In a
special report [12] - Gitmo in the Heartland -
published by the Nation, Alia Malik quoted Dr. Dhafir's letter as saying
that at the time there were sixteen men in the CMU, fourteen of whom were
Muslims and all but one of those were Arab. They had been told by prison
officials that the unit was an experiment. Written material they received
informed them that they would be entitled to one fifteen-minute call a week,
that their communications had to be in English only and that their visits would
all be non-contact.
Conclusion
It will not
be too much to say that on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the American Muslims
find themselves in a hostile environment similar to the era of immediately
after 9/11. The fear is constantly whipped and hysteria is perpetuated by
politicians and media.
Shockingly,
ten years after 9/11, 80 percent of Jews, 59 percent of Catholics, 56 percent
of Protestants and 56 percent of Mormons believe that American Muslims are not
loyal to their country, according to Gallup (Middle East) poll released on August 2.
Fifty two
percent of Muslim Americans say their community is singled out by government
for terrorist surveillance, according to a PEW survey released on August 30
which also found that 43 percent said they had personally experienced
harassment in the past year.
These two
surveys reflect the dilemma of the seven-million American Muslim community. In
the post-9/11 America they
find themselves on the defensive and struggling to convince at times skeptical
fellow citizens that they can be both Muslims and loyal U.S. citizens.
To borrow
Stephen Lendman, post-9/11, in fact, Muslims are perceived as barbaric,
violent, uncivilized, gun-toting terrorists, easily targeted, accused,
prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned -- not for wrongdoing, but for their faith
in America
at the wrong time. As a result, it's no surprise that when (Muslim) suspects
are named, media reports automatically convict them in the court of public
opinion. [13]
No matter
that Islamic tenets teach love, not hate; peace, not violence; charity, not
selfishness; tolerance, not terrorism; or that Islam, Christianity and Judaism
have common roots. You'd never know it in today's climate of hate and fear at a
time America
wages global wars on Islam, including at home. [14]
Despite all
these odds American Muslims remain confident in the principles freedom, liberty
and equality on which this great nation was founded. As reflected in the August
2011 Gallup Poll, ten years after the 9/11 attacks, an extensive survey of
Muslims finds them as optimistic as other Americans. American Muslims' perceptions
of their own well-being increased more in the past three years than those of
any other religious group, according to the Gallup report.
The
community has responded to odd circumstances with political and social
activism. It is now more proactive as it believes that the best way to protect
its eroding civil rights is to become more active politically and socially.
Muslims believe that they have to participate in the elections, more than any
other time.
With
anti-Muslim rhetoric reaching epic proportions in broader U.S. society -- largely tolerated,
rarely condemned -- the American Muslim community remains sanguine that the
current campaign will eventually subside since the religious freedom is a
founding principle of this country and the main catalyst for its origins in the
early seventeenth century. This principle was emphatically reiterated by
President George Washington in his 1790 letter to the Jews of Rhode Island who
built the Touro Synagogue:
"The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy -- a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship".The Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support."
When
President Washington wrote this letter 220 years back, he must have been aware
of the effect it would have on the fledgling nation.
Muslims
join the nation in commemorating the 10th anniversary of this ghastly tragedy
with an optimism that the state of present anti-Muslim campaign in the name of
war on terrorism will recede in due course of time as happened during the
Second World War with the Japanese Americans who also endured similar national
intolerance, social prejudice and legal injustice.
References
[1] GOP Debate: Newt Gingrich's Comparison of Muslims and Nazis Sparks Outrage -
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