Posted on 11/16/2001 5:26:42 PM PST by Roy Tucker
DALLAS (AP) - Arabs and Muslims expressed outrage Friday at the U.S. Justice Department's plan to interview 5,000 young male foreigners, who are not suspected of any crimes, as part of the terrorism investigation. Civil rights activists say the action constitutes racial profiling.
"Unless the government has credible evidence that all these 5,000 men were involved in terrorism, which is very unlikely, then what Mr. Ashcroft is advocating is racial profiling at its most fundamental level," said Ramzi Dakour, vice president of the Arab American Students Association at the University of Texas at Austin.
Attorney General John Ashcroft announced Tuesday that the Justice Department has distributed a list of 5,000 men it wanted to interview about the Sept. 11 attacks. The list comprises men ages 18 to 33 who entered the United States since Jan. 1, 2000, from certain countries.
The countries represented were linked to the hijackers in the Sept. 11 attacks or were waystations for the terrorist organization, al-Qaida. The department acknowledges the men are likely to be Arab and Muslim, but says the list wasn't based on ethnic origin.
"This is yet another example of the heavy-handedness that's being used without any rhyme or reason," said Sohail Mohammed, an immigration lawyer in New Jersey. He represents several men who were questioned shortly after the attacks and are now jailed on immigration charges.
Mohammed said he would advise people to cooperate with questioners "if there's a good, well-articulated reason other than just a general fishing around."
Earlier interviews seemed to be just that, he said, "Stupid questions like, 'What do you think of American civilization?' and 'Why do you pray five times a day?' If that's what they're going to ask this time, people will say, 'No fishing in this house.' "
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas is distributing hundreds of pamphlets, some in Arabic, explaining civil rights under federal and state law.
The Justice Department interview initiative is "formalized, black-and-white stated policy directing law officers to racially profile," said William Harrell, executive director of the state ACLU.
Hana Saleh, a member of the Muslim Student Association at the University of Texas at Dallas, said students are increasingly concerned about racial profiling.
"You can't just say that because a person is from this part of the world, they will act this way," she said. "People who know us personally would never approve of this. As human beings, we all want freedom."
Najat Elsayed, president of the University of Houston's Council of American-Islamic Relations, said people with no connection to the attacks may feel nervous about talking to investigators for fear a miscommunication could land them in jail.
"We want to help as much as possible, but we haven't done anything wrong and we are legal, productive citizens," she said. "We don't see why we should be subjected just because someone from our race did something."
Maybe the President discussed the matter with a Congressman on the phone, but that's when things got particularly interesting under the desk and he just plain lost his train of thought.
The standard government scam is to take two steps forward and one step back. The government took the opporutunity of WWII to impose tax withholding (which did not come off after the war, and remains to this day) and higher tax rates (which never reverted to prewar levels).
Ludicrous.
Yep. Next time, be more careful about what you let your buddies do. We feel your pain. Fact is, we're rather numb to it at this late date. Go complain to the stinking pit in downtown Manhattan. The permanent residents there understand you better than anything that lives.
Remember 9-11. Do not ever forget!
Hmmmph. I responded to some earlier posts before skimming through the astonishing array of ad-hominem attacks and rabid ramblings by our dear JRadcliffe. That "I'm surrounded by idiots" prattle is pathetically tired material. Also, the witnesses, such as Barbara Olson, described the weapons the murderers used to slash flight attendants' throats as "box cutters", which have metal blades. Perhaps I missed an in-depth follow-up on that.
But then I noticed this when clicking on the "JRadcliffe" handle:
No current Freeper by that name.
Do I argue with a ghost? Oh well, as a famous Proverb so aptly put it: "Answer a fool according to his folly."
I'd just like to say that thrashing around, calling people "dolts" indiscriminately speaks poorly of one's emotional maturity and intellectual acuity. Sure, Freepers do tend to be passionate in our beliefs, and that's cool, but I advise against flinging oneself into the mud in a vain attempt to impress somebody (who's impressed by that sort of thing, anyway?).
Oh, and our beloved Ben Franklin is already dead; misquoting his observation about freedom and security to death as well is hardly a fitting tribute to such a great man. From Bartlett's:
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-- Historical Review of Pennsylvania
Imal
WELL, actually we should be BANNING ALL MUSLIMS from travelling into the U.S. or entering or remaining on U.S. Territory. All Islamic citizens should be given the alternative of converting to ANY other religion, or sent on a permanent pilgrimage to Mecca. Let the oil sheiks support their brothers-in-hate.
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