Sure they are, as in "Fifth Column", infiltrators, terrorist-supporting
CAIR, etc.
Bruce
U.S. Muslims Eager to Help Fight Terrorism
By Aida AKL
VOA NEWS
31 October 2005
Four years after the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington, Many
American-Muslims say they are underutilized and sometimes unjustly targeted
in the fight against terrorism.
According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, the largest
Islamic civil liberties advocacy group in the United States, nearly 400 of
the complaints it received last year centered around alleged civil right
violations, including false arrest and surveillance, interrogation, and
search or seizure. Corey Saylor, CAIR's Government Affairs Director in
Washington, says that many of the law-enforcement raids against
American-Muslim organizations and offices did not result in formal charges
being filed.
Mr. Corey attributes part of the problem of targeting Muslims to the way
various law-enforcement agencies implement the Patriot Act, which was passed
by the U.S. Congress 45 days after the September 11th attacks.
"The Patriot Act and the ensuing surveillance that we've received from
law-enforcement agencies have certainly put a chilling effect on the Muslim
community. Many Muslims are afraid to say anything one way or another purely
because they don't want to draw attention to themselves."
Bridges of Cooperation
But Daniel Southerland, the civil rights and civil liberties officer at the
Department of Homeland Security, or D.H.S., says his department tries to
resolve problems as they arise. For example, the D.H.S. works hard to
address name mix-ups that affect American-Muslims. In some cases, innocent
travelers have been detained because their names are similar to those on the
Aviation Watch List, which catalogs suspected terrorists. And even though
Homeland Security has been lauded by some Arab-American organizations for
improving travel procedures, Mr.
Southerland says there is always room for improvement.
"We are trying to proactively resolve concerns that come to us and look to
make changes in our policy that help us to really target the people we need
to target, while not spending resources on people who are friends and are
working with us."
9/11: Before and After
Many analysts argue that it was September 11th that motivated most U.S.
Muslim civil rights organizations to speak out against branding all Muslims
as terrorists and explain that the vast majority of Muslims in the U.S. are
peaceful, law-abiding citizens. But Journalist Geneive Abdo, who is writing
a book about Muslims in America, blames American-Muslims for failing to
speak out early on against negative stereotyping and racial profiling that
oftentimes lead to their being the focus of law-enforcement investigations.
"Before 9/11, they were not accustomed to being public voices. They often
did not write editorials in newspapers. They didn't have any form of media
that extended beyond their own communities. They're becoming a lot wiser
now. But before 9/11, Muslims didn't really exercise their right to speak
publicly."
Some analysts concede that the U.S. Muslim community as a whole is still
developing its media relations skills. But Ahmad Younis, National Director
for the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Washington, rejects the claim that
American-Muslims were not actively engaged before September 11th, insisting
that they have been combating extremism and reaching out to other Americans
for years.
"Before 9/11 we used to fight to have discussions about Islam and Muslims,
to have discussions about American pluralism, to have discussions about
counter-terrorism. Now everybody wants to talk.
Everybody wants to discuss it. So the
'Johnny-come-lately' in this situation is the average American and the
average American government official.
It is not the average Muslim or the average Arab-American on the street."
As an example, Mr. Younis notes that American-Muslims rallied around British
author Salman Rushdie in 1989 to denounce an Iranian edict calling for his
execution for writing his book The Satanic Verses, considered by some
Muslims to be blasphemous.
Homeland Security's Daniel Southerland agrees that American-Muslims have
long been active in the fight against terrorism and extremism by reaching
out to the federal government and law enforcement. Consequently, he says,
the United States should do a better job of recognizing their contributions
to American society and ensuring that they are not excluded from efforts to
make the country more secure.
"They want to participate. It's their country as well. We saw that
reaction, for example, after Hurricane Katrina. We had a number of very
generous offers from Arab-American and Muslim-American organizations to try
to help with the relief efforts.
And now, of course, they're doing a great job with the Pakistan earthquake
recovery as well. So I think people need to recognize that we're all in this
together. This is a large community of Americans who want to work together
on this process of keeping our country safe, secure and on the right track."
A Role for U.S. Muslims
Many analysts agree that American-Muslims have an important role to play in
the war on terrorism. Corey Saylor of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations points out that the U.S. Muslim community is prosperous and
practices its faith freely. Because of that, he says American-Muslims would
like the opportunity to help shape the country's image abroad.
"We'd like to be able to tell that side of the story to the larger Muslim
world because the larger Muslim world has learned about America through
watching our movies. That's not usually the best picture of our country. It
looks very violent and very indulgent.
Equally, they learned about us through the news just like, unfortunately,
too many American learned about Islam through the news."
Most observers note that throughout American history, many immigrant
communities, like the Irish and the Chinese, had to struggle to overcome
stereotyping and prejudice. By the same token, most American-Muslims realize
that they must speak out to be counted and that eventually they will become
an integral part of American society.
This story was first broadcast on the English news program, "VOA News Now."
000.
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