A#10 ADMJ 302 13937S10Chapter 8 - Arab Americans –This assignment is due on March 20, 2010, prior to 5:00PM. Please download this assignment from the Turnitin calendar date of March15, 2010.
This is a simple reading comprehension test to have the students read a ‘long’ article and identify secrecy issues and illegal issues by copying and pasting these examples into a numbered list. Students are not required to highlight their copied text this is just for your information.
An “A” assignment will give 10 -13 examples for each subject area. Nine to 7 examples is good for a “B”. Six to 5 is good for a “C”.
An “A” submission will attach an article of and list all the common and different factors. Your job includes reading these articles and making sure the students have followed instructions.
I. Please read the following article,“In a Virtual Internment Camp - Muslim Americans since 9/11”, and number and copy and paste, in the order in which they appear in the article all examples of government ‘secrecy’ that allegedly contribute to the persecution of Muslims in the U.S.
II. Please number andcopy and paste in, in the order in which they appear in the article, all the examples of government practices/policies in the “Virtual Internment Camp” article that appear to violate the legal rights of Muslims and/or others.
III. Please locate at least one article on the post 9/11 treatment of Muslims in the United States and Please number and list, in the order in which they appear in the article, all the issues that are also mentioned in the “Virtual Internment Camp” article. Provide a separate numbered list of all the issues provided in your article that are not in the “Virtual Internment Camp” article. You should copy and past from your article to make your list. Please attach a copy of your article.
Required Response Format:
I. Government Secrecy list
1. Because of government secrecy, the full extent to which people have been affected must be extrapolated from media accounts and from projections based on available government reports.
2. As early as October 17, 2001, US Attorney General John Ashcroft issued a directive limiting the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
3. On April 22, 2002, the Attorney General issued an interim regulation forbidding any state or county jail from releasing information about INS detainees housed in their facilities.
4. But the virtual internment camp relies on secrecy and apathy to survive; the government doesn't want to tell and people don't really want to know.
5. Once again no statistics are provided by the government about how many such local and regional operations have been conducted.
6. Now some of these 50,000 or so donors are being targeted for interview. Once again, no numbers are provided.
7. Today, the FBI routinely spies on mosques, Friday sermons, and other lawful Muslim activities.
8. Since hardly any of these people were ever charged with anything, it is unlikely that any record was kept of their illegal detention.
9. On November 8, 2001, facing criticism that it had arrested so many people but had charged none with any terrorist-related crimes; the Justice Department simply announced that it will not issue a tally of its detentions.
10. The Attorney General informed the Senate Judiciary Committee early this year that he had authorized more than 170 secret 'emergency' searches since the Sept. 11 attacks'more than triple the 47 emergency searches that have been authorized by other attorneys general in the last 20 years.
11. Abuse by law enforcement led Congress to establish secret courts under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to authorize 'foreign intelligence' wiretaps and searches.
12. This federal court meets in complete secrecy in a highly restricted room inside the Department of Justice building in WashingtonD.C. Even though the court's rulings may result in criminal charges, convictions, and prison sentences for US citizens, their writs and rulings are permanently sealed from review by those accused of crimes and from any substantive civilian review.
13. The Bush administration has refused to release Patriot Act-related records to Congress; it has refused to release the names of detainees or open their court hearings to the public; it is relying increasingly on secret evidence and exemptions under the Homeland Security Act to the Freedom of Information Act. We now have a secretive government acting outside the scrutiny of the public and its representatives. Since the Attorney General has declared a war on the streets of America against Americans, authentic information about the casualties and collateral damage have disappeared.
II.Government Rights Abuse of Muslim and others practices/policy List
1. Since the events of September 11, 2001, Muslims and brown-skinned people in this country are under siege. While many have in fact been picked up and jailed without any probable cause, the majority are living in virtual internment camps.
2. All other local and state police were asked to conduct search and interview operations for the FBI.
3. The first factor ' government action ' has done a great deal to undermine the self-confidence of Muslims. Arrests, special registration, police raids, FBI interrogations, profiling at airports, and secret evidence have left Muslims, particularly men, feeling insecure and even paranoid.
4. The government does admit to at least five rounds of 'search and interview projects' of profiled males, consisting of 5,000, 3,000, 6,000, 10,000, and 3,000 people. These interviews themselves amount to at least 27,000 persons.
5. There were many other localized raids which were conducted in different parts of the US by the FBI. One such raid was 'Operation Green Quest' in northern Virginia in which federal agents headed by US Customs Service swept through Muslim homes, businesses, schools, and organizations breaking down doors, handcuffing residents, and seizing personal property ranging from computers to children's toys.
6. Another set of Muslims targeted for interrogation were donors to three of the largest Muslim American charities which were banned, without investigation, after 9/11. Since all these charities had IRS tax exempt 501(c) 3 status, Muslims had been donating their Zakat, an Islamic charitable obligation, to them with no reservation. Now some of these 50,000 or so donors are being targeted for interview.
7. In the early days after 9/11, arrests were so indiscriminate that on New Jersey turnpikes, traffic would be stopped and all people with brown skin would be detained. This type of trapping resulted in the detention of thousands of people who were later released without any charge.
8. The 'hold until cleared' policy, which is now being criticized by the Inspector General of the Justice Department, has become the norm. This policy was the perfect embodiment of the government's 'guilty until proven innocent' stance when it came to Muslims throughout the country. This same thinking resulted in the arrest of between 400 and 1,000 Muslims who participated in the INS's Special Registration program in December 2002 in California. Since immigration officers were unable to handle the last minute workload, they detained people until they were processed.
9. The 'hold until cleared' policy, which is now being criticized by the Inspector General of the Justice Department, has become the norm. This policy was the perfect embodiment of the government's 'guilty until proven innocent' stance when it came to Muslims throughout the country. This same thinking resulted in the arrest of between 400 and 1,000 Muslims who participated in the INS's Special Registration program in December 2002 in California. Since immigration officers were unable to handle the last minute workload, they detained people until they were processed.
10. Many of those detained during registration were let go after the government took their passports, driver's licenses, social security cards, and other forms of identification. The result was that many men were left destitute and could not provide financially for their families. These men were left with no identification and with no means to prove who they were.
11. Some 35 million people enter the United States every year but only Muslim visitors are required to register. The program has been criticized as being nothing but racism masquerading as national security. Of the 25 countries on the special registration list, all but North Korea are Muslim or Arab.
12. Federal agents deported 75 percent more undocumented Arabs and Muslims last year than the year before, a marked shift in immigration enforcement. At the same time, officials booted out 16 percent fewer illegal immigrants overall as they shifted their focus away from Mexicans. According to a Philadelphia Inquirer analysis of 1993-2002 deportation data, the INS deported 3,208 people from the 33 'high-risk' Muslim countries. According to the National Lawyers Guild, 'People with serious breaches of the law are not looked at, while in the Muslim or Arab community somebody with a minor violation automatically gets deported.' At this moment 13,434 Muslim immigrants who registered as part of the INS's Special Registration Program are facing deportation.
13. This absence of controls or checks and balances has left people in the Muslim community feeling like their lives are being lived under a microscope. Privacy is arbitrary for many Muslims who even find their mail is routinely opened, delayed, or lost without any information given to them or any attempt to explain why this is happening.
14. Today even this secret FISA court has stated that the FBI misled the court in 75 cases.
15. Today even this secret FISA court has stated that the FBI misled the court in 75 cases
VI. My article Title
V. My Article: List of factors in common
VI. My Article: List of different factors
In a Virtual Internment Camp - Muslim Americans since 9/11
By Abdul Malik Mujahid
[I wrote this article in July 2003. Since then lots of information and data has changed. I am currently working on updating the article soon. While researching, I noticed that my editor prefaced the article with the story of "Dr. Raman Aziz al-Abi." I personally did not investigate the authenticity of that reference since I trusted my editor thoroughly. But while researching for the revision of this article I found that it was actually a fictional story used for a moot case among students. I feel very embarrassed by this and would like to apologize to all of the readers of Sound Vision. Although I have not used that editor since the writing of this article, I believe she is a person of character and made an error in reading. I promise you to be more thorough. This version is the same as the July 2003 article with the deletion of that fictional story which students say was built upon the true story of Professor Sami Al-Aryan.]
Since the events of September 11, 2001, Muslims and brown-skinned people in this country are under siege. While many have in fact been picked up and jailed without any probable cause, the majority are living in virtual internment camps. The climate for Muslims today is very much as it was for Americans of Japanese descent during World War II. Japanese-Americans in the Western states were rounded up and moved to internment camps so they wouldn't aid and abet the enemy. In a similar fashion, Muslims and other brown-skinned people perceived to be Muslim, are treated like the enemy and are also living in internment camps. The difference is the camps of today are virtual.
Concerted harassment by government officials, destructive and draconian laws aimed at limiting freedoms, media indifference, hate-filled public figures, and an apathetic citizenry have all come together to build the virtual internment camps that house the American Muslim community.
Living with Hate and Fear
Since 9/11, Muslims in America are living in fear. This fear has had the effect of a collective paralysis on the Muslim community and has made it easier for government officials and agencies to systematically dismantle the civil rights of this minority. There are three specific factors which together have fomented this fear: government action, irresponsible media, and the hate speech of some national leaders.
I. Government Action against Muslims
The first factor ' government action ' has done a great deal to undermine the self-confidence of Muslims. Arrests, special registration, police raids, FBI interrogations, profiling at airports, and secret evidence have left Muslims, particularly men, feeling insecure and even paranoid.
The administration of President George W. Bush has repeatedly declared that the war on terrorism would not be a 'war on immigrants' or a 'war against Islam.' But, in fact, it has turned out to be a war against Muslim immigrants and Muslim Americans. Although widespread discrimination against Muslims and brown-skinned people in America is coming from the general population as well, the majority of the most egregious problems today stem from the actions of the US Justice Department.
Dick Armey, a Republican conservative and a former House majority leader, said it best: "The Justice Department seems to be running amok. This agency right now is the biggest threat to personal liberty in the country." Despite this assessment, few Americans are aware of the department's misdeeds. Media and human rights organizations, while deploring the situation, have essentially failed to explore and present the full impact and magnitude of government policies on Muslims in America.
Because of government secrecy, the full extent to which people have been affected must be extrapolated from media accounts and from projections based on available government reports. These extrapolations are based on the informed opinions of Muslim community leaders, human rights organizations, peace groups, and lawyers' groups. They are shown below under the column of estimates.
Population Estimates of Virtual Internment Camp
Government Action / Government Admissions / Conservative EstimatesFBI: interviewed/interrogated
investigated/questioned/raided / 27,000 / 90,000
detained or arrested / 6,483 / 15,000
Deported / 3,208 / 3,208
in process of deportation / 13,434 / 13,434
undergoing voluntary deportation / n/a / Unknown
Fled the country in fear / n/a / 50,000
subpoenas/search warrants / 18,000 / 18,000
NSEERS: special registration/interviewed/
fingerprinted/photographed / 144,513 / 144,513
under surveillance through libraries / n/a / Unknown
electronic surveillance / n/a / 100,000
gone underground / n/a / Unknown
Total / 212,638 / 434,155
If the average Muslim household is made up of three persons, the same as the general US average, the number of those directly and indirectly affected by these government policies will be 637,914 according to the government's own statistics.
If we take our estimate and multiply it by three family members per household, the total number of affected people is 1,302,465. Interestingly, this number is close to the results of a Zogby International public opinion survey which finds that 25 percent of Muslims reported that they have been victims of anti-Muslim discrimination, harassment or attack after 9/11.
How is it that such widespread discrimination and harassment of Americans can remain hidden? Because our government has decided to keep it hidden. As early as October 17, 2001, US Attorney General John Ashcroft issued a directive limiting the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).On April 22, 2002, the Attorney General issued an interim regulation forbidding any state or county jail from releasing information about INS detainees housed in their facilities. The battle for information is now being fought in the courts by newspapers and human rights organizations. But the virtual internment camp relies on secrecy and apathy to survive; the government doesn't want to tell and people don't really want to know.
Various media have peeked at the human face behind the suffering of Muslim Americans, Arabs, and South Asian communities. But what has been glaringly absent is any report or assessment of the enormity of the overall situation. Amnesty International, the ACLU, Human Rights Watch, and American Lawyers for Human Rights, have all taken up the issue of the violation of civil liberties and rights of Muslims, Arabs and South Asians. However, none has devoted resources to statistically outline the total magnitude of the problem. The focus of their complaints has been limited to the original 1,200 detainees of September 11 and the roughly 900 foreign detainees at the US Navel base in Cuba.
FBI 'reaching out' to Muslims
Attorney General John Ashcroft maintained a policy of constant law enforcement activity across the United States. He said, 'the sheer volume of activity' ensured that potential terrorists hiding in our communities knew that law enforcement was on the job in their neighborhoods. Such a climate could cause would-be terrorists to scale back, to delay, or to abandon their plans altogether.' Since that preventive and deterrent 'climate' can only be maintained by a constant show of force in the Muslim community, one program after another was announced in what could be described as ongoing dragnet activity.
Since the FBI's manpower was not enough for this perpetual activity, the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), which includes at least 16 other agencies, was established in the FBI's 56 domestic field offices. All other local and state police were asked to conduct search and interview operations for the FBI. The Justice Department offers no statistics about how many were interrogated, questioned, tracked or searched. The government does admit to at least five rounds of 'search and interview projects' of profiled males, consisting of 5,000, 3,000, 6,000, 10,000, and 3,000 people. These interviews themselves amount to at least 27,000 persons.
There were many other localized raids which were conducted in different parts of the US by the FBI. One such raid was 'Operation Green Quest' in northern Virginia in which federal agents headed by US Customs Service swept through Muslim homes, businesses, schools, and organizations breaking down doors, handcuffing residents, and seizing personal property ranging from computers to children's toys.Once again no statistics are provided by the government about how many such local and regional operations have been conducted. In some Pakistani-American neighborhoods the net was cast so wide that FBI agents knocked on almost every immigrant door, many times leaving a card in door jambs and mailboxes throughout the neighborhood. 'Hello,' reads the handwritten note on the back of a card. 'I'm with the FBI. Please contact me ASAP.'