Not all Muslims are terrorists
By Raeed N. Tayeh
Sunday, May 13, 2007
The Department of Homeland Security recently raised with its British counterpart the possibility of requiring British citizens of Pakistani origin to get visas for U.S. entry. Currently, citizens of the United Kingdom, along with the citizens of 26 other mostly European countries, do not have to obtain visas to enter the United States under the State Department's Visa Waiver Program.
Rather than making America safer, the proposal to distinguish British passport holders based on their ethnicity would be ineffective and counterproductive.
Experts in law enforcement and counterterrorism routinely dismiss racial profiling as a reactionary tactic that does not work since criminals and terrorists alike share similar traits of behavior, not appearance.
Extremism and terrorism are bred on the margins of society. Misinformed U.S. policy -- be it the war in Iraq, unconditional support for Israeli apartheid or the racial and religious profiling of foreign visitors -- only pushes more people onto the path of anti-Americanism and hate.
Hundreds of Muslims and people of Arab and South Asian descent have been singled out at border crossings and detained for extended periods upon their return from overseas trips, or even on their way back from Canada, without any explanation, save for the ubiquitous "routine security" excuse, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Many of those who have been detained by federal agents have complained of being separated from family members before being handcuffed and interrogated about their political views and religious affiliations.
These horrifying and humiliating homecomings often include the copying of all cards and papers carried in the traveler's purse or wallet and the downloading of data from cell phones, PDAs and laptops prior to being released.
However ill-advised some of our Homeland Security policies may be, the intentions behind them are sometimes understandable. In the past few years, the United Kingdom has been rocked by a string of homegrown terrorism cases, most notably the July 2005 subway bombings in London that killed 52 people.
And just last month in Britain, five young Muslim men of Pakistani descent were convicted of planning to use Timothy McVeigh-like fertilizer bombs to wage their own personal war against the country that nurtured them.
Many of these young men, including several Brits of other ethnicities, came under the influence of the extremist group Al-Muhajiroun and had attended the Malakand terrorist training camp in Pakistan.
This has set off alarm bells across Washington.
But what officials fail to realize is that most Muslims living in the United States and Europe are strong stakeholders in homeland defense and are eager to do what they can to prove that terrorists who shroud their extremism with Islam neither represent the mainstream of their faith nor understand it and practice it in a proper way.
But Washington won't convince extremists to abandon their warped views by painting Muslims -- in the United States and in Britain -- with the broad brush of suspicion.
Raeed N. Tayeh is author of "A Muslim's Guide to American Politics and Government."
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/guests/s_507407.html
By Raeed N. Tayeh
Sunday, May 13, 2007
The Department of Homeland Security recently raised with its British counterpart the possibility of requiring British citizens of Pakistani origin to get visas for U.S. entry. Currently, citizens of the United Kingdom, along with the citizens of 26 other mostly European countries, do not have to obtain visas to enter the United States under the State Department's Visa Waiver Program.
Rather than making America safer, the proposal to distinguish British passport holders based on their ethnicity would be ineffective and counterproductive.
Experts in law enforcement and counterterrorism routinely dismiss racial profiling as a reactionary tactic that does not work since criminals and terrorists alike share similar traits of behavior, not appearance.
Extremism and terrorism are bred on the margins of society. Misinformed U.S. policy -- be it the war in Iraq, unconditional support for Israeli apartheid or the racial and religious profiling of foreign visitors -- only pushes more people onto the path of anti-Americanism and hate.
Hundreds of Muslims and people of Arab and South Asian descent have been singled out at border crossings and detained for extended periods upon their return from overseas trips, or even on their way back from Canada, without any explanation, save for the ubiquitous "routine security" excuse, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Many of those who have been detained by federal agents have complained of being separated from family members before being handcuffed and interrogated about their political views and religious affiliations.
These horrifying and humiliating homecomings often include the copying of all cards and papers carried in the traveler's purse or wallet and the downloading of data from cell phones, PDAs and laptops prior to being released.
However ill-advised some of our Homeland Security policies may be, the intentions behind them are sometimes understandable. In the past few years, the United Kingdom has been rocked by a string of homegrown terrorism cases, most notably the July 2005 subway bombings in London that killed 52 people.
And just last month in Britain, five young Muslim men of Pakistani descent were convicted of planning to use Timothy McVeigh-like fertilizer bombs to wage their own personal war against the country that nurtured them.
Many of these young men, including several Brits of other ethnicities, came under the influence of the extremist group Al-Muhajiroun and had attended the Malakand terrorist training camp in Pakistan.
This has set off alarm bells across Washington.
But what officials fail to realize is that most Muslims living in the United States and Europe are strong stakeholders in homeland defense and are eager to do what they can to prove that terrorists who shroud their extremism with Islam neither represent the mainstream of their faith nor understand it and practice it in a proper way.
But Washington won't convince extremists to abandon their warped views by painting Muslims -- in the United States and in Britain -- with the broad brush of suspicion.
Raeed N. Tayeh is author of "A Muslim's Guide to American Politics and Government."
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/guests/s_507407.html
