Posted on 09/03/2006 7:00:27 PM PDT by voletti
WASHINGTON: Ihsan Saadeddin is proud to be an American. But he's tired of having to prove it just because he's a Muslim too.
The Palestinian grocery store owner in Phoenix has called the United States home for 25 years and feels as American as the next guy. He met his wife in Arizona, sent his three children to public school and has a weakness for McDonald's.
But Saadeddin says the September 11 attacks were a tragic watershed which turned US Muslims from ordinary citizens into objects of suspicion and discrimination overnight.
He believes it is why he was questioned at the airport for 45 minutes last month and asked repeatedly if he supports terrorism.
"Being born in another country does not make me less American than the secretary of homeland security," Saadeddin said.
Estimates of the number of Muslim Americans vary between three and seven million, including Arabs, Iranians, South Asians, African Americans and many other communities.
News of domestic wiretapping, monitoring of mosques, immigration crackdowns, public support for racial profiling and bans on some Muslim scholars visiting the United States has made many Muslim Americans feel like targets of racism.
Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi from Dearborn Heights, Michigan, speaks for many when he complains that officials including President George W. Bush use terms such as "Islamo-fascism" to describe the militant threat. They say such terms are inflammatory and liken their faith to dictatorships.
"This type of thing really hurts," said Elahi, an Iranian-born Shi'ite religious leader.
Outreach efforts
US officials deny they unfairly target Muslim Americans and say community leaders have better access to top US officials than ever before. Outreach efforts include townhall meetings with law enforcement officers and training courses for officials by community members.
"It's obvious that Muslim Americans face civil rights challenges now that they never faced before," said Daniel Sutherland, who heads the civil rights and civil liberties office at the Department of Homeland Security.
"As the government, we need to engage better with Muslim Americans. And we're trying hard within our department and you'll see it with state and local governments," he said.
I realize that we do need to "profile" due to Homeland Security, but apparently SOME Americans are being hateful and vengeful against ALL Muslims, including those Americans who are living here peacefully. Have we learned nothing about painting everyone with the same brush? Apparently, some have not. Disgraceful.
Sad but true.
Still, you won't be liked on this thread for having such a politically incorrect opinion.
Quite a large typo, but I fixed it..
Bulls eye!
Let's see, conform (convert) to Islam or die. Seems pretty clear to me that the shoe fits nicely.
Gravemente.
Just what do they expect when Their religious leaders preach "kill infidels, kill American".
I'm very sure the Muslim community is comfortable with my love for Jesus Christ and my Christian beliefs. Unfortuantely, these sick bastards and their religion teaches killing people like me.
Again, I don't care what Muslims think. Their own religion teaches them to lie and decieve the infidels.
Or in the case of Dan Rather, the evidence is made up, but the story is still true.
Welcome to America, NOW GO HOME!
there, fixed it.
Don't whine to us, buddy. Its the people committing the crimes in your religion's name that are causing your hurt feelings. Maybe you could try complaining to them.
Oh- but we HAVE learned a lot about painting all Muslims with the same brush- the brush of trust!
EVERY one of the 9-11 hijackers was 'living peacefully'. EVERY one was unsuspected of violent, murderous plans to attack this country and kill innocent people.
EVERY ONE was painted with the same, trustful brush you want a no-longer-naive America to continue using.
No more. Never again. Unless the 'good' Muslims give up the 'terrorists' among them, EVERY LAST MUSLIM on the face of this earth will be judged by the violent ideaology their 'religion' teaches, and that they refuse to change.
And please, do remember, when comparing Muslims to the Japanese who lived here during WW2--no Japanese ever bombed a building full of people, or declared that Japan would rule this country. Muslims have done that- and are doing it!
The Japanese were rounded up because it was feared that they would sabotage this nation.
Muslims HAVE sabotaged it- and they walk free.
I don't want internment camps for Muslims. I don't want to feed and house them. I want wholesale expulsion, to the nearest Islamic paradise country ,for every last human being in this nation who calls themselves Muslim.
Every member of the death-cult that is Islam is my enemy, because Islam is my enemy.
And I am not ashamed.
islam is inherently a totalitarian practice aimed at subjugating the world. If they aren't practicing it in America, they are not muslim and I don't have anything against them. If they ARE practicing islam, then they are committing sedition at the very least and plotting to kill me and my family at the worst. That is not a "freedom" protected by any of the Bill of Rights, Christianity, or any other western value.
Me thinks he will soon be exhausted.
Let me try this out.
Baptist-Fascist.
Nope, didn't hurt me a bit.
Fraudian slip?
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