Remembering 9-11, How can I forget?
NEVER FORGET!
I remember 9-11 as if it happened yesterday. I came downstairs after awakening and turned on the TV like I always did. For some reason, the TV was muted as I saw the scenes. I was not wearing my contact lenses so I could not see with clarity but I saw the aircraft hit one of the towers. Still dozy, I assumed it was some special effects scene, which is what I told my wife as she came down. Then the sound got turned on, I put on my contacts and with a shock, I realized this was real; someone had hijacked aircraft and they were crashing them into buildings. With a sick feeling, I saw the buildings collapse, judging from the size of the towers, I assumed there must have been at least over ten thousand people killed in the collapsed buildings.
Then I learned that the hijackers were Muslims and their purpose was presumed to be “Islamic”. I cursed the people involved in the slaughter as I do to this day, May God hold them responsible and keep them in Hell for the horrors they perpetrated on innocent people!
A few people called me and asked what kind of response should Muslims make?
How can one respond, thoughts and prayers? It would be foolish to say anything that could mean that we, as Muslims, were collectively assuming any responsibility for the heartless, thoughtless, inhuman and definitely un-Islamic, actions of a few.
As the day unfolded, I realized that the decision to respond would ne with massive military resources and that Muslims would indeed, be held accountable.
In the, months and years that followed, the sympathy for the victims and their families transformed into concern for Muslims and fear for the Muslim families that were (and still are) being targeted as “terrorists” by the President, Congress and by all US agencies, most notably, the FBI. We were suspects and targets of unrelenting persecution. Within a year, under the direction of John Ashcroft, the US Attorney-General, the FBI had “detained” or jailed, over 14,000 Muslims in all jails…City, county, state and all.
I remember at one time there was a Congressional hearing in which Ashcroft admitted there was nothing material against the Muslims being held, but that he looked upon them “as pieces of a mosaic” and that some patterns will emerge from them. Nothing ever did, but most of the Muslims held, had their lives destroyed in the time they were “detained”, some for years, without charges or trials. They lost jobs, finances, their homes and in some cases, even their marriages.
There was mourning across the nation and across the world. In Muslim-majority countries, people marched in support of the victims and condemned the terrorist actions of the people. With tears in their eyes, Muslims were seen showing solidarity with the American victims.
In the US, there were efforts to compensate victims, memorials were built. It was as if Muslims did not exist as humans, Muslim survivors of the attacks were denied support in the face of the solidarity shown to other victims of 9-11. It was as if Muslims could not exist among the virtuous; only among the evil ones. Even newspaper cartoonists ignored Muslims as among the innocent. We were never recognized.
Radio talk shows and TV programs pivoted to focus on Muslims and Islam as the focus of all evil, even school books were re-written to show Islam and Muslims in as terrible a picture as possible. The FBI planted paid “informants” in Mosques and other Muslims communities, who were actually agents provocateurs tasked to find vulnerable, impressionable Muslims, incite and motivate them to violence so they could then be arrested by the FBI with great fanfare. A massive industry was born, with the sole goal of proving Islam and Muslims to be evil, but done disguised as “Anti-Terrorism Training”.
The nation’s Police sucked it up; there were no safe places in America to be a Muslim. Even many Churches and Synagogues got into the act, venting their hatred against Islam and Muslims by inviting self-declared “experts” on Islam AND Terrorism, to explain to their congregations why a Muslim cannot possibly be a good American. Targeting us Muslims, still remains a good source of fundraising for many of them.
Personally, I had people call me all sorts of names, “traitor” being the least of them. I was accused of being “a Sleeper-cell leader”, an “Islamist”, “Terrorist”, “Terrorist Sympathizer” and that I belonged in Gitmo. Friends turned against me, joining the accusations of being a terrorist, one threatened me with implied shooting claiming, HE was afraid for his family from me. There were other incidents where people threatened to shoot me just because I am Muslim. It became so serious that I feared someone would shoot at me while I was in the car with my kids. I was pretty sure they would miss me but I was equally certain they may injure or kill my children. I proceeded to train my 11 year-old daughter and my 7-year old son to unbuckle and fall on the van’s floor if I yelled, “Get down!”. I almost purchased a gun to protect my family then reason prevailed and I decided not to join the gun-nuts. Most Muslims went quiet, dressed more “American”, they lived in constant fear for themselves and their families, not from the local civilian, but from the agencies such as the FBI, The Police and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). Not far behind them were other agencies, even the USDA (Department of Agriculture) got in on the Muslim-hunting game. For the same “crime”, Muslims were imprisoned for as many as 17 years, while non-Muslims doing even more, were praised for their heroic work.
The chronicles of individual attacks and humiliations to Muslims are so many that it would take books to write them. But this should suffice for now.
Today, on the 20th anniversary of 9-11, it is time to rip off the collective scab of the pain of the attacks and feel it afresh; that is the patriotic thing to do. In the meantime, one might assume that targeting of Muslims, the persecutions and the hate-industry would have finished by now, sadly, not so. Bush Jr, opened the gates and lit the fires of Islamophobic hate, making it a Across America, Anti-Semitism has been declared a hate-crime, racism against Blacks has been declared a crime but Muslims have to beg to get the Police or the FBI to recognize violence against Muslims as such. Islamophobia has yet to be even defined; it is met by an indulgent shrug.
In my own country, agencies and administration still consider me to be “The other”.
Today in America, it is a mark of patriotism to target Muslims, Obama did not move the needle down. Trump actively fueled it, generating active hate towards Blacks, Muslims and everyone from, as he termed it, “Shithole countries”. Biden has yet to show any signs that he recognizes the threat to Muslims.
US; Turning Point or, Business as usual?
Trump’s coming to power did not change America, the disease has been in the nation’s body since inception. Trump only made it acceptable to publicly display mob strength and bigotry. Thanks to major support of and by, the National Rifle Association (NRA), owning and displaying guns has become fashionably patriotic. Support from the NRA and its servile politicians, tens of millions of guns…pistols and rifles…have been sold to Americans over the past 12 years. Thanks to the NRA, all agencies in the US are prohibited from holding any kind of inventory of who owns guns or, even from digitizing the bullet signatures from guns.
FEAR. Guns have been purchased by goons and fools who believe they are in “real danger”; Whites who are terrified that “the Blacks” may be taking over the country. Ironically, some Blacks are now starting to buy weapons as well because they see how many Whites have how many guns. According to the Swiss organization, Small Arms Survey, there are about 120.5 guns per100 Americans…that was back in 2007!
FEAR is in the driver’s seat in America and has been since the slavery days. Politics is also driven by fear; politicians are forever telling their bug-eyed, fearful audiences that the end is here….unless you vote for them. We end up voting for a potential savior, not a leader. That’s how America got Trump.
FEAR is also the excuse used to hide bigotry. Police almost always say how they “feared for their lives” as they pour more than ten shots into an unarmed and sometimes, unsuspecting, victim. Black, of course.
Dangers to Society…Who? Why?
Muslims, of course, who else could be a threat to society?
“Civilized society”, of course! such as France, Germany and the US. We love to assign fault and responsibility so this article will do the same.
I suppose Muslims are “identified” as dangerous “Islamists” because we (yes, I include myself as a Muslim) can be differentiated by name, by our faith and often, by our ethnicities. Being able to identify a group is the simplistic approach many societies take, in order to negatively sort people out. Thus, Blacks in America are the most persecuted. After 9-11, MUSLIMS were the target du jour in the US. Muslims could be fairly sure they may have their bank accounts shut down, they could lose their government jobs or, be persecuted into leaving. They could also be sent to another country (“Extraordinary Rendition”) to be tortured under the guidance of the FBI. Muslims could be taken to a “Black Site“, a super-secret US military site overseas for torture or “disposal” and of course, they could be kept in jails (“Detained”) for days, weeks or even years, without charges or trials, only to be let go as “no longer a threat” by which time, their lives were destroyed. Muslims are still targeted by the FBI and many Police departments but we don’t hear of torture..not yet anyway.
Since 2001, White supremacists have gained ground in the US. These private, civilian militias, are armed with automatic weapons and even 50-mm cannon (hard to call them “guns” at that caliber). They train to fight, they move around the country, openly displaying their weapons and they challenge an unresponsive authority everywhere. They are seen “defending” borders against the (as Trump termed it) “Rapists and Murderers” from the Southern border and they are there when Muslims are being intimidated. As time went on, they have become bolder and more aggressive…with the support of the government and even Police departments. Many states that tried to shut down unhealthy operations due to COVID-19 had their captols surrounded by armed White Supremacists determined to defend their “Freedom”. In Michigan, militias moved into the legislative buildings, denying access to lawmakers and staff. More recently, waving their guns, they even tried to run a Biden campaign bus off the road.
The Governors and Police did nothing to stop them; FBI is not allowed to monitor White Supremacists.
Iranian Jews to be investigated
“War!”; gathering intelligence intelligently
The man who blew himself up and took 7 CIA men with him should help teach us in the US, the same lesson…yet again! But if the lesson learnt is that we should not trust Arabs and Muslims, then all seven CIA lives, all American lives before them and all lives that will be taken in the future, will have been totally wasted.
What should the US have learnt, this time, as they should have, a long time ago? There is no substitute for good intelligence-gathering and good intelligence-gathering does not come through the eye of a satellite, the cross-hairs of a drone or, from a rented stranger, it comes from good friends. But first, let us see how the US deliberately alienates Muslims across the world. Continue reading
Of Angels & Demons
I recently received a link to a YouTube video of Rachel Corrie in 5th grade, giving a speech in which she shared her vision to help the world be a better place. I was very impressed because while we all desire world peace in our childhood, it is seldom that we manage to retain the vision and act on it in our adulthood. This remarkable girl spoke with clarity and confidence and with the sincerity of one whose soul speaks out. Continue reading
Somalia and the Collapse of a Society
(First published April 14, 2009) “Here we go again”, some will say. “Jeff is bashing America…if he hates it so much here, why doesn’t he go back where he came from?”
Pushing for the country one loves, to reach for its highest aspirations instead of creeping to the lowest standards, should not mean I “hate it here”, but that I love to see the best outcome for this nation. Continue reading
Captain Mohammed Dreyfus
(First published March 29, 2004) In 1893 Alfred Dreyfus, a captain of the French Army, was accused and tried for treason. In spite of evidence to the contrary, he was convicted and sent to prison in Devil’s Island for the rest of his life. The Dreyfus’ case unleashed a storm of anti-Semitism all over France (he was a Jew) and it was only through mighty efforts of people of good will all over France that he was finally exonerated of all charges in 1906 and then too, only after a change of government. He was re-instated in the army with the rank of Major and fought gallantly in WWI as Lieutenant Colonel.
In 2003 Captain James Yee, a Muslim Chaplain at Guantanamo Bay, was placed in solitary confinement, in shackles for most of 76 days in a military brig where he was not even told what time of day or night it was so he could pray. No one was told where he was or what the charges were against him and the word “espionage” was widely used by various spokes people; his military lawyers were told to prepare for a death-penalty defense. Continue reading
Muslim? Don’t scratch your nose…
Virgins In Paradise
(First published January 1, 2009) “Suicide-bombers blow themselves up because they are promised 72 virgins in Heaven”…Oh, how I loathe this statement!
Critics of Islam like to describe “virgins in Paradise” (“Houris”) as base, sex-objects and motivation for Muslim suicide-bombers, because it helps promote hate and fear towards Islam and Muslims; the tactic works because of the negative connotations for sex in the ‘Christian’ part of the “Judeo-Christian Civilization”. Continue reading
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