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."
BS!
"I'm not willing to risk my next air flight on someone's foolish notion of political correctness."
You really are a dolt. The men who boarded those flights on 911 did so with sharpened plastic. It could happen again - easily. You are just like all the other mindless dolts - willing to sacrifice the Bill of Rights for safety. Those who value security over freedom are deserving of neither!
Now that we have a federalized security force at our airports (starting with 23,000 mindless dolts of the federal government on the federal payroll and another MASSIVE federal program) I am sure you fell sooooooo much safer. After all the feds have done such a bang-up job with everything they've touched -- social security, public schools, welfare -- why the list of Socialist and Communist programs are just endless -- and all a success -- NOT!!!!!!
"if I saw a man I knew to be from Oklahoma hovering around the waterways that feed my drinking water, or any number of potential threats, then I would damn sure call in the Feds."
Well, I would expect you to. So would I, but I'd also give a description.
Yes I did, and on this site, I believe. I'll see if I can't find it for you.
It is the government's job to protect the rights of all citizens. If a person engages in violent activity, then sure, we should DEMAND our government do something about it. It's only too bad that the government is often the abuser of rights, rather than the protector of them. (Ruby Ridge, Waco, Rainbow Farms, etc.)
BTW: Playing the "it's for the chilluns" card, is sooooo yesterday!
"The terrorists and their supporters (many Moslems here in the US cheered the acts of terror) are the ones who created the "profile". I say round them up, sit them in hard wooden chairs under bright, hot lamps, deprive them of sleep, and make them squeal like stuck pigs."
DID YOU KNOW, that acording to the FBI's own Task for on Terrorism there is quite a long list of people that the police should look out for? Among that list are those who claim to be Christians (and ACTUALLY have the nerve to value God above government). They've also targeted ANYONE who claims they have "rights" and value the Constitution. I am a terrorist on both accounts. Oh well. Just don't expect me to come to your defense when you (or your chilluns) fall under these new VERY BROADLY defined terms.
Your ignorance of the US Constitution knows no end. But I'm not surprised. Why should you even attempt to break your consistent record?
You're a liar! But then I'm not surprised by that ANY MORE than I am surprised by your ignorance of the Constitution.
Hey boot licker, if you think I'm a traitor, you have the OBLIGATION to report me. So do what it is in your vile little heart to do.
I agree with you 100%. But there are better ways of conducting this than rounding up 5,000 people. We have sunk into a pit.
Those men were questioned because, based on the evidence, there was credible reaon to believe that they may have been involved. There is no such evidence (at least not according to the government) that these 5,000 men had ANYTHING to do with this, other than their nationality.
There is a difference. And I most definitely would not have agreed with the government had they decided to round up ALL white men.
Don, you are the perfect little boot-licker aren't you? You turn everything upside down to make it appear that those who value the constitution really don't.
In fact, it is you who has stated REPEATEDLY that people do NOT have rights unless the government says so. You are EVIL.
(1) Is "racial profiling" in general against federal law?
(2) Is racial profiling for police work against the law?
(3) Is racial profiling the same as criminal profiling?
(4) Is criminal profiling against the law?
If the answer to #1 is no, we should tell Ramzi to pound sand (preferrably Saudi sand)
If the answer to #2 is no, we should tell Ramzi if the people don't answer the questions posed by officials, or they lie, they will be imprisoned, then deported so the can pound sand in Saudi.
If the answer to #3 is yes, then the 5000 need to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help them Allah. If not, they should be convicted of espionage, complicity, conspiracy or accomplices after the fact. At which point, they should be made to pound sand in order to make bricks, then forced to use the bricks to make a wall along the US/Mexican border. When the wall is finished, they should be deported.
If the answer to #4 is no, the questioning should begin immediately. Failure to cooperate would lead to a one way airline ticket to the Kabul International Airport, where the welcoming committee will include the finest hospitality the Northern Alliance can muster.
I disagree. The federal government does not have the right to over rule the US Constitution. To give it such authority places EVERYONE in danger, except government.
It has been done before in Korea, Viet Nam, Samolia, .... the list goes on and on. You can send you sons to die in an UNCONSTITIONAL war, but I won't. I'm a good parent.
You support the government trashing the Constitution whenever it serves THEIR purpose. I do not. If this was such a crisis, then the Congress would have had absolutely no problem quickly getting the votes it needs. In fact, it could still be done, but it's not even discussed. Why?
What are you going on about? I do NOT support a police state, but that is EXACTLY what we are becoming!
Geez -- if it were Clinton doing this, ya'll would be outraged!
Give it a break J Rad. The constitution provides congress with the power to make laws, even ones you don't like. Some may or may not be constitutional, depending on the eye of the beholder. But unless it is challenged in the courts, and a decision is rendered that said laws are unconstitutional, these laws remain the law of the land.
Hence, if you don't like the new Patriot Act, get off your duff, raise the money if you have to, take it to the Supreme Court, and get a decision. Otherwise, me thinks you doth protest too much....
Only with reasonable suspicion. Of course your scenario is a red-herring.
How about this, if one Christian was a child molester, would it be right to round up ALL Christians for child molestation? (It's a red-herring too, but it is more appropriate to this article than yours.)
So you're saying that the clearly worded constitution is a living document. Ok. Hillery said that too (or was that Al Gore?)
Anyways, unlike you, I don't have much (make that "any") confidence that "the government" will protect and defend the Constitution. "The government" has been peeing all over the Constitution for decades and I don't see much hope of that changing. It is up to the citizenry, not the government, to protect and defend the Constitution. (I happen to take the second amendment very seriously - - it is the second most important enumerated "right" that we have.) So, since "the governemnt" is essentially lawless anyway, they may as well shake down recent "immigrants" and foreign visitors who fit the terrorist profile. Hey government, knock yourself out!
I will continue to mind my own business and raise a traditional American family and help my fellow man and try to always do the right thing - - and I will continue to take the second amendment very seriously.
Regards,
LH
"It is up to the citizenry, not the government, to protect and defend the Constitution."
Judging from the mindless masses, we have lost. THE TERRORISTS WON! God have mercy on us.
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