Islam and Muslims in the Post-9/11 America
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
A Review by Dr. Agha Saeed
"So let us today drudge on about our inescapably impossible task of providing every week a first rough draft of history that will never really be completed about a world we can never really understand…"
Philip Leslie Graham's insightful observation is often quoted in its shorthand form, i. e., "Journalism is the first rough draft of history."
Well, Mr Abdus Sattar Ghazali deserves to be complimented for assiduously compiling these weekly "drafts". Now, he has assembled these drafts written over the last decade into a book form as a ready resource for students, teachers, researchers, and historians.
Even a cursory look at this book, even at its table of contents, reveals and documents systematic oppression of Muslim Americans by the extremist elements in the US state and civil society.
Most importantly, it is very useful source for civil rights activists. Mr Ghazali has thematically organized his columns under the chapter titles: "The Civil Rights", "Islamophobia", "Campaign Against Muslim Charities", "Muslims Face Inquisition", "Institutionalized Profiling", Stereotyping - Movies, Media, "Hate Crimes, Discrimination, and Harassment", and "Attempts to Silence Genuine Muslim Voices."
This book enables the reader to understand the context, the motivations, and the consequences of US Court System's refusal to uphold human rights for ALL.
For example, on June 14, 2006 Judge John Gleeson had ruled in Turkmen v. Ashcroft that the US has the right "to detain noncitizens on the basis of religion, race or national origin, and to hold them indefinitely without explanation?"
To date that fascist approach remains in place.
Just last week, on March 3, 2013, Prof David Cole, lead attorney who had challenged Judge Gleeson's decision in the US Supreme Court, wrote back to me in response to my request for an authoritarian update:
"Dear Dr Saeed.... In essence, the aspect of the case challenging the policy of the roundup has been dismissed, and the aspect that challenged the abuse of detained persons has survived. Some of those claims settled, for over $1 million, and others remain pending."
Well, if the US federal judge John Gleeson had applied this draconian interpretation of law only to non citizens, the US Congress has legislated, and President Obama has signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which dispenses with habeas corpus, and legalizes detention with trial, prosecution without proof, and killing of US citizen without jury.
To date, protected and prompted by NDAA, the US armed forces have killed three American Muslims without their guilt being established in any court of law.
Again, Mr Ghazali deserves full credit for having penned the first "drafts" of the history of an utterly contemptible series of highly coordinated attacks on the civil liberties and human rights of Muslims-Americans
Dr Agha Saeed is:
Founding Chairman American Muslim Alliance (AMA)
Chairman American Muslim Political Coordination Council - AMPCC (1998-2000)
Chairman American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights & Elections - AMT (2003-2011)
Chairman California Civil Rights Alliance - CCRA (2003-2011)
Chairman National Coalition for Protection of Civil Freedoms - NCPCF (2010-2011)
The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
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