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Miami Herald – Sept. 6, 2004 American Muslims have reason to be wary of FBI visits By Shabbir Motorwala In her Aug. 29 Other Views column, The left's war on FBI, Michelle Malkin writes that Muslim organizations and the ACLU have waged war against the FBI because it has started racial profiling of Arabs and Muslim. The ''F'' in FBI does not represent ''friendly,'' so it is amazing when FBI agents knock on your door and say that it's a friendly visit to get some information. Whenever three or four well-suited people knock at any Arab or Muslim door, the neighborhood knows that they must be the FBI. It is a mockery of the justice system when they tell you that you are not under any suspicion and that they are there just for information. Remember James Joseph Yee, the Army chaplain at Guantánamo who was held as a person of interest until the charges were quietly dropped? His offense: He was Muslim. Remember attorney Brandon Mayfield from Oregon who was held after the Madrid train bombing as a person of interest? The charges were dropped. He is a Muslim. There are thousands more such cases that go unreported. If Germans would have protested when Gestapo agents were knocking on the doors of Jewish people during Hitler's time, we would not have witnessed the Holocaust. If Americans had protested after the Pearl Harbor attack, we would not have had Japanese Americans interned in camps. Muslims are not against cooperating with law-enforcement to help thwart terrorism. Yet the agencies' tactics make American Muslims wary. Indeed, FBI and other agencies have reached out to Muslims and Arabs to report any harassment. It doesn't help when agents visit their homes or work places and create an aura of suspicion among neighbors and co-workers. These tactics only remind Muslims of the treatment of totalitarian regimes back home. They came here to enjoy freedom, not to face that treatment in this great land of opportunity. Shabbir Motorwala, is from the Institute for Islamic Education and Research, Miami http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/9592059.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp |