa. "I haven't done anything wrong. ...
The
next thing you know they are going to round us up." The Justice
Department
announced on Nov. 6 it would require about 3,000 men from five specific
countries to show up at local INS offices between Nov. 15 and Dec. 16
and
register there. The five countries are Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya and the
Sudan…
On the day of the attack, Hashemi was on his way to his job as an
accounting intern at the Bank of New York in lower Manhattan. His
supervisor at the bank has said Hashemi acted "without any regard to
the
dangers to his own life," as he helped lead people to shelter that day.
An official at the Washington, D.C.-based Association of International
Educators said the announcement is the latest in a series of actions
making
it difficult for Arabs and Muslims to come and study in the United
States.
"First you had the roundups of a couple of thousand Muslim people after
Sept. 11th . . . extreme delays in making decisions on the visa
applications of people from Muslim countries," said Victor Johnson, an
associate director at the association. The association is a kind of
resource center for college officials who work with international
students.
"What concerns me," said Johnson, "is that when you put it all
together, it
says to Muslims: We're not sure we want you here."
---
POST-9/11 IMMIGRANT TREATMENT PROTESTED
Joshua Robin, Newsday, 11/17/02
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-nyprof173006745nov17,0,1061345.story
About 200 people marched yesterday in lower Manhattan against the
government's post-Sept. 11 treatment of immigrants, in a short-lived
rally
that quickly melted in the cold rain.
Wearing signs such as "Stand Against Racial Profiling," demonstrators
sloshed from One Police Plaza about four blocks to the Jacob Javits
Federal
Plaza, chanting against detentions and deportations.
"What we are witnessing today, with the massive arrests throughout the
country - this too is rooted in the same racist, insensitive policies
that
have governed this nation from the very beginning," said Imam Talib
Abdur-Rashid, deputy leader of the New York-based Muslim Alliance in
North
America. According to attorney Norman Siegel, about 2,000 people
nationwide
are still behind bars, after they were first detained following Sept.
11.
Siegel estimated about 20 to 30 are locked up in New York City, mostly
on
immigration charges.
"History tells us that silence equals approval, so a day like today
where
it's cold and it's raining, New Yorkers must speak out," Siegel said…
"I've been discriminated [against] a great deal," said Debbie
Almontaser, a
Brooklyn member of Justice for Detainees, who traces her lineage to
Yemen.
Before Sept. 11, Almontaser wore her hijab - head scarf - without
problems.
But now passersby "look at my face, and look at my head, and I can
sense
that people are thinking of things, and making connections of the fact
that
I'm Muslim, and that Islam has been connected to terrorism - so-called
terrorism."
-----
UNBOWED BY BUSH REBUKE, PROMINENT US TELEVANGELIST RENEWS ASSAULT ON
ISLAM
MATTHEW LEE, Agence France Presse, 11/15/02
Prominent US televangelist Pat Robertson, whose anti-Islamic rhetoric
drew
a stern rebuke from President George W. Bush this week, came under new
fire
on Friday after describing the religion as "the fountainhead" of
terrorism.
Unbowed by the president's rejection of his allegation that Muslims are
"worse than Hitler," Robertson also likened the Koran to "Mein Kampf,"
saying it was a blueprint for the extermination of Jews.
And he renewed his appeal for Jews to read the Muslim holy book to "see
who
your real enemies are." The conservative Christian commentator
maintained
that his comments were not aimed at practitioners of Islam in the
United
States but rather directed at the religion itself and strict
interpretations of it…
Hodan Hossan, a spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations
(CAIR), denied that the Koran demands that Muslims kill Jews and said
Robertson's remarks were hateful and hypocritical, noting that in the
evangelical version of Armageddon, Jews who do not convert are killed…
CAIR and other groups had called on Bush earlier this week to speak out
against anti-Islam comments by Robertson and fellow televangelists
Jerry
Falwell and Jimmy Swaggart.
On Wednesday, Bush did, delivering a rare rebuke to the religious right
--
one of his main political power bases -- by saying the remarks did not
represent his views, the views of his administration or most Americans.
Secretary of State Colin Powell echoed that sentiment the following
day.
Robertson made mention of the criticism on Thursday but brushed it
aside.
"I appreciate the president, I appreciate what he's doing and I want
everybody to know that something like this does not sever the support
that
I have given to him over the years," Robertson said…
-----
FINDING A LITTLE TASTE OF HOME
S. Mitra Kalita, Newsday, 11/17/02
http://www.newsday.com/features/religion/ny-bzram17q3006743nov17,0,3000957.story
Moments before sundown, the scramble for parking along New York City's
taxi
stands begins. The lucky ones walk into halal restaurants nearby and
take a
seat. They flip through issues of the Urdu Times and India Abroad. They
silently count the minutes and pray.
At Chatkhara restaurant on Manhattan's Lexington Avenue, about a dozen
customers shift their attention to the large-screen satellite
television
broadcasting news from Pakistan. At 4:41 p.m., the melodic sound of
prayers
in Arabic fills the room, and an announcer says in Urdu: "And now it's
time
for New York Muslims to break their fast." And so they do. Sayed
Khalil, a
taxi driver from East Elmhurst, takes a bite of a date, while Ahsan
Ali, a
driver from Brooklyn, gulps down milk flavored with rose water. Even
Badar
Abbas, who serves behind the counter, eats and drinks a bit, before
preparing orders for hungry, waiting customers.
During Ramadan, the month of fasting, restaurants throughout the region
play an important role in helping Muslims on the move remain observant.
Many have extended hours until 5 a.m., so workers can eat before
sunrise or
sahour, the time when fasting must begin. Others offer buffets or
specials
at the time when they break fast, known as iftar. And almost all
restaurants catering to Muslims keep boxes of dates and gallons of milk
in
the kitchen.
Indeed, accommodating Muslim customers seems to make sound business and
religious sense. Patrons tend to be single men living thousands of
miles
from home and family, so they turn to the restaurants not just for
food,
but the feeling of community Ramadan seeks to inspire...
SEE ALSO:
UNLIKELY DUO TEACHES TOLERANCE
Jerome Burdi, Newsday, 11/16/02
http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/ny-liimam163005115nov16,0,6849177.story
A rabbi and a Muslim speaking together may seem like an item of fiction
in
today's climate, but it was reality to Oldfield Middle School students
in
Greenlawn on Friday.
Rabbi Steven Moss is chairman of the Suffolk County Human Rights
Commission. Nayyar Imam is president of the Islamic Association of Long
Island. They teamed up to educate high school and junior high school
students about the importance of not judging someone based on race,
religion or ethnicity. Friday was their first appearance together. It
came
during the middle school's Human Relations Week, where students heard a
series of speakers including a Vietnam war veteran and a Holocaust
survivor.
"I want to show you no matter what religion you practice, they're all
the
same," Imam said to the attentive auditorium crowd. "No religion
teaches
hate or bias."
Moss and Imam met in October of last year at a Sept. 11 memorial
service at
St. John's University in Oakdale. They have since made arrangements to
visit each others' place of worship. Moss had never stepped into a
mosque.
He visited Imam's Islamic Association in Selden in September. Imam has
never set foot in a synagogue. He plans to go to B'nai Israel Reform
Temple
in Oakdale on Jan. 12. They said teaming up got them criticism from
people
in their delegations at first because it was unheard of for a Muslim to
work with a Jew. But, both agreed, they found many similarities between
their religions…
-----
STUDENTS OBJECT TO REMOVAL OF ISLAMIC BANNER
JANE DAVENPORT, Montreal Gazette, 11/16/02
http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=04df3294-863b-4d34-bde4-0745c7af3615
Dawson College officials infringed upon the right to free speech when
they
insisted Muslim students running an educational exhibit take down a
banner
stating the fundamental premise of the Islamic faith, the college's
Muslim
Students Association says.
The C�GEP's Student Services department told the students to remove a
banner reading "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the last
Messenger of Allah" after about 20 parents, teachers and students
complained the banner was offensive and provocative.
The creed on the banner is the first pillar of Islam, explained Muslim
Students Association spokesman Mubashir Jamal, who helped organize the
day-long Islamic awareness exhibit in Dawson's Lower Atrium on Tuesday.
Dawson spokesman Donna Varrica said the banner was confrontational and
risked misinterpretation...
The Muslim students had displayed the banner last year with no trouble,
and
the Dawson Christian Fellowship has displayed a banner reading "Jesus
is
God" without incident, he noted.
The Muslim Students Association issued a statement yesterday demanding
an
apology from Dawson and assurances the incident won't be repeated.
But Varrica said the decision will be upheld in the future for other
clubs.
Amir-Al-Shourbaji, president of the United Muslim Students Association
representing Muslim students in four Montreal universities and five
C�GEPS,
including Dawson, condemned Dawson's actions Tuesday.
The exhibit was intended to promote understanding of Islam, he said.
"Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs - that's the beauty of
freedom
of expression. We were just telling people what we believe."
-----
INMATES OK'D TO WEAR RELIGIOUS CAPS
Associated Press, 11/16/02
BOSTON (AP) - Prison officials must allow inmates to wear religious
caps,
even when they are housed in restrictive disciplinary units, the
Appeals
Court of Massachusetts ruled Friday.
The court said a prohibition on the wearing of kufis, the bowl-shaped
caps
worn by Muslims, "unconstitutionally abridged" the religious rights of
Saifullah Abdul-Alazim, an inmate at a Walpole prison.
Abdul-Alazim sued state corrections officials in 1998 after his kufi
was
taken from him when he was transferred to the prison's Departmental
Disciplinary Unit for allegedly assaulting a staff member…
-----
BOND FORMS OVER NEW MOSQUE
David Cho, Washington Post, 11/16/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61797-2002Nov15.html
Building a mosque in suburbia isn't easy. Just ask the All Dulles Area
Muslim Society.
It has taken six years for the fast-growing Muslim congregation to have
a
place of worship that members could call their own. The
59,000-square-foot
mosque, scheduled to open in phases beginning next month, is a rarity
on
the Northern Virginia landscape -- its arches, domed roof and
three-story
minaret rising above a predominantly white, upper-middle-class
neighborhood.
Moving into the community of half-million-dollar homes was a struggle.
The
congregation endured a six-year process that included contentious
public
hearings, phone threats, vandalism and a fire on the property…
-----
AMAZON DENIES BACKING ISRAEL
BBC, 11/15/02
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2473005.stm
Amazon.com has denied it is offering customers the chance to "support"
Israel by buying goods through its website.
The world's largest online retailer has demanded that the Jerusalem
Post's
online edition retract a clearly labelled and prominently displayed
advertisement on most of its news pages.
You may not in any manner misrepresent or embellish the relationship
between us and you... including expressing or implying that Amazon.com
supports, sponsors, endorses or contributes money to any charity or
other
cause
"They have refused to comply and as of Thursday we have terminated our
agreement," Patty Smith of Amazon told BBC News Online.
"We have asked them to take it down and if any sales are made through
them
they won't receive any commissions…"
The Amazon spokeswoman said the Jerusalem Post published its link
without
approval…
Ms Smith said that Amazon had never donated any money to Israel or
charities that support Israeli causes.
-----
ARMY REVEALS AMBUSH DIDN'T KILL WORSHIPERS
Molly Moore, Washington Post, 11/17/2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64772-2002Nov16.html
HEBRON, West Bank, Nov. 16 -- Israeli tanks and armored personnel
carriers
roared into Hebron today as military forces took control of the city,
clamped a curfew on its residents and arrested 40 Palestinians in
response
to an ambush by Palestinian gunmen Friday night that killed 12 military
and
security officers.
Israeli officials initially described the shooting -- the worst in this
violence-prone southern West Bank city in nearly a decade -- as a
massacre
of Jewish settlers walking home after Sabbath prayers at a religious
shrine. But military officials said today that the dozen men who were
killed and the 15 injured were soldiers, border patrolmen or Jewish
settlement security officers. No unarmed civilian worshipers were
killed or
wounded, they said. Government and military officials declined to
explain
why they had said the casualties were worshipers…
-----
FISK: U.S. EXPLOITING GRIEF, NO PROOF OF IRAQ-TERRORIST LINK
Montreal Gazette, 11/17/02
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/
The United States is manipulating "grief and fear" from 9/11 terrorism
to
prepare an attack against Iraq, even though it had "absolutely nothing
to
do with those atrocities," says veteran Middle East correspondent
Robert Fisk.
Saddam Hussein is a "monstrous leader," with a hangman on 24-hour duty,
he
told more than 225 journalists yesterday, but it is false to suggest
that
Iraq was tied to "the international crimes against humanity" committed
in
the United States.
The Beirut-based correspondent of the British daily The Independent,
Fisk
was the keynote speaker at a two-day writers' symposium, sponsored by
the
Canadian Association of Journalists at a midtown hotel. Fisk speculated
the
war against Iraq would be "the most frightening attempt to change the
map
of the Middle East" since Britain and France carved up the area after
World
War I.
He suggested the U.S. is preparing to extend its hegemony over a
conquered
Iraq and possibly install a member of the Hashemite family as a
monarch,
creating a natural alliance with Hashemite-ruled Jordan…
Fisk was passionate in denouncing suicide bombers, saying, "When that
Palestinian suicide bomber goes into a pizzeria or a restaurant in
Israel,
he is an executioner; he sees the children he is going to blow to
pieces."
He was also passionate in his critique of Western media for reserving
the
term terrorists for Arab or Muslim perpetrators.
"It's difficult to explain to Arabs why the New York and Washington
massacres were acts of terrorism - which they were - but why the
massacre
of up to 1,700 Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps (by
Christian Lebanese Phalange militia while the area was under Israeli
control) between Sept. 16 and 18, 1982, has never been called an act of
terrorism."
The assault Friday night that left 12 dead in Hebron was a massacre, he
said. "But when Israeli reserve officer Baruch Goldstein massacred 29
Palestinians in a Hebron mosque in Feb. 1994, he was not called a
terrorist, but deranged, an extremist."
Fisk also challenged the use of the term "disputed territory" instead
of
"occupied territory."
"By deleting occupation from their lexicon, journalists erase the
colonies
illegally built for Jews only on Arab land…"
On Friday, the university won a court injunction to bar New Democratic
MPs
Svend Robinson and Libby Davies and activist Judy Rebick from speaking
on
campus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The moratorium was imposed after violent protests forced the
cancellation
of a planned speech by former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu
on
Sept. 9. The moratorium is to be reviewed by the university's Board of
Governors this week.
SEE ALSO:
IRAQI ARMY IS TOUGHER THAN US BELIEVES
The Guardian, 11/16/02
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,841232,00.html
In the event of an invasion, US forces will face an army that has been
thoroughly indoctrinated, with party commissars in every unit. In
addition,
a ruthless system of surveillance and constant purges mean that the
officer
corps has had to renounce political activity to survive. To quote
President
Saddam Hussein: "With our party methods, there is no chance for anyone
who
disagrees with us jumping into a couple of tanks and overthrowing the
government. These methods have gone."
It is true that Iraqi resistance in the 1991 Gulf war was negligible.
The
troops that surrendered in their thousands to coalition forces were
badly
trained, poorly led and had often not been fed for days. The war was a
one-sided affair, with the Iraqis overwhelmed by superior weapons,
technology and air power.
However, it is often forgotten that the Iraqi leadership made no
serious
attempt to defend Kuwait City. The fortifications were half-hearted and
badly planned. They were primarily designed for propaganda, to convince
coalition forces that military liberation would be too costly. Despite
the
portrayal of a heroic resistance in the "mother of all battles", once
the
ground war began, President Saddam quickly withdrew most of the
republican
guard, redeploying them around Baghdad to guard his regime. Substandard
and
ill-prepared troops were left to face certain defeat.
After the Gulf war defeat, the Iraqi army was cut to less than half its
original size. The idea was to create a smaller, more disciplined
force,
ideologically committed to defending the regime. For more than a decade
Washington has looked to this army for regime change. Today, the US
government still hopes a coup triggered by an invasion will save
American
troops the high cost of fighting through Baghdad's streets to reach the
presidential palace.
Like Washington, President Saddam is also aware of the dangers the
Iraqi
armed forces pose to his continued rule. To counter this he has staffed
the
upper ranks with individuals tied to him by bonds of tribal loyalty or
personal history. Like him, most officers are Sunni Arabs, the
country's
traditional ruling class. They are outnumbered by Shia Muslims and well
aware of the resentment towards them…
-----
EX-TALIBAN SAYS TORTURED IN U.S. CUBA PRISON-REPORT
Reuters, 11/16/02
CANBERRA, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Former Taliban fighter Jan Mohammad, one
of
the first detainees to be released from the U.S. prison at Cuba's
Guantanamo Bay, said captives had been beaten on the soles of their
feet
and subjected to constant mental torture.
According to an interview with Mohammad published on Saturday in The
Australian newspaper, U.S. military guards deprived prisoners of sleep
and
punished them physically, but also offered good mental care when they
fell ill.
"If we did not cooperate with questioning our handcuffs were removed
and we
were put in the crucifixion position with arms outstretched until we
collapsed in the heat," Mohammad told the newspaper from his home north
of
Kandahar in Afghanistan.
"They beat the soles of our feet, but were careful not to leave
permanent
scars anywhere. I was often woken up in the middle of the night and
taken
for questioning," he said.
"I heard the Arabs were taken out and forced to stand among the
practice
targets on the shooting range. The soldiers used dummy bullets, but
they
were trying to terrify and intimidate the al Qaeda members," Mohammad
said…
SEE ALSO:
UN SAYS HAS NEW EVIDENCE OF ABUSES BY AFGHAN WARLORD
Mike Collett-White, Reuters, 11/17/02
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan, Nov 17 (Reuters) - The United Nations has
evidence a powerful warlord in northern Afghanistan jailed and tortured
witnesses to prevent them from testifying in a war crimes case, a U.N.
source said on Sunday.
The well-placed source, who asked not to be identified, said the United
Nations had investigated alleged human rights abuses against key
witnesses
in a case involving Uzbek warlord and U.S. ally General Abdul Rashid
Dostum.
The findings by a team of investigators that just left the volatile
north
of the country will come as a further blow to the reputation of Dostum
and
an embarrassment to President Hamid Karzai, who is struggling to rein
in
unruly warlords.
Dostum's spokesman Faizullah Zaki strongly denied charges of jailing
and
torturing witnesses, adding the U.N. evidence was at best
circumstantial.
"We will take action against anyone who did these things," Zaki told
Reuters in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
Dostum has already refuted reports his troops killed up to 1,000
Taliban
fighters by taking them to a prison in airless transport containers. He
says up to 200 died, but they were already badly injured from the
fighting
late last year.
Now he stands accused of trying to stop witnesses giving evidence of
the
alleged crime.
"Not all of the allegations are proven yet, but we have enough evidence
that would lead us to believe there are serious concerns," the
Afghan-based
U.N. source told Reuters.
The source added that some potential witnesses had escaped to Kabul
where
they were being interviewed by U.N. staff. Others in the north,
including
in Dostum's stronghold of Shiberghan west of Mazar, had been contacted.
According to the source, several people in the north had been jailed
arbitrarily and probably had been tortured.
"We could not examine them (the prisoners) physically and they were
wearing
the traditional long shalwar kameez dress, but people with the
investigation team saw them and said they were a mess, badly
traumatised…"
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 11/18/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: GOD'S MERCY PREVAILS
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT SPONSORSHIPS TOP 1500
* ACTION ALERT: HOMELAND SECURITY DEPT. MUST BE OPEN/ACCOUNTABLE
* ANTI-TERRORIST FORCES CAN START TAPPING (AP)
- A Snooper's Dream (New York Times)
* A PUSH TO ID 9/11 DETAINEES (Newsday)
- Visa Rules Aggravate Anti-U.S. Feelings (USA Today)
- So Many Fears for Such a Beautiful Afternoon (Toronto Star)
- Bush Wins Civil Rights Panel Ruling (AP)
- Learn From Past (Detroit Free Press)
* THANKSGIVING 2002 IS ESPECIALLY NOTABLE FOR AMERICA'S MUSLIMS (AP)
* MUSLIM PARENTS SEEK CHANGE IN SCHOOL POLICIES (AP)
* JDL'S RUBIN IS EULOGIZED BY RABBI AS A HERO (LA Times)
- On Hebron Ambush Site, A New Settlement Rises (NY Times)
- Fear and Loathing in Hebron (Ha'aretz)
* HINDU GROUP PLANS NEW CAMPAIGN IN INDIA'S GUJARAT (Reuters)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: GOD'S MERCY PREVAILS
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "When God decreed
Creation,
He pledged Himself by writing in His book...'My mercy prevails over My
wrath.'"
Hadith Qudsi, Number 1
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT SPONSORSHIPS TOP 1500
CAIR's Library Project has received 1509 sponsorships for $150 book and
tape packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country.
Take
part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library
package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 320
-----
ACTION ALERT: HOMELAND SECURITY DEPT. MUST BE OPEN AND ACCOUNTABLE
Support the Daschle-Lieberman-Byrd amendment to the Homeland Security
bill
The Homeland Security bill passed by the House of Representatives
contains
a section that calls into question the openness and accountability of
the
new Homeland Security Department.
The House version of this bill is currently being considered by the
Senate,
which must also pass it before the President can sign it into law.
The House bill would allow for the creation of "secret task forces" by
exempting the new department from the Federal Advisory Committee Act
(FACA), which requires advisory committees to be balanced in viewpoint,
hold open meetings, keep records, etc. t would also exempt the new
department from provisions preventing the appointment of advisors with
clear conflicts of interest.
FACA includes exemptions for national security and law enforcement
committees, whereas the current Homeland Security exemption would allow
ALL
advisory committees to be convened in secret.
Help protect and preserve government that is open and accountable.
Contact your Senator NOW. Today is the last day for amendments.
ACTION REQUESTED:
Write or call your Senator now to support the Daschle-Lieberman-Byrd
amendment to the Homeland Security bill. The amendment would strike out
exemptions from the Federal Advisory Committee Act for the new
department.
GO TO: http://www.cair-net.org/html/capwiz.html
-----
ANTI-TERRORIST FORCES CAN START TAPPING
Associated Press, 11/18/02
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/front/RTGAM/20021118/wtaps1118/Front/homeBN/breakingnews
Washington - The Justice Department has broad discretion in the use of
wiretaps and other surveillance techniques to track suspected
terrorists
and spies, a U.S. appeals court panel ruled Monday.
In a 56-page opinion overturning a May decision by the ultra-secret
Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court, the three-judge panel said the
expanded
wiretap guidelines sought by Attorney-General John Ashcroft under the
new
USA Patriot Act law do not violate the Constitution.
The special panel from the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the
District
of Columbia ordered the lower court to issue a new ruling giving the
government the powers it seeks.
SEE ALSO:
A SNOOPER'S DREAM
New York Times, 11/18/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/18/opinion/18MON1.html
The threat of terrorism has created a powerful appetite in Washington
for
sophisticated surveillance systems to identify potential terrorists.
These
efforts cannot be allowed, however, to undermine civil liberties. There
is
a program now in the research stage at the Pentagon that, if left
unchecked
by Congress, could do exactly that. Ostensibly designed to enhance
national
security, it could lead to an invasion of personal privacy on a massive
scale.
The program, known as Total Information Awareness, is a project of the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which helped develop the
Internet and a host of cutting-edge military technologies. It is run by
John Poindexter, the retired Navy rear admiral who was Ronald Reagan's
national security adviser and, in that capacity, helped devise the plan
to
sell arms to Iran and illegally divert the proceeds to the rebels in
Nicaragua…
Mr. Poindexter is pursuing a scheme he thought up right after 9/11 and
then
sold to the Bush administration. Total Information Awareness, or
T.I.A.,
aims to use the vast networking powers of the computer to "mine" huge
amounts of information about people and thus help investigative
agencies
identify potential terrorists and anticipate terrorist activities. All
the
transactions of everyday life - credit card purchases, travel and
telephone
records, even Internet traffic like e-mail - would be grist for the
electronic mill…
-----
A PUSH TO ID 9/11 DETAINEES
Tom Brune, Newsday, 11/18/02
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usfoia183007878nov18.story
Washington - Somewhere in the United States, as many as three dozen
foreigners, most likely Muslim or Middle Eastern men, sit locked up in
immigration jails after being arrested on suspicion that they have ties
to
or knowledge of the Sept. 11 terrorists.
They are the remnants of the largest law enforcement sweep in America
in
decades, the relatively few left in custody after authorities arrested
more
than 1,200 foreigners on immigration violations as part of the Sept. 11
terrorism probe.
Today, in an open courtroom here far removed from those secret cells,
lawyers for the government and a coalition of advocacy groups will
present
their arguments about whether the identities of all the Sept. 11
detainees
should be made public…
The lead attorney for the advocacy groups, Kate Martin of the Center
for
National Security Studies, said she is fighting the Bush
administration's
growing use of secrecy. She adds she seeks to document government
misconduct in the treatment of detainees. Both are core purposes of the
Freedom of Information Act, she argues.
"Never before has our government arrested and confined hundreds of
individuals in secret," Martin's appellate brief says. It adds, "There
have
been extensive and credible reports of government misconduct in
connection
with these secret detentions…"
---
VISA RULES AGGRAVATE ANTI-U.S. FEELINGS
Barbara Slavin, USA Today, 11/18/02
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002-11-17-visas-usat_x.htm
WASHINGTON -- At the same time the State Department is working to
overcome
anti-American sentiment in the Muslim world, tighter U.S. visa and
immigration restrictions are creating hardships and animosity among
Arabs
seeking to come to the USA.
The restrictions are meant to shore up security against terrorists such
as
those responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks. But some officials,
including
Secretary of State Colin Powell, worry that the requirements are
offending
Muslims by making them feel unwelcome…
To counter those views, the State Department is spending $ 15 million
on a
TV advertising campaign that portrays the United States as a nation
that
welcomes diversity and respects the Muslim faith.
But U.S. and Arab diplomats say the visa restrictions are counteracting
the
advertising:
* It is taking up to two months for seriously ill people and their
escorts
to obtain U.S. visas. Visas for urgent medical cases used to take one
day.
Mohammed al-Kathiri, a Saudi journalist in need of a liver transplant,
died
last month after he was unable to go to Houston for treatment, a
diplomat
based in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, says.
* Hundreds of Arab students could not return to U.S. colleges in time
for
fall classes.
* Travel disruption has cost the U.S. economy millions of dollars in
tourism, education and health care.
Powell said he has heard "horror stories" and is working on a solution.
"We have to protect ourselves . . . (but) we have to do it in a way
that
does not shut down the country," Powell said in an interview Friday. "I
want people to come from around the world to go to our hospitals, our
schools, to Disney World, to settle, to immigrate. . . . This is the
strength of this nation…"
---
SO MANY FEARS FOR SUCH A BEAUTIFUL AFTERNOON
William Walker, Toronto Star, 11/17/02
http://www.torontostar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1035774513166&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News
WASHINGTON - On a gorgeous fall Saturday afternoon in Washington's
trendy
Adams Morgan district, Meyanne Parlindugan is clipping a client's hair
at
her salon.
The front door is open to a cool breeze. The whistle of wind through
bright
yellow leaves mingles with the salon's soothing jazz.
"You know I cannot eat or drink anything today," Parlindugan says.
"Not until sundown. It's Ramadan."
The conversation turns to family back in Indonesia and how she misses
the
giant Eid feast when the month of Ramadan ends.
It also turns to the most common subject in America these days: fear.
It's
the fear of a future terrorist attack, one that would exceed the
devastation of Sept. 11, 2001. The FBI has warned of it.
But there's another fear: trepidation about the government trampling
the
rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
It's the nagging fear that being American means less now, in the land
of
the free, when police are stopping brown-skinned people at random - as
they
are in Michigan - and interrogating them about terrorist links.
It's a fear that almost every minority citizen now feels, of being
harassed
at airports and border crossings, of feeling the withering glare of a
stranger…
---
BUSH WINS CIVIL RIGHTS PANEL RULING
Gina Holland, Associated Press
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/4548068.htm
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration won a Supreme Court case
Monday
over the president's choice for a civil rights commission.
The court ended a nearly yearlong dispute over the appointment of
conservative Cleveland lawyer Peter Kirsanow, turning back an appeal by
the
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the woman who claimed she still had
the
commission job.
An appeals court had ruled earlier this year that Kirsanow could join
the
commission. Justices left the ruling undisturbed without comment.
A majority of commission members tried to block Kirsanow from
participating
in meetings after his appointment last December. They argued that the
term
of Victoria Wilson, appointed by President Clinton in 2000, had not
expired.
The panel investigates civil rights complaints but has no enforcement
power.
Two civil rights groups called for his removal this summer after he
said
that another attack by foreign terrorists might result in public calls
for
increased detention of Arab-Americans. "Not too many people will be
crying
in their beer if there are more detentions, more stops and more
profiling,"
he said.
---
LEARN FROM PAST
Arsalan Iftikhar, Detroit Free Press, 11/16/02
http://www.freep.com/voices/letters/ecivil16_20021116.htm
The Constitution of the United States guarantees its people the right
to
association, the right to speak freely, and the right to dissent. In
addition to these rights, all Americans are guaranteed that they will
be
judged by a competent court of their fellow citizens, not because they
happen to fit into a racial and religious demographic.
Muslim and Arab Americans are as American as any other constituency.
Two
members of President George W. Bush's cabinet are of Arab descent. The
chief architect of the Sears Tower was a Muslim American. Along with 7
million other Muslim and Arab Americans, these people are no more
guilty of
a crime than President Bush.
We must remember that this is a war on terrorism, not on Islam or
Arabs.
During World War II, more than 150,000 Japanese Americans were interned
solely because of their ancestry. African Americans were targeted
during
the '50s and '60s because of their race. Now Muslim and Arab Americans
are
in the midst of their own civil rights movement, where we are being
judged
by our appearance or faith, rather than the criminality of our acts.
I just hope that we will learn from our past and current mistakes. If
not,
history will vilify, not vindicate, us.
-----
THANKSGIVING 2002 IS ESPECIALLY NOTABLE FOR AMERICA'S MUSLIMS
Richard Ostling, Associated Press, 11/18/02
It will mark the last time until 2035 that the semi-secular harvest
celebration will fall within Islam's holy month of Ramadan.
Most Americans simply feast on Thanksgiving, with or without giving
tableside prayers to the Giver, while Ramadan follows an alternating
combination of feasting and fasting.
Islam sets the religious festivals according to a lunar calendar, which
is
about 11 days shorter than Christendom's solar calendar observed by
much of
the world. So the festivals shift backward on the conventional calendar
year by year. Ramadan 2003 is expected to end a couple of days before
Thanksgiving. No one can say in advance since the Muslim holidays are
scheduled upon sightings of the new crescent moon with the naked eye
accepted by recognized authorities. Understandably, there's sometimes
disagreement.
Once Ramadan starts, able-bodied adult Muslims abstain from all food
and
drink during daylight hours. The Quran (2:187) famously defines sunrise
as
the point when a white thread first appears to be distinct from a black
thread.
The rhythm of Ramadan includes breakfast before sunup and a family meal
after sundown. This daily round of famine and feast is echoed at the
end of
the month when the month of fasting concludes with feasting at the Eid
al-Fitr (Feast of the End of Fasting).
For Muslims, the Eid combines elements of the American Thanksgiving as
well
as the Christian Christmas and Easter, and the Jewish Passover.
Muslims in America are likely to observe Thanksgiving as well as the
Eid,
although they won't be carving the turkey until after sunset...
Mariam Durrani, a Muslim, reflected on last year's Ramadan-Thanksgiving
juxtaposition in the Daily Wildcat, the University of Arizona student
newspaper. The article said Thanksgiving "gives us a chance to
recognize
how truly lucky we are" while Ramadan provides "30 days to remember
that we
are truly blessed…"
-----
MUSLIM PARENTS SEEK CHANGE IN SCHOOL POLICIES
Associated Press, 11/18/02
BALTIMORE - A growing number of Howard and Montgomery county Muslim
students and their parents say school rules should accommodate their
religious practices.
They're concerned about standardized tests scheduled on religious
holidays,
school lunches with few vegetarian options and a lack of times and
places
to pray during the school day. "These things are not just for Muslims,"
said Erum Malik, a member of the Howard County Muslim Council's
education
committee. "Whoever I talk to thinks we need to have more balanced
school
meals."
Since the beginning of the school year, members of the Howard County
Muslim
Council have served on the school system's curriculum, food service and
calendar committees, as well as on the Equity Council, an advisory
board of
community members that reports to the superintendent.
The Muslim group is willing to learn how the school system works to
make
the changes, said Anwer Hasan, council president.
"We all understand this is going to take some time," Hasan said. "The
first
thing was to get engaged and understand the process."
In Montgomery County, Muslim parents recently protested the possible
scheduling of the Maryland State Functional Writing Test on Eid
al-Fitr, a
holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan, a month of reflection and
fasting
during daylight hours.
"Scheduling such a test on Eid day is like scheduling a test on
Christmas
Day or Yom Kippur," parent Samira Hussein said at the meeting.
Maryland Department of Education spokesman Bill Reinhard said that if
the
tests conflict with observances, students can take them at a later
date.
The Howard Equity Council is expected to review the schools'
long-standing
religious observance policy soon, said Eileen Woodbury, a Howard County
schools administrator who runs the council.
-----
JEWISH DEFENSE LEAGUE'S RUBIN IS EULOGIZED BY RABBI AS A HERO
Jeff Gottlieb, Los Angeles Times, 11/18/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-irv18nov18,0,954203.story
Irv Rubin was eulogized Sunday as a hero who dedicated himself to
helping
other Jews and to fighting anti-Semitism.
"For the last three decades, Irv Rubin's name has been synonymous with
caring, with helping, with doing," Rabbi Tzvi Block told the 175 people
who
gathered at Sholom Memorial Park in Sylmar…
Rubin died Thursday, nine days after authorities say he tried to kill
himself in the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles by
slitting his throat with a jail-issue safety razor and then jumping 18
feet
to a concrete floor.
Rubin, 57, had been held without bail for 11 months for allegedly
planning
to bomb a Culver City mosque and the office of Rep. Darrell E. Issa
(R-Vista), who is Lebanese American.
The JDL's leader for 17 years had pleaded not guilty, as had his
co-defendant and chief aide, Earl Krugel. Krugel remains in jail.
Krugel's
brother, Barry, is the JDL's weapons instructor.
The mourners were friends and family and some people who knew of Rubin
and
wanted to pay their respects. One of those who attended was
conservative
KABC radio talk show host Larry Elder. Rubin had once led a
demonstration
to ensure that Elder's show remained on the air.
"I thought of him as a courageous champion for what he believed in,"
said
Elder, wearing a lapel pin with the U.S. and Israeli flags. "I thought
of
him as a hothead who often led with his mouth, but not someone who
would
kill people."
---
ON HEBRON AMBUSH SITE, A NEW SETTLEMENT RISES
James Bennet, New York Times, 11/18/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/18/international/middleeast/18MIDE.html
HEBRON, West Bank - It is because they believe that Abraham bought a
cave
to entomb himself and his family here 4,000 years ago that religious
Jews
feel they must live in Hebron now.
It was because 12 Israelis were killed in an ambush here on Friday
night
that Naaman Menachan, a 20-year-old yeshiva student, came to a recently
bulldozed Palestinian orchard on Saturday evening with a submachine gun
across his chest and a sleeping bag over his shoulder. In Hebron, where
the
political and religious divisions are animated by death, a new
settlement
was born on Saturday. Following the tradition of their tenacious
movement,
settlers converted sorrow and anger into territorial gain, building a
rough
outpost near the site of the Friday ambush. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
endorsed the settlers' aims during a visit to Hebron today…
Gazing at the darkened Palestinian houses, Mr. Menachan tried to
envision
the city in 20 years. "What I hope is, no Arabs," he said, as a fire
made
of brambles and olive branches crackled nearby. "If they continue to
make
trouble, no Arabs, and a Jewish city. If they're good people -- if they
know this is our land, that God gave it to us -- they can stay…
---
FEAR AND LOATHING IN HEBRON
Amira Hass, Ha'aretz, 11/18/02
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=231663
HEBRON - Every weekend, including this past Friday, at around 5 P.M.,
soldiers take up positions on the roof of the home of Hussam Jaber in
Wadi
Nasara in the eastern part of Hebron. The three-story home is located
on a
narrow street that turns southward from the "worshipers' way" from the
Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba to the Tomb of the Patriarchs. The
entire
wadi, the hills that surround it, the houses of the neighborhood, the
grapevines and the olive and peach groves spread beneath the roof like
a
relief map.
On the railing around the roof the soldiers set up a floodlight ("At
our
expense," notes a member of the family) that illuminates the wadi. This
happens every Friday and every Saturday, to ensure the safety of the
many
Jewish worshipers who walk the kilometer or so between Kiryat Arba and
the
old city of Hebron.
"On Fridays and Saturdays we don't go out," relates a neighborhood
resident
last weekend. "Because of the many Jewish settlers that go through our
valley and because of the military reinforcements, we don't dare go
outside…"
The weekly observation post on the roof of the Jaber family home is not
the
only one that overlooks the wadi. Another three permanent military
positions surround the wadi and light it up at night. The residents of
the
upper stories in the neighborhood, which is just a few dozen meters
south
of Kiryat Arba, do not dare turn on their lights during the weekends,
lest
they attract the attention of those who are walking along the path and
lest
it stimulate them to throw a stone or, heaven forbid, fire shots into
the
air...
-----
HINDU GROUP PLANS NEW CAMPAIGN IN INDIA'S GUJARAT
Reuters, 11/18/02
BARODA, India - A hard-line Hindu group, banned from holding a
religious
march in a riot-torn Indian state, vowed Monday to campaign to promote
a
Hindu nation, a move likely to inflame tension with Muslims.
Hundreds of Hindu activists were arrested Sunday ahead of the march in
Gujarat state after it was forbidden by India's election commission.
The commission said the march might reignite violence between Hindus
and
minority Muslims, after more than 1,000 people were killed in riots
early
this year, and disrupt elections on Dec. 12 in the state, which is run
by
the Hindu-nationalist party of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee…
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 11/19/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: SINS FALL AWAY
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* REMOVAL OF MUSLIM DISPLAY VIOLATES RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
* NY TIMES AD: A RAMADAN MESSAGE FROM THE AMERICAN MUSLIM COMMUNITY
* "JIHAD WRITINGS" WERE VERSES FROM THE QURAN (AP/Baltimore Sun)
- FBI's Post-Sept. 11 'Watch List' Mutates (Wall Street Journal)
- Accusations, Protests at Federal Courthouse (Orlando Sentinel)
- Judge Rejects USF Motion to Remand Al-Arian Case (TBCJP)
- Local Police and Immigration Law (Gotham Gazette)
- Iraqis Living In Us to Be Tracked (Guardian)
- U.S.: Bar the Release of Detainee Names (Hearst)
* CHIPPING AWAY AT LIBERTY (Washington Post)
* US MUSLIMS SUFFER BACKLASH (BBC)
- Palos Hills Family Not Giving In To Intolerance (Chicago Tribune)
* A NEW CRUSADE? (ABC News)
* CALIFORNIA LT. GOV'S RAMADAN GREETING
* AS ARMS INSPECTORS ARRIVE, ROW ERUPTS OVER US SMEARS (Guardian)
* MANUFACTURING A MASSACRE (Salon.com)
* D.C. AREA ISLAMIC ARTS AND SCIENCE FAIR
* EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES AT CAIR CALIFORNIA
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: SINS FALL AWAY
Coming upon a tree with withered leaves, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be
upon him) struck it with his staff, and the leaves were scattered. He
then
said: (Saying) 'Praise be to God; Glory be to God; There is no god but
God;
and God is most great,' causes a person's sins to fall away just as the
leaves of that tree were falling."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 737
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 1518 sponsorships for $150 book and
tape packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country.
Take
part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library
package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 320
-----
REMOVAL OF ISLAMIC DISPLAY VIOLATES RELIGIOUS FREEDOM SAY CANADIAN
MUSLIMS
College says display is "offensive, political and endangers the safety
of
students"
(OTTAWA, CANADA - 11/19/02) - The Canadian office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) said today that the recent
decision
by Montreal-based Dawson College to forbid Muslim students the right to
display their religious belief violates the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms
and perpetuates grave stereotypes about Canadian Muslims.
During a recent "Discover Islam" event at Dawson College, the Student
Services department removed a banner reading, "There is no god but
Allah
and Muhammad is the last Messenger of Allah" after complaints from a
number
of teachers and students. Student Services stated that the banner was
"offensive, provocative, controversial and political" and that the
safety
of the student body superceded the right to freedom of expression. The
College also noted that the decision will be upheld in the future for
other
clubs.
SEE:
http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=04df3294-863b-4d34-bde4-0745c7af3615
In a letter to the college, CAIR-CAN Executive Director Riad Saloojee
wrote:
"Dawson College's recent decision violates the fundamental rights to
free
expression and freedom of religion guaranteed under the Canadian
Charter of
Rights and Freedoms
"Moreover, the College is sending an alarming signal to its student
body by
stating, in effect, that the expression of Islam's basic tenet is
offensive, political and endangers the safety of students.
"We request that Dawson College immediately apologize to its Muslim
students and ensure that representatives of the College will not
infringe
on the right of any student group to its religious expression in the
future."
CONTACT: Naeem Saloojee at 613-254-9704; E-mail: Canada@cair-net.org
ACTION REQUESTED: (Remember, be firm but polite):
E-MAIL rboucher@dawsoncollege.qc.ca, ngurudata@dawsoncollege.qc.ca,
pwoodsworth@dawsoncollege.qc.ca
FOCUS on the following TALKING POINTS:
* The decision violates the fundamental right to free expression
guaranteed
under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
* The College is sending an alarming signal to its student body by
stating
that the expression of Islam's basic tenet is offensive, political and
endangers the safety of students
* The College's statements are irresponsible and not in keeping with
our
Canadian tradition of tolerance and mutual respect
* Dawson College should apologize immediately to its Muslim students
and
ensure that it will not deny any group the right to religious
expression in
the future
COPY Canada@cair-net.org on all correspondence
-----
NY TIMES AD: A RAMADAN MESSAGE FROM THE AMERICAN MUSLIM COMMUNITY
http://www.cair-net.org/images/ramadan.jpg
A 2/3-page advertisement with the following message appeared on page
E25 in
the November 18 edition of the New York Times:
A RAMADAN MESSAGE FROM THE AMERICAN MUSLIM COMMUNITY
During the holy month of Ramadan, we dedicate ourselves to fasting,
prayer,
sharing with others, and strengthening family ties.
We pray for peace, justice and security in our nation and our world.
As the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "What actions are
most
virtuous? To gladden the heart of a human being, to feed the hungry, to
help the afflicted, to lighten the sorrow of the sorrowful, and to
remove
the wrongs of the injured."
SPONSORED BY:
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
Defending the Civil Rights of All Americans
www.cair-net.org
Islamic Society of North America
Serving the Muslim Community in North America
www.isna.net
Islamic Circle of North America
www.icna.org
www.whyislam.org
Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America
www.appna.org
Federation of Association of Pakistani Americans
Pakistan American Congress
Muslim American Society
www.masnet.org
Muslim Public Affairs Council
www.mpac.org
American Muslim Council
Islamic Society of Appalachian Region
Islamic Center of Greater Toledo
Islamic Center of Long Island, New York
Islamic Center of Westchester, New York
Jamaica Muslim Center, New York
Muslim American Community of New Orleans
Rabia Awan and Zafar Iqbal
Khalida and Akram Choudhry
Raana and Waheed Akbar
-----
"JIHAD WRITINGS" WERE VERSES FROM THE QURAN
CASES HINT OF TERRORISM, FIZZLE INTO THE MUNDANE
Associated Press, 11/19/02
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/custom/attack/bal-te.md.suspects19nov19,0,3393222.story
BALTIMORE - When police entered a Northwest Baltimore apartment during
a
routine arrest Sept. 10, some wondered if they'd stumbled onto a secret
al-Qaida cell.
Baltimore Police Commissioner Edward Norris thought it possible and
said so
on television. FBI counterterrorism agents rushed in to assess what
police
had found on the eve of the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. At
least
six young, male Muslim immigrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia,
Canada and Morocco were sharing a sparsely furnished apartment.
A computer contained links to Web sites of flight schools and local
airports. The apartment was littered with photographs of Union Station
in
Washington and Times Square in New York. FBI agents recovered and
translated handwritten documents in Arabic containing "radical
fundamentalist rhetoric," an FBI affidavit said.
With America on edge, the story made national news. Immigration agents
detained five of the men on visa violations. FBI affidavits describing
the
suspicious evidence persuaded judges to keep four men in jail, awaiting
deportation.
But two months later, the terrorism investigation appears to have
fizzled.
Based on court testimony and interviews, the men appear to be exactly
what
they claimed: immigrants hustling at Afghan-owned fried chicken
restaurants
to make enough money to survive and send a little to family overseas…
"It's very frustrating for the Muslim community," said Abid Husain,
director of the Islamic Center of Baltimore. "There's a fear that
anybody
can be picked up at any time."
The alleged "jihad writings" were verses from the Quran and other
religious
texts, some written by hand in a notebook, attorneys for the detainees
said…
Rather than surveillance photographs of terrorist targets, the pictures
in
the apartment turned out to be tourist snapshots or postcards, a
government
source told The Sun…
SEE ALSO:
FBI'S POST-SEPT. 11 `WATCH LIST' MUTATES, ACQUIRES LIFE OF ITS OWN
Bureau Gave It to Companies; Now, Out-of-Date Versions Dog Some People
Named --- Still Citing the Atta Brothers
Ann Davis, Wall Street Journal, 11/19/02
http://online.wsj.com/public/us
LAS VEGAS -- When a patron at the New York-New York casino plugged his
frequent-player card into a slot machine one day this summer, something
strange happened: An alert warned the casino's surveillance officials
that
an associate of a suspected terrorist might be on the grounds.
How did a casino's computer make such a connection? Shortly after Sept.
11,
the FBI had entrusted a quickly developed watch list to scores of
corporations around the country.
Departing from its usual practice of closely guarding such lists, the
FBI
circulated the names of hundreds of people it wanted to question.
Counterterrorism officials gave the list to car-rental companies. Then
FBI
field agents and other officials circulated it to big banks,
travel-reservations systems, firms that collect consumer data, as well
as
casino operators such as MGM Mirage, the owner of New York-New York.
Additional recipients included businesses thought vulnerable to
terrorist
intrusion, including truckers, chemical companies and power-plant
operators. It was the largest intelligence-sharing experiment the
bureau
has ever undertaken with the private sector.
A year later, the list has taken on a life of its own, with multiplying
--
and error-filled -- versions being passed around like bootleg music.
Some
companies fed a version of the list into their own databases and now
use it
to screen job applicants and customers. A water-utilities trade
association
used the list "in lieu of" standard background checks, says the New
Jersey
group's executive director.
The list included many people the FBI didn't suspect but just wanted to
talk to. Yet a version on SeguRed.com, a South American
security-oriented
Web site that got a copy from a Venezuelan bank's security officer, is
headed: "list of suspected terrorists sent by the FBI to financial
institutions." (The site's editor says he may change the heading.)
Meanwhile, a supermarket trade group used a version of the list to try
to
check whether terrorists were raising funds through known shoplifting
rings. The trade group won't disclose results…
The watch list shared with companies -- one part of the FBI's massive
counterterrorism database -- quickly became obsolete as the bureau
worked
its way through the names. The FBI's counterterrorism division quietly
stopped updating the list more than a year ago. But it never informed
most
of the companies that had received a copy. FBI headquarters doesn't
know
who is still using the list because officials never kept track of who
got
it...
Then there's the problem of getting off the list. At first the FBI
frequently removed names of people it had cleared. But issuing updated
lists, which the FBI once did as often as four times a day, didn't fix
the
older ones already in circulation. Three brothers in Texas named Atta
--
long since exonerated, and no relation to the alleged lead hijacker --
are
still trying to chase their names off copies of the list posted on
Internet
sites in at least five countries…
---
ACCUSATIONS, PROTESTS AND PRAYERS AT FEDERAL COURTHOUSE
Henry Pierson Curtis, Orlando Sentinel, 11/19/02
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-asecmaali19111902nov19,0,2277730.story
Orlando gift-shop magnate Jesse Maali and his lawyer spent the day in
federal court Monday deflecting a string of accusations by prosecutor
trying to link him to groups advocating Middle East violence. When a
prosecutor described Maali collecting envelopes of cash with a bagman
for a
terrorist group, the Palestinian-American millionaire's attorney
produced a
receipt for a $30,000 deposit made the same day to the U.S.-approved
Palestine Aid Society.
When the government claimed that a $50,000 check from Maali ended up in
a
terrorist-controlled bank, the defense pointed out that it was cashed
in
March 2000 by a United Nations-approved charity. Either way, Al-Aqsa
Islamic Bank hadn't been linked at the time to the Hamas terrorist
group…
That's the way it went for four hours in the packed courtroom of U.S.
Magistrate David A. Baker, while outside in the streets an estimated
200
Maali supporters gathered to protest and pray.
Inside the courthouse, the blockbuster revelations hinted at for days
by
the government never quite materialized. The hearing to determine
whether
Maali should be held without bail will resume at 9 a.m. today...
---
For Immediate Release
FEDERAL JUDGE REJECTS USF MOTION TO REMAND AL-ARIAN CASE TO STATE COURT
CONTACT: Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace
E-MAIL: tbcjp@yahoo.com
Tampa- November 19, 2002
Today federal district court Judge Susan Bucklow issued her ruling in
the
University of South Florida's case against tenured Professor Sami A.
Al-Arian. In her ruling Judge Bucklow denied the USF's motion to remand
the
case to state court in the University's attempt to receive a
declaratory
judgment in order to pave the way to dismiss Professor Al-Arian from
his 17
year tenured position.
Furthermore, Judge Bucklow scheduled an oral hearing for Dr. Al-Arian's
motion to dismiss the case against him in December.
Dr. Al-Arian's attorney Robert McKee said: "This case does not belong
in
state court, and contrary to the University's position, this is a case
that
involves first amendment issues and the judge affirmed that in her
ruling.
The next step is to argue for the dismissal of this case. We think that
USF
is trying to preempt the process, which is spelled out in the
Collective
Bargaining Agreement. We are confident that we will eventually prevail
in
that phase as well…"
---
LOCAL POLICE AND IMMIGRATION LAW
Chaleampon Ritthichai, Gotham Gazette, 11/02
http://www.gothamgazette.com/immigrants/nov.02.shtml
A typical day at work for Bobby Khan at the Coney Island Avenue Project
involves listening to stories about immigrants who have been harassed,
arrested or retained.
"Last week in Midwood, Brooklyn, a guy named Malik Muhamad was stopped
by
police officers while walking back from work," Khan said. "They asked
him
about his immigration status but he refused to answer. So they beat
him."
Stories such as this have led Khan to believe that tension between
police
and immigrants in New York City is at its worst.
A local police officer can now ask immigrants about their status and in
effect deport them on a visa violation. As part of the war on terror,
this
past August for the first time the federal government allowed local
police
to enforce immigration law.
"There is greater racial profiling today, and it goes beyond just the
Black
and Latino communities to include Muslims, Arabs and South Asians and
other
immigrants." said Steven Yip, a member of October 22nd Coalition.
"Since
September 11, the police are more bold..."
---
IRAQIS LIVING IN US TO BE TRACKED
Oliver Burkeman, Guardian, 11/19/02
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,842974,00.html
The Bush administration has begun a major programme to monitor
Iraqi-Americans and Iraqi citizens in the US for signs that they might
be
planning terrorist attacks inside the country in the event of war. One
Washington official described it as "the largest and most aggressive"
scheme of its type in US history.
Details of the previously secret project, condemned by Muslim-American
groups, were apparently leaked to the New York Times as a riposte to
allegations made in Congress that US intelligence agencies were proving
incompetent in dealing with potential threats…
The federal government is understood to be planning to start voluntary
interviews with Arab-Americans next week, asking that they report
suspicious activities connected to Iraq. Thousands were similarly
questioned during the 1991 Gulf war. The FBI will meet community
leaders in
an effort to explain why the scheme is necessary.
The programme focuses on those of Iraqi origin at American universities
or
who are working for private corporations, the New York Times said, and
is
being given legal authority by means of national security warrants.
Individuals will be recruited as informants.
The scheme "goes against all accepted norms of due process and legal
rights", said Ibrahim Hooper, communications director of the
Washington-based Council on Islamic-American Relations. "To monitor
someone
who has exhibited no probable cause for any link to illegal activity is
a
violation of American law, or at least it used to be."
---
U.S.: BAR THE RELEASE OF DETAINEE NAMES
Mark Helm, Hearst Newspapers, 11/19/02
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-adetain19nov19,0,2404441.story
WASHINGTON -- A court order requiring the government to release the
names
of 1,200 people detained after the Sept. 11 attacks would provide
al-Qaida
with a "roadmap" to the Justice Department's probe of the terrorist
group,
federal lawyers told a U.S. appeals court Monday.
On Aug. 2 U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler gave the department 15
days to
release the names of people arrested or detained since the attacks.
Most of
them have been freed…
On Monday Justice Department lawyers urged a three-judge panel of the
U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse Kessler's decision.
"The district court undervalued the grave importance to the nation that
this investigation represents," said Gregory Katsas, deputy assistant
attorney general. "Releasing those names would provide al-Qaida a
roadmap
into that investigation and help it thwart our efforts…"
But Judge David Tatel said the government could use that argument in
any
criminal investigation.
"You could make the same argument about a comprehensive drug
investigation
or the recent sniper shootings," Tatel said.
-----
CHIPPING AWAY AT LIBERTY
Washington Post, 11/19/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7807-2002Nov18.html
Yesterday the court of review sprang to life, overturning a lower FISA
court decision and handing Attorney General John D. Ashcroft a major
victory -- one that significantly changes the rules under which
sensitive
surveillance is conducted in this country.
The unanimous decision by Judges Edward Leavy, Ralph Guy and Laurence
Silberman presents a compelling reading of the law. The fault for the
problem it creates lies not with the court but with Congress, for the
carelessness and haste with which it passed the USA Patriot Act in the
wake
of the Sept. 11 attacks and for its unwillingness to push back against
Bush
administration excesses.
The decision does not actually make it any easier for the government to
conduct wiretaps or searches. But it grants the government one more
sphere
in which it gets to unilaterally choose the rules under which it will
pursue the war on terrorism. When it identifies a suspect, it can now
decide whether to use a regular criminal tap or go to the FISA court.
Add
this to the powers the government had already taken on: to choose
between a
regular trial and a military tribunal; to lock up a suspect, if a
non-citizen, in secret; or to hold a suspect -- citizen or non-citizen
--
indefinitely and without judicial review after designating him an
"enemy
combatant…"
-----
US MUSLIMS SUFFER BACKLASH
Kevin Anderson, BBC, 11/19/02
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2488829.stm
Hate crimes against Arabs and Muslims in the United States increased by
1,700% in 2001, according to crime statistics compiled by the FBI.
Human Rights Watch has criticised US authorities for not doing enough
to
stem the backlash following the 11 September attacks.
Muslims and Arabs have faced a backlash after other events linked to
the
Middle East in the last two decades, the group said, calling on the
authorities to take steps to head off such violence in the future.
In 2000, the FBI received reports of 28 hate crimes against Muslims and
Arabs in the US. In 2001, that number increased to 481…
"Government officials didn't sit on their hands while Muslims and Arabs
were attacked after September 11, but law enforcement and other
government
agencies should have been better prepared for this kind of onslaught,"
Mr
Singh said.
He also accused the US Government of sending mixed messages in trying
to
head off a violent backlash.
"The concern is that while the government is pounding the pulpit of
tolerance with the right hand, that with the left hand it is pushing
aside
very American traditions of equality," Mr Singh said…
---
PALOS HILLS FAMILY NOT GIVING IN TO INTOLERANCE
Deborah Horan, Chicago Tribune, 11/19/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0211190395nov19.story
When Erin Rose-al-Ashqar drove up to her Palos Hills home and found the
family's twinkling green Ramadan sign smashed, she asked her husband
Ibrahim to nail a new holiday greeting to the fence. That sign was gone
the
next day. This past weekend, the family fought back, installing yet
another
sign, vowing to put up as many as it takes.
"If you give up, it means they win," said Ibrahim al-Ashqar, a
Saudi-born
Palestinian. Village police, who were called when the first sign was
damaged, attributed the vandalism to rowdy neighborhood teens. Area
residents say youths often speed down the street and throw out beer
bottles.
But the al-Ashqars consider the incidents hate crimes.
"I hope people understand we have the right to celebrate a holiday,"
said
Erin Rose-al-Ashqar. "We're not going away."
Though similar occurrences have decreased steadily since the terrorist
attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, according to Muslim organizations, incidents
ranging from the bombings in Bali to the execution in Virginia of a
Pakistani Muslim last week have kept an uncomfortable spotlight on the
Islamic community.
While many Muslims assume a low profile, Rose-al-Ashqar, a former
Catholic
who converted to Islam six years ago when she became ill after giving
birth
to her oldest daughter, said she fights discrimination her own
way--with
frankness and charm.
Last year, the Council on Islamic-American Relations reportedly logged
more
than 500 complaints of discrimination against Muslims across the
nation.
While fewer than immediately after the terrorist attacks, it's still
much
higher than before Sept. 11, said Joshua Salaam, manager of the
organization's civil rights department…
-----
A NEW CRUSADE?
Dan Harris, ABC News, 11/18/02
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/DailyNews/evangelical_christians021118.html
Nov. 18 - The nation's leading evangelical Christians have been
thundering
against Islam, both from the pulpit and on television.
"I think Mohammed was a terrorist," said conservative preacher Jerry
Falwell in a televised interview. "I have read enough of the history of
his
life, written by both Muslims and non-Muslims, that he was about a
violent
man, a man of war."
That comment and others from some conservative Christians have
expressed
harsh opinions of the prophet Mohammed, the founder of Islam…
For months, President Bush, who frequently says Islam is a religion of
peace, declined to condemn these statements. Until now.
A few days ago, Bush said, "Some of the comments that have been uttered
about Islam do not reflect the sentiments of my government or the
sentiments of most Americans."
Secretary of State Colin Powell followed suit. "This kind of hatred
must be
rejected," he said. "This kind of language must be spoken out against."
Critics suggest the administration waited to condemn the statements
from
leading evangelists because they didn't want to alienate a key
constituency
before the midterm elections. The White House denies the claim.
What is clear is that evangelical attacks on Islam risk further
alienating
key Arab allies as the United States prepares for a possible war
against Iraq…
-----
CALIFORNIA LT. GOV'S RAMADAN GREETING
Ramadan, the Holy Month of Prayer and Reflection
Holiday Greetings!
As the end of the year approaches and the holiday spirit abounds, the
first
crested moon appears in November to signal the beginning of Ramadan. It
is
an occasion to reflect on the events of the past year, the new
relationships we have formed and the lessons we have learned.
The Holy month of Ramadan is a period of solemn fasting and devotion in
the
Islamic Faith. This month, from California to North Africa and Europe
to
the Middle East, your community will be united in prayer.
Your devotion to your faith is an inspiration to all Californians, and
as
you celebrate Ramadan, please know that my thoughts are with you. One
Muslim prayer that I particularly like reads: Allah make me stronger to
carry out Thy commands. In this month, let me taste the sweetness of
Thy
praise, put me in the mood of giving thanks to Thee, and protect me
with
Thy most reliable cover, o' the Most discerning Perceiver.
Peace be with you and yours during the holidays.
From the desk of:
Cruz M. Bustamante
Lieutenant Governor
State of California
-----
AS ARMS INSPECTORS ARRIVE, ROW ERUPTS OVER US SMEARS
Helena Smith, Guardian, 11/19/02
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,842962,00.html
The United Nations chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, yesterday
accused
hawks in Washington, who are bent on going to war with Iraq, of
conducting
a smear campaign against him.
The extent of the tension between Mr Blix and elements of the US
administration burst into the open on the day that he led UN weapons
inspectors back to Baghdad for the first time in four years to renew
their
search for chemical, biological and nuclear-related weapons.
Key figures in the Bush administration have criticised Mr Blix in
recent
weeks, claiming he is too weak to stand up to the Iraqi president,
Saddam
Hussein, and that he may fail to find the weapons that the CIA claims
have
been hidden by the Iraqis.
In an interview with the Guardian in Cyprus, the last staging post
before
his flight to Baghdad, Mr Blix rounded on his critics. Asked whether he
thought US hawks were behind the smear campaign, Mr Blix said: "You can
say
there's some truth in that judgment..."
-----
MANUFACTURING A MASSACRE
Eric Boehlert, Salon.com, 11/19/02
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2002/11/19/hebron/index_np.html
The headlines over the weekend were startling, even for the Middle
East,
where the Israeli-Palestinian war seems trapped in escalating cycles of
violence. On Friday evening in the predominantly Palestinian city of
Hebron, gunmen hiding in houses and olive groves ambushed Jewish
worshipers
as they walked home from Sabbath prayers, spraying them with gunfire
and
even tossing grenades into the unarmed crowd. Israeli soldiers, who
escort
the worshipers every Friday night, rushed into a dark dead-end alley to
try
to help. After a four-hour gun battle, 12 Israelis were dead.
Government
officials, led by the hard-line foreign minister, Benjamin Netanyahu,
quickly dubbed it the "Sabbath Massacre…"
The American press rushed to report the gruesome details. "Ambush; 12
Israelis Murdered at Prayer," read the New York Post's Saturday banner
headline. The New York Times, citing Israeli army officials, reported
that
"Palestinian snipers ambushed Jewish settlers walking home from Sabbath
prayers." So, among others, did the Boston Globe: "Militants ambushed a
group of settlers." So did Newsday: "Palestinian gunmen in the West
Bank
city of Hebron ambushed Jewish settlers."
It's now clear that none of those initial press reports from Hebron
were
accurate...
-----
D.C. AREA ISLAMIC ARTS AND SCIENCE FAIR
WHAT: 1st Annual Arts and Sciences Fair
WHEN: Eid Al-Fitr, December 5th or 6th
WHERE: D.C. Convention Center
Exhibits relating to Islamic Arts and Sciences include architecture,
calligraphy, scholarly essays, original poems, and stories.
1st , 2nd, 3rd place prizes will be awarded for: preschool -
kindergarten,
grades 1-3, grades 4-6, grades 7-9, grades 10-12.
For more information, contact Inayet Sahin at (410) 823-3260 or email
inayetsahin@muslimaccess.com
-----
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES AT CAIR CALIFORNIA
1. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, Sacramento Office
2. OFFICE MANAGER, Santa Clara Office
3. POLITICAL EDUCATION COORDINATOR, Southern California Office
4. ACCOUNTANT/BOOKKEEPER, Southern California Office
CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) California is seeking
applicants for 4 full-time positions for its offices in California.
CAIR provides an excellent Islamic work environment and employee
benefits.
Salary for all above positions will be based on experience. Some
weekend
and off-hour work. Having your own car along with a valid California
Driver's license is required.
Interested candidates should apply by December 15, 2002, with a
comprehensive resume stating education, work history, references, along
with copies of relevant academic certificates to:
CAIR Southern California
HR Department
2180 W. Crescent Ave., Suite F
Anaheim, CA 92801
Fax: 714-776-1847
E-mail: cair_sca@cair-california.org (do not send attachments)
-----
TO BECOME A CAIR MEMBER, GO TO:
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/membership.asp
-----
To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to:
http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to: cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 11/20/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: TRUST IN GOD
* CAIR RAMADAN TOUR YIELDS 128 LIBRARY SPONSORSHIPS
* MEDIA REQUEST: IRAQI-AMERICANS CONCERNED WITH MONITORING POLICY
* GOOD NEWS ALERT: IOWA MUSLIM INMATE WINS ACCOMMODATION
- CAIR Meets With EEOC Officials
* SHOULD PUBLIC SCHOOLS ACCOMMODATE MUSLIM STUDENTS? (FOX)
* JUDGE LECTURES PROSECUTION IN FL GIFT-SHOP CASE (Orlando Sentinel)
- MPAC Senate Testimony on Financing Terrorism
* ARAB STUDENTS FACE HARDSHIPS POST-9/11 (St. Petersburg)
* INFLUX OF SOMALIS HAS TESTED MAINE CITY (Boston Globe)
* TERRORISM LINK IN DISPUTE (Toronto Star)
* DAWSON MUST DISTINGUISH POLITICS FROM RELIGION (Montreal Gazette)
* HOW DOES U.S. WIN MUSLIM HEARTS, MINDS? (Dallas Morning News)
* ISRAELI ARMY DESERTIONS RISE (Guardian)
* MAS/ICNA HOLD JOINT CONFERENCE IN CHICAGO
* NY SCREENING OF DOCUMENTARY ON POST 9/11 LIFE FOR U.S. MUSLIMS
* NATIONAL CONVENTION ON MUSLIM WOMEN'S ISSUES THIS WEEKEND
* D.C. AREA MUSLIM SCHOLASTIC TOURNAMENT
* CONGRESSIONAL STAFFERS POSITIONS NOW AVAILABLE
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: TRUST IN GOD
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) took a man who was suffering
from
leprosy by the hand. He then put it, along with his own hand, in a dish
of
food and said: "Eat with confidence in God and trust in Him."
Sunan of Abu-Dawood, Hadith 1799
-----
CAIR RAMADAN TOUR YIELDS 128 LIBRARY SPONSORSHIPS
The CAIR Community Affairs tour of Muslim communities across the South
and
East coast resulted in 128 CAIR library project sponsorships. CAIR's
Library Project has so far received 1646 sponsorships for $150 book and
tape packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country.
Take
part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library
package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 320
-----
MEDIA REQUEST: IRAQI-AMERICANS CONCERNED WITH MONITORING POLICY
A reporter with National Public Radio is planning a piece on the Bush
administration's program to monitor Iraqi Americans and Iraqis here in
the
US. She is very interested in speaking with Iraqi Americans on this
issue
and stresses that privacy is assured. The story will be completed by
tomorrow. Contact Barbara Bradley at bbradley@npr.org and copy to
hhassan@cair-net.org
-----
GOOD NEWS ALERT: IOWA MUSLIM INMATE WINS RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
today
announced the resolution of a religious accommodation case involving a
Muslim inmate in Iowa. The inmate, held in the North Central
Correctional
Facility in Rockwell, Iowa, contacted CAIR to report the facility was
moving him to a cell that would not accommodate his daily prayers.
CAIR sent a letter informing the institution of the inmate's concerns.
The
Muslim inmate has since informed CAIR that, "The administration is
understanding of my concerns and will work with me on matters of my
living
arrangement and the observance of the Salat (prayer). I wish to thank
you
for your letter to the warden and for the attention you gave to my
concern."
CAIR spoke with the institution's treatment director, Mr. Robert
Johnson,
who said that the facility was able to accommodate the inmate's
religious
beliefs within the institutions policies.
CAIR has recently dedicated more resources to assisting Muslims in
prison.
"We are meeting with the appropriate government agencies, researching
case
law and contacting more inmates to see how we can help Muslims practice
Islam in prison with the limited rights they have," says CAIR Civil
Rights
Coordinator Hassan Mirza.
SEE ALSO:
CAIR MEETS WITH EEOC OFFICIALS
Representatives of CAIR's Civil Rights Department met yesterday with
officials of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in
Washington, D.C., to discuss issues related to employment
discrimination in
the Muslim community. At that meeting, CAIR received clarification from
senior attorneys on EEOC policies and procedures.
"The majority of the cases we deal with are employment related," says
CAIR
Civil Rights Manager Joshua Salaam. "Keeping in regular contact with
the
EEOC to exchange information allows us to provide better advice to
Muslim
workers who suffer discrimination," said Salaam.
The EEOC documented an increase in complaints filed as a result of 9/11
backlash. They provided new publications in Arabic, Urdu and other
languages in an effort to reach out to the Muslim community. Anyone
interested in receiving more information, should call their local EEOC
office at 1-800-669-4000.
TO REPORT WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION, CALL CAIR'S CIVIL RIGHTS DEPARTMENT
AT:
202-488-8787
-----
SHOULD PUBLIC SCHOOLS ACCOMMODATE MUSLIM STUDENTS?
O'Reilly Factor, 11/19/02
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,70977,00.html
BILL O'REILLY, HOST: Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thanks for watching us
tonight…Now for the top story tonight. Some Muslim families in Maryland
asking public schools to accommodate their religion. An interesting
move,
considering the intensity of the war on terror.
Joining us now from Washington is one of the women leading the charge,
Samira Hussein, who has three children in Maryland public schools.
Miss Hussein, what exactly do you want?
SAMIRA HUSSEIN, MUSLIM ACTIVIST: Good evening, and thanks for the
opportunity.
I would like my children to be treated just like their classmates
treated.
We celebrate Jewish holidays and Christian holidays, and for our
children,
they have to go to school, not just go to school, and they have to be
tested on those days. Like this year, the state of Maryland scheduled a
function of tests, that's a requirement for graduation. It's scheduled
on
the eight day, which is the end of Ramadan day…
O'REILLY: All right. Now, you know that Muslim, that Islam and the
United
States, a minority religion, not many Muslims here. And if we make this
accommodation for you and your religion, then wouldn't we have to do
the
same for the Hindus and the Shintos and the Rastafarians and a lot of
other
religions that are not real prominent in America, but they do exist,
wouldn't we have to do the same thing for everyone..?
HUSSEIN: No, we do accommodate Christian students and Jewish students.
O'REILLY: Well, Christian are minority, they're the majority, though,
you see?
HUSSEIN: But we accommodate Jewish students as well. And Islam is a
sister
religion. Muslim students should be treated as equal as their
classmates...
SEND COMMENTS TO: oreilly@foxnews.com
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org
TO ORDER CAIR'S "AN EDUCATOR'S GUIDE TO ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS PRACTICES,"
E-MAIL:
publications@cair-net.org
-----
GIFT-SHOP KING MAY LEAVE JAIL TODAY
Henry Pierson Curtis and Pedro Ruz Gutierrez, Orlando Sentinel,
11/20/02
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-asecmaali20112002nov20,0,5026726.story
Orlando gift-shop magnate Jesse Maali is expected to get out of jail as
early as today after posting a $10 million bond -- $5 million of it in
cash.
In granting bail Tuesday evening, U.S. Magistrate David A. Baker
lectured
government prosecutors who had accused the Palestinian-American
multimillionaire of having ties to organizations supporting Middle East
violence.
"There is a great danger that connections and associations can be used
to
paint with a very broad brush," Baker said. "Simply because someone
meets
or knows someone . . . or shares the same characteristics does not make
him
responsible for somebody else's actions." Maali has been held since his
arrest Thursday, when about 100 local, state and federal officers
raided
his Isleworth home and 13 of his businesses on International Drive in
Orange County and U.S. Highway 192 in Osceola County. He and four
associates are charged with money laundering and hiring illegal
immigrants…
The judge observed that Maali -- who makes millions by day selling
trinkets
and steak dinners but writes poetry at night -- is a complex and
multifaceted person. Among his businesses, Maali owns a chain of Big
Bargain World shops and Ponderosa Steakhouse restaurants.
Out in the street, engineer Jim Jammal of Winter Park celebrated
Tuesday's
decision as a victory for a court system that demands evidence to hold
a
suspect.
"This really shouldn't be the celebration of Arab-Americans," said
Jammal,
a Palestinian-American who immigrated in 1956. "It should be a
celebration
of all Americans..."
SEE ALSO:
MPAC SENATE TESTIMONY ON FINANCING TERRORISM
http://www.mpac.org/home_article_display.aspx?ITEM=281
-----
ARAB STUDENTS FACE HARDSHIPS POST-9/11
Bill Maxwell, St. Petersburg Times, 11/20/02
http://sptimes.com/2002/11/20/Columns/Arab_students_face_ha.shtml
SAN ANGELO, Texas - Being a university professor in Texas gives me the
opportunity to meet many international students, many not even 20 years
old. They have the typical problems most students have.
But I have met a handful of foreign students who are carrying the world
on
their shoulders, as it were. These young people are directly or
indirectly
caught in the maze of America's tighter visa and immigration
restrictions…
First, some background: After the terrorists attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,
the
U.S. government, once relatively friendly toward Arabs and Muslims
wanting
into the country, has removed the welcome mat. The move has caused
great
hardship for many Muslims with legitimate reasons for seeking our
shores.
Gone is the time when seriously ill foreign Muslims, along with their
trained escorts, could obtain U.S. visas for urgent medical care in one
day. Now, such visas are taking as long as two months for approval. A
U.S.
diplomat based in Saudi Arabia reports that Mohammed al-Kathiri, a
Saudi
journalist needing a liver transplant, died after he was denied travel
to a
Houston hospital for treatment.
Gone are many millions of dollars Muslims annually spend in the
nation's
tourist industry.
Gone, too, are the days when Arab students in good academic and
immigration
standing were automatically permitted to re-enter the United States to
attend fall classes.
My student, a 20-year-old, petite Jordanian, worries that her oldest
brother, a 34-year-old cartographer whose kidneys are failing, will not
get
potentially life-saving treatment in New York. Two months ago, his
scheduled trip to the United States appeared to be on track. Now, the
family has lost hope that he will make the trip at all…
-----
INFLUX OF SOMALIS HAS TESTED MAINE CITY
Brian MacQuarrie, Boston Globe, 11/20/02
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/324/metro/Learning_in_Lewiston+.shtml
LEWISTON, Maine - The wave of Somali refugees who have chosen Lewiston
as
their American home has slowed to a trickle, a top city official said,
amid
a flood of media scrutiny about the unexpected migration and a
surprising
plea from Mayor Laurier Raymond that any more immigrants head
elsewhere.
The number of Somalis, who are African Muslim refugees from a ferocious
civil war, has stabilized near 1,100 in this largely white, Roman
Catholic
city of 37,000 people, said assistant city administrator Phil Nadeau.
And
the tensions that rose after the mayor's October letter have largely
dissipated, according to some Somalis, who credited the city for recent
overtures to the immigrants who began arriving in February 2001.
The migration, which started with a few Somalis who then invited fellow
immigrants who were staying in the Atlanta area, set off worries in
Lewiston and some other New England cities that an unexpected influx
would
overwhelm their services…
-----
TERRORISM LINK IN DISPUTE
Allan Thompson, Toronto Star, 11/20/02
http://www.torontostar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1035774621411&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467
OTTAWA - Canada's foreign affairs department has seen no evidence
linking
Canadian citizen Maher Arar to terrorism and will "go to the wall" to
defend his rights, sources in the department say.
On the record, Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham refuses to comment
on
the case of Syrian-born Arar, an Ottawa resident with dual citizenship
who
was arrested by U.S. authorities at New York's JFK airport on Sept. 26
and
deported to Syria - by way of Jordan - on Oct. 8.
But an official in the foreign affairs department, who spoke on
condition
of anonymity, said yesterday that despite media reports that the FBI
gave
the RCMP information weeks ago linking Arar to terrorism, the foreign
affairs department has seen no such information.
"We are 99 per cent sure they have nothing on him, we think he's a
victim
of circumstance," the official said. "We are ready to go to the wall on
this case.
"Ask yourself, if the U.S. really had something on him, why would they
let
him leave the country…?"
-----
DAWSON MUST DISTINGUISH MIDEAST POLITICS FROM RELIGION
Mubashir Jamal, Montreal Gazette, 11/20/02
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/letters/story.asp?id=D9E311CD-8A70-4017-A8A2-259227D3FADE
As a student and spokesman of the Muslim Student Association at Dawson
College, I am appalled by the decision of Student Services to remove
the
banner stating the fundamental principle of Islam, "There is no God but
Allah and Muhammad is the last Messenger of Allah" (Gazette, Nov. 16,
"Crisis ignites at Dawson: Students object to removal of Islamic
banner"),
especially after the association met the specific requirements of the
Student Service beforehand and throughout the exhibition.
Dawson's administration acted irresponsibly and under the pressure of
20
ignorant complaints. It is ironic that an institution whose mandate is
education censored a significant part of an educational Islamic
exhibition.
If people cannot differentiate between the words "Allah" and "Osama bin
Laden" and see the equivalence of "Allah" and "God," then it becomes
the
responsibility of Dawson to allow education of the unknown to eliminate
ignorance and let knowledge prevail. Avoidance of such issues does not
solve or reduce confrontations: it simply increases hatred and
ignorance
and allows them to take place elsewhere...
-----
HOW DOES U.S. WIN MUSLIM HEARTS, MINDS?
Carolyn Barta, Dallas Morning News, 11/17/02
http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/viewpoints/stories/111702dnedibarta.6c5df.html
The State Department recently launched its Muslim Life in America
initiative, an effort to refute the perception in the Arab world that
people in this country are hostile to Muslims.
The campaign features TV videos on several Muslims in America,
including
Elias Zerhouni, an Algerian-born doctor and director of the National
Institutes of Health; a Brooklyn-born paramedic in the New York Fire
Department; a teacher from Lebanon; an entrepreneur from Libya in
Toledo,
Ohio; and a University of Missouri student from Indonesia...
Then there is the good chance that the effort will be regarded, at home
and
abroad, as propaganda. It was begun with no high-profile announcement
and
no fanfare, although a few stories have trickled out.
But the biggest problem would seem to be that the hostility of Arabs is
based more on U.S. policies than on any image of how Muslims are
treated in
this country.
The newspaper ads include a survey asking people who live in the Arab
world
what they would like to say to the American people. I got an earful of
such
sentiment when I recently visited with a group of women from several
Muslim
countries who were in Dallas as part of a State Department-sponsored
trip
to study the American elections system.
They had two major concerns: the administration's position on the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict and its threatened action against Saddam
Hussein. Several made it quite clear that they feel that U.S. support
for
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is wrong and that a war against
Iraq is
ill advised and unnecessary…
-----
ISRAELI ARMY DESERTIONS RISE
Conal Urquhart, Guardian (UK), 11/20/02
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,842992,00.html
The Israeli Defence Force has been hit by a sharp rise in the number of
desertions among its troops, according to an army report.
Military police are dealing with at least 40% more deserters than last
year, the result of increasing numbers of reservists refusing to
perform
military service. One report put the increase as high as 67%.
Since the beginning of the intifada in 2000, the army has been forced
to
call up tens of thousands of reservists every month to conduct
operations
in the West Bank and Gaza Strip...
The deserters also include conscientious objectors who refuse to serve
in
the Occupied Territories although they are willing to serve within
Israel's
international borders.
-----
MAS/ICNA HOLD JOINT CONFERENCE IN CHICAGO
WHAT: Muslim America Society and Islamic Circle of North America will
hold
the second joint convention titled, "Muslim Americans For a Better
World"
WHEN: Wednesday, December 25th to Sunday, December 29th
WHERE: Rosemount Convention Center in Chicago, Illinois
Sessions include:
- Setting the agenda for Muslims
- Challenges facing Muslim families in the US (raising children,
divorce,
Islamic identity, language, and youth)
- Spiritual awakening
- The Muslim World (Palestine, Kashmir, Iraq, etc.)
For more information, go to http://www.masnet.org/convention/
-----
NY SCREENING OF DOCUMENTARY ON POST 9/11 LIFE FOR AMERICAN MUSLIMS
WHAT: Baraka Productions invites you to the premiere screening of
BROTHERS
& OTHERS directed by Nicolas Rossier. Brothers and Others: The Impact
of
September 11th on Muslims and Arabs in America is a one hour video
documentary that follows a number of immigrant and American families as
they struggle under the heightened climate of suspicion, FBI and INS
investigations and economic hardships that erupted in the USA following
the
attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11th,
2001.
WHEN: Thursday, November 21, 6:30 P.M.
WHERE: The Screening Room, 54 Varick Street (just below Canal) New
York, NY
10013 Tel: (212)334-2100
Press and industry, please call our reservation hotline: (212)528-3801
or
e-mail us: info@barakaproductions.com
An $8 donation to be used for the "Emergency Family Fund" of CAIR-NY
will
be greatly appreciated.
-----
NATIONAL MUSLIM WOMEN'S CONFERENCE FOCUSES ON CONSENSUS-BUILDING
WHAT: The North American Council For Muslim Women (NACMW) National
Conference
WHEN: Friday November 22, 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. and Saturday November 23, 9
A.M.
to 12:30 P.M.
WHERE: George Washington University, 800 21st Street, NW - Marvin
Center,
Room 301, Washington, D.C.
Roundtable discussions on:
* Raising Muslim Girls as Change Agents
* Self Ownership of Morality & Moral Agency
* Freedom in Choice of Career & Husband
* Marriage: Partnership or Grown Up Childhood?
* Leadership & Involvement: Muslim Community & Mainstream Society
RSVP is necessary: Leave name, phone, email, days attending at (703)
641-8451
The North American Council for Muslim Women
P.O. Box 942
Great Falls, VA 22066
E-MAIL: nacmw@aol.com
-----
D.C. AREA MUSLIM SCHOLASTIC TOURNAMENT
Muslim Inter Scholastic Tournament (MIST) is a tournament similar to
speech
and debate but with an Islamic focus. It is designed for all levels of
Islamic knowledge, from those who know almost nothing about Islam to
those
who have committed their life to its study.
WHAT: Muslim Inter Scholastic Tournament
WHERE: Univ. of Maryland, College Park
WHEN: Feb 28th to March 1st, 2003
WHO: All high school students in the MD/VA/DC Area
HOW: If interested, email info@dcmist.com
WHY: To help your Islamic identity, have fun, earn some money, and win
a
big trophy!
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: December 10th, 2002
EMAIL: info@dcmist.com
VISIT WEBSITE: http://www.dcmist.com
-----
CONGRESSIONAL STAFFERS POSITIONS NOW AVAILABLE
Due to the recent elections the following newly elected Representatives
will be seeking staffers for their Washington, DC offices.
Newly elected Representative Dennis Cardoza, Democrat from California's
18th District, is seeking staffers for his Washington, DC office. To
apply,
send resume and cover letter to Representative-Elect Cardoza, 2724
Winton
Way, Atwater, CA 95301 or fax to 209/358-4036.
Newly elected Representative Virginia Brown-Waite, Republican from
Florida's 5th District, is seeking staffers for her Washington, DC
office.
To apply, send resume and cover letter to Representative- Elect
Brown-Waite, 6135 Deltona Blvd., Spring Hill, FL 34606, or fax to
352/596-5656.
Newly elected Representative James C. Marshall, Democrat from Georgia's
3rd District, is seeking staffers for his Washington, DC office. To
apply,
send resume and cover letter to Representative-Elect Marshall, Box 125,
Macon, GA 31202, or fax to 478/746-1619.
Newly-elected Representative Phil Gingrey, Republican from Georgia's
11th
District, is seeking staffers for his Washington, DC office. To apply,
send
resume and cover letter to Representative-Elect Gingrey, PO Box U,
Marietta, GA 30060, or fax to 770-792-9939.
Newly-elected Representative Max Burns, Republican from Georgia's 12th
District, is seeking staffers for his Washington, DC office. To apply,
send
resume and cover letter to Representative-Elect Burns, PO Box 248,
Hephzibah, GA 30815, or fax to 706-790-4054.
Newly-elected Representative Chris Chocola, Republican from Indiana's
2nd
District, is seeking staffers for his Washington, DC office. To apply,
send
resume and cover letter to representative-Elect Chocola, PO Box 6728,
South
Bend, IN 46660-6728, or fax to 219-271-8492.
Newly-elected Representative Michael D. Rogers, Republican from
Alabama's
3rd District, is seeking staffers for his Washington, DC office. To
apply,
send resume and cover letter to Representative-Elect Rogers, PO Box
1113,
Anniston, AL 36202, or fax to 256-237-4873.
Newly-elected Representative Rick Renzi, Republican from Arizona's 1st
District, is seeking staffers for his Washington, DC office. To apply,
send
resume and cover letter to Representative-Elect Renzi, PO Box 219,
Flagstaff, AZ 86002, or fax to 928-556-1480.
Newly-elected Representative Michael H. Michaud, Democrat from Maine's
2nd
District, is seeking staffers for his Washington, DC office. To apply,
send
resume and cover letter to Representative-Elect Michaud, 213 Lisbon
Street, Lewiston, ME 04240, or fax to 207-786-3353.
Newly-elected Representative C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger, Democrat from
Maryland's 2nd District, is seeking staffers for his Washington, DC
office.
To apply, send resume and cover letter to Representative-Elect
Ruppersberger, 1850 York Rd, Suite J, Timonium, MD 21093, or fax to
410-252-7808.
Newly-elected Representative John Kline, Republican from Minnesota's
2nd
District, is seeking staffers for his Washington, DC office. To apply,
send
resume and cover letter to Representative-Elect Kline, 14101 Southcross
Dr.
W., Suite 175, Burnsville, MN 55337-6910, or fax to 952-890-8747.
Newly-elected Representative Jon C. Porter, Republican from Nevada's
3rd
District, is seeking staffers for his Washington, DC office. To apply,
send
resume and cover letter to Representative-Elect Porter, 7530 W. Sahara
Ave,
#101, Las Vegas, NV 89117, or fax to 702-507-9684.
Newly-elected Representative Jeb E. Bradley, Republican from New
Hampshire's 1st District, is seeking staffers for his Washington, DC
office. To apply, send resume and cover letter to Representative-Elect
Bradley, 27 Lowell St., #205, Manchester, NH 03101, or fax to
603-626-5332.
Newly-elected Representative Scott Garrett, Republican from New
Jersey's
5th District, is seeking staffers for his Washington, DC office. To
apply,
send resume and cover letter to Representative-Elect Garrett, PO Box
905,
Newton, NJ 07860, or fax to 973-300-9478.
Newly-elected Representative Steve Pearce, Republican from New Mexico's
2nd
District, is seeking staffers for his Washington, DC office. To apply,
send
resume and cover letter to Representative-Elect Pearce, PO Box 2696,
Hobbs,
NM 88241-2696, or fax to 505-392-4579.
Newly-elected Representative Lincoln Davis, Democrat from Tennessee's
4th
District, is seeking staffers for his Washington, DC office. To apply,
send
resume and cover letter to Representative-Elect Davis, PO Box 2002,
Pall
Mall, TN 38577, or fax to 931-879-2828.
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
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-----
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MUSLIMS FILE DISCIPLINARY COMPLAINT AGAINST ALAN DERSHOWITZ
Harvard Professor Advocates War Crimes Says Muslim Legal Group
(WASHINGTON D.C., 11/21/02) - An American Muslim legal group today
announced the filing of a complaint with the Massachusetts Board of Bar
Overseers demanding disciplinary action against Harvard Law Professor
Alan
Dershowitz. The Muslim Legal Defense and Education Fund (MLDEF) says
Dershowitz violated rules of professional conduct when he advocated the
commission of war crimes and the use of torture.
MLDEF will hold a conference call today at 11 a.m. (EST) to discuss its
complaint. Media professionals may call 510-220-1414 to receive the
phone
number and password.
In an article published in the Jerusalem Post and the New York Daily
News
on March 11, 2002, Dershowitz advised the Israeli government to
establish a
"waiting list" of Palestinian villages scheduled for destruction as a
means
of deterring future suicide bombers. In so doing, he has violated Rule
8.4
(d) of the "Rules of Professional Conduct" which states: "It is
professional misconduct for a lawyer [in Mass.] to engage in conduct
that
is prejudicial to the administration of justice."
As an officer of the legal system Prof. Dershowitz has sworn an oath to
uphold the laws of the State of Massachusetts and of the United States.
The
latter includes international treaties and conventions to which the
United
States is a signatory.
The destruction of villages is a Nuremberg War Crime and is contrary to
Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which states: "No protected
person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally
committed," and "collective penalties and likewise all measures of
intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited."
The Geneva Convention is a ratified treaty and is therefore a valid
Federal
law of the United States.
"Traditionally the international community has only had the capacity to
deal with ethnic cleansing and genocide, through humanitarian
assistance
for the victims or through war crimes tribunals, after it has
occurred,"
said MLDEF Chair Al-Hajj Talib Karim Esq. "A much more effective
approach
would be to censure those who are in the midst of laying the
pseudo-legal
foundation for war crimes in the hope that the momentum towards such
acts
is slowed or stopped," said Karim.
He added, "Surely the Board of Bar Overseers would have reprimanded a
Massachusetts lawyer who advocated in a Nazi-era newspaper for the
destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto. Such behavior is unbecoming of a
lawyer,
and those who advocate such things ought to be disciplined."
Dershowitz recently advocated formulating a legal mechanism that would
allow police to obtain warrants permitting the use of torture.
- 30 -
PRESS CONTACT: Farhan Memon, 510-220-1414, www.mldef.org
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 11/21/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: NO GOOD DEED TOO SMALL
* CAIR LIBRARY PACKAGE SPONSORSHIPS TOP 3000
* MUSLIM INSTRUCTOR SUES CHICAGO STATE (Chicago Tribune)
* PENTAGON TO TRACK AMERICAN CONSUMER PURCHASES (Fox News)
- Ashcroft's Coup (Sacramento Bee)
* AUSTRALIAN MP SPARKS UPROAR WITH CALL TO BAN ISLAMIC ROBES (AFP)
- Turkey's New Speaker Triggers Controversy With Headscarved Wife
(AFP)
- CBS' Osgood Files Feature Muslim 'Barbie' Doll (CBS Radio)
* RELIGIOUS EXTREMISTS ARE SEEN IN ALL FAITHS (LA Times)
- Muslims Did Disavow Violence (National Post)
* A RIGHT TO QUESTION POLICY (Hartford Courant)
* BUSH AIDE: INSPECTIONS OR NOT, WE'LL ATTACK IRAQ (Daily Mirror)
- An Effort to Match in the Mideast (Washington Post)
* REPORT ACCUSES INDIA'S GUJARAT GOVERNMENT OF PLANNING RIOTS (AFP)
* MUSLIMS REACH OUT TO UM STUDENTS (Miami Herald)
* A CONTROVERSIAL FRIENDSHIP BASED ON RESPECT (AP)
* WASHINGTON STATE CONGRESSWOMAN HOLDS JOINT IFTAR/CHANUKKAH PARTY
* PUBLISHER/AUTHOR INITIATE NATIONAL INTERFAITH DIALOGUE
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: NO GOOD DEED TOO SMALL
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Do (good) deeds
according
to your capacity…God does not grow tired of giving rewards unless you
tire
of doing good…The (good) deeds most loved by God are those that are
done
regularly, even if they are small."
Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 2, Number 24
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PACKAGE SPONSORSHIPS TOP 3000
Alhamdulillah (praise be to God), CAIR's Library Project has received
3008
sponsorships for $150 book and tape packages on Islam to be placed in
libraries across the country. Take part in this first-of-its-kind
campaign
by sponsoring an 18-item "library package." Our goal is to, inshallah,
send
accurate and objective information about Islam to America's 16,000
public
libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 320
-----
MUSLIM INSTRUCTOR SUES CHICAGO STATE
Chicago Tribune, 11/21/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0211210433nov21.story
A former instructor at Chicago State University filed a lawsuit
Wednesday
in federal court alleging he lost his job because he was born in
Afghanistan and is Muslim.
Mohammed Miraki, who taught business management classes at Chicago
State,
also charges the chairman of his department called him a "terrorist."
Mitchell Cabot, who is representing Miraki, called the violations of
his
client's rights "egregious." Chicago State officials did not return
Tribune
phone calls.
Miraki, 35, has lived in the U.S. for 17 years and is a citizen, Cabot
said.
According to the complaint, Miraki, began working at Chicago State in
1998
as a non-tenured lecturer and in 2000 sought a tenured position.
Miraki was turned down for the permanent spot and subsequently removed
from
the roster of eligible lecturers. He alleges he lost his teaching spot
"because of his Afghan descent and Islamic religious beliefs."
-----
PENTAGON TO TRACK AMERICAN CONSUMER PURCHASES
Major Garrett, Fox News, 11/21/02
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,70992,00.html
WASHINGTON - A massive database that the government will use to monitor
every purchase made by every American citizen is a necessary tool in
the
war on terror, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
Edward Aldridge, undersecretary of Acquisitions and Technology, told
reporters that the Pentagon is developing a prototype database to seek
"patterns indicative of terrorist activity." Aldridge said the database
would collect and use software to analyze consumer purchases in hopes
of
catching terrorists before it's too late…
Examples he cited were: sudden and large cash withdrawals, one-way air
or
rail travel, rental car transactions and purchases of firearms,
chemicals
or agents that could be used to produce biological or chemical weapons.
It would also combine consumer information with visa records,
passports,
arrest records or reports of suspicious activity given to law
enforcement
or intelligence services...
"What this is talking about is making us a nation of suspects and I am
sorry, the United States citizens should not have to live in fear of
their
own government and that is exactly what this is going to turn out to
be,"
said Chuck Pena, senior defense policy analyst at the Cato Institute...
---
ASHCROFT'S COUP
Sacramento Bee, 11/20/02
http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/5272327p-6277876c.html
A secret federal appeals court has given Attorney General John Ashcroft
another victory in his reach for virtually unfettered power to decide
who
is to be investigated, arrested and prosecuted for suspected terrorist
activity. Ashcroft called the ruling -- which appears to weaken
safeguards
against abuse of the government's ability to tap phones, open mail and
break into homes -- "a victory for liberty, safety and the security of
the
American people." That's highly dubious at best.
In 1978, Congress acted after repeated FBI abuses of the privacy rights
of
Americans, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and antiwar
protesters. The law it passed was meant, or so it has always been
understood, to preserve the distinction between criminal
investigations, in
which the government must meet a high evidentiary standard imposed by
the
Constitution, and foreign-related security cases, for which there is a
looser standard...
-----
AUSTRALIAN MP SPARKS UPROAR WITH CALL TO BAN ISLAMIC ROBES
Agence France Presse, 11/21/02
SYDNEY - A state lawmaker sparked an uproar in Australia Thursday with
a
demand that Muslim women be barred from wearing their traditional dress
in
public places for fear it could conceal bombs.
The Reverend Fred Nile, a Christian Democrat lawmaker, said in the New
South Wales state parliament late Wednesday that recent threats to
Australia from Islamic radicals made it necessary to ban the
head-to-toe
robes warn by some Muslim women.
"Is it fact that such a total body covering completely conceals a
person's
identity and even whether they are male or female, which is a perfect
disguise for terrorists as it conceals both weapons and explosives?,"
he
asked. "Will the government, in view of the new terrorist threat as
part of
our new Australian security precautions, consider a prohibition on the
wearing of the chador in public places, especially at railway stations,
city streets and shopping centres?"
The New South Wales Labor Party government rejected the suggestion
outright.
But conservative Prime Minister John Howard did not, fueling the anger
of
Muslim leaders and others who demanded Nile's resignation.
"I understand what he's getting at, but I also stop short of agreeing
with
him because I've got to frankly myself have a better understanding of
just
how fundamental that is," Howard said of Nile's remarks…
Howard left open the possibility that public interest concerns could
override religious practices like wearing the Islamic dress.
"Sometimes you don't have a flat yes or no on something like this," he
said.
Senator Kerry Nettle of the opposition Greens party denounced Howard's
refusal to rule out such a ban.
"John Howard has again displayed a frightening willingness to flirt
with
clearly racist and divisive ideas," he said…
---
TURKEY'S NEW SPEAKER TRIGGERS CONTROVERSY WITH HEADSCARVED WIFE
Agence France Presse, 11/21/02
ANKARA - Turkey's new speaker of parliament, Bulent Arinc, created an
uproar in the Muslim but strictly secular country on Thursday when he
attended an official ceremony with his wife, who was wearing a
headscarf.
"The headscarf at the pinnacle of the state", the headline ran in the
mass-circulation Hurriyet daily under a photo of Arinc's wife,
Munevver,
who became the first headscarved woman to take part in a state
ceremony…
Despite the majority of its population being Muslim, Turkey enforces a
strict ban on Islamic-style headscarves in public offices and
universities
where they are viewed as a declaration of religious fundamentalism...
Arinc brushed aside the criticism as unnecessary.
"I find the storm created around my wife's clothes unreasonable and
odd. I
do not believe that my wife's clothes were against the law or protocol
rules," Arinc said on Thursday.
The mainstream press questioned whether this "first breach" of secular
tradition would have an impact on other state institutions as well.
"Be careful! After this first breach it will be the turn of
universities
and high schools," wrote commentator Emin Colasan in Hurriyet.
"Later we will see headscarved judges and headscarved police officers,"
he
warned…
---
CBS' OSGOOD FILES FEATURE MUSLIM 'BARBIE' DOLL
CBS Radio Network, 11/20/02
http://www.theosgoodfile.com/wed3.htm
Charles Osgood on the CBS Radio Network: In Iran, Iranian police have
been
pulling Barbie dolls from the shelves and confiscating them. One toy
seller, Masoumeth Rahimi, quoted as saying." I think every Barbie Doll
is
more harmful than an American missile." Here in the United States.
WITHOUT
any police or government intervention. Some American Muslims have
replaced
Barbie TOO. With the more modestly dressed Razanne doll.
SOT: MOM: A lot of the girls relate to it as the Muslim Barbie, hah,
it's
almost as though we converted Barbie, heh, heh.
On the living room floor in a suburban Detroit home, two American
Muslim
girls are playing with Razanne dolls.
SOT: Let's pretend that the teacher is teaching us how to pray. You can
use
my doll today. GIRL: Okay, you can use mine.
Razanne doesn't look anything LIKE Barbie. Nor is she supposed to.
SOT: ABADR: She looks like me.
There are five versions of Razanne. Ten year Anisa Abadr and her friend
Jenna have the Praying Razanne, the Schoolgirl Razanne and the Teacher
Razanne.
SOT: The schoolgirl, I pretend I'm teaching her sometimes. JENNA: She's
like an Islamic doll and she sort of teaches me how to dress when I'm
wearing the scarf.
Jenna's mother, Mimo Debryn likes it that the Razanne doll wears the
traditional scarf. The hajib and doesn't come with Barbie's sports,
cars,
campers and racy clothes.
SOT: "This is a great way for my daughter to have a toy that reminded
her
that this is the way things are at home, the way things are in the
community. I think it's made her feel like, you know, it's okay to be
Muslim in America, quite honestly.
Three years ago, toy retailer Amma Saadeh created the Razanne doll
after
seeing Muslim children playing with Barbie.
SOT: SAADEH: My wife and myself felt that doesn't really represent us
as
Muslims, trying to tell their children, especially their daughters,
it's
good to be modest.
Razanne means modest woman in Arabic and Saadeh has sold thousands.
SOT: We try to teach our Muslim daughters that the focus is not the
figure,
the focus is your brain and your spirit.
ACTION REQUESTED: Send a note of thanks to info@acfnewsource.org
-----
RELIGIOUS EXTREMISTS ARE SEEN IN ALL FAITHS
Los Angeles Times, 11/21/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/letters/la-le-khan21.1nov21,0,2459500.story
Re: Christopher Plourde's Nov. 18 letter, "Does Bin Laden Speak on
Behalf
of Islam?": Does Baruch Goldstein speak on behalf of all Jews? Of
course
not. Muslim clerics and Muslim nations the world over have condemned --
and
continue to condemn -- Osama bin Laden in the strongest possible
terms…The
media, unfortunately, report only those sensational comments made by a
handful of fringe elements.
Islam, like all religions, is not immune to extremism. It is unfair to
generalize that 1.3 billion of the world's population somehow support
terrorism.
Sabiha Khan
Media Relations,
Council on American-Islamic Relations, So. California
Anaheim
SEE ALSO:
MUSLIM DID DISAVOW VIOLENCE
OSAMA
Riad Saloojee, National Post, 11/21/02
http://www.nationalpost.com/commentary/story.html?id={24A7AD9E-9E5C-45B1-A900-3D4B2880067F}
Scroll down to letter.
OTTAWA - Re: Muslims Must Disavow Osama's Message, George Jonas, Nov.
18.
Mr. Jonas categorically asserts that we have heard nothing from Muslims
condemning Osama bin Laden's latest message of hate or disavowing him
as a
spokesperson for Islam. He is wrong on both counts.
On Nov. 14, the Council on American-Islamic Relations Canada (CAIR-CAN)
issued a statement (prominently displayed on our Web site) about the
message of violence contained in the al-Qaeda tape.
We state therein that "Canadian Muslims condemn recent comments
apparently
made by Osama bin Laden that call for violence against innocent
civilians.
Islam forbids attacks on innocent civilians. Canadian Muslims do not
see
bin Laden as either a representative or a spokesperson for Islam."
Riad Saloojee, executive director, CAIR-CAN, Ottawa.
-----
A RIGHT TO QUESTION POLICY
Letters, Hartford Courant, 11/20/02
http://www.ctnow.com/news/opinion/letters/hc-letbox1120.artnov20,0,6357232.story
Daniel Pipes has written one of the most perverse and pernicious
articles
I've ever read [Other Opinion, Nov. 15, "Why Do Professors Routinely
Oppose
America?"]. What he is calling for is outright censorship.
Pipes quotes professors who criticize our government and snidely lists
their field of expertise, which include linguistics, history and
genetics.
He insinuates that their expertise should be limited to those fields
and
implies that they have no right to express a political opinion.
Following
that reasoning, electricians, plumbers and carpenters could only speak
knowingly about their fields of expertise. What folly. No matter what
our
profession is, we have a right and a civic responsibility to question
our
government when we think that it is acting egregiously. I am a retired
professor of Spanish literature. Does that mean that I cannot criticize
President Bush for wanting to declare an unprovoked war on Iraq…?
Elaine Haddad
Rocky Hill
---
In response to Daniel Pipes' questions, I have some of my own:
Since when is opposing a particular American government policy the same
as
opposing and despising America?
Since when is it necessary to be an authority on international
relations to
raise questions about sending Americans overseas to fight and die?
Since when is there one truth in matters of war and peace, especially
one
that requires academics to fall in lockstep with their government's
policies?
Who decides what constitutes right thinking on university campuses?
When and where have universities not raised critical questions about
their
government's policies?
Pipes' questions raise questions of their own, and American colleges
and
universities are exactly the places where such issues are debated every
day. The primary role of a college or university setting is the raising
and
airing of questions that are often critical and uncomfortable. Such a
role,
besides serving to advance human understanding, also serves the
democratic
function of spurring lively debate and dissent. We interfere with that
role
only with great harm to these settings and to a democratic society.
Brian E. Waddell
West Hartford
The writer is an associate professor of political science at the
University
of Connecticut.
-----
BUSH AIDE: INSPECTIONS OR NOT, WE'LL ATTACK IRAQ
Exclusive By Paul Gilfeather, Daily Mirror, 11/21/02
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=12377231&method=full&
siteid=50143
GEORGE Bush's top security adviser last night admitted the US would
attack
Iraq even if UN inspectors fail to find weapons.
Dr Richard Perle stunned MPs by insisting a "clean bill of health" from
UN
chief weapons inspector Hans Blix would not halt America's war machine.
Evidence from ONE witness on Saddam Hussein's weapons programme will be
enough to trigger a fresh military onslaught, he told an all-party
meeting
on global security.
Former defence minister and Labour backbencher Peter Kilfoyle said:
"America is duping the world into believing it supports these
inspections.
President Bush intends to go to war even if inspectors find nothing.
"This make a mockery of the whole process and exposes America's real
determination to bomb Iraq…"
SEE ALSO:
AN EFFORT TO MATCH IN THE MIDEAST
Brent Scowcroft, Washington Post, 11/21/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17862-2002Nov20.html
The United States has just concluded a remarkable exercise in
diplomacy. It
has opened up a possibility for peaceful resolution of the crisis over
Iraq
that few would have thought conceivable only three months ago. While
the
process may have resembled the old adage about watching sausage being
made,
it has resulted in a tough, clear directive to Saddam Hussein…
While the inspection process is underway, the administration could
launch
another diplomatic initiative that could rival the triumph it just
scored,
and at the same time reinforce the success it has just achieved. This
initiative would take the form of devoting the same kind of skill,
audacity
and laser-like attention to the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Such a move
could assuage some of the ill will stimulated in the Middle East and
Europe
by the hard-hitting Iraq initiative. It would show U.S. determination
to
deal with the one issue that is the primary lens through which the Arab
world views the United States. It would also reduce the appeal of al
Qaeda
and other terrorist groups and the negative reaction that would ensue
should force against Iraq prove necessary. In sum, it would not only
address a critical security problem but also strengthen and sustain the
international coalition that has been forged on the Iraq issue. In so
doing
it would help doom a "buy time" strategy by Saddam Hussein...
The outlines of a process are already clear. The Palestinians need to
end
terrorist attacks and reform the Palestinian Authority. To require
total
compliance as a precondition, however, is simply to put control of the
process in the hands of those on both sides who do not want it to
succeed.
Steps toward reform of the Palestinian Authority have already begun. We
should define its requirements in non-personal terms, to avoid putting
ourselves in the position of supporting democracy, but only if it
elects
Palestinians we prefer.
For the Israeli side, there must be a willingness to pull back forces
from
West Bank population centers short of a total cessation of violence --
which no one can guarantee. Any type of settlement expansion must
cease.
For the United States and its partners in the Quartet, there should be
a
willingness to outline in greater detail the nature of a Palestinian
state,
and to provide some sort of presence -- including military personnel at
least from the United States and the European Union -- as Israel pulls
back
from its occupation in the West Bank…
The writer is president of the Forum for International Policy and the
Scowcroft Group. He was national security adviser to Presidents Ford
and
George H.W. Bush.
-----
REPORT ACCUSES INDIA'S GUJARAT GOVERNMENT OF PLANNING RIOTS
Agence France Presse, 11/21/02
AHMEDABAD, India - The ruling Hindu nationalists in the western Indian
state of Gujarat planned systematic attacks on Muslims after a February
train massacre, an independent panel said Thursday.
In a report released less than a month before the Gujarat government
seeks
re-election at the polls, the panel, which included retired judges and
non-governmental organizations, said the government orchestrated the
riots
that left more than 1,000 people dead.
Chief Minister Narendra Modi, a member of Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee's Hindu-nationalist BJP party, was the "chief author and
architect
of all that happened in Gujarat after the arson of February 27, 2002,"
it
said. On that date, an alleged Muslim mob torched a train carrying
Hindu
hardliners, killing 58.
The panel said senior ministers from Modi's cabinet met hours after the
train attack and drafted plans handed out to BJP leaders and far-right
Hindu groups "on the method and manner in which the 72-hour-long
carnage
that followed would be carried out."
"We have collected enough evidence in our report on the basis of which
charges of conspiracy can be framed from Narendra Modi downwards," said
a
panel member, Public Union of Civil Liberties president K.G.
Kannabiran.
The findings of the panel, which calls itself the Concerned Citizens
Tribunal, are similar to those reached earlier this year by New
York-based
Human Rights Watch and accusations by Indian opposition parties…
-----
MUSLIMS REACH OUT TO UM STUDENTS
CHARLES RABIN, Miami Herald, 11/21/02
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/4572214.htm
Rayan Russell shoveled a little babaganouj onto his pita bread, then
swallowed it. Then he bit into his falafel, smothered in humus.
It was the first food he had eaten in 24 hours.
Russell, a 22-year-old University of Miami sophomore, was taking part
in a
fundraiser held by the Islamic Society at the University of Miami on
Wednesday night.
The plan was to find as many non-Muslims as possible to fast during a
day
of Ramadan, then feed them during a celebratory dinner on the second
floor
of the Student Union.
Members of the Islamic Society found sponsors to support the 217 people
--
mostly UM students -- to take part in the fast. The group raised $936,
enough for 5,616 meals for the homeless at the Daily Bread Food Bank.
The fundraising event, explained Minal Ahson, president of the Islamic
Society, began a year ago at the University of Tennessee.
"I did it out of respect, and to learn about their religion and
culture,"
Russell said. "What I've found is that cleansing to me is much more
spiritual and mental than physical…"
-----
A CONTROVERSIAL FRIENDSHIP BASED ON RESPECT
JEFFERY KURZ, Associated Press, 11/21/02
MERIDEN, Conn. (AP) - It was in Bendorf, Germany, in 1995 when Rabbi
Gloria
S. Rubin and Halima Krausen took a long walk that began an enduring
friendship.
Rubin, a rabbinical student at the time, was attending a conference
that
brought together those from the Jewish, Christian and Muslim
communities.
She chose Koranic Arabic as a project. Krausen, the leader of the
German-speaking Muslim community in Hamburg, was the teacher…
In an era when headlines emphasize the conflict between Jews and
Muslims,
particularly the violence between Israelis and Palestinians, the
friendship
between a rabbi and a Muslim leader seems unusual, if not
controversial.
But Rubin and Krausen are pleased their friendship defies the
stereotypical
notions behind such conflicts by emphasizing the similarities between
the
two faiths.
Both were drawn to one another out of curiosity and a hope for
understanding.
"I had never really gotten to know someone who was Muslim," Rubin said.
"At that stage I was interested in key terms similar to Hebrew and
Arabic,"
Krausen said. "At the time I didn't know as much Hebrew as I know now."
Hebrew and Arabic are cognate languages, Rubin said, which means their
words can have similar sounds and similar meanings. The Hebrew "shalom"
and
Arabic "salaam," for example, both mean peace.
Of the five pillars of Islam, four have a direct parallel in Judaism,
she
said. Those are: testimony of faith in one God, regular prayer,
fasting,
and giving to the poor. The fifth, making a pilgrimage to Mecca,
naturally
is not shared in Judaism. But in prayer, more often than not, when Jews
are
facing Jerusalem and Muslims facing Mecca they are turning in the same
direction.
Some similarities, of course, can be less comfortable. Jerusalem is a
holy
place for both faiths. "If it goes to the question of who is
controlling
it, we have a problem," Krausen said. "The holy place belongs to God,
so we
should behave respectfully…"
Since the events of Sept. 11, Krausen, who is recognized as an
international Islamic scholar, has been called upon many times to offer
clarification about her faith.
"In general, the aim of religion is justice and peace among people and
that
applies as well to Islam," she said. "The whole system of Islamic
ethics is
balance and coexistence and peace. So I try to explain that…"
-----
WASHINGTON STATE CONGRESSWOMAN HOLDS JOINT IFTAR/CHANUKKAH PARTY
WHAT: Celebrating the Light of Community: Muslims Invited to Our
Chanukkah
Party
Bet Alef Meditative Synagogue is delighted to invite members of the
Muslim
community to join in our annual celebration of Chanukkah, the Festival
of
Lights. We welcome this opportunity to encourage personal relationships
between members of Islamic, Christian, and Jewish communities, and
build an
inter-faith community of light.
Please bring your family, your friends, a hearty appetite, a love of
fun,
and your willingness to help build a bridge between our extended
families.
Please bring a vegetarian/dairy dish to share. We'll take care of the
latkes and jelly donuts.
WHEN: Sunday, December 1, 3 P.M. to 6:30 P.M.
WHERE: Unity of Bellevue, 16330 NE 4th Street, Bellevue, WA
For details, contact the Bet Alef Office at 206-527-9399.
-----
PUBLISHER/AUTHOR INITIATE NATIONAL INTERFAITH DIALOGUE
WHAT: Informal interfaith discussion titled "Abraham Salon" initiated
by
publisher William Morrow and author Bruce Feiler, who wrote "Abraham: A
Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths"
WHEN: Saturday, November 23, at 8 P.M.
WHERE: Barnes and Noble, in the Montrose Crossing Shopping Center
(located
at Rockville Pike and Randolph Road), Maryland
Facilitators include Dr. Akbar Ahmed, Father Lee Fangmeyer, and Rabbi
Julie
Zupan.
For more information, call (202) 885-1961
-----
TO BECOME A CAIR MEMBER, GO TO:
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/membership.asp
-----
To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to:
http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to: cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 11/22/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: FULFILL OTHER'S NEEDS
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
* CAIR CALLS FOR END TO RIOTING IN NIGERIA
* CAIR REPS VISIT 5 STATES ON RAMADAN TOUR
* NY STUDENT GUILTY OF ASSAULT ON MUSLIM CLASSMATE
* CAIR-DFW BOARD MEMBER JOINS TEXTBOOK REVIEW COMMITTEE
* GRATITUDE TO GOD IS AT THE HEART OF ISLAM (Columbus Dispatch)
* HOW TO COOPERATE WITH THE F.B.I.
* MUSLIM LEGAL GROUP SEEKS REPRIMAND FOR ALAN DERSHOWITZ (AFP)
- War on Terror Might Include Legalized Torture, Dershowitz Says (JTA)
* SECURITY ACT TO PERVADE DAILY LIVES (Christian Science Monitor)
- Fighting Terror by Terrifying U.S. Citizens (San Francisco
Chronicle)
* MUSLIMS TELL THEIR OWN STORY (Chicago Tribune)
- Faith-Charity Link Tested By the Times (Detroit Free Press)
- UW Muslims, Jews Break Fast Together (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
* BANNER FLAP RAISES CONCERNS AT DAWSON (Montreal Gazette)
- Muslim-Canadians Reject Bin Laden's Violent Views (Ottawa Citizen)
* US FORMS IRAQI OPPOSITION ARMY (Christian Science Monitor)
- Anger and Fear Don't Justify War with Iraq (Seattle Times)
* RIGHTS GROUPS SEEK COURT ACTION ON USE OF `HUMAN SHIELDS' (Ha'aretz)
- Israeli Soldiers Treated For "Intifada Syndrome" (Ma'ariv)
- Israel Eyes Up To $10b in U.S. Aid (AP)
* AUSTRALIAN CLERIC STEPS UP WAR AGAINST ISLAMIC DRESS (AFP)
- Swedish TV May Let Muslim Presenters Cover Hair (Reuters)
* STUDENTS TO RALLY AGAINST ANTI-WOMEN LYRICS IN HIP-HOP MUSIC
* JUSTICE DEPT URGED TO INVESTIGATE U.S. GROUPS LINKED TO HINDU
EXTREMISTS
* SO. CALIF. MUSLIMS SPONSOR HEALTH FAIR FOR HOMELESS
* SAN FRANCISCO AREA MUSLIMS HOLD 2ND ANNUAL FREE IFTAR
----
HADITH OF THE DAY: FULFILL OTHER'S NEEDS
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Whoever fulfills the
needs
of his brother, God will fulfill his needs. Whoever eases his brother's
difficulty, God will ease his difficulty in this life and on the Day of
Resurrection."
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 3, Hadith 622
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE
CAIR's Library Project has received 3708 sponsorships for $150 book and
tape packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country.
Take
part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library
package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 320
-----
CAIR REPS VISIT 5 STATES ON RAMADAN TOUR
In our ongoing tour of communities across the Midwest and east coast
during
the month of Ramadan, CAIR representatives have traveled to North
Carolina,
Georgia, Illinois, New York, and Michigan. At each location,
presentations
were offered on CAIR's work in the areas of civil rights, voter
registration, media relations, and educational initiatives. If you are
interested in having CAIR visit your community this month or in the
near
future, contact CAIR Community Affairs at 202-439-5432.
-----
CAIR CALLS FOR END TO RIOTING IN NIGERIA
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/22/02) - The Council on American-Islamic
Relations
(CAIR), a Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group,
today
called for an end to inter-religious rioting in Nigeria that has
resulted
in the deaths of more than 100 people.
Rioting between Christians and Muslims began after the publication of a
newspaper article, dealing with Nigeria's Miss World pageant, which
allegedly insulted the Prophet Muhammad.
"The best way to honor the Prophet is to emulate his forbearance in the
face of repeated insults and attacks. We call on all parties to resolve
their differences in a peaceful manner," said CAIR Board Chairman Omar
Ahmad.
-----
NY STUDENT GUILTY OF ASSAULT ON MUSLIM CLASSMATE
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/22/02) - A Rochester, N.Y., high school student
has
been found guilty of assault against a Muslim classmate who the
assailant
allegedly called a "damn Arab" prior to the attack.
In the incident that occurred last May, the Muslim student was hit in
the
face and knocked unconscious. He sustained cuts, bruises, a broken
nose,
and two chipped teeth.
The victim's family was initially concerned about the lack of remedial
action taken by the school. In a letter to the superintendent, the
Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) stated: "The response of [the high
school] should have been swift, severe and public…The lack of action
taken
by [the school district] against the aggressors, who nearly beat
another
student to death, is unconscionable."
The father of the Muslim student told CAIR: "It's a shame that this
kind of
violence should ever occur. But I'm pleased with the ruling and very
happy
that my son has recovered and is doing well."
CAIR asked the superintendent to issue a statement to staff and
students
clarifying the school district's position on ethnic and religious
discrimination.
CONTACT: Joshua Salaam, 202-488-8787, E-MAIL: jsalaam@cair-net.org
---
CAIR-DFW BOARD MEMBER JOINS TEXTBOOK REVIEW COMMITTEE
A member of CAIR-Dallas/Fort Worth's (CAIR-DFW) board has been selected
to
serve as a community representative on the Textbook Review Committee
for
one of the largest school districts in the area. She will serve with
the
heads of various academic departments serving the school district.
CAIR-DFW President Azhar Azeez stated: "We applaud efforts such as
these in
which Muslim citizens play an active role in civic decisions that
impact
our daily lives."
-----
GRATITUDE TO GOD IS AT THE HEART OF ISLAM
Asma Mobin-Uddin, Columbus Dispatch, 11/22/02
http://www.dispatch.com/news/religion/faith-story.php?story=dispatch/news/features02/nov02/1504747.html
Asma Mobin-Uddin is a pediatrician and serves as vice president of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations' Ohio Chapter.
This is the time of year when many of us are focusing on being grateful
to
God for his blessings. Both Thanksgiving and Ramadan offer
opportunities
for such reflection. At the heart of Islam is the teaching that one
should
praise and be thankful to God in every circumstance.
Muslims answer the question, ''How are you?'' with the Arabic phrase
''Alhamdulillah,'' which means, ''Praise and thanks be to God.'' This
response reflects the acceptance that God, who is loving and kind,
cares
for all his creatures with unbounded tenderness, mercy and wisdom.
Regardless of whether we interpret our situation as easy or difficult,
Muslims believe that every situation we face is placed before us by God
for
a reason, and that ultimately in that reason there is good and benefit
for
us. For this we are thankful to God.
The Quran teaches that human beings were created by God for the purpose
of
being grateful to him. ''It is he who brought you forth from the wombs
of
your mothers when you knew nothing, and he gave you hearing and sight
and
intelligence and affection so that you may give thanks (to God)''
(Quran
16:78)…
Being grateful to God is essential to our well-being in life. A heart
filled with thankfulness has no room for self-pity or despair. With the
understanding that praise and thankfulness is due to God in every
circumstance, souls find contentment and hearts find peace.
-----
HOW TO COOPERATE WITH THE F.B.I.
Open Letter to the Muslim Community
The FBI has begun a new round of questioning similar to that conducted
in
December of 2001. Muslim immigrants and U.S. citizens are the most
likely
targets, but others may be questioned. We would like to inform the
general
public about how to cooperate with the FBI without sacrificing
constitutional rights.
- Do not speak to anyone without consulting an attorney. You have the
right
to a lawyer. Telling the FBI that you need to speak with a lawyer
before
answering questions is not being uncooperative or disobeying an order.
- You are only required to give your name.
- You are not required to allow an agent into your home or office
without a
warrant. If an agent says that he or she has a warrant for your arrest,
you
have the right to see the warrant. You must go with them, but you do
not
have to answer their questions.
- If you are detained, you still have the right to remain silent and to
ask
for a lawyer. Immigration detention centers provide contact information
for
attorneys.
- Write down the name, agency, and telephone number of any investigator
who
calls or visits you.
- Any information you give to an agent without a lawyer, even if it
seems
harmless, can be used against you or someone else.
If you are called or visited by any investigator (FBI, INS Agent or
Immigration Officer) please CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY:
The New York Area Muslim Bar Association (NYAMBA) at (212) 725-3846
The Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund (AALDEF) at (212)
966-5932, ext.213
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) at (212) 870-2002
The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) at (212) 344-3005, ext. 226
CO-SPONSORS:
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey (ACLU-NJ)
Muslim Legal Defense Fund (MLDF)
Muslim Bar Association of the Greater Philadelphia Area
The Muslim Law Students Associations (MLSA) of Fordham Law School, New
York
Law School and Columbia Law School
-----
MUSLIM LEGAL GROUP SEEKS REPRIMAND FOR ALAN DERSHOWITZ
Agence France Presse, 11/21/02
A US Muslim legal group said Thursday it had filed a formal complaint
demanding star Harvard law professor, Alan Dershowitz, be disciplined
for
his comments on curbing terrorism in the Middle East.
The complaint was sent in the form of a letter from the Muslim Legal
Defense and Education Fund to the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers
and
called for "appropriate" disciplinary action.
The letter focused on a recent opinion piece Dershowitz wrote for the
Jerusalem Post and New York Daily News in which he advocated a new
policy
for Israel to combat Palestinian suicide bombings. Dershowitz proposed
a
five-day Israeli moratorium on anti-terrorist operations, followed by
an
announcement that any further act of terrorism would result in the
destruction of any village used as a base for terrorist operations.
The Muslim lawyers argued that Dershowitz's written opinion contravened
the
Massachusetts Bar's code of professional conduct forbidding lawyers to
"engage in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of
justice."
They labelled his proposal of "collective punishment" against
individuals
who may have no direct connection to a crime as a violation of the
Geneva
Convention.
"I can't imagine making a motion to disbar, but at the same time we
think a
reprimand is in order," said the Muslim fund's chairman Talib Karim...
SEE ALSO:
WAR ON TERROR MIGHT INCLUDE LEGALIZED TORTURE, DERSHOWITZ SAYS
Rachel Pomerance, JTA, 11/18/02
http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?strwebhead=Dershowitz+asks+whether+torture+should+be+legal&intcategoryid=5
NEW YORK, Nov. 18 (JTA) - In his newest book, Alan Dershowitz tackles a
dilemma that has troubled Jewish communal leaders amid the war on
terrorism: how to strengthen law enforcement while preserving civil
liberties.
Never one to mince words, the prominent Harvard criminal law professor
gives a plain answer to the book's provocative title, "Why Terrorism
Works"
- because the world has rewarded it…
But several of the prospects Dershowitz discusses - specifically,
legalizing the use of torture and implementing a national system of ID
cards - are controversial.
"Almost everybody hates the chapter on torture, which is the chapter
I'm
most proud of," Dershowitz said. "Conservatives don't like it because
it
doesn't go far enough; liberals don't like it because it goes too far
in
their view…"
Dershowitz counters that torture already exists in the United States,
under
the radar screen, with no checks on the system.
"Tolerating an off-the-book system of secret torture can also establish
a
dangerous precedent," he writes…
-----
SECURITY ACT TO PERVADE DAILY LIVES
Gail Russell Chaddock, Christian Science Monitor, 11/22/02
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1121/p01s03-usju.html
WASHINGTON - When you board a plane in the next year, your pilot may be
armed. Make a call from a pay phone at the ballpark, and it may be
tapped.
Pay for a sandwich with a credit card, and the transaction may wind up
in
an electronic file with your tax returns, travel history, and speeding
tickets.
These are some of the ways that the biggest reorganization of the
federal
government in half a century could trickle down into the minutiae of
the
daily life of Americans.
The Homeland Security Act that President Bush is poised to sign is
sweeping
in scope and will have big consequences, intended and unintended, on
everything from civil liberties of Americans to due process for
immigrants…
While debate in Congress focused on bargaining rights of federal
workers
and the fate of mammoth agencies, many features of this bill reach deep
into the fabric of American life…
Among the implications:
o New authority for agencies to collect and mine data on individuals
and
groups, including databases that combine personal, governmental, and
corporate records - including e-mails and websites viewed.
o Limits on the information citizens can request under the Freedom of
Information Act, and criminal penalties for government employees who
leak
information…
SEE ALSO:
FIGHTING TERROR BY TERRIFYING U.S. CITIZENS
Rob Morse, San Francisco Chronicle, 11/20/02
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/11/20/MN218568.DTL
Live by the Internet, be enslaved by the Internet.
DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which funded the
development of the Internet, is now funding the Information Awareness
Office (IAO) to develop a "large-scale counterterrorism database." The
idea
is to keep track of every bit of information on everyone in the country
and
"detect, classify and identify foreign terrorists."
So far, the Pentagon scientists have terrified a lot of Americans. The
program manager for the IAO is John Poindexter, the retired admiral who
masterminded the shameful Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scheme…
Then the data will be fed into a "collaborative multiagency analytical
environment," which probably means a bunch of spooks sitting around a
table. From there the data goes to the "policy and ops environment,"
and
the ops include "pre-empt."
I don't know if that means Guantanamo or a bullet to the back of the
head.
But remember who's in charge of the data. And remember that it's data
on
you...
-----
MUSLIMS TELL THEIR OWN STORY
Sufiya Abdur-Rahman, Chicago Tribune, 11/22/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0211220185nov22.story
When Ibrahim Abusharif, 44, was a young Muslim growing up on Chicago's
South Side, the books available about Islam were terrible, he said. The
printing quality was poor, translations were shoddy and editorial
attacks
on the religion were common.
"At some point I said, 'There's got to be something better than this.'
This
great world religion is so misunderstood and so easily maligned.
Muslims
have to get their act together and take narrative control," said
Abusharif,
whose parents are Palestinian immigrants. Now he is in a position to
help
do that. About two years ago, Abusharif became a partner in Starlatch
Press, a small south suburban publisher of English-language books aimed
at
educating Muslims and non-Muslims about the religious, spiritual and
cultural aspects of Islam.
Starlatch, based in Bridgeview, is the latest publishing house to tell
of
the Islamic experience from a Muslim viewpoint. Amid the outpouring of
books about Islam to hit bookstores since Sept. 11, 2001, these Muslim
publishers say they want to tell their own story without distortion or
misconception…
"After Sept. 11, there was a rush for books on Islam," Osman said.
Bakhtiar said Kazi had an increase in the sale of Korans, and Abusharif
said Starlatch sold thousands of copies of its introductory text,
"Islam:
Religion of Life."
But Abusharif added he is disappointed that most of the information
being
presented about Islam in the media is still negative.
"There are people who have an ax to grind against Islam and they're not
even subtle about it," he said. "I really trust in what the Koran says:
Falsehood always disappears."
---
FAITH-CHARITY LINK TESTED BY THE TIMES
Rochelle Riley, Detroit Free Press, 11/22/02
http://www.freep.com/news/metro/riley22_20021122.htm
I walked into the Islamic Institute of Knowledge, a popular mosque in
Dearborn, and approached the woman at the desk.
My first goal was to find my way to iftar, the traditional dinner that
ends
the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. My second was to borrow a scarf. When
I
asked, she was gracious.
"Of course," she said quietly, not so much answering my question as
heeding
a call for help. She rose and walked to a cabinet, in much the same way
a
maitre d' would head to a closet to pull out a tie for an underdressed
diner.
She made a triangle of the scarf, tied it around my head and tucked the
front into my shirt. Ah, that's the secret, I thought.
As I entered the room where U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Collins would later
speak, heads turned. I joined a surgeon, a teacher and others at a
delicious meal, where we talked about our children and our jobs. No one
spoke of war.
No one spoke of new anti-terrorist policies that will affect our
freedoms
to keep our freedoms.
The meal was to end Ramadan, a time to reflect on the five pillars of
Islam
and the framework for Muslim living: faith, prayer, concern for the
needy,
self-purification and the pilgrimage to Mecca.
It is the concern for the needy and the Muslim zakat, which means both
"purification" and "growth," that is worrying some area Arab Americans.
Muslims feel their possessions are purified by setting aside a portion
for
those in need, and, like the pruning of plants, the cutting back
balances
and encourages growth…
---
UW MUSLIMS, JEWS BREAK FAST TOGETHER AT COMMON TABLE
John Iwasaki, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 11/21/02
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/96573_fastfood21.shtml
In Room 108 of the Husky Union Building, close to 50 Muslim students
knelt
in prayer yesterday afternoon.
In the opposite corner, more than two dozen Jewish students stood and
quietly prayed. Their devotions completed, the University of Washington
students mingled and shared a fragrant meal of lamb, chicken, salmon,
rice
and salad, prepared in accordance with Jewish and Islamic dietary
requirements.
"I wanted the assumption that Jews and Muslims can't get along to be
thrown
out the window," said Saboora Chaudhry of the Muslim Student
Association
and co-chairwoman of the gathering. "I don't want people to say we
can't
get along -- it's just not true."
Mindy Goldberg, her counterpart at Hillel, a Jewish student
organization,
surveyed the room with satisfaction.
"I think this is perfect," said Goldberg, the other co-chairwoman. "The
seats are filled. I'm really happy."
About 100 students and other members of the campus community, including
Christians, came together for what was billed as a "Fast Food" dinner.
The
event celebrated the breaking of the daily fast by Muslims during their
holy month of Ramadan and allowed each group to learn about fasting in
Islam and Judaism.
The gathering was the first of its kind at the UW. Similar dinners have
been held at other universities, including UCLA, Columbia and Yale…
-----
BANNER FLAP RAISES CONCERNS AT DAWSON
Sue Montgomery, Montreal Gazette, 11/22/02
http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=3047f95a-b57c-4f59-8601-9e593d0e815e
Dawson College's 500 Muslim students are demanding a public apology
from
the administration for ordering them to take down a banner spelling out
the
fundamental premise of the Islamic faith.
The scary phrase in question, "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad
is
the last Messenger of Allah," has been around for what, 1,400 years?
Yet Dawson bigwigs decided, after a handful of people complained, that
it
posed a security risk. Ray Boucher, director of student services, who
approved the banner in the first place, is to sit down with
representatives
of the Muslim Student Association this morning and hammer out a
solution.
But Muslim Student Association spokesman Mubashir Jamal fears that even
if
an apology is forthcoming, the college is on the verge, a la Concordia
University, of banning all banners that "impose a view," including
theirs…
---
MUSLIM-CANADIANS REJECT BIN LADEN'S VIOLENT VIEWS
Letters, Ottawa Citizen, 11/22/02
http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/letters/story.asp?id=F0349A20-8779-4CAA-AA50-497CD276749E
Since Sept. 11, 2001, our sense of security, harmony, democratic values
and
way of life have been severely compromised. Recently, we heard verbal
threats against Canada and other western countries that were allegedly
made
by Osama bin Laden. I am writing to express the abhorrence of myself
and
other members of the Ottawa Muslim Association at that threat and any
other
threat against Canada.
Mr. bin Laden may speak for himself, and must be held accountable for
his
words and deeds. But Muslim-Canadians do not tolerate such extreme and
violent views of religious beliefs. Islam teaches us to live in peace
and
harmony with other ethnic and religious groups in an atmosphere of
tolerance and mutual respect.
We stand on guard, with our fellow Canadians, to defend Canada, its
values,
democracy and multicultural mosaic.
Abdul Waheed Syed,
Ottawa
President,
Ottawa Muslim Association
-----
US FORMS IRAQI OPPOSITION ARMY
Scott Peterson, Christian Science Monitor, 11/21/02
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1121/p01s02-wome.html
Suleimaniyeh And Arbil, Northern Iraq - With promises of $3,000 and a
trip
to America, the US is quietly recruiting - inside northern Iraq - part
of a
new 5,000-man force to help topple Saddam Hussein.
But Iraqi opposition leaders here say that the US is creating a
military
force for the controversial Iraqi National Congress (INC), which has
little
support in Iraq. It is one of six opposition groups that Washington is
encouraging to come up with a plan for ruling a post-Hussein Iraq…
"The US should enter into partnership with the real freedom fighters of
Iraq, the people with a real constituency," says Barham Salih, the
prime
minister of one of two main armed Kurdish groups that control northern
Iraq, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. "Mercenaries will not do the
job..."
---
ANGER AND FEAR DON'T JUSTIFY WAR WITH IRAQ
Bruce Ramsey, Seattle Times, 11/20/02
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorialsopinion/134579554_rams20.html
The audience in the Plymouth Congregational Church's hall was elderly,
earnest and liberal. Four panelists had been invited to talk about war
with
Iraq, and whether it could be justified. I argued that it could not...
Iraq has not attacked any of its neighbors in 12 years. It is not
attacking
the United States. It could not occupy and defend one square mile of
American territory or defend any part of its own against us. It has no
allies. Its airspace is controlled by our air force. It is weak and
poor,
its economy and public health wrecked by Saddam's militarism and 12
years
of our embargo.
Last time America fought Iraq, the ratio of dead Iraqis to dead
Americans
was on the order of hundreds to one. It was a slaughter.
Why do it again? Because Americans imagine that Saddam Hussein may
develop
a nuclear weapon and set it off in the United States. Does he have such
a
weapon? No. If he did, he would say so, as North Korea has, if only to
get
Bush off his back. If Saddam had a nuclear weapon, would he set it off
here? Only if he were nuts…
-----
RIGHTS GROUPS SEEK COURT ACTION ON USE OF `HUMAN SHIELDS'
Moshe Reinfield, Ha'aretz, 11/21/02
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=232886
Human rights organizations petitioned the High Court yesterday to
impose
fines on the prime minister and top security officials for allegedly
violating a temporary injunction issued August 18 forbidding the IDF
from
using Palestinian civilians for military purposes, mainly as "human
shields," until the High Court reaches a final decision on the subject…
The attorney representing the organizations, Marwan Dalal, from Adalah,
claimed that they have learned of several incidents in which the IDF
continued to use Palestinians as "human shields," even after the court
order was issued. Therefore, he said, those responsible must be tried
on
charges of contempt of court. The organizations' evidence is based upon
reports by Palestinians that were used as "human shields" and whose
testimonies were published in a B'Tselem report…
SEE ALSO:
"WHAT HAVE I DONE!" - A HUNDRED SOLDIERS TREATED FOR "INTIFADA
SYNDROME"
Eitan Rabin, Ma'ariv, 11/5/02
http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/resources/jpn2.htm
A special "rehabilitation village" has been set up to take care of
former
combat soldiers who suffer from a deep mental crisis, a hundred of whom
are
at present undergoing treatment. Some suffer from nightmares, and are
unable to face up to operational failures and having harmed civilians.
Veterans of elite units are being treated at the "Izun" rehabilitation
village near Caesarea, by a staff including seven reserve officers.
The project is supported by Orit Mofaz, wife of the new Defense
Minister.
The treatment is financed by the ex-soldiers' parents…
One of the main issues arising in talks with the soldiers is the
Intifada.
"The soldiers burst out crying and blame themselves for maltreatment,
abuse, humiliation and derision of the Palestinians. Now, after being
discharged, the vision of what they had done is playing itself in their
minds like a non-stop film. Suddenly the soldier, the tough fighter who
had
been nicknamed 'Rambo', goes to India. There he experiences another
reality, a quiet and tranquil situation. When he comes back he realizes
what he had done. He tries to escape from reality, to escape into
drugs,
and his life becomes a ruin" says one of the doctors in the village. It
is
difficult to categorize precisely the emotional harm caused to the
soldiers. "It is not exactly shell shock. It is not a post-traumatic
stress
disorder either. It is simply severe mental crisis. This situation is a
real time bomb" says a senior IDF officer…
---
ISRAEL EYES UP TO $10B IN U.S. AID
Dan Perry, Associated Press, 11/21/02
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20021122/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_us_aid_3
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel will ask the United States for loan guarantees
aimed at jump-starting its economy which has been damaged by two years
of
violence and the request will total between $8 billion and $10 billion,
a
senior government official said Thursday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated
Press that the Finance and Defense ministries are finalizing the
request
and would forward it to the United States in the coming days.
The request for guarantees on foreign bank loans would be in addition
to
the $2.9 million in direct loans and grants that Israel receives
annually
from the United States, the official said.
Israel, which receives the largest U.S. aid package of any country,
relies
on the loan guarantees to borrow at lower interest rates.
There is no cost to the United States if Israel repays the loans and
Israel
has never defaulted on a loan, the official said.
A State Department spokesman, Philip T. Reeker, said the United States
has
not yet received the request and declined to comment.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon campaigning for re-election, asked
President
Bush for $10 billion in loan guarantees at a White House meeting last
month, according to Jane's Foreign Report...
-----
AUSTRALIAN CLERIC STEPS UP WAR AGAINST ISLAMIC DRESS
Jack Taylor, Agence France Presse, 11/22/02
SYDNEY - Australian cleric and MP Fred Nile stepped up his campaign
Friday
against Muslim women wearing religious dress, accusing them of being
Islamic extremists and committed "fanatics".
Nile, who represents his own Christian Democrat Party in the New South
Wales state parliament caused a furore Wednesday when he called on the
state government to ban the wearing of the chador, the head-to-foot
dress
favoured by some devout Muslim women, in public places.
The Uniting Church minister said the chador can be used to conceal
weapons
and given the terrorist alert in Australia, they should be banned. His
comments, while condemned by some politicians and religious leaders
appeared to strike a rich vein of sympathy in the wider community as
talkback radio was deluged with calls of support.
The controversy followed reports of Muslim women wearing the hijab head
scarf or the chador being abused and sometimes spat upon on the
streets,
particularly since the Bali bombing in which almost 90 Australians died
on
October 12…
United Muslim Women's Association President Maha Krayem Abdo said while
the
chador is compulsory in Islamic teachings, Australian Muslim women
could
choose whether they wanted to wear it.
But she said Nile's comment that only "normal" Muslim women didn't wear
the
chador was an affront to all women who valued the principles of freedom
and
feminism.
"I don't think he is in a position to dictate to Muslim women what, how
and
why they should wear," said Krayem Abdo. "I think he should do a lot
more
research about Islam and Muslim women."
SEE ALSO:
SWEDISH TV MAY LET MUSLIM PRESENTERS COVER HAIR
Reuters, 11/22/02
STOCKHOLM - Sweden's SVT state television is considering letting women
presenters wear headscarves to comply with Swedish laws on
discrimination,
its chief executive said on Friday.
SVT's earlier refusal to give young Muslim journalist Nadia Jebril a
job as
presenter because her veil could distract viewers caused public debate
in
Sweden.
One in five of the country's nine million people was born abroad or has
parents born abroad.
"Our rules do not allow presenters to wear clothes or jewellery which
could
distract attention from the message of the programme," SVT Chief
Executive
Christina Jutterstrom told Swedish public service radio. "But if we are
breaking a law, of course we will change them."
Sweden's laws on discrimination protect a woman's right to wear a
headscarf
at work, unless it would threaten safety.
Jebril, who is already working as a reporter at SVT, has not reported
the
case to a discrimination court, saying she does not want to become a
symbol
for women who wear the headscarf, a symbol of Muslim devotion.
A Swedish survey of nearly 4,500 immigrants in the late 1990s showed
nearly
a third believed they had been denied employment due to discrimination.
-----
STUDENTS RALLY AGAINST DESTRUCTIVE IMAGES OF WOMEN IN HIP-HOP MUSIC
Press release, MAS Freedom Foundation, 11/22/02
(Bronxville, NY)- The Muslim Student Association of Sarah Lawrence
College
in conjunction with MAS Freedom Foundation presents, Rally against
Destructive Images of Women in Hip-Hop Music and Popular Culture,
'Respect
the Womb That Bore You' on Saturday, November 23, 2002 in Reisinger
Auditorium, from 2PM until 7PM at Sara Lawrence College in Bronxville,
NY.
A distinguished group of activist, artists, and performers will come
together to spark conscious awareness and questioning of the daily
images
of women in popular entertainment, and to decontextualize the role and
effects of these images on individuals and society as a whole…
Tauheeda Yasin, chair of the MSA and a member MAS Freedom stated, "As
Muslims, we are against injustice anywhere, and we can't turn our backs
to
the fact that popular culture has an effect on everyone. Muslims are
seeing
their children being influenced by hip-hop and other popular culture,
and
they are becoming more aware that it isn't enough to just turn off the
TV.
We have to speak up about these images and become aware of the effect
that
images like these play into public policy and popular opinion...
MAS Freedom is sponsoring additional rallies at Howard University,
UCLA,
and The Atlanta University Center. For more information call (202)
496-1288
or (914) 323-6572.
-----
JUSTICE DEPT URGED TO INVESTIGATE U.S. GROUPS LINKED TO HINDU
EXTREMISTS
Press Release, Indian Muslim Council, 11/22/02
Indian Muslim Council-USA (IMC-USA), a Washington-based human rights
advocacy group for activism against rising fascism is calling on the US
Justice Department and State Department to investigate a Maryland
based,
India Development and Relief Fund (IDRF) a Tax-Exempt relief
organization
for allegedly being a conduit to funnel Tax-exempt donations to fascist
groups in India. This comes on the heels of a damning report "A Foreign
Exchange of Hate" release by The Campaign to Stop Funding Hate, a
voluntary
group based in the US. The FEH report offers incontrovertible
information
on the involvement of IDRF in funneling Tax-Exempt donations to
Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) an extremist group with fascist ideology.
This report further corroborates the assertion of many human rights and
secular groups that millions of dollars are being sent from the United
States to the extremist groups in India, like the VHP and the RSS.
These tax-exempt charitable donations are being sent to groups that
spread
hate, indulge in ethnic cleansing and genocide of minorities in India
as
recently March, 2002 when over 2000 Indians were killed, many burned
alive,
hundreds of women and young girls raped than burned…
IMC-USA is also calling United Way and major corporations including
CISCO,
Sun, Oracle, HP and AOL Time Warner to drop IDRF from their list of
charities so that their foundation dollars are not abused to promote
fascist ideology both in India and here in US.
Contact:
Rasheed Ahmed
Telephone (708) 466-0244
www.IMC-USA.ORG
Coverage in India's main English daily:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/comp/articleshow?artid=28895575
-----
SO. CALIF. MUSLIMS SPONSOR HEALTH FAIR FOR HOMELESS
WHAT: The Coalition to Preserve Human Dignity for All People is holding
"Health Fair for the Needy, Hope for the Homeless" on in downtown Los
Angeles They will be providing free support services such as health
screenings, flu shots, lunch, hygiene packs and much more.
We also need help in distributing flyers at masajid this Friday as well
as
the following. So please let me know if you are interested in helping
out.
I have requested a list of masajid that need to be covered, so as soon
as I
receive that, I will send it out Inshallah.
WHEN: Sunday December 1st, 2002, 10 A.M. - 2 P.M.
WHERE: Downtown Los Angeles on Towne Ave between 4th and 5th Street
For more info, contact Basem@ocif.org or Maryam@cair-california.org
Volunteer Orientation Meeting
Saturday November 23, 2002
10:00 am - 12:00 p.m.
Masjid Omar Ibn Al-Khattab
1025 Exposition Blvd.
Los Angeles, Ca. 90007
(Corner of exposition and Vermont across from USC.)
323-733-38 office
-----
SAN FRANCISCO AREA MUSLIMS HOLD 2ND ANNUAL FREE IFTAR
WHAT: ASWAT is organizing the second annual free Iftar for the
Tenderloin
and Bayview district Muslim families and 'idiyeh ('eid gifts) for their
children.
WHEN: Saturday Nov. 30, 5 p.m.
WHERE: 570 Ellis between Leavenworth and Hyde in SF
Program: recitation from the Quran, prayer, Iftar, gift for families
and
youth, youth games. A competition among kids from 6-18 for Quran
recitation. All get gifts.
How can Muslims help?
-Donate food, water, soft drinks and desserts.
-Drop food by 4:40 p.m.
-Donate money or gifts for children ages 1-18.
(Specify age and sex on the gift)
-Donate money to help defray cost of hall rental, tables and chairs,
disposable products, family gifts, meat dishes.
-Volunteer to help that evening. (Each volunteer pays 10.00 for their
Iftar)
*If you would like to donate, we will be glad to come and pick the cold
food, gifts and desserts, from your house on Saturday Nov. 30 no matter
where you live in the Bay area. If you want to donate hot food, you
need
to drop at the hall.
For further info email fabdu@hotmail.com or nabila@sbcglobal.net.
-----
TO BECOME A CAIR MEMBER, GO TO:
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-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
CAIR OFFICIAL APPEARS ON C-SPAN's "WASHINGTON JOURNAL"
CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper appeared today on C-SPAN's
"Washington Journal" to discuss issues related to the American Muslim
community. That segment of the program will be re-played at 10:45 a.m.
(Eastern) on C-SPAN's main channel. If you miss the re-broadcast, check
the
schedule for later air times.
SEE: http://www.c-span.org or
http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/cspan.csp?command=dschedule
Washington Journal programs are archived at
http://www.c-span.org/journal/.
Allow a day for the program to be posted.
-----
TO BECOME A CAIR MEMBER, GO TO:
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/membership.asp
-----
To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to:
http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 11/24/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: FEED THE HUNGRY
* MUSLIMS FULFILL PLEDGE AT CHURCH (Washington Post)
* 13 NATIONS ADDED TO INS REGISTRATION PROGRAM (Post-Dispatch)
- Material Witness Law Has Many in Limbo (Washington Post)
- Justice Dept. Acts to Use New Power (New York Times)
- Report: Anti-Terror Powers Curtail Rights (UPI)
- FBI Focus on Iraqi Professor Sparks Protest at UMass (Boston Globe)
- Reports of Federal Spying Spook US Arabs (AFP)
* MUSLIM ATHLETES ALSO PLAY BY RELIGION'S RULES (Detroit Free Press)
- Finding a Hafiz to Recite Quran is Godsend (Los Angeles Times)
* MUSLIMS AREN'T ALONE IN BREEDING INTOLERANCE (St. Petersburg Times)
* SOUTHLAND JEWS DEBATE CRITICISM OF ISRAELI POLICIES (Los Angeles
Times)
- Muslim Groups Seek Action on Dershowitz (AP)
- Supporters Rally for Jailed Palestinian Activist (AP)
- Sharon Adviser to Discuss Aid Request in Washington (Ha'retz)
- Israeli Troops Block Bethlehem Church (AP)
- Israeli Army Says Troops Killed UN Official (Reuters)
* THE BUSH TEAM'S PLAN TO RUN IRAQ ONCE SADDAM IS GONE (U.S. News)
* O'NEILL TRIES TO SHOW U.S. SENSITIVITY TO ISLAM (Reuters)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: FEED THE POOR AND HUNGRY
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Verily, God…will say on
the
Day of Resurrection…O son of Adam, I asked you for food but you did not
feed Me. The person will respond: My Lord, how could I feed Thee when
Thou
art the Lord of the worlds? (God) will (then) say: Didn't you know that
a
servant of Mine asked you for food but you did not feed him, and were
you
not aware that if you had fed him you would have found him by My side?"
Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1172
When a man complained to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) of
having
a hard heart, the Prophet said: "Stroke orphans' heads and feed the
poor."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1295
-----
MUSLIMS FULFILL PLEDGE AT CHURCH
Alia Ibrahim, Washington Post, 11/23/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28312-2002Nov22.html
The idea was born from a challenge between two friends: a Muslim
chaplain
and a Protestant minister.
The chaplain, Imam Johari Abdel-Malik, challenged the Rev. Graylan
Hagler
to work with him on an interfaith charity project in Washington.
Abdel-Malik said he could provide food and volunteers for an effort to
feed
the needy. Could Hagler provide a place for them to serve the meals?
This
week, as a result of those discussions, Muslim volunteers cooked and
served
hot dinners to about 80 homeless women at First Congregational Church
at
Ninth and G streets NW. They will continue to serve the dinners until
Thanksgiving.
First Congregational has had a dinner program for homeless women since
1979. But Christine Moore, the program's coordinator, said getting
volunteers to work there is not easy and she is grateful for the help
the
Muslims are providing.
"I beg for volunteers all the time," she said. "Everywhere I go, I am
handing out brochures. I go to places and talk to people about what we
do,
and still sometimes it is very difficult to get people to help."
Hagler, the pastor at Plymouth Congregational Church in the District,
said
the effort is "a clear demonstration that there is more that unites
than
there is that divides the Christian and Muslim faiths."
He said he steered Abdel-Malik to First Congregational because "it is
accessible to many people in need and it already has a dining program,
so I
thought it would be a very convenient location."
Abdel-Malik, a chaplain at Howard University and an imam at the Dar al
Hijra mosque in Falls Church, noted that Muslims are required to
perform
acts of charity during the month of Ramadan, which this year began on
Nov.
6. But in the past, Muslims in the Washington area were focused more on
helping the needy in their own community, he said...
-----
13 NATIONS ARE ADDED TO IMMIGRANT REGISTRATION PROGRAM
KAREN BRANCH-BRIOSO, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 11/23/02
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/news/16469E77CC8EB42786256C7A002235CF
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department will require male visitors from 13
additional nations to show up for fingerprinting and questioning at
immigration offices nationwide starting Dec. 2, a significant expansion
of
the registration program beyond the State Department's list of state
sponsors of terrorism.
The new registration rules were published Friday in the Federal
Register.
They will apply to males 16 and older from a number of nations, mostly
Muslim: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Lebanon, Morocco, North
Korea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
The
rules apply to those who entered the United States on visitor visas
before
Sept. 30 and who plan to stay at least through Jan. 10.
The rules require visitors to appear by Jan. 10 at an Immigration and
Naturalization Service office to "answer questions under oath before an
immigration officer," and to show travel documents and proof of where
they
are living, studying and/or working. And, they must be fingerprinted
and
photographed.
Visitors who fail to comply can be deported.
The order said the expansion of the National Security Entry-Exit
Registration System, first announced in June by Attorney General John
Ashcroft, was taken "in light of recent events and based on
intelligence
information available to the Attorney General."
Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations criticized
the
expansion as a move that could harm instead of aid the war on
terrorism.
"It's one more case of singling out of Muslims and Arabs for special
treatment, instead of following real leads and real evidence," Hooper
said.
"It creates a lot of resentment, whenever you're singled out based on
your
religion and national origin. And it's creating resentment at a time
when
the United States needs to improve its image in the Arab and Muslim
world.
It's counterproductive..."
SEE ALSO:
MATERIAL WITNESS LAW HAS MANY IN LIMBO
Steve Fainaru and Margot Williams, Washington Post, 11/24/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31438-2002Nov23.html
Authorities have arrested and jailed at least 44 people as potential
grand
jury witnesses in the 14 months of the nationwide terrorism
investigation,
but nearly half have never been called to testify before a grand jury,
according to defense lawyers and others involved in the cases.
Although they had not been charged with any crimes, these "material
witnesses" were often held under maximum security conditions, in
detentions
ranging from a few days to several months or longer. At least seven of
the
witnesses were U.S. citizens.
The accounts offer the clearest indication to date of how the
government
has used an obscure federal statute, the material witness law, to
detain
and investigate a wide range of terrorism suspects without having to
charge
them with a crime…
---
JUSTICE DEPT. ACTS TO USE NEW POWER IN TERROR INQUIRIES
ERIC LICHTBLAU, New York Times, 11/24/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/24/politics/24JUST.html
WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 - The Justice Department, moving quickly to use its
expanded powers for spying on possible terrorists, plans to assign
federal
lawyers in counterintelligence to terrorism task forces in New York and
Washington to help secure secret warrants against suspects, officials
say.
The deployments, along with other changes under discussion by top
Justice
Department officials, are seen as a crucial first step in breaking down
the
wall between intelligence gathering and law enforcement, officials
said.
The moves grow from a decision last week by a special appellate panel
of
the Foreign Intelligence Court of Review in Washington that validated
the
Justice Department's broad surveillance powers under an antiterrorism
law
passed last year. The appeals court found that prosecutors were
permitted
to use wiretaps obtained under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Act in
prosecuting people accused of being terrorists. For more than 20 years
restrictions had deterred criminal investigators and intelligence
agents
from sharing information.
Justice Department officials, emboldened by last week's decision, say
they
are moving quickly to allow prosecutors and intelligence agents to
share
information routinely to avoid missteps…
Some civil libertarians charge that the policy will make it much easier
for
the authorities to justify secret wiretaps and surveillance, using
lower
thresholds of evidence than traditional criminal warrants require.
Critics
worry that it could mean a return to the days of J. Edgar Hoover's
F.B.I.
in the 1960's, when agents routinely spied on people and groups for
political reasons…
---
REPORT: ANTI-TERROR POWERS CURTAIL RIGHTS
CHRISTIAN BOURGE, United Press International, 11/23/02
WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 (UPI) - Actions taken by the administration of
President George W. Bush and Congress since Sept. 11 in the effort to
combat terrorism effectively erode individual freedoms while exceeding
the
historical powers assumed by past presidents in times of national
emergency, according to a new report from a New York think tank.
Despite their intent, these actions also hold little prospect of
improving
the chance of stopping terrorist threats, Stephen J. Schulhofer,
professor
of law at New York University writes in his report, "The Enemy Within:
Intelligence Gathering, Law Enforcement, and Civil Liberties in the
Wake of
September 11." The report was published by the liberal Century
Foundation.
"The issues (of crisis) that have come around in the past are not
strictly
comparable to the ones we face now, but much of what has been attempted
by
the Bush administration goes far beyond previous actions," Schulhofer
told
United Press International.
In his report, Schulhofer writes that many of the actions taken by the
Bush
administration -- such as the detention without basic constitutional
rights
of American citizens suspected of cooperating with al Qaida -- have
given
the White House the power to act unilaterally without oversight from
the
judicial and legislative branches. He also said that these changes and
those enacted by Congress have come about with minimal scrutiny from
the
public, press and even Congress, even though some of them could hinder
homeland security efforts…
According to Schulhofer, the Homeland Security Agency reorganization,
provisions of the USA Patriot Act and Bush administration movement
toward
holding suspected terrorist indefinitely without charges all threaten
individual liberty.
He said that many of these policies circumvent the constitutional
rights of
individuals and undermine the checks and balances of our system of
government.
"The attempt to detain Americans and then treat them as prisoners of
war,
even when they were arrested on U.S. soil, is virtually unprecedented,"
said Schulhofer, noting that this did occur to some extent during the
civil
war, but not since.
"There is a kind of historical amnesia and a politically driven effort
to
legitimize an environment where the president is insulated from
criticism,"
he said. "The idea that is it unpatriotic or un-American to question
what
the President does is unfortunate. That is not the historical pattern…"
"As long as you attack people who are marginal, like immigrants,
Muslims
and people with unpopular political views, the government has a good
chance
of getting away with its suppression of liberty no matter how
draconian,"
said Higgs. "It is when (government) abuses its power and uses it
against
people who have the ability to fight back through official channels and
the
political process that something is likely to happen."
---
FBI FOCUS ON IRAQI PROFESSOR SPARKS A PROTEST AT UMASS
Eric Goldscheider and Jenna Russell, Boston Globe, 11/24/02
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/328/metro/Academic_alarm+.shtml
AMHERST - When professor M.J. Alhabeeb received a call from police in
his
office at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst last month, his first
thought was that someone in his family had been in an accident.
A few minutes later, an FBI agent and a campus police officer were at
his
door, acting on a tip that the Iraqi-born professor held anti-American
views. The joint interview by FBI and UMass officers lasted only a few
minutes, and was by all accounts polite. But it has outraged many
professors, who say the university's participation in the investigation
violated academic freedom and could have a ''chilling effect'' on the
free
exchange of ideas on campus.
Their outrage - which evoked the specter of campus witch hunts - began
to
draw wider attention as word of UMass's participation in the FBI
investigation spread after a meeting last week.
About 75 people, mostly faculty, attended the meeting last Monday to
plan
their response, to include a public forum and a request for a meeting
with
UMass Chancellor John Lombardi. The UMass police detective, Barry
Flanders,
has been working on the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force for about a
month,
since receiving security clearance, university Police Chief Barbara
O'Connor said.
After learning what had happened, sociology professor Dan Clawson
dashed
off an e-mail to O'Connor demanding that he also be investigated, since
he
disagrees with the Bush administration's policies in Iraq.
"Certainly if the FBI receives a credible report about somebody's
actions,
I would want them to investigate," said Clawson, who organized the
meeting.
"But if they receive a report about someone's views, it is
inappropriate to
investigate, and if the university cooperates in that investigation,
that's
totally inappropriate…"
---
REPORTS OF FEDERAL SPYING SPOOK US ARABS
Louise Daly, Agence France-Presse, 11/24/02
CHICAGO, Nov 24 (AFP) - The surveillance, the informants, the official
visits: Professor Ayad Al-Qazzaz has seen it all before -- and not in
his
native Iraq.
During the 1990/91 Gulf War, Al-Qazzaz got a friendly visit from some
FBI
agents who wanted to make sure he wasn't being harassed, recalls the
sociology professor at California State University in Sacramento.
"They were very nice, very polite, but the hidden message was: 'We are
watching you,'" said the 61-year-old energetic anti-war activist.
So the news, reported earlier this month in the New York Times, that US
authorities are stepping up surveillance of Iraqi- Americans, and even
looking for informants among their ranks, does not surprise him.
Al-Qazzaz is sceptical of the official line that the snooping is aimed
at
flushing out sympathizers of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein who might
be
plotting terrorist attacks.
He sees its as psychological warfare, a carefully placed leak designed
to
intimidate critics of the war with Iraq into silence…
Whatever the program's objective, there seems to be little doubt in the
minds of Arab and Muslim leaders that closer scrutiny of
Iraqi-Americans,
coming on top of a massive post-September 11 security clampdown on
their
communities, has increased the tension on the ground.
When Kareem Irfan, a Muslim leader in the Chicago area, went looking
for
someone to denounce what he sees as the latest infringement of Arab
civil
liberties, he came up empty-handed.
"I couldn't find anyone willing to talk on the record," said Irfan, who
heads up the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago.
"People feel threatened. They're worried that they might already be on
some
kind of blacklist.
"There's an alarmist tendency in our community right now…"
With local newspapers reporting undercover agents infiltrating Arab and
Muslim communities, and street informants feeding information to
investigators, and tax agents poring over Muslim charity and business
records, (the Detroit Free Press: November 12), people are nervous at
any
brushes with US authority.
Reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigation will soon resume its
voluntary interviews of young Arab and Muslim American in the Detroit
area
has triggered a flood of anxious phone calls to the ADC, according to
Hamad.
FBI officials in the capitol, who began their own series of interviews
this
week, tried to reassure community leaders there, saying the exercise
was
purely an "information-gathering," one in a meeting Wednesday.
But callers in Detroit "want to know what kind of questions they're
going
to be asked. They want to know what their rights are," recounted Hamad.
"The interviews are voluntary but most of them think that if they
decline,
they will be subject to retaliation."
-----
MUSLIM ATHLETES ALSO PLAY BY RELIGION'S RULES
NIRAJ WARIKOO, Detroit Free Press, 11/23/02
http://www.freep.com/news/religion/fast23_20021123.htm
For many Muslims, observing Ramadan can be hard at times. The monthlong
holiday requires them to avoid food and water from sunrise to sunset.
So imagine you're a Muslim teenager playing high school sports -- then
it
becomes an even tougher challenge.
But despite the difficulties, a surprising number of Muslim students
across
metro Detroit are running, tackling and winning games on empty stomachs
and
parched throats. It's a striking symbol of how the increasing number of
U.S.-born Muslims are melding their faith and American traditions like
high
school sports…
SEE ALSO:
FINDING A HAFIZ TO RECITE KORAN IS A GODSEND
David Kelly, Los Angeles Times, 11/24/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-hafiz24nov24001455.story
Sheik Hamad Ibrahim al Hadaad squeezes one eye shut, leans forward and
taps
a leathery finger against his skull.
"I am famous for my sharp memory," he says with a sly grin. "Famous
enough
to be brought all the way to America."
The 75-year-old, barefoot Egyptian rests before prayers in his spartan
bedroom at the Islamic Center of the Conejo Valley in Thousand Oaks.
Night after night, chapter by chapter, he recites the Koran from
memory.
His voice, rich and melodious, has made the faithful go weak in the
knees
and reduced grown men to tears.
"There are no words to describe it, only feelings," he says. "It's an
act
of love -- talking heart to heart with God."
The sheik is a hafiz, someone who has memorized all 30 chapters of the
Koran and spent years perfecting its recitation. Part literature, part
poetry and part song, the haunting voice of the hafiz is the ancient
sound
of Ramadan, a month celebrating the divine gift of the Koran to
Muslims.
But locating a hafiz, which means "protector" in Arabic, is an annual
headache for American Muslims. With a relatively short history in the
U.S.,
mosques must fly in their hafizes from places like Egypt, Saudi Arabia,
Pakistan, India and Indonesia.
There are only a handful of religious institutions in the country
preparing
youngsters to become hafizes. One in Sacramento has just 10 students.
At this rate, Muslim leaders say, it will be another generation before
they
can readily enlist a home-grown hafiz for Ramadan…
-----
MUSLIMS AREN'T ALONE IN BREEDING INTOLERANCE
PHILIP GAILEY, St. Petersburg Times, 11/24/02
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/11/24/Columns/Muslims_aren_t_alone_.shtml
Things were a lot simpler before Osama bin Laden replaced our own
Muhammad
Ali as the face of Islam in this country.
Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, many Americans, myself included, have
been wrestling with the question of what to make of the religion of
Islam.
Is it, as President Bush says, a "religion of peace" that has been
perverted by extremists? Or is it, as some conservative Christian
leaders
assert, a force for evil? The Rev. Franklin Graham, son of Billy
Graham,
has called Islam "a very evil and wicked religion." He later explained
he
was condemning Islamic extremists, not all Muslims. Then along came the
Rev. Jerry Falwell to denounce Islam's founder, Mohammed, as
"terrorist."
The one thing I'm sure of is that there are better authorities on Islam
than Graham or Falwell. I stumbled upon one in the latest issue of
Reason
magazine, where Boston Globe columnist Cathy Young puts this debate
into an
illuminating historical perspective. She reminds us that every belief
system, or religion, that lays claim to One Truth, or One God, holds
the
seeds of violent intolerance. The same questions now being asked about
Islam have been asked about Christianity in the past.
Young writes that, as the religious scholar Alex Kronemer has pointed
out,
"Mohammed was no bloodier a figure than Moses - and the Bible contains
plenty of language no less violent than the Koran's. At one point,
Moses
takes the Israelites to task for sparing the women and children of a
vanquished enemy tribe and instructs them to kill all the male children
and
all the women, except the virgins, who can be taken as slaves and
concubines. Mosaic law also makes idolatry or the worship of other gods
a
capital offense, along with a host of other crimes, including adultery,
cursing one's parents and sodomy…"
Falwell may not want to admit it, but Christianity has had its Taliban
moments - the burning of women accused of being witches, mandatory
attendance at sermons, the persecution of Jews and the bloody Crusades,
to
name a few. As Young reminds us, Martin Luther's 1543 polemic The Jews
and
Their Lies urged Christian rulers to rid their lands of the "abominable
blasphemy" spread by Jews and "act like a good physician who, when
gangrene
has set in, proceeds without mercy to cut, saw, and burn flesh, veins,
bone
and marrow." His advice also included "to set fire to their
synagogues,"
destroy their homes and forbid rabbis to teach "on pain of loss of life
and
limb…"
-----
SOUTHLAND JEWS DEBATE CRITICISM OF ISRAELI POLICIES
Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times, 11/23/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-religjewish23nov23.story
A group of prominent Jewish intellectuals in Southern California is
urging
the American Jewish community to "reopen the channels of free debate,"
asserting that the prolonged Mideast crisis has created growing
intolerance
here for criticism of the Israeli government or compassion for the
Palestinian people.
"In the name of unity in the time of crisis, the great Jewish tradition
of
vibrant and open debate has given way to a single voice," read a
statement
signed by 37 mostly liberal scholars, rabbis and other prominent
figures
published this week in the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. The
statement urged Jews to "recover the principles of tolerance,
responsibility, and empathy that animate the Jewish political
tradition…"
SEE ALSO:
MUSLIM GROUPS SEEK ACTION ON DERSHOWITZ
Associated Press, 11/24/02
BOSTON (AP) - A group of Muslim lawyers has asked the Massachusetts
Board
of Bar Overseers to punish Alan Dershowitz because of the Harvard Law
School professor's proposal to raze Palestinian villages in response to
attacks on Israelis.
The Washington-based Muslim Legal Defense and Education Fund claims
Dershowitz broke the rules of his profession by advocating for a policy
that would violate international law.
Dershowitz, who helped defend O.J. Simpson, proposed in March that
Israel
declare a short moratorium on reprisals for terror attacks, and then
circulate a list of locations that would be demolished if Palestinians
carried out further attacks.
The lawyers' group, formed in January to protect Muslims from hate
crimes,
separately is suing AOL Time Warner for allowing harassment of Muslims
in
online chat rooms.
"As attorneys, we're sworn to uphold all laws," Sareer Fazili, a member
of
the group's board of directors, told the Boston Sunday Globe. "There
are
treaties that prohibit collective punishment. What he called for was no
due
process, no judge and jury, and that mass reprisal take place…"
Penalties available to the Board of Bar Overseers range from reprimand
to
disbarment, although most complaints are dismissed. A spokesman for the
board said he couldn't recall a discipline case that turned on
international law.
---
SUPPORTERS RALLY FOR JAILED PALESTINIAN ACTIVIST
WAYNE PARRY, Associated Press Writer, 11/23/02
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) _ Chanting slogans denouncing the FBI and immigration
officials, about 30 protesters demanded the release of a Palestinian
activist they claim was arrested for his political views.
The noisy demonstration outside Penn Station was held Saturday in
support
of Farouk Abdel-Muhti, who has been held in county jails in New Jersey
since his April arrest on immigration charges in New York.
He has sued the federal government for holding him too long, arguing he
must be allowed to stay in the United States because, as a Palestinian,
there is no nation to which he can be deported.
"It's all very political," said David Wilson, a member of the New
York-based Committee for the Release of Farouk Abdel-Muhti. "They're
trying
to see if they can take an activist who's been on the radio and lock
him
away based on what is saying…"
Abdel-Muhti, 55, has been held longer than six months, the standard
used by
the government in judging what is reasonable before a person should be
deported. He is at the Passaic County Jail in Paterson, and previously
had
been held in Camden and Middlesex counties.
He had been a regular guest of New York radio station WBAI, commenting
on
Palestinian issues. Shortly before his apartment was raided, he was at
the
radio station translating for Palestinian callers…
---
TOP SHARON ADVISER TO DISCUSS SPECIAL AID REQUEST IN WASHINGTON
Aluf Benn, Ha'retz, 11/24/02
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=233655
The Prime Minister's Office bureau chief, Dov Weisglass, left for the
United States Saturday night in preparation for Monday's meeting with
U.S.
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice over Israel's request for
special economic and security assistance.
Israel wants NIS 4 billion in military aid, to be given over a number
of
years, to support Israel's war on terror and to help the country face
new
strategic and military threats in preparation of the expected
American-led
war against Iraq. Israel also is asking that the Bush administration
provide $10 billion in loan guarantees that would help ease its
economic
plight...
---
ISRAEL TROOPS BLOCK BETHLEHEM CHURCH
IBRAHIM HAZBOUN, Associated Press, 11/24/02
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) - Israeli troops cordoned off the square
around
Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, preventing worshippers from
attending
services Sunday.
Bethlehem's residents have been under curfew since Friday, when Israeli
troops entered the town following a suicide bombing in Jerusalem that
killed 11 people on Thursday. The Palestinian bomber came from
Bethlehem.
As the church bells pealed Sunday, the soldiers allowed about 15 monks
to
enter the compound of the church, built on the site where Jesus was
believed to have been born…
Inside Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, a small group of monks and
nuns
gathered to sing hymns and pray, while the Israeli troops patrolled
outside.
In March, Israeli soldiers besieged the church for 39 days after
Palestinian militants took refuge inside. During the latest incursion,
troops were quick to seal off the church compound and the adjoining
Manger
Square to prevent a similar occurrence.
---
ISRAELI ARMY SAYS TROOPS KILLED UN OFFICIAL
Megan Goldin, Reuters, 11/24/02
JERUSALEM, Nov 24 (Reuters) - The United Nations challenged on Sunday
Israel's contention that Palestinians had fired at Israeli troops from
a
U.N. compound during a gunbattle in which soldiers shot dead a U.N.
official.
"Preliminary findings from our inquiry indicate that this is not true.
This
claim is incredibly incorrect," said Paul McCann, a spokesman for the
U.N.
Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
He said a U.N. investigator would arrive from U.N. headquarters in New
York
later in the day to launch a full probe into the death of Iain Hook, a
British UNRWA official killed in Jenin refugee camp on Friday.
The Israeli army admitted its forces killed Hook, 54, saying they
mistook
an object he was holding in his hand for a weapon during a skirmish
with
Palestinian gunmen in the vicinity of the UNWRA compound…
-----
THE BUSH TEAM'S PLAN TO RUN IRAQ ONCE SADDAM IS GONE
KEVIN WHITELAW, U.S. News & World Report, 12/2/02
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/021202/usnews/2saddam.htm
The last time American armor massed along the Iraqi border for an
invasion,
the war plan was the mission. Period. This time, if America invades
Iraq,
the battle plan will be just the beginning. War would not be about
simply
removing a loathsome dictator. It would be a prelude to a far more
ambitious undertaking-transforming Saddam Hussein's dysfunctional
police
state into a free, democratic nation.
Pentagon planners have been working on the war plan for months. The
planning for engineering a post-Saddam Iraq, though, has been far more
seat-of-the-pants. Still, in a series of interviews, senior government
officials tell U.S. News that a consensus is forming at the highest
levels
of the Bush administration over how to run the country after Saddam and
his
regime are history. The plan is being developed by a high-level,
interagency task force called the Executive Steering Group. The group,
whose existence has not previously been disclosed, is run by the White
House and is responsible for coordinating all Iraq war planning efforts
and
postwar initiatives. The postwar plan calls for a three-phase scenario
beginning with a period of military rule, most likely by an American
general, and ending with a new, representative Iraqi government within
a
relatively short but undefined number of years.
Should President Bush have the opportunity to implement the plan, it
would
represent one of the most ambitious, potentially perilous American
commitments to another nation since the end of the Second World War…
-----
O'NEILL TRIES TO SHOW U.S. SENSITIVITY TO ISLAM
Glenn Somerville, Reuters, 11/24/02
NEW DELHI , Nov 24 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, on
his
week-long visit to South Asia, has tried to show the Bush
administration as
sensitive to Islam and to allay concerns that a war against terrorism
meant
hostility to Islam.
For the well-travelled O'Neill, this included some self-sacrifice in
keeping with the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
In Muslim Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as officially secular but
mainly Hindu India, which has a large Muslim minority, O'Neill obeyed
Islam's rules against drinking and eating during daylight hours during
Ramadan.
Some of the sites O'Neill visited, including the historic Badshai
mosque in
Lahore, Pakistan, were intended to show respect to Islam at a time when
the
United States is pressing a war against terrorism that some groups have
attempted to portray as aimed against Islam…
Nichols said O'Neill turned down polite offers of food and drink during
the
day, preferring to fast until after sunset as Muslims do during
Ramadan.
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 11/25/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: KNOWLEDGE IS A BLESSING
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE: 4219 SPONSORSHIPS
* CAIR OFFICIAL APPEARS ON C-SPAN
* CANADIAN COLLEGE APOLOGIZES FOR REMOVAL OF MUSLIM BANNER
* FBI: SURGE IN CRIMES AGAINST MUSLIMS (AP)
- Muslims All, But Not The Same (UPI)
- Prophetic Students (San Francisco Chronicle)
- Dinner Honors Civil Rights Activists (Post-Gazette)
* COLLEGES BALK AT FBI REQUEST FOR DATA (Wall Street Journal)
* QURAN CONTROVERSY AT UNC-CHAPEL HILL ISN'T OVER (AP)
* LAW SHARES PRAYERS, FEAST, HOPE WITH MUSLIMS (Boston Globe)
* ANTI-MUSLIM BIGOTRY `SPREADING LIKE WILDFIRE' (Toronto Star)
* A STAMP STUCK IN CONTROVERSY (Philadelphia Inquirer)
* BIG BROTHER IS BACK (Newsweek)
* PROFS PROTEST CAMPUS WATCH (Washington Square News)
* ISRAELIS MAKE PALESTINIAN STRIP NAKED, WALK LIKE DOG (Reuters)
* INSIDE THE SECRET CAMPAIGN TO TOPPLE SADDAM (Time)
- U.S. Is Wooing a Shiite Exile to Rattle Iraq (New York Times)
- Arab "U.S." Business Wary Of Wrath Over Iraq War (Reuters)
* KILLING UNDERSCORES ENMITY OF EVANGELISTS/MUSLIMS (New York Times)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: KNOWLEDGE IS A BLESSING
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "God, His angels and all
those in Heavens and on Earth, even ants in their hills and fish in the
water, call down blessings on those who instruct others in beneficial
knowledge."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 422
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT UPDATE: 4219 SPONSORSHIPS
CAIR's Library Project has received 4219 sponsorships for $150 book and
tape packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country.
Take
part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library
package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 320
-----
CAIR OFFICIAL APPEARS ON C-SPAN
http://www.c-span.org/journal/
Search for the Saturday, November 23, 2002, "Washington Journal."
Ibrahim Hooper, Council on American-Islamic Relations, National
Communications Director - Watch a discussion on issues affecting
American
Muslims since 9/11.
Length: 45 min.
-----
GOOD NEWS: CANADIAN COLLEGE APOLOGIZES FOR REMOVAL OF MUSLIM BANNER
(OTTAWA, CANADA - 11/25/02) - The Canadian office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) is calling on Canadians to thank
Dawson College for its unconditional apology regarding that
institution's
recent decision to forbid Muslim students the right to display the
Islamic
declaration of faith at a recent "Discover Islam" event.
CAIR-CAN wrote to the College on November 16th, and issued an action
alert
shortly thereafter calling on Canadians to protest Dawson's
unconstitutional decision and demand that representatives of the
College
not infringe on the right of any student group to its religious
expression.
In his letter of apology, Director of Student Services Ray Boucher
stated:
"I sincerely regret having to instruct the MSA students to take down
their
banner, and I apologize in particular to those students involved, and
any
other Muslims, within and outside of the College community who have
been
adversely affected by the decision... I wish to state categorically
that
neither I nor Dawson College find the contents of the banner to be
offensive or out of place in our College."
The College has also invited the MSA to conduct a second "Discover
Islam"
event.
Spokesperson of Dawson MSA Mubashir Jamal stated, "Alhamdulillah (to
God be
praise), we are pleased that this issue is resolved. MSA Dawson wishes
to
extend its thanks to CAIR-CAN for their prompt action."
"Their activism did make a difference," he added.
ACTION REQUESTED:
E-MAIL: rboucher@dawsoncollege.qc.ca, ngurudata@dawsoncollege.qc.ca,
pwoodsworth@dawsoncollege.qc.ca
THANK them for their swift unconditional apology and their commitment
to
tolerance and diversity.
COPY TO: Canada@cair-net.org
-----
FBI: SURGE IN CRIMES AGAINST MUSLIMS
Curt Anderson, Associated Press, 11/25/02
http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2002/11/25/hate_crimes/
WASHINGTON (AP) - Hate crimes surged last year against people of
Islamic
faith and those of Middle Eastern ethnicity in the aftermath of the
Sept.
11, 2001 terror attacks, the FBI reported Monday.
Incidents targeting Muslims, previously the least common involving
religious bias, increased from just 28 in 2000 to 481 in 2001 - a jump
of
1,600 percent.
Hate crimes directed against people because of their ethnicity or
national
origin - those not Hispanic and not black - more than doubled from 354
in
2000 to 1,501 in 2001. This category includes people of Middle Eastern
origin or descent, the FBI says.
The increases, according to the report, happened ``presumably as a
result
of the heinous incidents that occurred on Sept. 11'' of 2001...
Most incidents against Muslims and people of Middle Eastern ethnicity
also
involved assaults and intimidation, but there were three cases of
murder or
manslaughter and 35 arsons…
SEE ALSO:
FBI HATE CRIMES REPORT: http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/01hate.pdf
-----
MUSLIMS ALL, BUT NOT THE SAME
Marcella S. Kreiter, United Press International, 11/24/02
Americans are making a huge mistake by lumping all Islamist movements
together without differentiating among the purely religious, the
liberal
and radical factions, a University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
professor
says.
Sociologist Charles Kurzman says while all the groups purport to spread
a
"purer" way of life based on the word of the prophet Muhammed, local
fundamentalist movements like the Taliban are insular with no interest
in
the outside world, and appeal to the poor with little education outside
strict religious schools. Liberals like those in Iran and followers of
former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid, are secularly educated
and
seek to establish modern states, while and radicals, including al
Qaida,
Jemaah Islamiyah in Indonesia, and the Islamic Jihad in the Mideast
want to
establish a new world order...
"I think basically what he (Kurzman) is reminding...people of is that
assuming every Islamic organization that is in some way active in
advocating and affirming Islamic positions is going to be the same as
assuming that (fundamentalist preachers) Jerry Falwell and Pat
Robertson
were going to agree on issues of war and peace with the Quakers," said
John
O. Voll.
Voll, associate director of the Center for Muslim-Christian
Understanding
and an Islamic history professor at Georgetown University, said, "What
you
have within the Islamic world is the same broad spectrum of social and
political visions that can be identified as Muslim as you would have in
the
broad spectrum of views that can be identified as Christian."
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Washington-based Council on
American-Islamic Relations, said it's not so much the inability of
Americans to make the distinctions but rather the efforts by opinion
leaders to "portray Islamic activism as a monolith so they can paint it
all
with the same brush…"
---
PROPHETIC STUDENTS
Ruth Rosen, San Francisco Chronicle, 11/25/02
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/11/25/ED27735.DTL
Who would have imagined how swiftly the American government could
threaten
our precious civil liberties and basic rights in the name of fighting
terrorism?
Looking back, I now realize that my former students saw it coming.
The year was 1999. Bill Clinton was president, the stock market was
soaring, and the 175 students in my history course at UC Davis had no
reason to fear the kind of secret detainment or government surveillance
the
Bush administration has already employed and that Congress has just
sanctioned. But they did…
I had just finished lecturing on the internment of Japanese American
citizens during World War II and had shown them a documentary film on
that
shameful episode in our nation's past...
"So, could it happen again?" I asked them. "And if so, under what
conditions?" It was a sensitive subject, so I asked them to write their
responses on paper, without signing their names.
Their distrust of the government was surprisingly strong. Now, their
responses seem eerily prophetic.
Two-thirds of the class believed the United States would be willing to
round up "hyphenated Americans" and send them to internment camps.
Eighty-five percent of the class identified Arab Americans as the most
likely targets of government repression…
"I'm a fifth-generation Californian," wrote another student. "If there
was
some act of terrorism, people would instantly assume that Arabs or
Muslims
did it. So citizens of Arab descent, much like the Japanese Americans,
would be treated like possible traitors. And if there was another war
with
Iraq, well I wouldn't want to be an Iraqi American..."
"Yes, something awful could happen again," wrote a student who
identified
himself as a computer science major. "But I don't think our government
would round up people and send them away again. The government doesn't
need
to isolate people in internment camps. It can now use electronic
surveillance to target its suspects. All it has to do is create a huge
electronic database and it'll know everything about everyone. That's
the
way the government will control people in the future..."
---
ISLAM CENTER DINNER HONORS CHAMPIONS OF CIVIL RIGHTS
Marylynne Pitz, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, 11/25/02
http://www.post-gazette.com/localnews/20021125islam1125p4.asp
Followers of Islam welcomed guests of all faiths to the Islamic Center
of
Pittsburgh last night with hospitality, prayer and a dinner that broke
a
daily fast during the month of Ramadan…
During Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset as a way to develop
patience, self-control and a deeper connection with God. Last night's
gathering of nearly 400 people was the eighth annual Humanity Day to
which
non-Muslims are invited to share in worship and a meal at the mosque.
Hassan Bakri, one of the event's organizers, said the Islamic Center
honored the Thomas Merton Center last night because the organization
has
helped local Muslims to understand their civil rights and to feel less
isolated.
Molly Rush, a longtime peace activist with the Thomas Merton Center in
Garfield, said some members of the mosque have felt threatened because
they
have been questioned by agents from the Federal Bureau of
Investigation.
Tim Vining, executive director of the Merton Center, said the center's
staff has helped local Muslims by connecting them with lawyers from the
American Civil Liberties Union…
Also honored last night was NetTec Services, a local computer company
run
by David Pultz. After Sept. 11, 2001, the company conducted sensitivity
training. Afterward, Pultz decided that all of his employees could have
a
day off to celebrate the end of Ramadan…
-----
SOME COLLEGES BALK AT FBI REQUEST FOR DATA ON FOREIGNERS
Ann Davis, Wall Street Journal, 11/25/02
http://online.wsj.com/public/us
FBI AGENTS have asked some colleges and universities for help in
amassing
extensive electronic dossiers about their foreign faculty and students,
including information that many educators contend schools can't release
without a court order.
In the most recent instance, agents with the Louisville, Ky., FBI field
office in the past few weeks wrote local colleges for detailed
information
on foreign students and faculty. The letters asked for "their names,
addresses, telephone numbers, citizenship information, places of birth,
dates of birth and any foreign-contact information available."
Such requests come as schools are struggling to gather data for a new
system the Immigration and Naturalization Service plans to launch in
January to electronically track information about foreign students. The
FBI
will be able to search that database, but the INS says the bureau won't
have a copy of it, so many agents want to compile their own.
The FBI requests are raising delicate questions for schools about how
much
to divulge voluntarily. The dilemma pits the FBI's goal of acting fast
to
prevent attacks against public concern about too quickly signing away
privacy rights. Some schools point out the FBI already has been given
new
powers under the USA Patriot Act and can get vast amounts of
information on
students with a court order. Yet the FBI isn't always using those
formal
legal channels…
The Department of Education has issued guidance on educational privacy
laws
that says releasing information voluntarily about students in a way
that
singles them out based on their citizenship, gender or race, for
example,
would be considered "harmful or an invasion of privacy."
The American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions
Officers
agrees. Yesterday it posted an advisory on its Web site to its 2,300
member
institutions. It asserts that, under such privacy laws, "a subpoena or
court order MUST accompany" a request from the FBI involving
citizenship or
there could be "significant legal consequences." It noted that public
colleges and universities, however, may be allowed under immigration
laws
to tell authorities if someone is an illegal alien…
-----
QURAN CONTROVERSY AT UNC-CHAPEL HILL ISN'T OVER
Associated Press, 11/25/02
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - The news crews and TV cameras have been gone
for
three months, but the controversy over a summer reading requirement on
the
Quran at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill isn't over.
The
lawsuit that sparked this summer's turmoil has been amended and still
sits
in federal court in Greensboro.
"It's still there," said Steve Crampton, lead counsel for the American
Family Association, which counts three still-unnamed freshmen among its
group of five plaintiffs. "We think that what we've uncovered so far is
just the tip of the iceberg."
About 4,200 incoming freshman and transfer students were expected to
read
about 130 pages of "Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations," by
Michael Sells.
Lawyers with the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy
filed
a lawsuit on behalf of the three students and two taxpayers. The
lawsuit
claimed that the requirement was unconstitutional because it promoted
Islam.
A federal judge ultimately allowed the school to proceed with the
assignment.
But Crampton and his legal team have amended the original complaint,
attacking what they feel are misleading claims by UNC.
-----
LAW SHARES PRAYERS, FEAST, HOPE WITH MUSLIMS
Scott S. Greenberger, Boston Globe, 11/25/02
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/329/metro/Law_shares_prayers_feast_hope_with_Muslims+.shtml
AYLAND - It was Sunday, and Cardinal Bernard F. Law had come to pray.
So,
wearing a gold crucifix and a flowing black robe with red trim, Law
removed
his shoes. Then, as the imam chanted the sunset prayers, the bishop
knelt
with his forehead just inches from the carpet and offered praise to
Allah.
No doubt, Law looked out of place at the Islamic Center of Boston last
night - but he didn't feel that way. Law, who participated in the
Wayland
mosque's Ramadan observance as a gesture of good will, said he felt
right
at home among the Muslim worshipers.
''Yes, there are differences. But the starting point - and the most
important point - is that we believe in one God,'' Law told them. The
cardinal did not mention the priest sex abuse scandal, or the
possibility
of war with Iraq, which he opposes.
Habib Rahman, a 45-year-old attorney who lives in Weston, said he was
touched by the cardinal's presence. Like many other worshipers, Rahman
complimented Law for being especially forthright in support of Muslims
after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
''By being here, he is extending a hand of friendship, and I welcome
that,'' Rahman said.
After the prayers, Law shared the iftar, the meal breaking the daily
sunrise-to-sunset Ramadan fast. Members of the congregation started
with
dates - as Mohammed, the prophet and founder of Islam, might have done
-
then moved on to a feast of salad, chicken, and rice. The families at
the
Islamic Center hail from about 20 countries, mostly in South Asia and
the
Middle East, and the food reflected diversity…
-----
FOUR TELLTALE THEMES ANTI-MUSLIM BIGOTRY `SPREADING LIKE WILDFIRE'
Haroon Siddiqui, Toronto Star, 11/23/02
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1035774754234&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News
The speaker is Dr. Khaled Abou el-Fadl, professor of law at UCLA. The
Kuwait-born and Egyptian-trained Arab scholar and prolific author has
emerged as a prominent Muslim dissident in the West.
As outlined in my column Thursday, and on the Religion page yesterday,
he
has questioned Islamic orthodoxy on a host of issues - from the
treatment
of women to the ban on music and dogs. He has attacked conservative
theologians for robbing Islam of its humanism and pluralism, making it
puritanical and intolerant.
But Abou el-Fadl is an equal opportunity offender. He is a strong
critic of
American policies as well as post-Sept. 11 anti-Islamism, themes he
also
enunciated in an interview during a visit to Toronto.
"The demonization of Muslims is well-camouflaged," he said. "It's not
like
the vulgar bigotry against the Japanese in World War II or against the
Chinese a century ago. This is more refined, more subtle, highly
intellectualized and thus more dangerous."
Look, Abou el-Fadl said, for these four telltale themes:
"The most insidious is that Muslims have existed fundamentally and
irreparably in a state of conflict with the Judeo-Christian
civilization.
It's a claim that gives the Islamic threat a certain historical
inevitability: `Well, you know it was like that in history and will
remain
like that.'"
Abou el-Fadl cited Bernard Lewis, American scholar on Islam. "He was
once
asked in an interview, `After you told us about all these problems with
Muslims, what do we do?' And he said, in effect, `Well, there's nothing
we
can do. They are just the way they are. They're just going to hate us
and
go after us.'"
The second tactic posits Islam as "a fascist ideology, fundamentally
aggressive or fundamentally totalitarian."
This ignores all the competing traditions in Islam and holds up the
most
marginal and fanatical Muslims as the true representatives of the
faith…
-----
A STAMP STUCK IN CONTROVERSY
Gaiutra Bahadur, Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/25/02
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/4598229.htm
The piece of postage features a greeting for two major Islamic holidays
rendered in gold Arabic calligraphy against an azure background. "Eid
Mubarak," it reads in homage to Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan, the
monthlong period of fasting and prayer that will conclude this year on
Dec.
6, and Eid al-Adha, a celebration during the pilgrimage to Mecca in
February.
The U.S. Postal Service first issued the stamp 10 days before the
terrorist
attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Last month, it reprinted the stamp as part of its permanent holiday
series,
despite calls from some customers to stop selling it.
"What we were looking at was public sentiment," said Ray Daiutolo Sr.,
a
spokesman for the Postal Service in the Philadelphia region. "It's the
law
of supply and demand. They were popular."
Advocacy groups for American Muslims - although engaged in more
substantive
battles against hate crimes, detentions and ethnic profiling in the
last
year - hailed that decision as a milestone.
"It was a pretty sizable victory," said Aminah Assilmi, 58, a
grandmother
from Kentucky and a convert to Islam who started lobbying the
postmaster
general for the stamp about five years ago. "That stamp became a symbol
to
everyone of saying, 'Yes, we're a part of America.' And now other
people
see that, too…"
-----
BIG BROTHER IS BACK
John Barry, Newsweek, 12/2/02
http://www.msnbc.com/news/839248.asp
The official logo of the Information Awareness Office, the Pentagon's
secretive new terrorist-detection experiment, isn't subtle.
A picture of the globe, under the watchful gaze of that spooky pyramid
on
the dollar bill, the one with the all-seeing eye of God at the top.
Underlining that, the project's motto: SCIENTIA EST POTENTIA (Knowledge
Is
Power).
All in all, not a bad description of the office's lofty-and
controversial-ambitions. Quietly created after the September 11
attacks,
the office's Total Information Awareness project aims to enable federal
investigators to engage in a kind of super "data mining"-inventing
software
to trawl through commercial and government computer databases in search
of
suspicious patterns that might indicate terror plans…
-----
PROFS PROTEST CAMPUS WATCH
Christine Armario, Washington Square News, 11/25/02
http://www.nyunews.com/getstory.php?id=20003920
Four NYU professors have joined dozens of scholars nationwide in
writing
letters of protest to Campus Watch, a pro-Israel research and policy
group
that monitors universities with a perceived anti-Israel bias. The
scholars
are among more than 100 across the country who in recent weeks have
written
to Campus Watch in defense of eight professors who the group has listed
as
"apologists to terrorism" on its Web site.
In September, Campus Watch started a list of Middle Eastern studies
professors across the country who the group claims have "errors and
biases"
in their scholarship. It listed NYU as one of 20 U.S. colleges that
"fan
the flames of disinformation, incitement and ignorance" with regard to
Middle Eastern studies, according to the Web site. Soon after the list
of
scholars was drafted, a professor from the University of California at
Berkeley urged scholars to write in and request to be added to the list
as
an act of solidarity with the eight professors initially posted. NYU
Middle
Eastern studies professors Jenine Abboushi, Khaled Fahmy, Zachary
Lockman
and history professor Mary Nolan joined more than 100 professors and
graduate students who asked to have their names added.
The NYU professors compared Campus Watch's tactics to those used by
Joseph
McCarthy in his attack on communism in the 1950s. "All of this reeked
of
McCarthyism and I considered it a gross attack on the freedom of
expression," Fahmy said in an e-mail. Even though he was not one of the
eight professors initially listed on the Campus Watch site, Fahmy said
he
felt compelled to respond in their defense. "McCarthyism was defeated
by
upholding and defending the principle of freedom of expression and by
confronting attempts to silence and muzzle dissenting voices," he said…
-----
ISRAELIS MAKE PALESTINIAN STRIP NAKED -WITNESSES
Mohammed Assadi, Reuters, 11/25/02
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Three Israeli soldiers forced a Palestinian man
to
strip naked at gunpoint and walk like a dog in a West Bank city under
curfew, Palestinian witnesses said on Monday.
A Reuters photographer snapped Yasser Sharaf, 25, standing naked in a
cold,
muddy street in Nablus on Sunday as two men were handing him clothes to
put
on and two Israeli armoured vehicles were pulling away from the scene.
Sharaf declined to comment on Monday about the incident…
Witnesses including two Palestinian firemen said Israeli soldiers
stopped
Sharaf after spotting him walking in a street in violation of curfew
and,
"pointing their rifles at him, ordered him to start stripping."
"Yasser told them he had nothing to hide but they continued shouting
and
readied their rifles to shoot," fireman Samir el-Lifdawi told Reuters
by
telephone from Nablus.
"They forced Yasser to take off all his clothes including his
underwear...They ordered him to walk like a dog and then he burst into
tears," Lifdawi said.
He said he watched the incident unfold from a fire station a few metres
(yards) away. A colleague, Sultan al-Minawi, provided the same account.
"He kept crying and was in a very stressful situation... "Many
residents,
including women, watched him and he was very embarrassed," Minawi said.
Palestinian civilians have often complained of being humiliated and
abused
by Israeli troops who have reoccupied Palestinian-administered West
Bank
cities to combat an uprising for statehood spearheaded by armed
militants…
-----
INSIDE THE SECRET CAMPAIGN TO TOPPLE SADDAM
Michael Elliott and Massimo Calabresi, Time, 11/23/02
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101021202-393574,00.html
One day in mid-September, the phone rang in the Washington office of a
former U.S. government official with close ties to the Iraqi exile
community. On the other end of the line was an old Iraqi friend, now
living
in Europe, whom the former official had met when he was stationed in
the
Middle East in the 1990s. There were some pleasantries; then the Iraqi
cut
to the chase. In the past two months, he said, four senior Iraqi
security
officials had contacted him and asked if he could help them establish
lines
of communication to the U.S. so that if war started, they could be on
the
winning side. The former official had contacted two old colleagues, now
at
the White House and the CIA, and put them in touch with the Iraqi
middleman…
---
U.S. IS WOOING A SHIITE EXILE TO RATTLE IRAQ
Michael R. Gordon, New York Times, 11/25/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/25/international/middleeast/25AYAT.html
KUWAIT - An Iranian-backed ayatollah may seem an unlikely ally for the
Bush
administration. But consider Ayatollah Muhammad Bakir al-Hakim.
The ayatollah is an Iraqi Shiite who has been living in Tehran for more
than two decades. He is backed by the Iranian government, the one that
President Bush has derided as part of an "axis of evil." His father
once
gave sanctuary to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the fiery anti-American
cleric who later rose to power in Iran's 1979 revolution. Still, the
United
States and the Shiite cleric are in the process of forging a political
alliance of convenience. It is an arrangement that is strongly
supported by
Kuwait, Washington's staunchest Arab ally in its campaign to dislodge
President Saddam Hussein.
The alliance is also quietly backed by Tehran, a subtle signal that
Iran
seems prepared to offer a modicum of cooperation if the Bush
administration
mounts a military campaign in Iraq.
"Our job right now is to change the current regime," Ayatollah Hakim
said
in an interview here. "It is very important that there be an
understanding
between the Iraqi opposition and the United States..."
---
ARAB "U.S." BUSINESS WARY OF WRATH OVER IRAQ WAR
Joseph Logan, Reuters, 11/25/02
http://www.forbes.com/business/newswire/2002/11/25/rtr805310.html
BEIRUT - As U.S. threats of war on Iraq fan Arab fury already stoked by
Washington's support for Israel, businesses in the Middle East with
U.S.
links are wondering if they too could be casualties of an Iraq strike.
A string of attacks on U.S. fast food restaurants in the Arab world,
hard
on the heels of a regional campaign to boycott U.S. brands, has left
some
businesses that weathered the boycott wondering if they will now
survive.
An Egyptian restaurant executive describes two waves of boycotts since
September 2001 as a protest against U.S. ally Israel, which is fighting
a
Palestinian uprising. He fears an attack on Iraq will unleash a storm
of
anger for which eateries bearing the taint of U.S. ties will be the
likeliest targets.
"Now we fear the third wave of boycotts if Iraq is hit because it will
be
ten times more horrible than the previous ones," says Mahmoud
el-Kaissouni,
vice-chair of the Chamber of Touristic Restaurants, part of the
Egyptian
Tourism Federation…
-----
KILLING UNDERSCORES ENMITY OF EVANGELISTS AND MUSLIMS
Neil Macfarquhar, New York Times, 11/25/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/25/international/middleeast/25LEBA.html
SIDON, Lebanon - With hymns and prayers, fellow missionaries eulogized
Bonnie Penner Witherall today, grieving for the 31-year-old American
who
was killed by a gunman last week at the prenatal clinic here where she
worked.
Lebanese authorities, who have yet to make an arrest, say they are
looking
at the case in the context of the anti-Americanism that is raging
across
Lebanon and much of the Middle East. But her death exposes another trip
wire involving religion in the Middle East, this time in the conflict
that
has arisen from a renewed effort by evangelical missionaries from the
United States to spread the Christian Gospel to Muslims.
From the start, the question of conversions to Christianity was a
potentially explosive issue in Lebanon, a country struggling to glue
itself
back together after fracturing along largely sectarian lines in the
15-year-long civil war that ended a decade ago…
Some Muslim clerics also grew suspicious of American evangelists during
Israel's occupation of south Lebanon, starting in 1982, when the
missionaries used the area to set up a television broadcast that
emphasized
Christian proselytizing.
That suspicion grew into outright animosity this year with prominent
evangelists in the United States voicing support for Israel and
denigrating
Islam…
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
MULTIPLY YOUR BLESSINGS BY DONATING TO CAIR DURING RAMADAN
---
ACTION REQUESTED:
Help us bring the real Islam to our fellow Americans. Write a check
today
to CAIR. Send us your Zakat this Ramadan. Make an additional donation
for
sadaqah. We are counting on you. Remember! Make a donation and receive
a
one year complementary membership.
Your gift of $1500, $1000, $500 or $250 will provide us with the funds
we
need to continue and expand on our effective programs, insha'Allah.
TO DONATE, GO TO: https://www.cair-net.org/asp/donation.asp
NOTE: Major scholars agree that giving Zakat to CAIR falls under work
"in
the way of Allah."
---
DEAR FRIEND:
As-Salaamu Alaykum (peace be with you). Insha'Allah, this letter finds
you
and your family enjoying the many blessings of Ramadan.
Many of you have seen CAIR's work and projects featured in local and
national media, but we would like to give you a closer look and to ask
for
your support.
DEFENSE OF ISLAM
Surely you've seen the recent attacks on the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
o On Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" program, Pat Robertson said:
"This man [Muhammad] was an absolute wild-eyed fanatic. He was a robber
and
a brigand. And to say that these terrorists distort Islam, they're
carrying out Islam…I mean, this man was a killer".
o Jerry Falwell called Prophet Muhammad a "terrorist" on CBS' "60
Minutes."
o Christian evangelist Franklin Graham claimed that terrorism is part
of
"mainstream" Islam. He called Islam an "evil and wicked religion."
We asked President Bush to denounce this anti-Muslim hate speech. The
Washington Post editorial page added their voice, telling President
Bush he
should speak out against the right-wing extremists bashing Islam.
The president responded positively when he and Secretary of State
Powell
distanced themselves from the smears.
Our community can and must do more to show Islam's true beauty: a
balanced
way of life. The extremism most Americans know is just that --
extremely
far from the true message of Islam.
FOCUS ON EDUCATION, ONE PERSON AT A TIME
Right now we are busy with one of our most important and successful
educational initiatives -- the CAIR Library Project. (SEE:
www.libraryproject.org)
Thanks to CAIR supporters like you, we've already received sponsorships
for
more than 4,000 "Library Packages" for public libraries all over
America!
The Library Packages includes popular, accurate, and current books to
answer questions about Islam. Informative books, with clear answers,
about
terrorism, Muslims in America, what Muslims believe, and how we live.
We've
included the PBS award-winning "Empire of Faith" DVD, Nightline's video
on
Hajj, and even great books for children. We will, insha'Allah, reach
every
one of the more than 16,200 public libraries in the United States with
accurate and balanced materials about Islam!
You can help us put books in libraries for decades. Please support us
with
your donation.
CAIR's role in the United States is more important than ever. Since
September 11, 2001, average Americans began sending our community a
strong
message -- we don't know enough about Islam and Muslims. Educate us!
Bookstores and libraries couldn't keep literature on Islam on the
shelves,
Alhamdu-lillah!
Our website alone receives an average of 5,000 hits a day with more
than a
half million unique visitors to the site in the last six months! Many
of
these visitors request information about Islam. CAIR remains dedicated
to
informing the Muslim community about issues critical to its advancement
and
to the education of the average American.
FOCUS ON DIVERSITY, ONE WORKPLACE AT A TIME
CAIR's TeamWorks Division, specifically designed to provide diversity
training and educational programs to people of other faiths, provided
training to the United States Department of Transportation and NASA
this
past year. Our professionals have also worked with major clothing
manufacturers like DKNY and Nike. By being proactive and educating
others
about Islam, we strive to eliminate stereotyping and discrimination
against
American Muslims.
We are also adding the "Law Enforcement Official's Guide to the Muslim
Community" to our series of guides for educators, employers,
correctional
officers, and health care professionals. These guides have helped
thousands
of Muslims solve and prevent problems at school, work and hospitals.
FIFTEEN CAIR OFFICES…AND GROWING!
CAIR has always been concerned with building a strong community that
acts
on behalf of our brothers and sisters in the United States and abroad.
There are 15 CAIR offices across the United States and Canada. While
our
focus is on issues facing American Muslims, we understand that our
community is concerned about the plight of Muslims around the world.
CAIR
takes these situations very seriously. When one Muslim is oppressed
anywhere at anytime, we are all oppressed!
SEVEN MILLION OF US CAN'T BE WRONG!
Our goal is to make our lives better for our families and to be
productive
members of society. Let's work together to make this the best place for
Muslims and those of all faiths.
By giving a generous donation to CAIR this Ramadan, you are voicing
your
support for one of the most prominent Islamic civil rights and advocacy
groups in the United States. If you agree, won't you help us grow and
improve our impact on American society?
Your gift of $1500, $1000, $500 or $250 will provide us with the funds
we
need to continue and expand on our effective programs, insha'Allah.
After September 11, 2001, the civil rights of all Americans have been
under
attack. CAIR continues to defend American Muslims. Our Civil Rights
Department is handling more than 2,200 active cases.
BUILDING A STRONG AMERICAN MUSLIM COMMUNITY
CAIR's Community Affairs and Membership departments have teamed up to
initiate a plan to increase our membership base to 100,000 over the
next
year. When we have many people represented by CAIR as members, we have
much
more strength in national debates.
If you aren't already a CAIR member, you will receive a complementary
one-year membership when you make a donation this Ramadan. So please
take
advantage of this offer and send in your special Ramadan contribution
now.
The road ahead is filled with obstacles and a lot of opportunities.
Let's face it; we have made great progress with the help of Allah (SWT)
and
your support. But we need to do more. We are faced with many
challenges,
but insha'Allah, our steady approach will keep us focused on the real
issues facing our community today.
Major scholars agree that giving Zakat to CAIR falls under work "in the
way
of Allah." So why don't you show your support for all the work we do by
giving your Zakat to CAIR? As one of the main advocates for Muslims in
America, we believe our role in presenting the truth to the American
people
is paramount in gaining the respect we deserve as Muslims in this
society.
We hope you feel this way too!
Together, we can do it!
Sincerely,
Nihad Awad
Executive Director
Omar Ahmad
Founder and Chairman
P.S. - Help us bring the real Islam to our fellow Americans. Write a
check
today to CAIR. Send us your Zakat this Ramadan. Make an additional
donation
for sadaqah. We are counting on you. Remember! Make a donation and
receive
a one year complementary membership.
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS 11/26/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: HELP OTHERS TO RECEIVE GOD’S BLESSINGS
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT
* U.S. MUSLIM HIP-HOP GROUP DRAWS ON ISLAM (Reuters)
* REP. CONYERS CALLS FOR PASSAGE OF HATE CRIMES LAW
- Hate Crimes Against Muslims Soar (LA Times)
* MUSLIMS PROTEST NEW U.S. RESTRICTIONS (UPI)
- Homeland War on Terror Worries Civil Libertarians
(Star-Ledger)
- New Department Means Changes for Florida (Tampa Tribune)
- “My Life Is Destroyed” (Ottawa Citizen)
- Eugene City Councilors Vote To Seek Repeal of Patriot Act
(AP)
- Reminder: Donate To Emergency Fund for INS/FBI Detainees
* THE DAILY ADDRESSES THE MSA CONTROVERSY (Daily McGill)
- CFMT Promises to Preview Swaggart 'Second by Second'
(CAIR-CAN)
* SAUDIS SEE IRAQ SUBTEXT IN 9/11 REPORT (MSNBC)
- “I'll Never Go Back” (Washington Post)
* ISRAEL'S CHOICE (The Nation)
- Student Rewarded For Speaking Out (Oakland Press)
- Pro-Israel Bias Shows (Hartford Courant)
- Nightline to Focus on Israel/Christian Evangelical
Connection (ABC)
- U.S. Expected To Approve $14 Billion Aid Request (Ha’aretz)
- Split Deepens On Israeli Killing of U.N. Aide (New York
Times)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: HELP OTHERS TO RECEIVE GOD’S BLESSINGS
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “Do not hold back (from
giving to people and helping them), or God will withhold (His mercy and
blessings) from you.”
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 2, Hadith 513
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT
Take part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and
objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 320
-----
MUSLIM HIP-HOP GROUP DRAWS ON ISLAM IN AMERICA
Kelli Esters, Reuters, 11/26/02
http://in.news.yahoo.com/021126/137/1yggt.html
WASHINGTON - The song is called "M-U-S-L-I-M" and is sung by Native
Deen, a
Washington-based group which fuses its African-American culture and
Muslim
faith to create a hip-hop sound with a unique message.
That message encourages Muslims to pray five times daily, not to smoke
or
drink and to be proud of their faith in a place where others sometimes
don't understand it. In 2001, anti-Muslim hate crimes increased 1,700
percent in the U.S. after Sept. 11, according to a report by Human
Rights
Watch.
Group member Naeem Muhammad, a 27-year-old who grew up in Baltimore,
said
that he hasn't run into anybody who does the same thing that Native
Deen
does. The group takes its name from the Arabic word for religion, which
it
transliterates as Deen.
"What's becoming more and more and apparent with Native Deen is that we
are, God willing, charting the course for Islamic cultural art form,"
Muhammad said.
The 2-year-old trio performs at Muslim weddings, celebrations,
conferences
and fund-raisers. You will not find them where there is dancing or
alcohol
is served.
They will be performing in front of an expected audience of 1,000 in
New
York Dec. 7 and are preparing for their first five-city tour in Britain
as
part of the Nasheed Extravaganza from Dec. 13-17…
SEE ALSO: www.nativedeen.com
---
CONYERS RENEWS CALL FOR PASSAGE OF HATE CRIMES LAW
New Figures on Muslim Bias Make Need for Passage Compelling
Press release, 11/26/02
Representative John Conyers, Jr., the Ranking Democrat on the House
Judiciary Committee, and lead author of hate crimes legislation in the
last
three Congresses issued the following statement In light of the FBI's
annual hate crimes report finding that incidents targeting people,
institutions and businesses identified with the Islamic faith
increased
from 28 in 2000 to 481 in 2001:
"These new statistics clearly make the case for passage of hate crimes
legislation. If our nation is going to battle terrorism abroad, we must
be
willing to confront the domestic terrorism of hate crimes, and that
means a
willingness to make it a federal crime to harm or kill someone because
of
their race, religion or other factors. I am confident that we have
bipartisan majorities in both the House and the Senate to pass such a
law,
but we need leadership from the White House to make this happen. I will
reintroduce this bill when Congress returns early next year, and plan
on
making this a principal priority for the next Congress…
The increase in hate crimes against Muslims seen in the FBI report of
1,600
percent is truly shocking. Muslims previously had been among the least
targeted religious group…
This increase is a direct consequence of the fear and suspicion that
followed the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Sadly, the policies promulgated
by
the Administration and the Department of Justice may have contributed
to
the climate of distrust of Arab-Americans that is reflected in hate
crimes
data. Recently disclosed intelligence programs, such as the questioning
and
monitoring of thousands of Iraqi citizens and Iraqi-Americans, sends
the
message that these are untrustworthy people, not worthy of basic
Constitutional protections…
Congressman John Conyers, Jr.
Fourteenth District, Michigan
Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary
Dean, Congressional Black Caucus
SEND NOTES OF APPRECIATION TO: keenan.keller@mail.house.gov
SEE ALSO:
HATE CRIMES AGAINST MUSLIMS SOAR, REPORT SAYS
Richard A. Serrano, Los Angeles Times, 11/26/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-hate26nov26.story
WASHINGTON - Hate crimes and other acts of vengeance skyrocketed
nationwide
against Muslims and other immigrants from the Middle East after the
Sept.
11 terrorist attacks, according to a long-awaited FBI report released
Monday.
But Islamic leaders in Washington and elsewhere, many of whom were
themselves the targets of outrage in the days after the World Trade
Center
and the Pentagon were hit, said the new numbers do not reflect even
more
acts of retribution that countless immigrants were afraid to report.
The FBI found that while attacks against Muslims had previously been
the
least common hate crime against a religious group--just 28 in 2000--the
number of incidents surged to 481 in 2001, an increase of 1,600%. The
huge
rise is "presumably as a result of the heinous incidents that occurred
on
Sept. 11" of 2001, the FBI said.
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations,
said that while much of the bias has tapered off, there was a
tremendous
backlash at first.
"These new numbers come from the initial weeks and months after 9/11,"
he
said, "when it was just basically out of control. We couldn't keep up
with
the reports." According to the FBI report, most incidents targeting
Muslims
and others of Middle Eastern background ranged from assaults to
intimidation. There also were three cases of murder or manslaughter and
35
arson fires, the FBI said…
-----
MUSLIMS PROTEST NEW U.S. RESTRICTIONS
Anwar Iqbal, United Press International, 11/26/02
WASHINGTON - Muslims have urged the United States not to block future
immigration from Islamic countries as it would only aid those wanting
to
widen the gulf between the Islamic and the Western worlds.
Muslims have been reacting to a Justice Department directive asking
male
visitors from 13 additional countries to show up for fingerprinting and
questioning at immigration offices nationwide starting Dec. 2.
Since 12 of the countries are Muslim, the move has increased the
worries of
American Muslims already living in a difficult environment since the
terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. "This is profiling. It is just a
way
to put a halt to immigration from the Muslim countries," said Faiz
Rehman,
communication director for the American Muslim Council...
Although Pakistan is not on the list, through a secret memo, later
confirmed by U.S. officials, the Justice Department has advised
immigration
officials also to register and fingerprint Pakistani males entering the
United States.
The decision also shows a significant expansion of the registration
program
beyond the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations criticized
the
expansion as a move that could harm instead of aid the war on
terrorism.
"It's one more case of singling out of Muslims and Arabs for special
treatment, instead of following real leads and real evidence," Hooper
said.
"It creates a lot of resentment, whenever you're singled out based on
your
religion and national origin. And it's creating resentment at a time
when
the United States needs to improve its image in the Arab and Muslim
world.
It's counterproductive," he added…
SEE ALSO:
HOMELAND WAR ON TERROR WORRIES CIVIL LIBERTARIANS
Robert Cohen, Star-Ledger, 11/25/02
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-5/10382192597630.xml
WASHINGTON -- A series of recent court victories and initiatives by the
Bush Administration in its domestic war on terrorism has added to the
mounting concern that civil liberties are becoming a casualty of the
conflict.
Last Monday, a special appeals court ruled the government has sweeping
powers to listen to telephone calls, read e-mails and conduct searches
in
pursuit of terrorists in the United States. Another appeals court said
the
judiciary has no business interfering with the military's jailing
indefinitely prisoners seized in Afghan war…
Since Sept. 11, 2001, the Bush Administration has pursued these and
other
aggressive policies to expand its law enforcement authority and to use
its
new wartime powers to root out terrorism -- moves critics say amount to
an
extraordinary assault on civil liberties.
"The war on terrorism has violated the fundamental precepts of our
constitutional system," said Nadine Strossen, president of the American
Civil Liberties Union. "We have the worst of both worlds. These
policies
make us less free and they do not make us more safe..."
---
NEW DEPARTMENT MEANS CHANGES FOR FLORIDA
Brad Smith, Tampa Tribune, 11/26/02
http://www.tampatribune.com/News/MGAZQKBFZ8D.html
TAMPA - The biggest reorganization of federal government in more than
50
years is likely to have a profound impact on Florida, experts say, with
striking changes affecting immigration, customs, seaports and domestic
security…
Many government officials are reluctant to speculate in any detail on
the
impact on Florida of the new Department of Homeland Security. President
Bush signed legislation Monday creating the sprawling agency and picked
Tom
Ridge as the department's first secretary…
Changes won't come overnight. White House officials say the agency,
already
months in planning, will evolve piecemeal and won't be fully functional
for
at least a year.
But some are already worrying about oversight in the new department,
which
gives the president control of a large chunk of government previously
run
by Congress.
“We think there should be much greater emphasis on independent
evaluation
of the actions of these agencies,” said Jacksonville's Parvez Ahmed of
the
Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Ahmed said employees of the new department won't be protected from
reprisals under the federal whistleblower law if they see abuse and
report it…
---
“MY LIFE IS DESTROYED”
Patti Edgar, Ottawa Citizen, 11/26/02
http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/story.asp?id=18DBCE3D-3475-4FB7-863C-7FADE97BCEC9
Reza Zazai wears the same T-shirt and blue jeans he had on when U.S.
officials detained him "in the interest of homeland security" and
suggested
he was part of a secret al-Qaeda cell.
Sitting on a crate in the back of an Ottawa convenience store, the
25-year-old says he has little else to wear. Most of his possessions
are
still caught up in the U.S. justice system. Mr. Zazai only returned to
Canada last week, after spending more than two months in a Maryland
jail
falsely accused of terrorism.
The Afghan-born Canadian made international news as one of six young,
male
Muslims detained in the same Baltimore apartment on the eve of the
one-year
anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But as the terrorism
investigation fizzles, judges have begun deporting the men on routine
immigration violations, citing lack of evidence.
U.S. officials left Mr. Zazai at a Montreal airport last Tuesday,
shivering
in his T-shirt and jeans. In the quiet backroom of a friend's Rideau
Street
store on Sunday, Mr. Zazai talked about living with the label of
terrorist…
"My life has been pretty much destroyed. They put my name on TV and
called
me a terrorist. My credibility is gone. I'm going to have to start all
over
again from zero…"
---
EUGENE CITY COUNCILORS VOTE TO SEEK REPEAL OF PATRIOT ACT
Associated Press, 11/26/02
EUGENE, Ore. - Eugene is the first city in Oregon to formally seek
reform
or repeal of the USA Patriot Act, under a unanimous vote by city
council
members.
Eugene joins 14 other American cities, including Ann Arbor, Mich.,
Denver
and Cambridge, Mass., in opposing the federal anti-terrorism act.
More than 200 people came to a public meeting Monday night to urge
council
members to take the action. Some told of feeling targeted by the
Patriot
Act due to their politics, national heritage, religious beliefs or skin
color; others said they feared the possibility of unchecked government.
"I
have not done anything; I am not a terrorist," said Nadia Sindi, a
Muslim
woman well-known in city and county circles as a land use activist. "I
urge
you to pass this resolution, for all of us…"
Congress approved the 342-page Patriot Act last year to enable a
crackdown
on terrorism and allow police to interrogate Americans suspected of
terrorism ties. The act has since been criticized by some groups from
across the political spectrum as a threat to personal privacy and
constitutional rights.
"We shouldn't stand by silently as those rights and freedoms are
eroded,"
Councilor Bonny Bettman said, urging her colleagues to make a unified
statement. "Our rights and freedoms really help distinguish us from our
enemies…"
---
REMINDER: DONATE TO EMERGENCY FUND FOR INS/FBI DETAINEES
Last month, a fund was established to support Muslim families in
financial
distress due to the detention of a family member after the 9/11
attacks.
Following the attacks, hundreds of Muslim immigrants, often the sole
wage-earners for their families, have been held without charge and in
conditions that have drawn criticism from a number of civil liberties
groups.
The "Emergency Family Fund," set up by the New York office of the
Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY), is designed to assist
uncharged
detainees' families with legal fees, housing costs and living expenses.
Fund administrators will also make outside referrals for counseling and
other social services. (CAIR-NY is working in cooperation with ICNA
Relief,
the Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America and Muslim
Community Support Services.)
ACTION REQUESTED: Contributions may be sent to:
Emergency Family Fund/CAIR
c/o 911 Relief Program/Adem
166-26 89 Avenue
Jamaica, NY 11432
Make checks payable to "Emergency Family Fund/CAIR."
For information, call 212-870-2002.
-----
THE DAILY ADDRESSES THE MSA CONTROVERSY
McGill Daily, 11/26/02
http://www.mcgilldaily.com/view.php?aid=974
Our treatment of the MSA’s accounting has, justifiably, sparked much
anger
and debate on campus. We took a simple story about a SSMU club’s
financial
accounting and spun it, by running a sensational cover, headline, and
graphic, into an expos� that wrongly linked the MSA to terrorism. In so
doing, we have contributed to a climate of suspicion and hostility
post-September 11, 2001, one which has haunted McGill’s Muslim
population,
as well as Muslim communities worldwide. We acknowledge the systemic
racism
that people of colour are subjected to on a daily basis, and we deeply
regret the contribution made to this by our coverage of MSA’s
charitable
donations.
Throughout the mainstream media there exists a discourse of “terror,”
one
that obscures critical thinking and reduces complex and nuanced
situations
down to buzzwords and alarmism. Part of this involves blindly accepting
the
US government’s targeting of specific groups as ‘terrorist,’
classifications that presume guilt without due process. The power and
meaning of certain words including “terror,” “fundamentalism,” and “al
Qaeda” must not be underestimated. Using these words is far too easy
these
days, a practice too simple to be accurate…
SEE ALSO:
CFMT PROMISES TO PREVIEW SWAGGART 'SECOND BY SECOND'
(OTTAWA, CANADA) - The Canadian office of the Council on
American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR-CAN) today announced that CFMT (OMNI) has offered an
unconditional apology to Canadian Muslims regarding recent comments
made by
televangelist Jimmy Swaggart. The apology was offered after CAIR-CAN
filed
a complaint with the CRTC.
In a November 10 broadcast on CFMT (OMNI), televangelist Jimmy Swaggart
referred to the Prophet Muhammad as a "sex deviant" and "pervert." He
also
called for the expulsion of all foreign Muslim university students in
the
United States, the profiling of airline passengers "with a diaper on
their
head," and he suggested violence against Muslims by stating that others
need to "clean their nose with their teeth."
CAIR-CAN filed a complaint with the CRTC on November 16th, 2002 and
noted
that Swaggart's comments were "shocking and clearly incite hatred
against
Muslims." CAIR-CAN called on the CRTC to "ensure that the Canadian
media
does not provide a voice to Mr. Swaggart's repeated anti-Islamic
rhetoric."
In his November 21, 2002 letter to CAIR-CAN, Leslie A. Sole, Chief
Executive Officer of Rogers Media Television, said:
"OMNI Television apologizes unconditionally for allowing Jimmy Swaggart
to
make unfair statements about the Muslim faith and the people that
practice
and believe in the Muslim faith. We are truly sorry.
"These statements are diametrically in opposition to the mission and
purpose of our television stations. The Muslim faith is practiced by
many
in Canada and makes a valuable contribution to the rich diversity of
this
country. No one should be subject to such statements that were made by
Mr.
Swaggart.
"We will do everything in our power to prevent this circumstance from
ever
happening again to any group that calls Canada their home. Each and
every
Swaggart programme will be previewed, second by second, and if we feel
that
it breeches good sense toward the broad diversity of Canadians, it will
not
air."
CAIR-CAN Chair Sheema Khan stated, "To its credit, CFMT has taken the
concerns of Canadian Muslims very seriously and issued a forthright
apology."
"We hope that CFMT will continue to closely monitor Mr. Swaggart, and
others like him, who have a history of anti-Islamophobic rhetoric," she
added.
CONTACT: Riad Saloojee at 613-254-9704; E-mail: Canada@cair-net.org
-----
SAUDIS SEE IRAQ SUBTEXT IN 9/11 REPORT
Andrea Mitchell, MSNBC, 11/26/02
http://www.msnbc.com/news/839095.asp
Saudi media and officials on Monday portrayed a U.S. news report that a
Saudi princess indirectly provided financial support for two Sept. 11
hijackers as an attempt by U.S. hawks to strong-arm the kingdom into
supporting a possible war against Iraq…
---
“I'LL NEVER GO BACK”
Peter Baker, Washington Post, 11/26/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38822-2002Nov25.html
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia The rhythms of life here turn upside down during
the
holy month of Ramadan. Daytime fasting leads to somnolent afternoons,
but
the real day starts at sunset. After the traditional iftar meal to
break
their fast, Saudis flock to the streets, offices reopen, life begins
again.
By 1 a.m., traffic still clogs the highways and customers pack the
malls.
At a pizza shop at the glitzy Kingdom Mall, Sinan Dmaitri works the
night
shift slinging pepperoni pies. It is not where he imagined he would be
just
a few months ago. His life has been turned upside down, not only by the
holy month but by the dramatic deterioration in the way Saudi Arabia
and
the United States view each other.
Like so many other young Saudis, Dmaitri, 26, has been kicked out of
the
United States, where he was studying at a junior college in Texas. And
like
so many other educated, privileged Saudis who once considered America
their
second home, the suspicion and sometimes hostility directed at his
people
since Sept. 11, 2001, have left him embittered toward a country he once
admired. "I was thinking about staying there and living my life,"
Dmaitri
said. Now, he said, "I'll never go back, no way…"
-----
ISRAEL'S CHOICE
Neve Gordon, Nation, 12/9/02
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20021209&s=gordon
Jerusalem - Returning to Israel after an extended absence can be a
disturbing experience. On the way back from the airport to my Jerusalem
apartment, I noticed new posters tacked onto utility poles and bridges
along the highway. They read: Transfer= Peace and Security. The meaning
was
unambiguous: Israel must expel the 3 million Palestinians living in the
occupied territories--and perhaps even its own Palestinian citizens--in
order to achieve peace and security.
While racist slogans have become pervasive in Israel, it was this
particular message--the notion of expulsion as a political
solution--that
unhinged me. One does not need to be a Holocaust survivor to recognize
the
phrase's lethal implications. The slogan, however, does not merely
underscore the moral bankruptcy of certain elements in Israeli society;
it
also helps uncover some of the inherent contradictions underlying
Israel's
policies in the occupied territories…
---
STUDENT REWARDED FOR SPEAKING OUT
Korie Wilkins, Oakland Press, 11/25/02
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=6177461&BRD=982&PAG=461&dept_id=467992&rfi=6
West Bloomfield Twp. - Waleed Brinjikji's mother remembers when her
then-5-year-old son came running to her with his piggy bank after
watching
a television commercial about starving children in Ethiopia. "We
recognized
his social consciousness early on," said Hiam Brinjikji of West
Bloomfield
Township.
That's why she was not surprised when she learned her son stood and
challenged Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation
League
at the league's Grosfeld Family National Youth Leadership in
Washington,
D.C., earlier this month.
Waleed, 17, said he could not sit silently while Foxman - a Holocaust
survivor - spoke against Palestinians.
"He said Palestinian mothers don't love their children and that
Palestinians love war," said Waleed, whose mother is Lebanese and
father is
Syrian. "I was shocked, and I could not believe my ears."
With his heart pounding in his chest and his face burning, Waleed
raised
his hand to address Foxman.
"I basically called him on generalizing 6 million Palestinians," said
Waleed, a senior at Andover High School. "I told him I found him very
hypocritical."
The topic of Foxman's speech? Tolerance and the Holocaust…
---
PRO-ISRAEL BIAS SHOWS
Letters, Hartford Courant, 11/24/02
http://www.ctnow.com/news/opinion/letters/hc-lets1124.artnov24,0,5204080.story
Is The Courant intimidated by Zionist and other pro-Israeli ideologues
who
color all news and articles critical of Israel as being anti-Semitic,
regardless of the facts? Based on a reading of the Other Opinion pages
of
Nov. 15 and Nov. 16, it would seem that these scurrilous tactics can
work.
Daniel Pipes [Nov. 15, "Why Do Professors Routinely Oppose America?"],
director of a pro-Israel propaganda mill, is given prime space to smear
college professors who have dared criticize Israel's illegal occupation
of
Palestine.
Pipes has created a website that encourages college populations to rat
on
professors who do not think that Israel is a perfect state.
Syndicated columnist Mona Charen [Nov, 16, "National Biased Radio"]
attacks
National Public Radio's Mideast reporting based on propaganda peddled
by
Camera. We are not told that this conservative pro-Israeli media
"watchdog"
specializes in smearing writers and journalists who do not blindly
support
Israel with charges and inferences of anti-Semitism.
Charen, who claims to have spent a lifetime of listening to NPR, uses a
single incident and data from a single two-week period to confuse the
entire scope of NPR's reporting. That NPR (or the American news media)
has
an anti-Israel bias is completely bogus. She makes the racist statement
that "there is not a single Arab who ever expresses support or sympathy
for
Israel."
Charen ends her spurious column with, "What is most obnoxious is that
American taxpayers are being forced to subsidize a network that is
highly
political, tendentious, consistently leftist and quite influential."
NPR receives about $60 million from our taxes. To many American
taxpayers,
the annual $3 billion to $4 billion our politicians give to the
repressive
Sharon government is a much larger concern.
Guy Blais
Windsor
---
NIGHTLINE TO FOCUS ON ISRAEL/CHRISTIAN EVANGELICAL CONNECTION
Tonight on ABC’s Nightline - At first they may seem like strange
bedfellows. But increasingly, the Christian Right in the U.S. has
become
Israel's staunchest ally, raising money, and more importantly, throwing
their considerable political weight behind the Sharon government. But
what
happens when theology meets politics?
---
U.S. EXPECTED TO APPROVE $14 BILLION AID REQUEST
Moti Bassok, Ha’aretz, 11/25/02
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=%20234132
Israel will today submit a request for $14 billion in economic aid to
U.S.
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. President George Bush is
expected to quickly approve the request - $4 billion in defense aid and
U.S. guarantees for $10 billion - with minor changes, Israeli sources
said.
The sources said the Republican congressional majority would approve
the
aid within 3-6 months…
---
SPLIT DEEPENS ON ISRAELI KILLING OF U.N. AIDE
James Bennet, New York Times, 11/25/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/25/international/middleeast/25MIDE.html
JERUSALEM A United Nations investigator arrived here today to inquire
into
the fatal shooting of a British United Nations worker by an Israeli
soldier
on Friday, as a dispute over the incident deepened.
The Israeli Army said that its soldiers had been responding to gunfire
coming from a United Nations compound in the Jenin refugee camp, in the
West Bank. But after an initial inquiry, the United Nations agency that
administers the camp rejected that account as "incredibly incorrect."
Paul McCann, a spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works
Agency,
said the compound, a fenced cluster of three trailers, was clearly
marked
as belonging to the United Nations.
"We know that we had control of it, there were no militants inside it,
and
there was absolutely no firing coming from inside it," said Mr. McCann,
who
visited the site today…
-----
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-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
ACTION REQUESTED: Modify the materials below for distribution to local
media outlets. (The second advisory is designed for use by local
communities.) Make sure to send a copy to the main daily newspaper
"city
desk," TV station "assignment desk," radio station "news director," and
Associated Press local bureau "daybook editor." Call each outlet to
obtain
contact information.
SEE ALSO: "CAIR Ramadan 2002 Publicity Resource Kit"
https://www.cair-net.org/ramkit2002/
SEND COPIES of local media advisories to CAIR at: cair@cair-net.org
-----
-- MEDIA ADVISORY --
U.S. MUSLIMS MARK END OF RAMADAN WITH PRAYERS
WHAT: On December 6, 2002* (date may vary, see below), the Muslim
community
in America will celebrate the end of the month-long fast of Ramadan
with
communal prayers in mosques, Islamic centers and public facilities
around
the country. Ramadan is the month on the Islamic lunar calendar during
which Muslims abstain from food, drink and other sensual pleasures from
break of dawn to sunset. This year's fast began on November 6.
The prayers mark the beginning of the Eid ul-Fitr (EED-al-FITTER), or
"feast of fast breaking" holiday, in which Muslims exchange social
visits
and seek to strengthen bonds of brotherhood. During this holiday,
Muslims
greet each other by saying "Eid mubarak" (EED-moo-BAR-ak), meaning
"blessed
Eid," and "taqabbalallah ta'atakum," or "may God accept your deeds."
Many
communities hold bazaars following the prayers.
Eid ul-Fitr is the first of the two major Muslim holidays. The second
holiday comes at the end of the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca. There are
an
estimated 7 million Muslims in America and some 1.2 billion worldwide.
WHEN: December 6, 2002 (*Because Ramadan is a lunar month, the actual
date
is governed by sighting of the new moon. Eid could occur on December
5th if
the new moon is seen on the night of the 4th.) Prayers are held early
in
the morning. Ask local coordinators for exact dates and times.
WHERE: The Eid prayers are held either in local mosques or in public
facilities designed to accommodate large gatherings. Call local
community
representatives for details.
CONTACT: Call local Muslim organizations for details about Eid
celebrations, or contact: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726,
E-MAIL: cair@cair-net.org; Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787 or
703-861-7294,
E-MAIL: hhassan@cair-net.org.
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: Each year, Muslims from America and many different
countries come to the prayers in colorful attire. The prayers
themselves
are quite visual, with worshipers arranged in neat rows and bowing in
prayer in unison. Participants exchange embraces at the conclusion of
the
prayers.
NOTE: Because this is a religious service, reporters and photographers
of
both sexes should dress modestly. That means no shorts for men or short
skirts for women. Some communities may ask female reporters and
photographers to put a scarf over their hair while in the actual prayer
area. Photographers should arrive early to get into position for the
best
shots. Photographers are also advised not to step directly in front of
worshipers and to seek permission for close-up shots. Shots of shoes
removed for prayer, and rear-angle shots of prostrating worshipers, are
considered inappropriate and clich�d.
- END -
CAIR offers an e-mail list designed to be a window to the American
Muslim
community. Subscribers to the list, called CAIR-NET, receive news
releases
and other materials dealing with American Muslim positions on issues of
importance to our society.
To SUBSCRIBE to CAIR-NET, go to: http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
[Insert Your Local Organization Name and Address Here]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
-- MEDIA ADVISORY --
LOCAL MUSLIMS MARK END OF RAMADAN
WITH PRAYERS AND MULTICULTURAL BAZAAR
WHAT: On December 6, 2002 (date may vary, see below), the Muslim
community
in [insert name of city or area] will celebrate the end of the
month-long
fast of Ramadan with communal prayers and a multicultural bazaar.
Ramadan
is the month on the Islamic lunar calendar during which Muslims abstain
from food, drink and other sensual pleasures from break-of-dawn to
sunset.
The prayers mark the beginning of the Eid ul-Fitr (EED-al-FITTER)
holiday,
in which Muslims exchange social visits and seek to strengthen bonds of
brotherhood. During this holiday, Muslims greet each other by saying
"Eid
mubarak" (EED-moo-BAR-ak), or "blessed Eid," and "taqabbalallah
ta'atakum,"
or "may God accept your deeds."
The multicultural bazaar will feature games for children, Islamic
books,
and food and clothing from around the Muslim world. The bazaar is free
and
open to the public. People of all faiths are encouraged to attend and
sample the diversity of Islamic culture. (Note - There are [insert
estimate
of local Muslim population] Muslims in [insert city or area] and some
1.2
billion worldwide.)
WHEN: December 6, 2002 (*Because Ramadan is a lunar month, the actual
date
is governed by sighting of the new moon. Eid could occur on December
5th if
the new moon is seen on the night of the 4th.) Prayers are held early
in
the morning. Ask local coordinators for exact dates and times.
Community gathers at ____ a.m.
Prayers begin at ____ a.m.
Bazaar opens at ____ a.m. and lasts until ____ p.m.
WHERE: Prayers - Address:
Bazaar - Address:
CONTACT: For more information, call _________________ at ______________
(not for publication), or call _____________________ at ______________
(for
publication).
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY:
Each year, Muslims from America and many different countries come to
the
prayers in the colorful dress. The prayers themselves are quite visual,
with worshipers arranged in neat rows and bowing in prayer in unison.
Participants exchange embraces at the conclusion of the prayers.
NOTE: Because this is a religious service, reporters and photographers
of
both sexes should dress modestly. That means no shorts for men or short
skirts for women. Some communities may ask female reporters and
photographers to put a scarf over their hair while in the actual prayer
area. Photographers should arrive early to get into position for the
best
shots. Photographers are also advised not to step directly in front of
worshipers and to seek permission for close-up shots. Shots of shoes
removed for prayer, and rear-angle shots of prostrating worshipers, are
considered inappropriate and clich�d.
- END -
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 11/27/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: EATING TOGETHER IS A BLESSING
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT: 4252 SPONSORSHIPS
* MUSLIM MOM INVENTS BOARD GAME (St. Paul Pioneer Press)
* MUSLIMS HELP D.C. CHURCH FEED NEEDY (USA Today)
* MUSLIM LEADER SEEKS STATE SENATE SEAT (Northwest Indiana Times)
* PROFILING IS POOR TECHNIQUE (USA Today)
* COUNCIL OKS PAYMENT OF $1.5 MILLION FOR JOB BIAS (LA Times)
* JUSTICE DEPT INVESTIGATES 'SPOOFING' OF MUSLIM EMAILS
* MUSLIM ACTIVIST WILL APPEAL DEPORTATION (Detroit Free Press)
* PETALUMA SUSPENDS 50 STUDENT PROTESTERS (Press Democrat)
* GROUP URGES PRO-ISRAEL LEADERS' SILENCE ON IRAQ (Washington Post)
- Israeli Troops Kill Ramadan Drummer in West Bank (AP)
* RUSSIA TO CLOSE CHECHEN REFUGEE CAMPS, EU ALARMED (Reuters)
* D.C. RAMADAN FAST-A-THON BENEFIT
* DONATE TO PRISON EID FUND
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: EATING TOGETHER IS A BLESSING
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Eat together and not
separately, for the blessing is associated with the company."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1137
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT: 4252 SPONSORSHIPS
Take part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and
objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 320
-----
MUSLIM MOM INVENTS FAMILY BOARD GAME THAT COMBINES FUN, FAITH
Judy Arginteanu, Saint Paul Pioneer Press, 11/19/02
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/
WOODBURY, Minn. - "Oh, man!" The Ahmed family of Woodbury is hunkered
down
over a board game on the plush rug. After the usual confusion over
whose
turn it is, 8-year-old Sabrina rolls the die. Her marker lands on the
same
square as her dad, Kaleel, and she must go back several squares to the
safe
haven of the mosque. Hence the lamentation.
Her sister, Shameem, 5, has luck on her side. "I'm winning!" she
squeals,
advancing to the "Allah guides you to the special path" square.
Like Sorry or Candyland, the game relies on random chance to move
players
forward or send them back as they seek their ultimate goal. Like quiz
games, it tests their knowledge. But the final destination isn't King
Kandy's Kastle but the kabah, the sacred building at the center of the
mosque in Mecca, Islam's holy city; the knowledge isn't pop-culture
factoids but the meanings of the 99 names of Allah.
The idea behind Race to the Kabah, says Thasneem Ahmed, the game's
inventor
and mother to Sabrina and Shameem, is to combine family togetherness
with a
spiritual element…
Ahmed began marketing the game about a year and a half ago out of her
home;
since then, 12 vendors have picked it up for distribution. The
University
of St. Thomas has bought several sets, and the game was listed on
Beliefnet, a religious/spiritual Web site, as one of the top religious
educational games…
WHERE TO BUY RACE TO THE KABAH:
Astrolabe Pictures, (800) 392-7876
http://www.astrolabepictures.com/
HalalCo Books, (703) 532-3202
http://www.halalco.com/
Islamic Bookstore, (410) 265-0020
http://www.islamicbookstore.com/
IslamiCity, (310) 642-0006
http://www.islamicity.com/
Noor Art, (888) 442-5687
http://www.noorart.com/
SoundVision, (708) 430-1255
http://www.soundvision.com/
Caravan Xpress, (800) 624-4742
http://www.caravanxpress.com/
-----
MUSLIMS HELP D.C. CHURCH FEED NEEDY
Tom Vanden Brook, USA Today, 11/27/02
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002-11-26-thanks-usat_x.htm
Every night, the volunteers at the Dinner Program for Homeless Women
feed
80 women a hot meal and offer hope for a better future.
But the volunteers who serve meals at the First Congregational Church
in
Washington, D.C., also give sustenance to another ideal -- this is a
country where Muslims and Christians live and work together. Imam
Johari
Abdel-Malik and the Rev. Graylan Hagler conceived the idea of a
Muslim-Christian volunteer effort early this fall.
"We are a community under siege after Sept. 11," says Abdel-Malik, who
is a
Muslim chaplain at Howard University. "We need to come out of our
bubble.
This is a good place to start. I challenged the Reverend to find an
effort
to help the homeless."
Says Hagler: "There's no better way to tear down walls than to work
together. And that's what we're doing here."
The help couldn't have come at a better time, advocates for the poor
say.
The weak economy has increased demand at food banks across the USA,
according to volunteer organizations.
America's Second Harvest, which oversees a nationwide network of more
than
200 food banks, says food donations to its programs are up about 4%
from
last year. But that's not enough to keep pace with a 20% increase in
demand, it says.
For the women who use the center at in downtown Washington -- one as
old as
96, some with children -- the aid the volunteers offer is a godsend.
"It's very nice to see Muslims and Christians working side-by-side,"
says
Kier Maxwell, executive director for the Dinner Program, operating
since 1979.
-----
MUSLIM LEADER SEEKS STATE SENATE SEAT
Bob Kasarda, North West Indiana Times, 11/27/02
http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2002/11/26/news/top_news/64c14bdeff4ff10886256c7d0026bd94.txt
VALPARAISO -- It was no small decision for Aly Khan to come forward as
a
candidate in hopes of replacing Bill Alexa when he retires from the
state
Senate at the end of the month.
As a Muslim leader, active on both the national and local levels, the
37-year-old is well aware of the challenges he faces in the wake of the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
But Khan says he has great faith in the ideals of this country and
believes
the time is right for he and his fellow Muslims to take a more active
role
in political life. It is also his hope to trigger a similar response
among
the many less-fortunate Muslims, who are forced to endure oppression in
other parts of the world.
"Democracy is the right thing," he said…
If elected to the Senate seat, Khan said it would be historic in that
he
knows of no other Muslims holding a significant political post in this
country. This is the case, he said, because prior to Sept. 11, Muslims
kept
mostly to themselves -- working, praying and going home…
-----
PROFILING IS POOR TECHNIQUE
Barry Steinhardt, USA TODAY, 11/27/02
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20021127/4655991s.htm
There is nothing more dangerous than the illusion of security created
by
surveillance that makes us no safer, yet threatens our freedoms.
Boston Logan Airport's behavioral-profiling system is shrouded in
mystery.
I am prepared to be convinced that it will, in fact, make us safer. But
from what we know, it has all the telltale signs of the illusion of
security.
The Logan system is based on the unproven notion that you can glean a
person's intention to do harm based on his facial expressions or body
language. The proven science behind these theories is, to say the
least,
thin. This is not plainly suspicious behavior such as a passenger
boarding
the plane with a wire sticking out of his sneaker.
While it may not keep any terrorists off our aircraft, it likely will
result in new forms of racial and ethnic profiling.
The Boston plan has its origins in Israel, where all passengers are
subjected to questioning. There are real questions about whether the
Israeli system is as sophisticated as its proponents suggest or
whether, in
the end, it doesn't simply separate the Arab from the Jew. But Boston
is
not Tel Aviv, and the USA is not Israel…
Barry Steinhardt is the director of the Technology and Liberty Program
at
the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites).
-----
COUNCIL OKS PAYMENT OF $1.5 MILLION FOR JOB BIAS
Los Angeles Times, 11/27/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-brief27.2nov27.story
The City Council approved a $1.5-million payment Tuesday to a former
city
engineer who successfully sued for discrimination.
Mustafa Rez, a civil engineer for the Public Works Department from 1985
to
1999, alleged that he was denied a promotion and bonus because he was
born
in Syria and is Muslim.
-----
JUSTICE DEPT INVESTIGATES 'SPOOFING' OF MUSLIM EMAILS
The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice has
received
numerous complaints from Arab-Americans and Muslim-Americans stating
that
unknown individuals have "spoofed" their e-mail accounts and are
sending
messages, many of which are inappropriate or offensive, in their names.
We
are trying to gather information about this problem. If someone has
spoofed
your e-mail account, please send me your name and contact information;
a
detailed description of what happened, including when it started and
how
often it has happened; and copies of the spoofed messages, if you have
them. Thank you for your assistance.
Joseph Zogby
Special Counsel on Post-9/11 National Origin Discrimination
Civil Rights Division
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
PHB #5912
Washington, DC 20530
Joseph.Zogby@usdoj.gov
-----
MUSLIM ACTIVIST WILL APPEAL DEPORTATION
DAVID ASHENFELTER, Detroit Free Press, 11/27/02
http://www.freep.com/news/metro/ehaddad27_20021127.htm
The lawyer for jailed Muslim activist Rabih Haddad said he plans to
appeal
last week's decision denying Haddad and his family asylum in the United
States and ordering his deportation.
"The judge is either bigoted or was just toeing the government line,"
Haddad's lawyer, Ashraf Nubani, of McLean, Va., said Tuesday. Nubani
said
he probably would file the appeal after Thanksgiving, adding that it
could
take months for the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals to decide the
case.
The Justice Department declined to comment…
On Friday, U.S. Immigration Judge Robert Newberry denied political
asylum
for Haddad and his family, saying there was no evidence they would be
persecuted if deported. Newberry also ordered their deportation, saying
Haddad was a danger to the country.
Nubani said Haddad probably will remain in custody until the appeal is
resolved. Nubani said he could be released earlier if the immigration
appellate court grants a recent appeal challenging Newberry's decision
denying bond for Haddad…
-----
PETALUMA SUSPENDS 50 STUDENT PROTESTERS
Jose L. Sanchez Jr. and Robert Digitale, Press Democrat, 11/27/02
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/local/news/26suspend_a1.html
About 50 Petaluma High School students who walked out of classes
Wednesday
to protest U.S. policy on Iraq have received one-day suspensions.
Some students and their parents said Monday the suspensions were unfair
because students at other Sonoma County high schools who also staged
protest walkouts were not suspended.
Petaluma school officials did not make the decision "lightly or
capriciously," said Tom Joynt, director of alternative education and
child
welfare and attendance.
"It's the obligation of the principal to ensure compliance with
attendance
rules," he said.
"I am heartened that young people are learning the responsibility of
being
a citizen, which often means dissent from popular opinion," Joynt said…
The walkouts and rallies were part of a national Student Day of
Resistance
initiated by Not in Our Name, an anti-war group founded after the Sept.
11
terrorist attacks to protest U.S. foreign policy...
-----
GROUP URGES PRO-ISRAEL LEADERS' SILENCE ON IRAQ
Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 11/27/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43269-2002Nov26.html
A group of U.S. political consultants has sent pro-Israel leaders a
memo
urging them to keep quiet while the Bush administration pursues a
possible
war with Iraq.
The six-page memo was sent by the Israel Project, a group funded by
American Jewish organizations and individual donors. Its authors said
the
main audience was American Jewish leaders, but much of the memo's
language
is directed toward Israelis, urging them to play down the likelihood
Israel
would retaliate after an Iraqi attack and asking them not to lecture
Americans about the Middle East conflict…
The Iraq memo was issued in the past few weeks and labeled
"confidential
property of the Israel Project," which is led by Democratic consultant
Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi with help from Democratic pollster Stan
Greenberg
and Republican pollsters Neil Newhouse and Frank Luntz. Several of the
consultants have advised Israeli politicians, and the group aired a
pro-Israel ad earlier this year.
"If your goal is regime change, you must be much more careful with your
language because of the potential backlash," said the memo, titled
"Talking
About Iraq." It added: "You do not want Americans to believe that the
war
on Iraq is being waged to protect Israel rather than to protect
America…"
---
ISRAELI TROOPS KILL RAMADAN DRUMMER IN WEST BANK
Associated Press, 11/27/02
NABLUS, West Bank - Israeli undercover soldiers operating Wednesday in
a
West Bank refugee camp shot dead the drummer who wakes people up for
the
morning Ramadan meal ahead of the daylong fast, Palestinian witnesses
and
hospital officials said.
Jihad Nador, 24 - whose job it is to walk through the streets of the
Askar
refugee camp near Nablus at 3:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. rapping on a drum
to
wake people up for their morning meal during the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan - was doing just that when undercover troops shot him in the
chest,
witnesses and hospital officials said. It appeared Nador did not know
the
camp had been placed under a strict curfew, the witnesses said…
-----
RUSSIA TO CLOSE CHECHEN REFUGEE CAMPS, EU ALARMED
Maria Golovnina, Reuters, 11/27/02
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said Wednesday it would close "tent cities"
housing tens of thousands of Chechen refugees by late December, but the
European Union expressed concern over the safety of those who may be
forced
to go home.
More than 70,000 Chechen refugees, up to 30,000 of them living in
tents,
are refusing to return to the war-torn homeland they fled after Russia
began its second post-Soviet drive to crush the southern province's bid
for
independence in 1999.
"There is an intention to send these people back to their native lands
in
the nearest future, perhaps in December," Aleksei Vasin, spokesman for
the
pro-Russian Chechen administration, told Reuters from the regional
capital
Grozny.
The European Union, a major aid donor to Chechnya, said a lack of
security
in the separatist region did not allow for the safe return of refugees,
mainly sheltering in Russia's tiny province of Ingushetia, which
borders
mostly Muslim Chechnya.
"The European Commission, and the international community at large,
have
repeatedly asked the authorities not to close any camp in
Ingushetia...,"
Poul Nielson, the EU's top aid official, said in a statement.
"Forcing (refugees) to go back to Chechnya, where the conflict is still
going on, would be against international humanitarian law as well as
conventions that the Russian Federation is party to," he said.
One refugee family told Reuters it was leaving for Grozny along with 30
other families after local officials threatened to start burning their
tents on Dec. 1.
Earlier this year, the Vienna-based International Helsinki Federation
accused Moscow of trying to force the refugees out by cutting off their
water and food supplies. It also said the authorities have failed to
set up
adequate accommodation...
-----
D.C. RAMADAN FAST-A-THON BENEFIT
WHAT: The Muslim Students' Association of The George Washington
University
and The Students Association will be sponsoring a "Ramadan Fast-A-Thon"
program to raise funds for the hungry. The event is open to the public.
WHEN: Monday, December 2, 4:30 P.M.
WHERE: Grand Ballroom, Marvin Center (3rd floor) George Washington
University, Washington, D.C.
For more information, visit www.gwu.edu/~msa or e-mail msa@gwu.edu.
-----
DONATE TO PRISON EID FUND
Press release, Muslim American Society, 11/27/02
Rev. Ralph Napper, chaplain at the D.C. Correctional facility, has
contacted Muslim American Society, requesting various items for an Eid
celebration for Muslim inmates on December 7, 2002. In particular, he
has
requested Qurans, dates, Islamic books/magazines, and food items.
The institution will provide the standard institutional dinner.
Permission
has been granted to allow outside food donations provided the meal is
prepared by the institution. They need the following items: lamb,
chicken,
fish and dessert to feed the approximately 80 inmates, guests, and
staff.
If you can make a contribution to purchase or donate the above food
items,
it will be greatly appreciated.
Checks can be made to:
Muslim American Foundation (Indicate donation is for "Prison Eid
Fund.")
1050 17th Street N.W., Suite 600
Washington, D.C., 20036
For more information, call (202) 496-1288
-----
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-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 11/29/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: SPEND RIGHTEOUSLY AND TEACH WISDOM
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT
* CRAYOLA RAMADAN RESOURCES FOR FAMILIES
* CLASH OVER NEW YORK MOSQUE (Newsday)
* DROP IN MIDDLE EASTERNERS AT SCHOOLS TIED TO VISAS (Wash. Times)
* PATRIOT ACT EARNS COUNCIL'S `NO' VOTE (Register-Guard)
* MUSLIMS, JEWS TRADE MESSAGES OF PEACE (Montreal Gazette)
* LAWSUIT FILED TO BAR SOMALI DEPORTATIONS (Post-Intelligencer)
- Class Action Filed on Somali Deportations
* U OF C MUSLIMS DEMAND PLACE TO PRAY (Calgary Herald)
* SHARON REJECTS REQUEST TO RULE OUT `TRANSFER' (Haaretz)
- Ramadan 'Drummer' Shot Dead by Israelis (Washington Post)
- Palestinian Olive Trees Sold to Rich Israelis (Telegraph)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: SPEND RIGHTEOUSLY AND TEACH WISDOM
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "There are two (kinds
of)
people worth envying: Someone whom God has made rich and who spends his
money righteously; and someone whom God has given wisdom and who acts
according to it and teaches it to others."
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 9, Hadith 255
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT
Take part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and
objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 320
-----
CRAYOLA RAMADAN RESOURCES FOR FAMILIES
http://www.crayola.com/search/results.cfm?keywords=ramadan
-----
CLASH OVER EAST MEADOW MOSQUE
Residents express anti-Muslim feeling
Joseph Mallia, Newsday, 11/29/02
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-limosq293024235nov29,0,1664916.story
Nearly a decade ago, the Long Island Muslim Society bought two small
houses
on a busy street in East Meadow and began holding prayer services
there.
Now the Islamic group of about 40 families, mostly of Bangladeshi
origin,
wants to tear down the houses and build a new mosque and school in
their
place.
But plans for the mosque, big enough for 300 people but with only nine
parking spaces, have sparked a clash with neighbors that may pit
quality of
life against freedom of religion…
A few East Meadow residents at the Tuesday meeting protested in
moderate
tones about the society's planned expansion and its tax-exempt
religious
status, which they said forces them to pay more than their fair share
of
property taxes.
But most of the meeting consisted of a barrage of angry shouts and
anti-Muslim jeers directed at Rahman, his architect Hossein Alemzadeh,
and
his lawyer, Peter Morra. Meeting moderator Joseph Parisi, who heads the
civic group, banged a gavel again and again, and shouted the audience
down,
to maintain order.
"Go park in Bangladesh!" one man shouted.
Some said they oppose the mosque because it would attract more Muslims
to
East Meadow, and they don't like Muslims, especially after last year's
Sept. 11 attacks.
"A lot of people died in the name of your god. We don't kill in the
name of
our god," said Michelle Caio of East Meadow. About half those present
cheered Caio's comments, while the rest shouted disagreement, to which
she
answered: "You don't want to admit it, but that's the issue. Parking's
not
the issue," Caio said to her neighbors. "I'm against building a mosque
in
the town I live in. I do not think this is the time after what happened
last year."
Gina Caio, Michelle's cousin, also spoke. "We obviously don't want you
here," she told Rahman. "Why would you want to be in a community that
doesn't want you?"…
-----
DROP IN MIDDLE EASTERNERS AT U.S. SCHOOLS TIED TO VISAS
Ellen Sorokin, Washington Times, 11/29/02
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20021129-21795850.htm
The number of students from the Middle East who are attending colleges
in
the United States on scholarships has dropped 12 percent this year,
mostly
because of the delays caused by the new federal visa regulations
adopted
since the September 11 attacks, according to a new survey.
About 8,800 students from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria
and
Qatar are enrolled this year at American institutions. Of that number,
600
students, or 6.8 percent, have not been able to return to or start
school
on time because of visa delays, the survey conducted by the Arab
American
Institute shows.
Last year, there were approximately 10,000 students from the Middle
East
attending American schools, the survey shows.
The latest figures are of concern to institute officials, who argue
that
the federal government should make the new visa process more efficient
for
foreign students, particularly those who want to come to the United
States
from the Middle East. In some cases, students are waiting up to three
months to obtain a visa, the survey shows.
They argue that leaving the process alone could be harmful to the
American
economy…
-----
PATRIOT ACT EARNS COUNCIL'S `NO' VOTE
JOE MOSLEY, Register-Guard, 11/26/02
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2002/11/26/1a.patriotact.1126.html
Eugene city councilors gave in to a stampede of constituents Monday
night,
surprising even themselves by voting unanimously at an impassioned
meeting
to make Eugene the 15th city in the United States and the first in
Oregon
to formally seek reform or repeal of the USA Patriot Act.
More than 200 people packed the council chamber and dozens more spilled
out
of its doorways as opponents to the sweeping anti-terrorism act
dominated
an extended public comment session with testimony of lost liberties,
ideals
in peril and a heartfelt fear of unchecked government.
"My community was silenced; our voice is silent," said 20-year-old
Alexander Gonzales, a Hispanic student at the University of Oregon and
lifelong Eugene resident. "We're afraid. I really can't express through
words the fear that goes on."
Others also told of feeling targeted by the Patriot Act - not because
of
their politics but due to national heritage, religious beliefs or skin
color…
-----
MUSLIMS, JEWS TRADE MESSAGES OF PEACE
Interfaith talk heralds 3 closely timed festivals
HARVEY SHEPHERD, Montreal Gazette, 11/29/02
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/
The joyous Jewish festival of Hanukkah begins at sundown tonight - not
quite a week before the joyous Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr.
Despite tensions between the two religions in some areas due to current
world events, several Canadians are planning activities in the coming
days
that they hope will draw them a little closer together.
The eight-day Hanukkah festival commemorates the successful Jewish
revolt
led by the Maccabees in 165 B.C. against the Seleucid Empire. Hanukkah
is
always a few weeks before Christmas, with which it is often compared.
Eid
al-Fitr gradually migrates through the year like other Muslim
festivals.
Eid, marked by community prayers, feasting, gift-giving and other
celebrations, marks the end of the Ramadan, holy month of prayer and
fasting.
A Montreal organization that encourages inter-faith dialogue plans a
discussion Wednesday, inspired by the proximity of the three festivals
this
year.
A representative of each faith will participate in a French-language
panel,
organized by the Centre Spiritualites et Religions de Montreal, at 7
p.m.
at the Centre St. Pierre, 1212 Panet St.
A Muslim imam is to make a gesture of peace in a Montreal synagogue
Sunday.
It's a coincidence that the gesture will come early in Hanukkah and
toward
the end of Ramadan…
-----
LAWSUIT IS FILED IN SEATTLE TO BAR ALL SOMALI DEPORTATIONS
CHRIS McGANN, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, 11/28/02
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/97648_somalis28.shtml
Advocates who helped five Somalis in Seattle avoid deportation this
month
by contesting immigration service orders in federal court now want to
block
all U.S. deportations to the famine- and war-ravaged East African
nation.
A class-action lawsuit filed in Seattle this week contends that
deportation
violates Immigration and Naturalization Service statutes because
Somalia
does not have a functioning government and therefore cannot agree to
accept
deportees. Lawyers also argue that the practice violates international
law
and U.S. treaties such as the convention against torture. At least one
U.S.
deportee has reportedly been killed after being dropped off in
Mogadishu…
The Hate Free Zone Campaign of Washington assembled the Perkins Coie
team.
"Since Sept. 11, there has been unprecedented power given to the
Department
of Justice and we've had little ability to push back against that
power,"
said Pramila Jayapal, the Hate Free Zone's director. "We see this as a
response to the overzealousness of this administration…"
When members of the Somali community brought the imminent deportations
to
the attention of the Hate Free Zone, the group scrambled to assemble
the
team of pro bono attorneys. That team was able to convince U.S.
District
Judge Marsha Peckman to stall the deportations. The same team filed
this
suit against the INS. Ann Benson, Directing Attorney for the Washington
Defender Association's Immigration Project and a member of the legal
team,
contends that 1,000 to 5,000 Somalis in the United States are currently
slated for deportation.
SEE ALSO:
ADVISORY NOTICE
CLASS ACTION FILED ON SOMALI DEPORTATIONS
November 27, 2002 - Seattle, Washington
On November 13, 2002, attorneys at Perkins Coie, LLP, working in
conjunction with a team of immigration attorneys and federal public
defenders, and the Hate Free Zone Campaign of Washington, filed a
Habeas
petition in Federal District court in Seattle, Washington, on behalf of
five Seattle area Somalis who were detained by the INS and told that
they
would be imminently deported to Somalia. U.S. Federal Court Judge
Marsha
Pechman granted a Temporary Restraining Order staying the deportations
of
the five named petitioners pending a preliminary injunction hearing.
(One
of the original five petitioners has been released subsequent to the
filing
of a notice to appeal his order of removal.)
Since the original filing of the Habeas petition, Hate Free Zone
Campaign
of Washington has received numerous calls from around the country
regarding
other Somalis who are similarly situated. Yesterday, November 26, 2002
lawyers filed an amended petition in Federal court requesting
certification
of a nationwide class that would include all Somalis that have final
orders
of removal, expedited removal, deportation, and exclusion.
Lawyers in the Seattle case have sent a letter to the Asst. US attorney
assigned to the case, Christopher Pickerell, requesting that the INS
agree
to suspend all removals/deportations of Somalis during the pendency of
this
litigation. If the INS does not agree to this by early next week, the
lawyers contemplate filing an expedited motion with the Court for
pre-certification of the class that would include an order enjoining
INS
from deporting any Somali during the pendency of the litigation. Such
an
order would apply nationwide to all Somalis with final orders of
removal
and would eliminate the need for filing individual habeas actions in
these
cases.
However, until the class is certified, we would advise the following
steps,
if you know of Somalis who are being detained and told of imminent
deportation:
1. File a Habeas petition in the Federal District Court having
jurisdiction
over the INS where the person is being detained. Sample pleadings are
available through Karol Brown, Perkins Coie, tel: 206-264-3902 email:
KZBrown@perkinscoie.com;
2. Contact Liza Wilcox, Community Services Coordinator for the Hate
Free
Zone Campaign of Washington, tel: 206-723-2203 email:
liza@hatefreezone.org. HFZ Campaign is tracking information on these
cases
as they unfold around the country.
HFZ Campaign and the legal team will provide updated information as the
situation unfolds.
For more info contact:
Pramila Jayapal
Director
Hate Free Zone Campaign of Washington
(206) 723-2203
pramila@hatefreezone.org
www.hatefreezone.org
Ann Benson
Directing Attorney
Washington Defenders Immigration Project
1401 E. Jefferson Street, Suite 200
Seattle, WA 98122
Tel: 206-726-3332 Fax: 206-726-3170
-----
U OF C MUSLIMS DEMAND PLACE TO PRAY
Colette Derworiz, Calgary Herald, 11/29/02
http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/
Muslim students at the University of Calgary are paying for a place to
pray
after controversy erupted over available space on campus.
The students pray at sunrise and sunset, a requirement during the
Muslim
holy month of Ramadan, in a room set up in the back corner of the
MacEwan
Student Centre.
"It is a big problem," said Mohamed Bassyouni, president of the Muslim
Students' Association.
He said the temporary space is the only option since some Muslim
students
praying in a hallway were asked to stop earlier this month. The request
by
the U of C Students' Union set off a storm of controversy on campus,
with
the Muslim students threatening to file a human rights complaint if a
solution was not found…
-----
PM REJECTS JORDAN'S REQUEST TO RULE OUT `TRANSFER' IN IRAQ WAR
Aluf Benn, Haaretz, 11/28/02
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=235416
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has rejected Jordan's request that Israel
issue
a public declaration opposing the "transfer" of Palestinians from the
West
Bank.
Recently, Jordanian officials have displayed concern about the
possibility
that Israel might exploit an American attack on Iraq by expelling
masses of
Palestinians from the West Bank to Jordan. Senior Jordanian officials
have
raised this concern in talks with Israeli and American counterparts.
The
Jordanians asked for assurances that Israel will refrain from
implementing
transfer policies.
Jordan's Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher brought up the concern last
September at the United Nations, in talks with former foreign minister
Shimon Peres. Muasher asked for a formal Israel announcement renouncing
transfer. The Jordanians asked that the declaration come directly from
the
prime minister...
William Burns, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs,
who
visited the region last October, told Israeli officials that Jordan's
leaders had expressed fears about mass expulsion of Palestinians during
a
coming war against Iraq.
The U.S. assured the Jordanians that no transfer scenario is in the
offing,
the Jordanian source says. Yet officials in Amman still hope that
Israel
will issue a formal declaration. The Jordanian official quoted remarks
made
by Israeli officials in favor of transfer, and cited poll results that
indicate a measure of public support for the idea.
SEE ALSO:
RAMADAN 'DRUMMER' SHOT DEAD BY ISRAELIS
John Ward Anderson, Washington Post, 11/28/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47450-2002Nov27.html
NABLUS, West Bank, November 27 -- Raed Faour and Jihad Natour, lifelong
friends, were walking through the dark, narrow street and alleys of
Nablus'
New Asker refugee camp early today, banging their tambourine-like drums
and
singing a song to wake up the Muslim faithful and announce the
approaching
sunrise. The drummers, as the pair and others like them are known, are
a
fixture in Muslim neighborhoods during the holy month of Ramadan, when
families arise before daybreak to eat a meal because their religion
requires them to fast from sunup to sundown.
Just before 3 a.m., as they were singing a song praising the Prophet
Mohammed -- "Oh, the god of Mohammad," it went, "Take the worry from
us!"
-- several Israeli soldiers emerged from a dark hiding spot behind a
taxi,
aimed their guns at them and shouted in Arabic, "Stop! Stop!" Faour
said in
an interview. "They immediately started shooting," he said, and Natour
hit
the ground, shouting: "My brother Raed, I've been shot!"
Palestinians here said that Natour, 22, an unemployed carpenter, died
in
the street after Israeli soldiers refused to allow an ambulance to pass
through an Army checkpoint to take him to a hospital. Local residents
were
outraged that such a drummer, who plays an important role in the
Islamic
culture, was killed while fulfilling a ritual that has been a part of
Ramadan observances for generations.
---
PALESTINIAN OLIVE TREES SOLD TO RICH ISRAELIS
Alan Philps in Jerusalem, Telegraph, 11/28/02
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/11/28/woliv28.xml
Israel's Defence Ministry is investigating reports that Palestinian
olive
trees uprooted to make way for a security fence are being sold
illegally to
rich Israelis and town councils, sometimes for thousands of pounds
each.
The illegal trade in olive trees has flourished as Israeli contractors,
supported by armed guards, clear Palestinian agricultural land where an
80-mile electronic fence is being built to seal off the West Bank.
Thousands of olive trees have been dug up to make way for the 150-ft
wide
barrier and security zone. Its route usually passes inside Palestinian
territory, not along the old pre-1967 border, and thousands of
Palestinian
farmers say their livelihood is being taken away…
-----
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Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
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-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 11/30/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: NO RACIAL SUPERIORITY
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT
* CONSERVATIVES DISPUTE BUSH PORTRAYAL OF ISLAM AS PEACEFUL (Wash.
Post)
- Apocalyptic Agenda of the Neo-Conservatives (tompaine.com)
* MAN FACES ONE YEAR IN JAIL FOR HATE CRIME (Maryland Gazette)
* PEOPLE OF FAITH: ERIC HAMZA BYAS (Newsday)
* NON-MUSLIMS EAGER TO LEARN ABOUT ISLAM (St. Paul Pioneer Press)
* QUOTE OF THE DAY: ASHCROFT ON "WELCOMING BIG BROTHER" (SF Chronicle)
* ADMINISTRATION BEGINS TO REWRITE SPYING RESTRICTIONS (New York Times)
- Poindexter Redux (Christian Science Monitor)
- Domestic Spying Pressed (Washington Post)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: NO RACIAL SUPERIORITY
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said to a companion: "You are
not
better than people (of other races) unless you excel them in piety."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1361
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said in his final sermon: "No
one
has superiority over another except by piety and good action."
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT
Take part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and
objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
TO SPONSOR A LIBRARY PACKAGE, GO TO: www.libraryproject.org
OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 320
-----
CONSERVATIVES DISPUTE BUSH PORTRAYAL OF ISLAM AS PEACEFUL
Critics, Include Some Policy Advisers, Call Stance Political
Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 11/30/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55273-2002Nov29.html
President Bush finds himself in a rare disagreement with conservatives
in
his party over his efforts to portray Islam as a peaceful religion that
is
not responsible for anti-American terrorism.
In a score of speeches since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the president
has
called for tolerance of Muslims, describing Islam as "a faith based
upon
peace and love and compassion" and a religion committed to "morality
and
learning and tolerance."
But a large number of foreign policy hawks -- some of them with
advisory
roles in the Bush administration -- have joined religious conservatives
in
taking issue with Bush's characterizations…
Calling Islam a peaceful religion "is an increasingly hard argument to
make," said Kenneth Adelman, a former Reagan official who serves on the
Bush Pentagon's Defense Policy Board. "The more you examine the
religion,
the more militaristic it seems. After all, its founder, Mohammed, was a
warrior, not a peace advocate like Jesus."
Another member of the Pentagon advisory board, Eliot Cohen of the Johns
Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, wrote an article on
the
Wall Street Journal editorial page arguing that the enemy of the United
States enemy is not terrorism "but militant Islam." "The enemy has an
ideology, and an hour spent surfing the Web will give the average
citizen
at least the kind of insights that he or she might have found during
World
Wars II and III by reading 'Mein Kampf' or the writings of Lenin,
Stalin or
Mao…"
At the same time, social conservatives are resisting Bush's efforts to
portray Islam in a favorable light. "Islam is at war against us," Paul
Weyrich, an activist who is influential in the White House, wrote last
week. "I have had much good to say about President Bush in recent
months.
But one thing that concerned me before September 11th and concerns me
even
more now is his administration's constant promotion of Islam as a
religion
of peace and tolerance just like Judaism or Christianity. It is
neither..."
Muslim Americans worry that the anti-Islam conservatives are winning
the
battle. "These right-wingers are trying to set up a civilizational
conflict
with all their might in the same way as Osama bin Laden," said Ibrahim
Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "We're
trying our darndest to prevent it but every day it's looking more and
more
like it's heading in that direction…It really is getting a bit
frightening.
At some times I feel like a member of the Jewish community in Germany
in
the latter stages of the Weimar Republic…"
SEE ALSO:
THE APOCALYPTIC AGENDA OF THE NEO-CONSERVATIVES
Ahmad Faruqui, TOMPAINE.COM, 11/27/02
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6807
Ahmad Faruqui is an economist and a fellow at the American Institute of
International Studies in California. He is author of Rethinking the
National Security of Pakistan, to be published later this year by
Ashgate
Publishing in the UK.
Neo-conservative writers have become increasingly vocal about an
apocalyptic conflict involving the United States and Muslim world.
Start with Norman Podhoretz, the former longtime editor of Commentary
and
now a Hudson Institute fellow. Podhoretz calls for en masse regime
change
in the Middle East, beginning with Iraq and Iran from the original
"axis of
evil" list, and extending it to Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, the Palestinian
National Authority, Saudi Arabia and Syria. He wants the United States
to
unilaterally overthrow these regimes and replace them with democracies
cast
in the Jeffersonian mold.
What neo-cons seek is not just a political transformation of the Muslim
Middle East. Their end game, as Podhoretz says in Commentary, is to
bring
about "the long-overdue internal reform and modernization of Islam."
Rather than being dismissed as fringe thinking, these pronouncements
frame
the hard-right boundary for debates in conservative political circles…
The neo-cons are determined to bring their apocalyptic vision to
reality --
even if their critics dismiss their call to arms and American
triumphalism...
-----
MAN FACES ONE YEAR IN JAIL FOR HATE CRIME
BRIAN M. SCHLETER, Maryland Gazette, 11/30/02
http://hometownannapolis.com/gazette_top.html
A Baltimore man will spend a year in jail for verbally and physically
assaulting two Middle Eastern men working at a Glen Burnie gas station.
Dennis O. Coe, 33, insisted he was not a racist, but pleaded guilty
Tuesday
to a charge of engaging in a religious or ethnic hate crime, a
misdemeanor.
In exchange, prosecutors dropped assault charges that carry potentially
stiffer sentences. "That was the most descriptive of the crime he
committed," said Assistant State's Attorney Laura Kiessling.
She heads a special unit started in August 2001 that prosecutes hate
crimes
and assists police with their investigations.
"This is an issue that needs to be punished because of the significance
of
the crime," Circuit Court Judge David S. Bruce said. "It just can't be
tolerated."
By all accounts, Mr. Coe was extremely intoxicated on July 30 when he
went
into the Shell station at 501 S. Crain Highway and started throwing
merchandise.
He made numerous racial slurs about the men's ethnic background and
blamed
them for the deaths in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. He punched one
man
in the face and swung at the other, who was shielding his 6-year-old
daughter, Ms. Kiessling said.
The incident so traumatized the young girl that her father sold the gas
station…
-----
PEOPLE OF FAITH: ERIC HAMZA BYAS
Debbe Geiger, Newsday, 11/30/02
http://www.newsday.com/features/religion/ny-pulpit3024998nov30,0,1198189.story
ERIC HAMZA BYAS
Secretary of the Islamic Center of Long Island in Westbury.
HOME AND FAMILY
Age 45; lives in Westbury; single; one daughter.
PROJECT
For the past five years, Byas has volunteered at the mosque,
coordinating
schedules for various educational and interfaith activities and for
speakers, and running the Sunday adult program. During the current
month of
Ramadan, Byas attends daily prayers each night and helps with anything
needed, including special readings and cleaning. Each Saturday during
Ramadan he helps prepare for the dinner that breaks the day's fast…
BACKGROUND
Born to a Christian household in Atlanta (his grandfather was a Baptist
minister); served in the Marine Corps; received a bachelor's degree in
business administration from Fort Valley State College in Georgia;
moved to
New York in 1982 and held several managerial positions before receiving
a
master's degree in personnel and human resource labor relations from
New
York Institute of Technology in 1995. At New York Telephone he "began
interacting with a lot of Muslims. I decided that this was the religion
for
me in 1995." Today he is a manager for Verizon.
PHILOSOPHY
"Through Islam I found peace within myself which no other religion gave
me.
From that basis, I am able to go out into the world in a sane frame of
mind. Everything in the world is a trial, tribulation or test. I can
always
go back and find peace within myself and God."
-----
NON-MUSLIMS EAGER TO LEARN ABOUT ISLAM
STEPHEN SCOTT, St. Paul Pioneer Press, 11/30/02
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/living/religion/4631264.htm
At Augsburg College's annual convocation, the visit of a distinguished
speaker is typically followed by a celebratory meal on campus.
After this year's event, held earlier this month, the college omitted
the
meal, in deference to the sunrise-to-sundown fast observed by Muslims
during Ramadan.
The crowd instead feasted on the knowledge of panelists Amin Kader, a
Muslim professor of business administration at Augsburg, and Mark
Swanson,
director of the Islamic studies program at Luther Seminary in St. Paul.
For all the answers they provided in a 90-minute session, questions
kept
coming. A handful of attendees lingered long afterward in dialogue. One
woman finally said, "I wish you would come to our church, because so
many
people there just want to know about Islam and they don't know where to
start.''
That has been a constant refrain for at least the past 14 months, as
many
non-Muslims continue to probe for truths about the world's
second-largest
religion.
This occurs even as the numbers of hate crimes against Muslims and
people
of Middle Eastern appearance have reached their highest levels ever,
the
FBI reported this week.
The task for local Muslim experts is to capsulize the beliefs of 1.3
billion adherents in 184 countries.
"Muslims do diversity very well," Swanson said. "To visit a mosque here
in
the Twin Cities is often to visit a microcosm of the world. People from
many different nations, of different race and language and color and
economic background, gather together for prayer.''
The diversity is reflected in the observance of Ramadan itself, as well
as
in the celebration of Eid al-Fitr, the breaking of the fast, to occur
toward the end of next week...
Muslims will await the sighting of the crescent moon next week to usher
in
the Eid al-Fitr, one of the holiest days on the Islamic calendar.
The Eid will occur either Thursday or Friday and be celebrated at 7:30
a.m.
on the appropriate day at the Earl Brown Center in Brooklyn Center and
other locations.
-----
QUOTE OF THE DAY: ASHCROFT ON "WELCOMING BIG BROTHER"
San Francisco Chronicle, 11/29/02
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/11/29/ED82613.DTL
"The Clinton administration's paranoid and prurient interest in
(monitoring) international e-mail is a wholly unhealthy precedent
especially given this administration's track record on FBI files and
IRS
snooping. Every medium by which people communicate can be subject to
exploitation by those with illegal or immoral intentions. Nevertheless,
this is no reason to hand Big Brother the keys to unlock our e-mail
diaries, open our ATM records or translate our international
communications."
--- JOHN ASHCROFT, as a U.S. senator, opposing the Clinton
administration's
request for broadened authority to eavesdrop on high-tech
communications.
From his Aug. 12, 1997 op-ed piece in the Washington Times, "Welcoming
Big
Brother.
-----
ADMINISTRATION BEGINS TO REWRITE DECADES-OLD SPYING RESTRICTIONS
DAVID JOHNSTON, New York Times, 11/30/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/30/national/30INTE.html
WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 - The Bush administration, in its fight against
terrorism, is slowly chipping away at the wall that has existed for
nearly
three decades between domestic law enforcement and international
intelligence gathering in an effort that senior officials said was
vital to
waging war against Al Qaeda and other terror networks.
The barrier between domestic and overseas intelligence gathering was
erected when the Central Intelligence Agency was created in 1947. It
was
significantly hardened in the 1970's in response to Congressional
investigations that produced revelations of widespread abuses by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation and the intelligence agency.
But since the attacks on New York and the Pentagon, the Bush
administration
has waged a different kind of war, mostly under the existing rules.
Now,
senior government officials have concluded that the changes made so far
have not addressed the fundamental flaws of the old rules, leaving the
United State still vulnerable to terrorists.
The changes are coming about in part because of Congressional criticism
of
the performances of the F.B.I. and C.I.A. before the terrorist attacks
on
New York and Washington. The two agencies will also be under the
scrutiny
of an independent commission created this week to examine their
activities
before the attacks.
The administration and Congress had already been reviewing ideas to
overhaul intelligence and law enforcement that have been considered
untouchable for a generation.
One is the creation of a domestic espionage agency; another is the use
of
the military in United States law enforcement. There is no agreement
yet on
new structures or whether the basic mandates and core operations of the
central agencies will be changed.
The biggest change to date came on Monday when President Bush signed a
law
creating a Department of Homeland Security with its own intelligence
unit.
The unit is designed to start operations as a small, analytical office,
but
it has the potential to grow in significance, especially if the
Homeland
Security Department evolves into a powerful agency.
Another sign of change came earlier this month, when a federal appeals
court issued a ruling that erased restrictions on the Justice
Department's
authority to spy on terrorism suspects in the United States.
More quietly, officials say the administration is in the midst of
revising
broad intelligence priorities laid out in a directive issued by
President
Bill Clinton, a document known as PDD 35. That process could eventually
bring more changes...
But civil liberties advocates worry about broad new
intelligence-gathering
initiatives. They say their voices have been largely drowned out by the
Bush administration, and by the administration's repeated warnings that
without new intelligence powers and surveillance authority, the country
will remain vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
"It's truly astonishing," said Ralph G. Neas, president of People for
the
American Way. "It seems that we're forgetting everything we learned in
the
1970's…"
SEE ALSO:
POINDEXTER REDUX
Daniel Schorr, Christian Science Monitor, 11/29/02
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1129/p11s01-coop.html
WASHINGTON - Deep in the recesses of the Pentagon is the Office of the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). DARPA is where Vice
Adm.
John Poindexter (USN ret.) hangs out these days, working on TIA. TIA
stands
for Total Information Awareness. The project, which is budgeted at $10
million this year and expected to get more next year, has been getting
bad
press. That is in part because its Orwellian-sounding purpose is to
create
a centralized database of personal information about Americans…
---
DOMESTIC SPYING PRESSED
Michael Powell, Washington Post, 11/29/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51934-2002Nov28.html
NEW YORK -- Arguing that this city faces a far more perilous world than
once imagined, New York's police commissioner wants to toss aside a
decades-old federal court decree governing the limits on police spying
and
surveillance of its own citizenry.
City officials argue that officers need more elbow room to photograph,
tape
and infiltrate political and social organizations to uproot terror
networks. But civil libertarians warn of a return to the unsavory days
of
old, when New York's police department acquired a reputation for police
"black bag" break-ins and spying on political dissidents…
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 12/2/2002
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: SEEKING GOD'S HELP
* CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT: 4297 SPONSORSHIPS
* INCITEMENT WATCH: EDITORIAL CARTOONIST SMEARS ISLAM
* FL MAN CHARGED WITH ANTI-MUSLIM HATE CRIME (Sun-Sentinel)
* EXCHANGE WITH MUSLIM BROADENS WORLD VIEW (St. Petersburg Times)
* SCHOOLS ADAPTING TO MUSLIM HOLY MONTH (Education Week)
* HIGH-TECH HELPERS FOR PRAYER TIME (Wichita Eagle)
* ANTIWAR EFFORT GAINS MOMENTUM (Washington Post)
- Beyond Regime Change (Los Angeles Times)
- Condemned to Violence (Washington Post)
- Robert Fisk: We are Following Sharon into a Trap (Independent)
* GUANTANAMO DETAINEES SEEK COURT ACCESS (AP)
- In Terror War, 2nd Track for Suspects (Washington Post)
* TRAVELERS FACE NEW SCREENING AT AIRPORTS (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
* LOCAL MUSLIMS CELEBRATE COMMUNITY IN RAMADAN EVENT (Herald Leader)
* ISLAMIC TERRORISTS DISTORT RELIGION, SCHOLAR ARGUES (Phil. Inquirer)
* ISRAEL'S STRUGGLE FOR HEARTS AND MINDS (Haaretz0
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: SEEKING GOD'S HELP
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) recommended the following
prayer
for those who seek God's help in making a choice or decision:
"O God, I ask You to enable me to choose what is best through Your
knowledge, and bring it to pass through Your power…O God, if You know
that
this matter is best for me in my religion, (my) livelihood and my final
end, then bring it about and make it easy for me. And if You know that
the
matter is bad for me…Then keep it away from me, and keep me away from
it."
Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 2, Number 32
-----
CAIR LIBRARY PROJECT: 4297 SPONSORSHIPS
CAIR's Library Project has received 4297 sponsorships for $150 book and
tape packages on Islam to be placed in libraries across the country.
Take
part in this first-of-its-kind campaign by sponsoring an 18-item
"library
package." Our goal is to, inshallah, send accurate and objective
information about Islam to America's 16,000 public libraries.
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OR CALL: 1-800-392-7876, ext. 320
-----
INCITEMENT WATCH: EDITORIAL CARTOONIST SMEARS ISLAM
SEE: http://www.ucomics.com/tonyauth/2002/11/28/
Auth's work appears five times a week in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Meet Tony Auth: http://www.ucomics.com/tonyauth/bio.phtml
ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE.)
E-MAIL POLITE COMMENTS TO: lswanson@phillynews.com,
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hkestenbaum@phillynews.com, content@uclick.com
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org
-----
FL MAN CHARGED WITH ANTI-MUSLIM HATE CRIME
BOCA COPS CHARGE MAN IN MOSQUE SIGN FIRE
Jon Burstein, Sun-Sentinel, 12/1/02
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/search/sfl-pmosque01dec01.story
A construction company owner has been charged with a misdemeanor hate
crime
after two Boca Raton police officers said they watched him set fire to
a
sign announcing the new site of a mosque.
George Aboujawdeh, 45, is the first person in Palm Beach County to be
prosecuted for a hate crime directed at Muslims since the Sept. 11
terror
attacks, said Michael Edmondson, a spokesman for the State Attorney's
Office.
An FBI annual survey released earlier this week showed that hate crimes
nationwide against people of Middle Eastern descent, Muslims and South
Asian Sikhs have jumped up from 28 in 2000 to 481 last year.
Aboujawdeh, a Catholic who was born and raised in Lebanon, told police
that
he set the sign on fire because he wanted to send Muslims a message
that
"they're not liked here," according to police reports…
Boca Raton police arrested Aboujawdeh on Sept. 4 while they staked out
the
4-by-8 foot sign on a vacant lot at 1501 NW Fourth Ave. The sign
announced
that the site would be the future home of the Assalam Center and had an
artist's rendering of what the new mosque will look like.
Police had been watching the sign for six weeks prior after it was
hacked
with an ax and twice set on fire. They said they watched as Aboujawdeh
doused the sign with lighter fluid and run as it went up in flames,
according to police reports...
When he was brought to the Boca Raton police station, Aboujawdeh
admitted
he intentionally set the fire because he didn't want the mosque to be
built, police said…
-----
EXCHANGE WITH MUSLIM BROADENS WORLD VIEW
ROBERT KING, St. Petersburg Times, 12/2/02
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/12/02/Hernando/Exchange_with_Muslim_.shtml
Needless to say, my exposure to Islam has been slim. Even during 10
years
as a reporter, I've had a few brief encounters with Muslims. The
longest,
and most enlightening, came last week, when I sat down for a
conversation
with Dr. Mohammad Shuayb.
A Spring Hill dentist who has lived here a lot longer than I, Shuayb
wanted
to use the occasion of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month and a period of
daytime fasting that ends this week, to spread greater understanding
about
Islam.
For nearly three hours, Shuayb and I talked about everything from
politics
and religion to children and television. It gave me a fascinating
insight
into another perspective on the world...
Shuayb gave me a copy of the Koran, the sacred book of Muslims.
I found that it speaks of many figures that are in my Bible. Among them
are
Jesus; Mary; John the Baptist; Moses; and Abraham, the father of
Judaism,
Christianity and Islam.
Shuayb, like most Muslims, believes Jesus was born of the virgin Mary.
The
Koran says Jesus healed lepers and blind people, and that he raised the
dead…
I was interested to learn that the Koran says Jesus spoke as an infant.
From the cradle, it says he proclaimed he was a servant of Allah, the
Arabic name for God…
Our talk never turned into a debate. It was more of an information
exchange. At all times, Shuayb showed great reverence for Jesus. Every
time
he spoke the name Jesus, the next words from his mouth were "peace be
upon
him."
Undoubtedly, such an attitude of respect and kindness has enabled
Shuayb to
establish a home and a thriving dental practice. Shuayb says Hernando
County has returned the favor.
-----
SCHOOLS ADAPTING TO MUSLIM HOLY MONTH
Nashiah Ahmad, Education Week, 11/27/02
http://www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=13ramadan.h22
The Muslim students at Robert E. Lee High School in this suburban
Virginia
community haven't had anything to eat or drink all day, but when they
meet
after school for a club meeting, the room still buzzes with energy,
laughter, and chatter. It's the first day of Ramadan, the Islamic month
of
fasting, an uplifting time these students say encourages them to
improve
themselves.
About 15 students, members of the school's Muslim Student Association,
discuss Ramadan and plan activities with the club's supervisor,
chemistry
teacher Mariam Osman. As some drift in and out of the room, the talk
shifts
from Ramadan concerns to participation in a regional Islamic quiz
competition.
Like other Muslims observing Ramadan this month across the country and
around the world, the students here attest to the personal benefits
they
gain from fasting. But they also agree that just practicing their faith
in
the public school environment-where they're often pulled in directions
opposite to what Islam teaches-can be a battle of wills…
Muslim activists agree that U.S. school systems' awareness and
understanding of the religion are growing. This year, the news media
are
paying heightened attention to the start of Ramadan, largely because
public
interest in Islam jumped after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
and
because the United States faces the prospect of war with Iraq, a Muslim
country.
An estimated 6 million to 7 million Muslims live in the United States,
according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a nonprofit
organization based in Washington.
"The fact that Muslims are here in large numbers requires a learning
curve
for American institutions," said Ihsan Bagby, a University of Kentucky
professor of Islamic studies who conducts research on Islam in America.
"I
think the schools are more open to understanding other cultures. That
is,
after all, one of the purposes of education.
"Therefore," he said, schools "have been fairly quick to find
accommodation..."
NOTE: To order CAIR's "An Educator's Guide to Islamic Religious
Practices,"
e-mail: publications@cair-net.org
-----
HIGH-TECH HELPERS FOR PRAYER TIME
ABE LEVY, Wichita Eagle, 12/2/02
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/living/religion/4645376.htm
On the kitchen counter in Nabil Seyam's house in northeast Wichita is a
miniature mosque with speakers in tiny windows.
Five times a day, it broadcasts a recorded call to prayer in Arabic,
following the lunar-based Islamic calendar.
Nearby, Seyam's computer has a program that broadcasts that same prayer
but
with greater precision for Muslims living in Wichita. Other local
Muslims
use e-mail notices, special alarm watches and hand-sized electronic
daytimers as prayer reminders. They are examples of modern technologies
that help Muslims practice their faith while living in religiously
diverse
communities…
"When it's time to pray, you know it in those countries," said Hodan
Hassan, spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in
Washington, D.C. "People in America get used to the busy lifestyle, and
they need reminders..."
-----
ANTIWAR EFFORT GAINS MOMENTUM
Evelyn Nieves, Washington Post, 12/2/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61647-2002Dec1.html
The extraordinary array of groups questioning the Bush administration's
rationale for an invasion of Iraq includes longtime radical groups such
as
the Workers World Party, but also groups not known for taking stands
against the government. There is a labor movement against war, led by
organizers of the largest unions in the country; a religious movement
against the war, which includes leaders of virtually every mainstream
denomination; a veterans movement against the war, led by those who
fought
Iraq in the Persian Gulf a decade ago; business leaders against the
war,
led by corporate leaders; an antiwar movement led by relatives of
victims
of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks; and immigrant groups against the war.
There are also black and Latino organizations, hundreds of campus
antiwar
groups and scores of groups of ordinary citizens meeting in community
centers and church basements from Baltimore to Seattle.
It has reached a point where United for Peace, a Web site started by
the
San Francisco-based human rights organization Global Exchange for
groups to
list events commemorating the Sept. 11 anniversary, has morphed into a
national network coordinating events for more than 70 peace groups
nationwide...
SEE ALSO:
BEYOND REGIME CHANGE
The administration doesn't simply want to oust Saddam Hussein. It wants
to
redraw the Mideast map.
Sandy Tolan, Los Angeles Times, 12/1/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-op-tolan1dec01001516.story
Sandy Tolan, an I.F. Stone Fellow at the Graduate School of Journalism
at
UC Berkeley, reports frequently on the Middle East. Jason Felch, a
student
in Tolan's "Politics and Petroleum" class, contributed to this article.
BERKELEY -- If you want to know what the administration has in mind for
Iraq, here's a hint: It has less to do with weapons of mass destruction
than with implementing an ambitious U.S. vision to redraw the map of
the
Middle East.
The new map would be drawn with an eye to two main objectives:
controlling
the flow of oil and ensuring Israel's continued regional military
superiority. The plan is, in its way, as ambitious as the 1916
Sykes-Picot
agreement between the empires of Britain and France, which carved up
the
region at the fall of the Ottoman Empire. The neo-imperial vision,
which
can be ascertained from the writings of key administration figures and
their co-visionaries in influential conservative think tanks, includes
not
only regime change in Iraq but control of Iraqi oil, a possible end to
the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and newly compliant
governments in Syria and Iran -- either by force or internal rebellion…
---
CONDEMNED TO VIOLENCE
As long as we ignore downtrodden people, terrorism will not go away.
Ramzy Baroud, Washington Post, 12/2/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61785-2002Dec1.html
I condemn all kinds of terrorism -- that of a nation-state, no matter
how
mighty, as much as that of a solitary sniper gunning down innocent men
and
women. But in practice, it is only the powerless who receive
retribution
for it.
"Terrorism" is seen only in one context: the effect, but never the
cause,
as though suicide bombings, the Moscow theater hostage crisis, the
Kurdish
rebels' frequent attacks on the Turkish army and more were all born in
a
vacuum.
In an interview with a National Public Radio station two months after
the
deadly attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, I reiterated to a thoughtful host:
"We
must try to see through the pain of the innocent thousands killed on
that
dreadful day. We cannot be so blinded by our anger to the point that we
fail to see how violence begets violence. If we are keenly interested
in
bringing terrorism to a halt, we must have the courage to examine its
roots."
Growing up to become a suicide bomber is simply not the course of
normal
human behavior. Leaving one's children behind in Grozny, going to
Moscow
and seizing hundreds of people at gunpoint in a theater is not an act
born
out of some ingrained Chechen hatred for Russians. Nor have the Kurds
fought for more than 15 years simply because they are, in some
mysterious
way, bad folk, full of unexplainable hostility...
"Fighting terror" is the new trend, whereby aggressive, powerful
countries
crush their weaker foes, deprive them of freedom, of humanity even,
terrorize them, degrade them, arrest them en masse, test their latest
weapons on them -- while continuing to blame them for all the wrongs of
the
world...
When will we treasure the lives of all nations on an equal level,
whether
American, Afghani, Iraqi, Israeli, Palestinian, Turkish, Kurdish,
Russian,
Chechen and all others? How long will we remain blinded by empty
slogans,
unexplained hatred and pretentious condemnations?
---
ARIEL SHARON HAS WALKED INTO A TRAP. AND WE ARE FOLLOWING HIM
Osama bin Laden is writing the script in the war against terror
Robert Fisk, The Independent, 12/1/02
http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=357243
With utter predictability, Ariel Sharon walked into the al-Qa'ida trap.
He
vowed "revenge". Thus any strike against the al-Qa'ida - by America, by
Britain, by Australia - will be seen as an Israeli attack. America and
Britain and Israel are now fighting on the same side. In the short term
-
and in his mendacious attempt to link Yasser Arafat with Mr bin Laden -
Mr
Sharon may have gained some advantage. At last, Israel's war on
Palestinian
"terror" can be placed on the same footing as its new war against
al-Qa'ida. No longer will Mr Sharon's ghastly spokesmen have to justify
their army's brutality towards Palestinians. Israel is fighting the
same
struggle of "good against evil" that President Bush invented for us
just
over a year ago.
-----
GUANTANAMO DETAINEES SEEK COURT ACCESS
PETE YOST, Associated Press, 12/2/02
WASHINGTON (AP) - Detainees in the war on terrorism are fighting for
access
to American courts, contending they should not be held at the U.S.
Naval
Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, without seeing a lawyer and without being
charged with a crime.
The Bush administration was arguing in a federal appeals court here
Monday
that 12 Kuwaitis, two Australians and two British Muslims captured in
Afghanistan and Pakistan in the months following the Sept. 11 attacks
are
``unlawful combatants.''
Siding with Justice Department lawyers, U.S. District Judge Colleen
Kollar-Kotelly ruled four months ago that the Guantanamo detainees have
no
right to court hearings, meaning the military can hold them
indefinitely
without filing charges.
The prisoners are not in the United States and thus do not fall under
the
jurisdiction of federal courts, the judge said…
SEE ALSO:
IN TERROR WAR, 2ND TRACK FOR SUSPECTS
Those Designated 'Combatants' Lose Legal Protections
Charles Lane, Washington Post, 12/1/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58308-2002Nov30.html
The Bush administration is developing a parallel legal system in which
terrorism suspects -- U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike -- may be
investigated, jailed, interrogated, tried and punished without legal
protections guaranteed by the ordinary system, lawyers inside and
outside
the government say.
The elements of this new system are already familiar from President
Bush's
orders and his aides' policy statements and legal briefs: indefinite
military detention for those designated "enemy combatants," liberal use
of
"material witness" warrants, counterintelligence-style wiretaps and
searches led by law enforcement officials and, for noncitizens, trial
by
military commissions or deportation after strictly closed hearings…
-----
TRAVELERS FACE NEW SCREENING AT AIRPORTS
Bryon Okada and Diane Smith, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 12/1/02
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/4641801.htm
Someday soon, the names of airline passengers will be fed into a
mammoth
computer network. Algorithms will be used to sort through personal
records
-- birth certificates, travel patterns, credit history, tax returns,
driver's licenses, child-support payments, bank accounts, criminal
records,
charitable donations -- searching for threatening signs.
The computers will assign each traveler a score. The higher the score,
the
more risk a passenger would pose. Anyone whose score is too high would
face
lengthy delays while federal authorities investigate.
That system, an expanded version of the existing Computer Assisted
Passenger Prescreening System -- CAPPS II for short -- could be in
place by
next year.
Conceivably, working hand in hand with the system would be a new
"registered traveler" program providing passengers with a card that
entitles them to expedited airport screening. Travelers would receive a
"smart card" -- containing their fingerprints or an iris scan and a
microchip with background information -- by filling out an extensive
application for government clearance.
Proponents say the systems would revolutionize customer service as the
aviation industry tries to reduce the hassle factor brought by
heightened
security…
Critics say they worry that security systems could be used to target
select
groups.
"This is an Orwellian nightmare come to life," said Will Harrell,
executive
director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas.
The national ACLU is collecting a list of people who believe they have
been
targeted by federal aviation officials.
Assessing the validity of such concerns is difficult because of a
dearth of
information about the CAPPS II program, which has often been
inaccurately
referred to as a "no-fly list."
No one will say what the full criteria for screening passengers would
be,
other than to insist that race and religion would not be used. It's
unclear
which databases would be accessed and how much nongovernment
information
would be fed into the system. The Transportation Security
Administration
will set the cutoff score, but it won't discuss the scoring system...
Ending up on a list can stigmatize innocent travelers, said Tamir Ayad,
executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations,
Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter.
"It's definitely a sign of the government getting too big and
interfering
with people's lives," Ayad said…
-----
LOCAL MUSLIMS CELEBRATE COMMUNITY IN RAMADAN EVENT
Risa Brim, Lexington Herald Leader, 12/1/02
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/local/4640933.htm
With blond hair, blue eyes and a faint southern twang, Fatima Saleem
stands
out in the Muslim community.
Born Michaela Colleen Jeffries, the Somerset resident and former
Seventh-day Adventist converted to Islam in June, about a year after a
tour
of the Middle East led her to begin studying the Koran.
"Islam has given me an inner peace," said Saleem, author of the
autobiography Grasping for Love, about surviving abuse as a child. "I
love
the cohesiveness of the Muslim people, their strong family orientation
and
values."
Saleem joined other area Muslims yesterday to celebrate Ramadan, a
month of
consecration during which they do not eat or drink from dawn to dusk...
-----
ISLAMIC TERRORISTS DISTORT RELIGION, SCHOLAR ARGUES
Carlin Romano, Philadelphia Inquirer, 12/1/02
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/4636823.htm
The Place of Tolerance in Islam
By Khaled Abou El Fadl, with Tariq Ali, Milton Viorst,
John Esposito, and Others
Beacon Press. 117 pp. $15
The Place of Tolerance in Islam begins with the taut, scholarly title
essay
by Khaled Abou El Fadl, a Distinguished Fellow in Islamic law at UCLA
and
author of "Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law." In it, he argues
that
the "essential lesson taught by Islamic history is that extremist
groups
are ejected from the mainstream of Islam." Following his essay, 11
experts
comment briefly, then the author replies.
Traditional Islamic jurists, Abou El Fadl writes, "tolerated and even
celebrated divergent opinions and schools of thought." But as Muslim
states
grew centralized and autocratic, Muslim clergy lost their legitimacy,
producing "a profound vacuum in religious authority" and "a state of
virtual anarchy in modern Islam."
As a result, amateurish interpretations of Islam, exemplified by Osama
Bin
Laden's murderous hostility toward non-Muslims (which contravenes the
entire thrust of the Koran, according to Abou El Fadl), gained sway
over
theologically illiterate Muslims angry about being losers in today's
globalized world, and eager to vent their anger on First-World winners…
Alternate interpretations of the Koran that urge violence against
innocents, Abou El Fadl argues, require poorly informed, isolationist
readings of a line here, a line there. To show that, he cites the
ambiguous
verses by which murderous Muslims justify their acts, and their
deceitful
ignoring of everything Koranic that prohibits their acts. All Koranic
injunctions, Abou El Fadl insists, must square with the holy book's
"general moral imperatives such as mercy, justice, kindness...." He
concludes, "If the reader is intolerant, hateful, or oppressive, so
will be
the interpretation...."
The 11 reactions to Abou El Fadl's essay range from Milton Viorst's
high
praise (a "brilliant" explanation of why Muslims are "on the brink of
becoming a permanent global underclass") to Abid Ullah Jan's
denigration of
it as "an attempt to please Islam-bashers."
All the commentaries, however, add juice to the subject…
-----
ISRAEL'S STRUGGLE FOR HEARTS AND MINDS
Nathan Guttman, Haaretz, 12/2/02
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=236652
WASHINGTON - The conventional wisdom among policy-makers in Israel and
the
United States is that if there is one front on which Israel enjoys a
clear
advantage in the international arena, it is hasbara - information and
public relations - in the United States. Israel's views are accepted by
the
administration and win support in Congress and American public opinion
clearly prefers the Israeli cause to the Palestinian one. However,
closer
scrutiny of the elements that make up American public opinion will show
that Israel has cause for concern.
In the duel with the Palestinians over the hearts of average Americans,
Israel wins hands down. But when Israel puts itself up for judgment,
things
look different: Israel is seen as a country that is not pursuing peace,
is
largely responsible for the violence in the territories and is not
morally
in the right in the conflict. These positions largely reflect the
approach
taken by the public at large and to an even greater extent, the views
of
the most influential groups within American society…
-----
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