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HEADLINES
Mock attack on the fake mosque in Illinois sends a wrong message
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Six years and eight months after the 9/11 tragic attacks, Muslims in America remain at the receiving end with the reconfiguration of American laws, policies and priorities to target them. The latest assault on the Muslim community comes in the form of a simulated attack on a fake “mosque” by the law enforcement authorities in Illinois. Read More
The ordeal of Al Jazeera cameraman Sami Al-Hajj
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: After six and a half years of imprisonment in Guantanamo Bay military prison, Al Jazeera cameraman, Sami Al-Hajj, was released on May 2, 2008 in a very bad shape. He was carried off a US air force jet on a stretcher when he arrived in Khartoum, Sudan, and immediately taken to hospital. Al-Hajj’s case symbolizes the policy of torture and human rights violation of the Bush Administration. Read More
Evangelicals highjack the National Day of Prayer
Abdus Sattar Ghazali: “Evangelicals attempt to exclude non-Christians from National Day of Prayer,” this Mother Jones headline best reflects the controversy over the National Day of Prayer (NDP) observed this year on Thursday, May 1, 2008. The National Day of Prayer was once a symbol of American unity and faith in God that transcended boundaries but in recent years the decades-old tradition has become mired in divisions. Read More
Probe in the mysterious death of Riad Hamad sought
The San Antonio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-San Antonio) has called for a Justice Department investigation into the death of Riad Hamad, whose body was found earlier this month in a Texas lake. The body had been bound with duct tape. Read More
McCain declines to drop 'Islamic' terror label
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain has declined to stop using the adjective "Islamic" to describe terrorists and extremist enemies of the United States. Rea More
Dr. Al-Arian suspends hunger strike after 8 weeks
On the 57th day of his hunger strike, Dr. Sami Al-Arian has suspended his fast, at the urging of his family, friends and supporters, Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace, announced on April 29. Read More
Sami Al-Arian in deadlocked terrorism case could face a new indictment
Sami al-Arian, a computer science professor imprisoned for more than five years after pleading guilty to a single terrorism-related charge when his trial deadlocked, is back in legal limbo this week. He faces either deportation or a new indictment that could extend his incarceration for years. Read More
Dr. Sami Al-Arian put in solitary confinement
AMP Report: Dr. Sami Al-Arian, a former Florida professor currently on his second hunger strike in federal detention to protest unjust treatment by the U.S. authorities, has been placed in solitary confinement, with no medical monitoring, in a Maryland detention facility. Read More
Civil rights advocates urge Justice Department to honor Al-Arian plea agreement
AMP Report: On March 31, 2008, Representatives of several American Muslim civil right groups visited Dr. Sami Al-Arian, a former Florida professor currently on his second hunger strike in federal detention to protest unjust treatment by the U.S. authorities. Meanwhile, Civil rights advocates urged the Justice Department to honor Al-Arian’s plea agreement. Read More
Abuse of judicial system to keep Dr. Al-Arian in prison
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Dr. Al-Arian is in Catch-22. Gordon Kromberg, an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia, is setting up Dr. Al Arian for a perjury/obstruction trap. If Dr. Al-Arian again refuses to testify because of the 'no-cooperation' agreement, he will be charged with obstruction of justice and could receive several additional years in prison. If he testifies, he faces a 'perjury' trap based on past practice with other acquitted Palestinian defendants.Read More
De-Constructing Islamophobia:
Immigration, Globalization and Constructing the Other
Center for Race and Gender, University of California, Berkeley is sponsoring a conference on “De-Constructing Islamophobia: Globalization, Immigration, and Constructing the Other.”The two day conference will be held on April 25, 26, 2008. Read More
Slights have left many U.S. Muslims wary of Pope
Pope Benedict XVI has said he would like to reach out to the Muslim community through dialogue, and Muslims were included in the pontiff's meeting with interfaith leaders in Washington on Thursday night. But many Muslims in America remain wary, saying the pope has created the impression that he is insensitive to their faith. Read More
Why MPAC declined to join interfaith meeting with Pope Benedict?
AMP Comment: The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), a leading civil rights group, Thursday (April 17, 2008) declined to join a meeting between the visiting Pope Benedict XVI and about 200 religious community leaders in Washington, DC, due to the absence of a “meaningful dialogue on Muslim-Catholic issues.” Read More
Pope Benedict’s fresh assault on Islam
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: In a replay of September 2006 attack on Islam, Pope Benedict has sent a new strong anti-Islam message to the Muslims. In 2006, the pope used remarks of a 14th century Byzantine Christian emperor, Manuel II, to launch an anti-Islam tirade. This year, he seized the March 22 Easter service to make a coded but fierce attack on Islam when the pontiff chose to baptize at St Peter's Basilica a pro-Israeli Muslim, Magdi Allam, 55, who received first communion at the age of 14. Read More
Congress Wants Iraqis to Pay for U.S. War
Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, promised to introduce legislation that would require the Iraqi government to pay for the cost of the security that were providing them. If passed, this bill would codify a status of forces agreement currently being negotiated with the Iraqi government about the U.S. military presence in Iraq. Read More
Byrd: Today, I weep for my country
Iraq War: Exactly five years ago, on the afternoon of March 19, 2003, mere hours before bombs began falling in Baghdad, Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., gave a speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate condemning the use of military force in Iraq. As soon as Byrd was finished speaking, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., delivered a response defending the Bush administration's decision to go to war. Read both speeches
Words matter: King's words marked a new and dangerous low
By Dr. James Zogby: U.S. media attention has been focused for days now on former Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro's racially divisive remarks about Senator Barack Obama's candidacy for president. What concerns me is that the near-exclusive focus on these comments has drowned out attention from earlier remarks made by Iowa Republican Congressman Steve King. In many ways, in a campaign season already marred by ugly bigotry, King's words marked a new and dangerous low. Read More
Kosovo Independence or an international chess game of interests?
By Khalid Saeed: In Kosovo’s international chess game the player countries are making moves to further their geo-political and economic goals. This situation is no different than many other situations around the globe. However in other places similar situations are dubbed as “clash of civilization”, acts of “religious fundamentalism” or simply that people “hate western way of life”. Read More
Second Muslim elected to the US Congress
AMP Report: American Muslim community is elated at the election of another Muslim to the US Congress. On March 11, Indiana voters elected Andre Carson to the Congress. He became the second Muslim chosen to in the U.S. history. Andre Carson, grandson of the late Democrat Rep. Julia Carson, was elected to serve the balance of her term in the U.S. House of Representatives in a special election. Read More
Bigotry, fear mongering retched up in presidential race
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Less than a week after Senator John McCain clinched Republican nomination for November presidential election, Congressman Steve King, a leading Republican congressman has launched a bitter racist and Islamophobic attack against Senator Barak Obama, a leading Democratic presidential hopeful who won another primary in Mississippi State on March 11. Read More
Gaza Under Siege
By Ralph Nader: The world's largest prison—Gaza prison with 1.5 million inmates, many of them starving, sick and penniless—is receiving more sympathy and protest by Israeli citizens, of widely impressive backgrounds, than is reported in the U.S. press. Read More
New massive survey of Muslims belies Bush rhetoric “why do they hate us?”
AMP Comment: Why do they hate us? President George Bush posed this question to the American public shortly after 9/11 terrorist attacks. And in a strong affirmation of the power of propaganda, he replied: “They hate our freedoms -- our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other.” Tellingly, the presidential rhetoric stands refuted and exposed by the latest survey of 500,000 Muslims in more than 35 Islamic states. Read More
Will Nader's bid will change the race?
AMP Report: On February 24, Ralph Nader announced his candidacy in NBC’s Meet the Press program. By default, the first reaction in media was: Nader will be a spoiler by taking votes from the Democrats as he did during the 2000 elections when Al Gore lost elections to George Bush in Florida. Read More
Fear mongering and racism in presidential race
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: A furor has erupted as a photo of Barack Obama in a white turban spread across the Web, drawing accusations of fear-mongering and racism from the Obama campaign. The photo taken on a 2006 trip Sen. Obama made to Kenya, first appeared on the Drudge Report website which said it was circulated by Clinton's staffers and quoted one saying: "Wouldn't we be seeing this on the cover of every magazine if it were [Clinton]?" Read More
Was 1991 Gulf War a prelude to the 2003 Iraq debacle?
AMP Report: Historian Dr. Stephen J. Sniegoski, is perhaps right when he says: the neocons could not have initiated the 2003 war if the 1991 Gulf War had not taken place. In that sense the first Gulf War was a prelude to the 2003 war on Iraq, in which the U.S. government would pursue a policy in complete harmony with the thinking of the neocons to precipitate regime change and destabilize the Middle East. Read More
Pew’s new survey confirms its hidden agenda against American Muslims
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life on February 25, 2008 released the first report of the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, which details estimates to date of the size and demographic characteristics of religious groups in the U.S.Insisting on its flawed and arbitrary figures about the Muslim population in USA, the new PEW survey finds that Muslims account for roughly 0.6% of the U.S. adult population. This is not a new claim. Its May 2007 survey claimed that the population of the American Muslim community is no more than 2.35 million which is closer to the estimates announced by the American Jewish Committee in October 2001. Read More
The Oil factor in Kosovo independence
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: On February 17, Kosovo broke away from Serbia and declared its independence. Not surprisingly it was instantly recognized as a state by the U.S., Germany, Britain and France. With 4203 square miles area, Kosovo may be a tiny territory but in the great game of oil politics it holds great importance which is in inverse proportion to its size. Kosovo does not have oil but its location is strategic as the trans-Balkan pipeline - known as AMBO pipeline after its builder and operator the US-registered Albanian Macedonian Bulgarian Oil Corporation - will pass through it. Read More
Reflections on the Black History Month
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Carter Godwin Woodson (1875-1950), remembered as the Father of Black History, had realized the importance of history and argued that those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history. Read More
How intelligence agencies frame “terrorism” charges?
AMP Comment: A British Court of Appeal, on February 13, 2008, completely exonerated Lotfi Raissi, a British pilot of Algerian origin, from the charges that he trained some of the hijackers in the 2001 terrorist attacks on World Trade Center and Pentagon. His episode is the latest example of how British and U.S. intelligence agencies try to frame terrorist charges against innocent people. Read More
Lessons from the Japanese internment during WWII
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: The February 19 marks the Day of Remembrance when President Roosevelt signed an Executive Order that sent about 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry to concentration camps during the World War Two. The mass displacement and internment of the Japanese-Americans is a dark spot of our history from which we can learn valuable lessons. Read More
US Air Force Academy encourages Islamophobia?
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Three self-styled “ex-terrorists” – Walid Shoebat, Kamal Saleem and Zachariah Anani - were star speakers on February 5, 2008 at the 50th annual United States Air Force Academy political forum in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The three anti-Muslim fear-mongering bigots have spent the past couple of years on speaking tour across America but this is the first time that the trio has spoken at a military academy. Read More
Poll shows Muslim voters undecided about White House pick
By Ibrahim Hooper: Many religious or ethnic minority groups are considered to be in one political camp or the other. But a recent survey of American Muslim voters shows they are largely undecided about their choice for president in the November elections. Read More
Islam-West division is worsening
AMP Report: Majority of the people in Muslim and western countries believe that Islam-West division is worsening while each side thinks the other disrespects their culture, says a report on Muslim-Western relations released on January 21, 2008 in Davos, Switzerland. Read More
Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
AMP Comment: The nation pauses today, January 21, 2008, to remember one of its most important civil rights leaders with a national holiday. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential and respected civil rights leaders who inspired the world and helped bring about laws that ensure fairness and equality for all Americans. Read More
New indictment against IARA:
Former Congressman also indicted for lobbying Muslim chairty
AMP Report: A federal grand jury in Kansas City, Missouri has indicted a former Michigan Congressman, Mark Deli Siljander, for lobbying on behalf of a Muslim charity, the Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA), before it was shut down in October 2004. Read More
Imagine a world without Islam!
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Take away Islam, and the world would still be left with the main forces that drive today’s conflicts, including colonialism, cross-national ideologies, ethnic conflicts and terrorism, says Graham Fuller, a former Vice-Chairman of the National Intelligence Council at the CIA in charge of long-range strategic forecasting and currently a professor of history at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada). Read More
Why Pakistanis see US bigger threat than Al Qaeda?
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: The most striking result of the US Institute for Peace-funded survey is that majority of Pakistanis see the American military presence in the region a far greater threat to their country than Al Qaeda. The survey indicated that 72 percent of Pakistanis view the US military presence in Asia as a "critical threat" to the "vital interests of Pakistan." Read More
Happy new Hijra year 1429
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: January 9th marks the first of Moharram, the beginning of the new Hijra year 1429, according to the five-year Islamic calendar announced by the Fiqh Council of North America and endorsed by the Islamic Society of North America. In a bid to end the controversy over the beginning of the month of Ramadan and Eid celebrations, the Fiqh Council of North America, in August 2006, announced a five-year Islamic calendar based on astronomical calculation abandoning the traditional method of actual sighting of crescent. More details
Islamophobia escalates in presidential election
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: Muslim American community was dismayed at the highly offensive year-end Islamophobic remarks of one of Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's campaign officials who told Britain's Guardian newspaper that Americans need to chase Muslims "back to their caves." Read More
Who assassinated Benazir Bhutto?
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali: The assassination of the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, is a big national tragedy that may have unpredictable consequences for the strife torn country. She was a victim of the volatile national politics and terrorism in Pakistan that is a spill over of western “Grand Game” operations in Afghanistan. Read More
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