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 Chris Hedges: George Bush’s AmericaPosted on Dec 4, 2006
By Chris Hedges The Democrats may have taken control of the House and Senate, but we still live in George Bush’s America. It is an America the imprisoned Palestinian activist Dr. Sami Al-Arian, who has spent over two years in isolation, knows intimately. Dr. Al-Arian, who was a tenured professor of computer engineering at the University of South Florida until being fired, was given the maximum sentence earlier this year for what the judge, in a case that bordered on the farcical, said was his support of a radical Palestinian organization. The imprisoned professor, who will be deported when he is released, was to have spent 57 months in prison. But his time now seems likely to be extended since, despite plea bargaining that should have exempted him from further testimony, he has been called to testify before a secret grand jury in Virginia investigating Islamic organizations in the state. It is the newest twist in a case that has become emblematic of the repression meted out to America’s Muslim minority.
Al-Arian endured a six-month show trial in Florida that saw the government’s case collapse in a mass of contradictions and innuendo. During the trial the government called 80 witnesses and subjected the jury to hundreds of hours of often inane phone transcriptions and recordings, made over a 10-year period, which the jury dismissed as “gossip.” Out of the 94 charges made against the four defendants there were no convictions. Of the 17 charges against Al-Arian—including “conspiracy to murder and maim persons abroad’’—the jury acquitted him of eight and was hung on the rest. The jurors disagreed on the remaining charges by a count of 10 to 2 favoring his full acquittal. Two others in the case, Ghassan Ballut and Sameeh Hammoudeh, were acquitted of all charges, dealing another body blow to the government’s case. The May sentencing of Al-Arian contradicted the basis of the jury’s acquittal and the reasoning behind the subsequent plea agreement.
“The cards were stacked against us,” said the defendant’s daughter, Laila Al-Arian. “The prosecutors showed gruesome videos of suicide bombings in Israel and tried to tie my father to them. He had nothing to do with these attacks. He has always condemned the killing of Israeli and Palestinian civilians. The trial was Orwellian. The government prosecutors would take events and statements that had nothing to do with my father and attempt to connect them to him. This was all about silencing a Palestinian activist, not combating terrorism.” But all this has not stopped the government from continuing its harassing of Al-Arian. Judge Moody recently ruled that compelling Al-Arian to testify in the grand jury investigation of the International Institute of Islamic Thought in Herndon, Va., would not violate the plea agreement. Several people close to the case fear that the current attempt to make Al-Arian testify is part of an effort to charge him with perjury and set him up for a new trial. The assistant U.S. attorney in Virginia, Gordon Kromberg, like many involved in the case, has made derogatory and racist comments about Muslims. When Al-Arian’s lawyers asked Kromberg to delay the transfer of the professor to Virginia because of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan they were told “if they can kill each other during Ramadan they can appear before the grand jury.” Kromberg, according to an affidavit signed by Al-Arian’s attorney, Jack Fernandez, also said: “I am not going to put off Dr. Al-Arian’s grand jury appearance just to assist in what is becoming the Islamization of America.” “Had he said this about any other ethnic or religious group it would have provoked widespread outrage,” said Laila Al-Arian. And so, although Al-Arian is scheduled to be deported in April 2007, he could now be imprisoned for an additional 18 months. The federal government has placed him in contempt of court because he is refusing to answer questions before the Virginia grand jury. This trial says legions about the place of Muslims in the United States following the attacks of 9/11. It is part of a ruthless campaign to strip Americans of fundamental rights because of their religious beliefs. “The jury spoke a year ago when they acquitted my father and the other three defendants,” Laila Al-Arian said. “This is part of a government campaign to silence and intimidate all Muslims in America by persecuting their leaders. It is part of an effort to disenfranchise American Muslims.” Previous item: Truthdigger of the Week: The Rev. Joel Hunter Next item: The Trouble With 'Political Rock Stars' Elsewhere: . CommentsAre you a Truthdig member yet? Login now, or register with Truthdig.
By Ken, December 9, 2006 at 6:44 pm # To Manstein: You Nazi ! You Fascist creep, take a hike !
By Hutch, December 7, 2006 at 4:47 pm # Didn’t this guy say, as he was being lead away in handcuffs, that he helped GWB win the 2000 election? The Muslim/persecution angle fits well into our liberal angst about Bushworld policies. But it’s probably not so complicated...there are pix of Sami with Bush all smiles. He was used and abused...just like all of us.
By Rahmatoola Rujeedawa, December 7, 2006 at 3:32 pm # What is happening in George Bush’s America to Muslims happened nearly 2000 years ago to the followers of Jesus (peace be upon him) in Rome under Nero.
By Mannstein, December 7, 2006 at 8:44 am # Let us not forget that it was the Jews who declared an economic boycott against Germany in 1933 shortly after Adolf Hitler came to power. They openly called on all Jews wage economic war on the Reich. The Jews were not entirely the innocent party they are made out to be today.
By Devlin Buckley, December 7, 2006 at 2:30 am # Chris, I respect you and your opinions, and I regularly enjoy your writings, but I believe your defense of Sami al-Arian is a little misguided. Unlike the dozens of ‘sting’ operations across this country that target Muslims simply because they are Muslim, there is a very long and complex history behind this case that involves money laundering, terrorism financing, organized crime, and massive corruption within the U.S. government. Sami al-Arian and his affiliated organizations link back to US-supported elements of the ‘al-Qaeda’ network. These organizations were apparently used to funnel cash for covert operations overseas, originally in Afghanistan and later on in Bosnia, Kosovo, and elsewhere. If you study the work of Daniel Hopsicker, Nafeez Ahmed, the NSWBC, and others, you’ll see what I mean. Particularly, I suggest looking into the New Jersey-based investment bank once known as BMI and a technology firm/U.S. defense contractor by the name of Ptech. Moreover, as noted by former Justice Department prosecutor John Loftus, “It is a matter of record that an organization known as the Baraka group laundered the money to the skyjackers of Sept. 11. Sami Al-Arian incorporated Baraka in the state of Florida, which was dissolved on Sept. 28, 2001.” This and other information surrounding the 9/11 attacks is being kept locked away as ‘secret evidence’ because public exposure would implicate high-level government officials in criminal activities. This is why investigations into the Virginia-based network have been obstructed for over a decade. In fact, according Loftus, even after 9/11 “people in the intelligence community came and said-guys like…Sami al-Arian and other terrorists weren’t being touched because they’d been ordered not to investigate the cases, not to prosecute them, because there were being funded by the Saudis and a political decision was being made at the highest levels, don’t do anything that would embarrass the Saudi government.” He went on to say, “who was it that fixed the cases? How could these guys operate for more than a decade immune from prosecution? And, the answer is coming out in a very strange place. What Alamoudi and al-Arian have in common is a guy named Grover Norquist. He’s the super lobbyist. ...Grover Norquist’s best friend is Karl Rove, the White House chief of staff, and apparently Norquist was able to fix things.” According to his lawyers, al-Arian believes his life would be endangered if he agreed to testify, which raises an obvious question: If he wasn’t involved with anything illegal, then whom does he have to fear? Follow the money and you just might find out.
By Michael, December 6, 2006 at 7:55 pm # Some of the hate comments on Arab people represented here verbatim and it seems orchestrated smell of Nazi times. This poor man and his family are victims of a hate campaign that even the Nazi’s were not so opened about. Shame on the Jewish Judges for induldging in so much hate. Shame on America for allowing this. Free the man and compensate his family.
By Robert, December 6, 2006 at 4:50 pm # Comment #40957 by Michael T. Darwyne on 12/05 at 11:47 Michael, Your response/reply to comment #40781 by “Ken”: “This clown, Al-Arian, is an anti-American - anti-Jewish monster who uses the free speech clause to tell his lies to impressionable college students. He deserves to be deported and made to pay for his actions as a promoter of radical Islam. I wonder what this “ken” feels about Israel spying on the U.S., such as, the zionist Jewish anti-American monster, Jonathan Pollard. Jonathan Pollard is a convicted Israeli spy and a former United States Naval civilian intelligence analyst. Pollard pleaded guilty and was convicted on one count of spying for Israel, receiving a life sentence in 1986 with a recommendation against parole. Israel publicly denied that Pollard was an Israeli spy until 1998, when he was granted Israeli citizenship. According to Eric Margolis in the Toronto Sun, Pollard provided Israel with the names of Amerivan agents in the Soviet Union. Margolis also alleges that the names were later traded to the Soviet Union by Israel and a number of key CIA agents were executed as a result. Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker claims that “a number of officials strongly suspect that the Israelis repackaged much of Pollard’s material and provided it to the Soviet Union in exchange for continued Soviet permission for Jews to emigrate to Israel."and that” a significant percentage of Pollard’s documents, including some that described the techniques the American Navy used to track Soviet submarines around the world, was of practical importance only to the Soviet Union” Pollard’s superiors at the Navy Field Operational Office in Washington, D.C. grew suspicious of Pollard’s conduct. Stacks of classified documents unrelated to his work were repeatedly found in his office. The FBI was soon called in to investigate, and they arrested Pollard in November 1985. Any hopes of keeping the scandal under wraps were dashed when Pollard attempted to avoid arrest by requesting asylum at the Israeli embassy, as originally ordered by his Israeli handlers from Lekem (his controller was Rafi Eitan, former head of Lekem.) The Israeli embassy nevertheless refused to grant Pollard and his wife asylum, and Pollard was subsequently apprehended by the FBI. At the time, Israel publicly denied any connection to Pollard. There were press reports at the time of the Camp David 2000 Summit that Clinton had offered to pardon and release Pollard as an inducement to then-Prime minister Ehud Barak to enter into an agreement with the Palestinians, but nothing ever came of it. There were also rumors that Pollard was among the many whom Clinton considered for Presidential pardon on his last day in office, January 20,2001. The lates Israeli request for pollard’s release made in new York on September 14, 2005 was again declined by President Bush. A request on pollard’s behalf that he be designated a Prisoner of Zion was rejected by the High Court of Justice of Israel on january 16, 2006. Another appeal for intervention on Pollard’s behalf was rejected by the High Court on June 8, 2006. Pollard & Israel’s spying has caused the deaths of many Americans! This zionist monster loyalty was not to America, but to a foreign country...Israel. He needs to pay for his damn spying and the deaths of our fellow Americans; He belongs in prison til he rots. This is only one of many spying affairs by Israel on the U.S. What does “Ken” think of Jack Abramoff? How come this criminal is still free & on the loose? I just wonder why would have happened to this guy if he had an Islamic/Arabic name? Hmmmm...I don’t think that he would be free! By the way, who is this “Ken”? Is he an American or an Israeli? You & the rest of the people on this forum can watch “Spy Jonathan Pollard” caught on tape. Surveillance video from 1985 shows American stealing secrets for Israel.
By kevin99999, December 6, 2006 at 4:08 pm # This is a perfect way to create enemies.
By William Hambaugh, December 6, 2006 at 3:31 pm # Come on now people. Don’t you all remember our great leader George W. Bush reportedly saying; “The Constitution is nothing but a goddamn piece of paper.” Hells - Bells - this must be true since he said it. Lest we forget that God himself placed Bush in office according to the Christian right and many others. Therefore, what the legal system has done to Dr. Al-Arian under the Bush’s regime is what is best for him (Al-Arian) and the rest of the citizens in this once great ..... I....mean.... this great nation. It is God’s will that the Constitution and our liberties be trashed. Mr. Bush has already acknowledged he nor any of his bunch have ever made a mistake. God is perfect, therefore so is Bush. God with a little help from Diebold et. al. through his grace and wisdom brought his other son to earth to lead us and the rest of the world. When I reread the above, I almost puked. Realistically speaking, Dr. Al-Arian is only one of thousands or millions that feel the sting of this authoritarian 4th Reich.
By Friedenschaffen, December 6, 2006 at 2:17 pm # For a camp, how about somewhere in Western Iraq? Should be available for quite some time. On the other hand, if you play along you can stay in one of the luxury hotels in the GREEN ZONE.
By felicity, December 6, 2006 at 11:54 am # Fascinating. Reading the statements by Moody etal I was struck by “where have I heard that before?” From the Nazi propagandist, Goebbels no less - except that he was talking about Jews. Anybody know of any concentration camps going up in their area?
By Friedenschaffen, December 6, 2006 at 10:38 am # And we still don’t have a valid connection between Arabs and 9/11.
By MICHAEL T DARWYNE, December 5, 2006 at 11:47 pm # “This clown, Al-Arian, is an anti-American - anti-Jewish monster who uses the free speech clause to tell his lies to impressionable college students. Perhaps we should hold on a moment, because if that attitude becomes the prevailing attitude, we could be next if for any reason it is decided that our folk or race or religion are now “the threat”. It can happen. It happened to the Pilgrims in Britain, who were among the founders of the American nation. It happened to the Jews in Germany. It happened to the East Asians in Uganda. America is a nation founded on tolerance of dissent. In that sense what is happening to this former Professor (though you prefer to use the epithet clown) is decidely un-American. Future historians may note the irony.
By Spinoza, December 5, 2006 at 7:22 pm # What can we do to fight the fascists?
By Katherine Hughes, December 5, 2006 at 5:37 pm # See also the case of Dr. Rafil Dhafir, an Iraqi born Muslim and a U.S. citizen for 30 years, who was held without bail for 31 months and then sentenced to 22 years in prison for sending aid to starving Iraqi civilians through his charity, Help the Needy. See my latest article on the case, “Criminalizing Compassion in the War on Terror: Muslim Charities and the Case of Dr. Rafil Dhafir,” http://www.forusa.org/fellowship/nov-dec06/KatherineHu ghes.html My article mentions Dr. Al Arian’s case because he and Dhafir were both listed in a 2003 paper on Terrorist Financing by Jeff Breinholt, Deputy Chief of the Department of Justice’s Counterterrorism Section. The article was titled “Terrorist Financing,” U.S. Attorney Bulletin, July 2003, Volume 51, number 4; and is available here: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usab 5104.pdf. Katherine Hughes
By Alison Weir, December 5, 2006 at 9:30 am # Yes, there is a book on this. It is by Dr. Al-Arian himself and is extremely important reading:
By Fadi, December 4, 2006 at 7:58 pm # Thank you for writing this. I think it’s important to highlite the racist witchhunt by the justice dept against Arabs and Muslims.
By MICHAEL T DARWYNE, December 4, 2006 at 7:54 pm # Has anyone written a book about the Professor and his experience? In years to come he may be read about as an example of how the legal system can become an instrument of oppression when seemingly hysterical acts seek to supplant rational thought, but how the jury system ensures that fairness,humanity and decency prevail despite all of that. The greatest strength of the American legal system lies in its adversarial system staffed by keen minded attorneys, the impeccable rationality of its judiciary and the fairness of its juries. Future generations will look back and note that tyranny never did take hold in America because of all those lawyers!
By Ken, December 4, 2006 at 6:09 pm # This clown, Al-Arian, is an anti-American - anti-Jewish monster who uses the free speech clause to tell his lies to impressionable college students.
By Arun, December 4, 2006 at 4:01 pm # I don’t know why people live in America. It has been and still is controlled by the corrupt elites. A person with some moral and ethical values should not live there because at the expense of public’s vote, governments are wrecking our humanity. Hiroshima, Phillipines, Vietnam, Iraq to name a few. U.S rep for U.N. vetoes for all the wars, example Iraq & Lebanon recently. People, come to Canada if you can’t go to your home country. Canada has a moral stand and doesn’t support U.S. and it’s war profiteering lobby. Or, you have to start a change which is very very difficuilt.
By Rodney Matthews, December 4, 2006 at 3:37 pm # What the Bush Adminstration is doing to Muslim and Arab Americans is worse than What was done to Japanese Americans during WW2. Harrassment of Blacks has seen us add Middle East and Mexican Americans to the mix. We no longer have any privacy. The Constitution means nothing, The Bill of Rights is gone. Secret spying and secret files are the norm, You don’t even know what information they are gathering against you, who has access to it, how it’s being used, and can’t even dispute it. Communism is alive in the world. Sadly it’s in George Bushes America.
By Georgio in Toronto, December 4, 2006 at 3:16 pm # The word Rotten is mild. How about Stinks ?
By Eco-Terrorist, December 4, 2006 at 2:50 pm # Anyone who’s seen the recent, brilliant, and grotesque movie, “Borat” knows how despicable America’s fundamental Christian right can be. The rodeo scene comes to mind in this situation. Unfortunately this isn’t any rodeo. This is the American judicial branch acting like a beligerent racist bull rider. It’s sickening to the degree that it reminds one of McCarthyism and the legacy of fear mongering put in place by Fox News, fostered by Ari Fleischer, Tony Snow and other public faces of the Bush White House. I think we can all safely assume where Judge Moody got his racist programming from.
By Bill Haymin, December 4, 2006 at 2:29 pm # Our founders said it well: “Our form of government would not work, unless the people were highly religious and moral.”
By Margaret Currey, December 4, 2006 at 2:00 pm # America was outraged when O.J. Simpson was declared not guilty, but the judicial system is corrupt, people who kill when they drive drunk, have driven drunk before, it is only when someone is killed is there an outcry and there is the phrase fell through the cracks, how many times does the court accept resitutution for drunk drivers, those drivers who have money can buy themselves out time and time again, when a senator does the same thing there is an outcry, but the courts do a lot of things for money, judges get money for trials, proscrutors get money for trials and also get the chance to run for office, so they bring cases that there is no change to win, but it makes for something for the public to look at. The judicial system has gone for money and also the judicial system has gone back 200 years. This administration is not for democracy, not when they do everything they can to keep certain people from voting. Margaret from Vancouver, Washington
By Dave, December 4, 2006 at 1:42 pm # Thanks for a great expose. Could you imagine a senior government official saying “the Judaization of America”? If they weren’t as many, the Moslems would be rounded up in internment camps already.
By Biff Loman, December 4, 2006 at 11:24 am # I want to thank Chris Hedges for exposing how foul the American “justice system” has become. Having worked in the federal legal system for years, I know what I’m talking about. The war on crime, war on drugs, war on terra have destroyed our justice system and are civil liberties. We now are left with nothing but neonazis and racists from the so-called Justice Department, which has declared war on the Bill of Rights. Federal courts in this country, now dominated by nazis from the Federalist Society, are making a mockery of what law is left. Those like Judge Moody in the fraudulent Al-Arian case are vicious, unjust, ignorant and cruel, a bad mix, but they now control most of the federal courts in the U.S. The nazis in the Reagan Regime made it their top priority to undermine and subvert the federal judiciary and they have been successful. Unfortunately, the destruction of our judicial system, like the elimination of habeas corpus and making disappearances “legal” has been studiously ignored by the Free Press. If you then throw in the evil being perpetrated by the Israeli Lobby, which played a huge role in professor Al-Arian’s kangaroo trial, you have a prescription for a corrupt, vicious, unjust, cowardly system, like we have now.
By zainab, December 4, 2006 at 8:58 am # ““Had he said this about any other ethnic or religious group it would have provoked widespread outrage,” said Laila Al-Arian.” -- and probably a lawsuit against the State of Virginia as well. “the Islamization of America” Add Your Comment |
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