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Adding Insult To Injury
by Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, Ph.D.
Minaret of Freedom Institute
05/07/2001
One would think that bombing Baghdad, funding the continuing occupation and violence against the Palestinians, continuing attempts to put Anwar Haddam and Mazen Al-Najjar back in jail without charges, and persisting in sanctions against a number of Muslim countries would be damage enough for George W. Bush's administration to inflict upon the Muslim
ummah. But, someone, somewhere in the White House, thinks otherwise. Thus, some unnamed and unidentified operative saw fit to have Abdullah Al-Arian, an intern to Congressman David Bonior (D-MI), a student at Duke University, and nephew of the aforementioned Mazen Al-Najjar, escorted from a briefing on faith-based initiatives held on June 29th.
Muslims attending the meeting left in protest against this disgraceful action. The Secret Service subsequently admitted that Al-Arian's removal was an error and invited the Muslims to return, but they, understandably, declined. The President's press secretary, Ari Fleischer, later conveyed Bush's apologies for the incident, saying, "The President is very concerned that an action was taken that was wrong, inappropriate and the President apologizes for it on behalf of the White House" (Associated Press 2001). While the apology is welcome, it is hardly sufficient. Al-Arian had been cleared in advance of the event. There should have been no legitimate cause for concern (not even Islamophobia, as he had to go through a metal detector to get in). What the President needs to do now is to identify who called for Al-Arian's removal, what their motives were and, then, have them disciplined or fired, as is appropriate. Then he
personally (not Ari Fleischer) should come before the American people and tell us the facts.
There is a subtext to this incident. Abdullah's father, Sami Al-Arian, is a well-known (and highly effective) opponent of the "secret evidence provisions" of the Counter-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. One of the most flagrantly unconstitutional elements of that act is the fact that it is retroactively applicable to persons who were not citizens before Sept. 13, 1993. Such a provision is called an
ex-post facto law, and is not allowed by the Constitution of the United States. Further, this bizarre clause seems to be aimed at the senior Al-Arian (who became a citizen on that day!) and thus would also appear to be a constitutionally prohibited bill of attainder (a law aimed at a particular person). Yet, the law has never actually been used against its seeming target, and instead, dozens of others (mainly Muslims) have been caught in its web. Some of those who have been victims of the law have reported that the government seemed to know it had nothing against them, but was using the bludgeon p
rovided by the law to attempt to coerce them into revealing (or inventing) something incriminating against the elder Al-Arian. With a meaningful explanation absent from the Bush administration, it appears that the son was an innocent bystander caught by the shrapnel of a maniacal onslaught against his equally innocent, but "politically incorrect" father.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should confess that I know how Abdullah must feel, as I myself received such shoddy treatment under the administration of former U.S. president Bill Clinton. The first time I was invited to the White House with a group from the American Muslim Council, I was separated from the rest and placed behind the press gallery. On my next visit, when I was invited as part of an interfaith group, the Secret Service asked me to step aside and I was admitted last, to be seated in the back of the room. On a third occasion, also part of an interfaith group, I was told I was not on the list, but was admitted anyway when a Jewish member of the group informed the guard, "He's with us." No mass exodus in protest was necessary. A word to the wise was sufficient. In the absence of an explanation of such events by the White House, we must draw our own conclusions.
References
Associated Press 2001. "Bush Apologizes for Muslim Removal." 6/29.
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