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Chronology of Islam in America (2008)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
April 2008
US memo supporting torture made public
April 1: The Pentagon today made public a now-defunct legal memo that approved the use of harsh interrogation techniques against terror suspects, saying that President Bush's wartime authority trumps any international ban on torture. The Justice Department memo, dated March 14, 2003, outlines legal justification for military interrogators to use harsh tactics against al-Qaida and Taliban detainees overseas - so long as they did not specifically intend to torture their captors. Even so, the memo noted, the president's wartime power as commander in chief would not be limited by the U.N. treaties against torture. "Our previous opinions make clear that customary international law is not federal law and that the president is free to override it at his discretion," said the memo written by John Yoo, who was then deputy assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel. The memo also offered a defense in case any interrogator was charged with violating U.S. or international laws. "Finally, even if the criminal prohibitions outlined above applied, and an interrogation method might violate those prohibitions, necessity or self-defense could provide justifications for any criminal liability," the memo concluded. The memo was rescinded in December 2003, a mere nine months after Yoo sent it to the Pentagon's top lawyer, William J. Haynes. Though its existence has been known for years, its release today marked the first time its contents in full have been made public. (Huffington Post)
CAIR Welcomes Sarwat Husain to National Board
April 3: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today welcomed a new addition to its national board of directors. Sarwat Husain, president of CAIR's San Antonio chapter, was elected to the national board of the Washington-based Islamic civil rights and advocacy group. Husain is a long-time activist and community organizer who works closely with interfaith leaders, civil liberties groups and law enforcement authorities in her region. She is also politically active, currently serving on the board of the Texas Muslim Political Taskforce and as president of the Texas Muslim Democratic Caucus. (CAIR)
West Point Cadets Visit New Jersey Mosque
April 12: West Point cadets traveled last week to the ethnically diverse, second-largest city in the New Jersey as a cultural and religious immersion for the academy's course called Winning the Peace. For three days, the 30 cadets replaced their regular barrack beds for the carpeted floor of a local mosque, their professors for area ethnic and religious leaders and daily chow for more worldly dishes with unfamiliar names. Maj. Rebecca Patterson, who teaches the class, said war these days is a lot more than shooting a gun. "If you don't understand the social, religious background you're facing, you're not nearly as effective," she said. Most of West Point's 4,400 cadets will likely deploy after graduation to Iraq or Afghanistan. And in those conflicts, Patterson said the Army's future leaders will need to focus on both security and community needs, at times becoming impromptu small-town mayors or needing to work with other agencies to repair utilities. Soldiering the reconstruction effort is not something new, said Maj. Tania Chacho, West Point's director of comparative politics. "But unfortunately we haven't always prepared for it terribly well," she said. "So this is an attempt to try to prepare for that phase of our operations." (The Journal News)
Muslims join rally against synagogue desecration
April 13: More than 200 Muslims, Christians and Jews todayrallied to decry the desecration of a Westchester synagogue allegedly trashed by three teenage girls. Gathering outside the Mohegan Park Jewish Center in Yorktown (NY), the interfaith group urged parents to better teach their children religious tolerance. The center was defaced last week with a Nazi swastika. Religious items, including a model Torah scroll, Menorah (religious candelabra) and memorial plaques, were also destroyed. (New York Post)
Muslim civil liberties group seeks FBI probe of school threats
April 14: The Minnesota chapter of a national Islamic civil liberties group has asked the FBI and local law enforcement officers to investigate reported threats against a Twin Cities charter school as possible hate crimes, while a Jewish organization deplored the threats. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) made the request after the director of Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy in Inver Grove Heights told police that he and the school had received threatening and harassing phone messages and e-mails. The group is concerned about the safety of the school's students, many of whom are Muslim, said CAIR chapter coordinator Chris Schumacher. Tagging the threats as possible hate crimes also makes it clear that prejudice could have prompted them, and "we wanted to bring that to light in case that wasn't already obvious to people," he said. The Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas also condemned the alleged threats in a statement released today. (Star Tribune)
How Muslims Saved Jews During WWII in Paris?
April 22: As part of its "Islam Awareness Week," the Muslim Student Association at UC Davis screened the film The Mosque of Paris and invited Dr. Annette Herskovits, who survived the holocaust as a child in France thanks to a clandestine rescue network, to present her own story and speak about the vital, yet little-known role played by Muslims from France's colonies in the struggle against the Nazis. During World War II, Muslims in occupied France protected Jews from deportation to Nazi death camps. The Paris mosque became a refuge for anyone hiding from the Nazis, including Jews, many of them children. The mosque's rector provided false birth certificates "proving" that the Jews they were protecting were Muslims. Solidarity between Jews and Muslims flourished beyond the mosque. A leaflet distributed by Algerian workers in Paris stated: "The Jews are our brothers, and their children are like our own children." (MAS UC Davis)
Islamophobia in presidential race: McCain declines to drop 'Islamic' terror label
April 22: 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. Steve Schmidt, a former Bush White House aide who is now a McCain media strategist, told The Washington Times that the use of the word is appropriate and that the candidate will continue to define the enemy that way. Mr. McCain often uses the term "Islamic" to describe terrorist enemies. The two remaining Democrats in the presidential field, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, generally shun such word usage. In a speech last month to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, Mr. McCain said the formation of an international coalition "will strengthen us to confront the transcendent challenge of our time: the threat of radical Islamic terrorism." (Washington Times)
Probe in the mysterious death of Riad Hamad sought
April 28: The San Antonio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-San Antonio) today 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. Hamad, a 55-year-old middle school teacher, was a peace activist and director of the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund. His family said he had received death threats in the past because of his advocacy on behalf of the Palestinian cause. Local police are leaning toward a ruling of suicide. CAIR-San Antonio President Sarwat Husain said Hamad's office was recently raided by the FBI, but he was never formally accused of any wrongdoing. According to KLBJ Radio News Hamad claimed on a videotape that he was being targeted by federal agents because he ran the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund out of south Austin. (CAIR)
Dr. Al-Arian suspends hunger strike after 8 weeks
April 28: On the 57th day of his hunger strike, Dr. Sami Al-Arian today suspended his fast, at the urging of his family, friends and supporters, Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace, announced. Dr. Al-Arian, who has lost more than 40 pounds, began the hunger strike on March 3 to protest continued harassment and abuse of power by the Justice Department. Early last week, as his blood pressure and blood sugar reached dangerously low levels, Dr. Al-Arian collapsed and lost consciousness at his cell in Hampton Roads Regional Jail and was then examined by a doctor. Dr. Al-Arian drank no water for the first 18 days of his fast. During his hunger strike, he was moved to five different facilities a half dozen times. Dr. Al-Arian was supposed to have been released on April 7. (AMP Report)
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