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San Francisco Chronicle – May 27, 2004 Muslims in U.S. suffer reaction to terror threats By Cicero A. Estrella The racial epithets don't surprise Maher Martha anymore. He most often hears the anti-Muslim rhetoric when he stands outside the San Francisco electronics store where he works. He says the hatred intensified after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and worsens every time the government increases the terrorist alert level. Martha, a Christian who is originally from the Palestinian territories, says those who discriminate don't bother to look beyond his physical features. Shortly after war broke out between the United States and Iraq, a passer-by told Martha: "We've taken over your country, now we're going to take over your women." Martha is expecting heightened tensions after Attorney General John Ashcroft warned the nation that al Qaeda is planning an attack on U.S. soil in the next few months. On Wednesday, Ashcroft released photos of seven suspected al Qaeda operatives that the FBI has been pursuing for months. "Every time there's a threat, people start to act differently," said Martha. "They see a Middle Eastern guy and start thinking maybe he's the one." Helal Olmeira, executive director for the Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, based in Washington, says high-profile events such as Ashcroft's warning are often catalysts for heightened anti-Muslim sentiments. "It comes in spurts," said Olmeira. "It's been especially difficult in the last three months as more of our sons and daughters have come home dead from Iraq." Olmeira said his organization was barraged with hate mail after the U.S. invasion, as fighting intensified earlier this year and following the videotaped decapitation of civilian Nicholas Berg. "It's often one-liners like 'Go home' or 'Get the hell out of my country, ' " he said. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/05/27/MNGKU6SF4C1.DTL Free Detroit Press - May 27, 2004 New FBI sweep for terror clues worries Muslims BY SHANNON MCCAFFREY WASHINGTON -- Warning that Al Qaeda is plotting a deadly attack this summer on U.S. soil, the FBI reinvigorated a manhunt Wednesday for seven terrorism suspects and launched a massive canvass likely to target Muslims in the United States in the hopes of gathering intelligence. A steady stream of credible new information from multiple sources suggests that Al Qaeda is nearly ready to attack the United States again, Attorney General John Ashcroft said Wednesday at a news conference with FBI Director Robert Mueller. The threat information does not contain specific details about a time, place or method of attack, and Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said there are no plans to raise the nation's threat level, which is yellow, or elevated. The FBI will begin interviews nationwide. Such sweeps in the past have focused on Muslim and Arab communities, and officials did not dispute that a large number of the interviews will again take place there. Mueller and Ashcroft declined to say which communities the interviews would focus on, saying only that they will be driven by intelligence. After the 2001 terrorist attacks, federal officials interviewed at least 200 men of Muslim or Middle Eastern descent in Michigan. The men were invited to volunteer for the talks. At the time, metro Detroit's Arab-American leaders voiced concerns that the interviews could turn into a dragnet and that people with visa problems would be hesitant to step forward for fear of being deported. Some Muslim leaders worried Wednesday that they were again being targeted for unwanted attention. "It's part of the 'round up the usual suspects' mentality," said Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington. "When you don't have any other leads, you gather up the Muslims." |