As if 9/11 and the war with Iraq weren't enough, now with Chaplain James Yee it looks like the administration has even more "splaining" to do. Peace, Ian
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040423/us_nm/security_guantanamo_yee_dc_1
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two Democratic members of the Senate Armed Services Committee called on Friday for the Pentagon to conduct an investigation into its treatment of a Muslim Army chaplain who was suspected of spying, detained for months and then quietly released.
Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan, senior Democrat on the committee, and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts said the manner in which Capt. James Yee was detained and prosecuted "raises serious questions about the fair and effective administration of military justice."
They urged Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in a letter "to give this issue your immediate attention."
The military initially held Lee, 36, on suspicion of espionage at the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba, where he was a Muslim chaplain ministering to terror suspects.
He was arrested last September and placed in solitary confinement for 76 days.
When the military finally brought charges, Yee was accused only of "mishandling classified documents," not espionage. Then, earlier this year, that charge and all other criminal counts against Yee were dropped and he was released.
In a non-criminal hearing in March, Lee was found guilty on lesser charges of adultery and possessing pornography and received only a written reprimand from the Army.
The senators said the Pentagon should investigate the Army's handling of the case, "including whether the extensive pre-trial confinement and the charges against the chaplain were supported by the evidence."
They said the probe should look into "how and why information in the case was released to the press," noting that media reports had cited anonymous government sources saying Yee was suspected of espionage, aiding the enemy and treason.
Chaplain Yee's appeal is granted and all charges, both judicial and administrative, are finally dropped.
If this final resolution was a requirement for you to donate to Chaplin Yee's legal defense fund, I encourage you to do so now. Justice isn't free and in this case Chaplain Yee accrued well over $100,000 in legal fees.
Peace, Ian
]]>The motto of West Point is Duty, Honor, Country. Duty is defined as choosing the harder right over the easier wrong. I'm very disappointed but unfortunately not surprised that the US Army chose the easier wrong in permanently damaging Chaplain Yee's reputation and effectively ending his military career instead of choosing the harder right and admitting that the whole case was a mistake and giving him the apology that he deserves.
But it appears that choosing the easier wrong is currently in vogue these days whether its Yee or WMD. Hey as long as it's a noble cause it's ok to lie to achieve the desired result. Well that's the argument that Machiavelli made.
This article originally appeared in Volume 3, Issue 9 of the Wire on Friday January 31, 2003. The Wire is the newspaper for the Joint Task Force Guantanamo
By CH (Capt.) Yee
Chaplain, Joint Task Force Guantanamo
Islam: What is there to fear? in the Chaplain's Corner
September 11th, the pending war on Iraq, and our own day to day experiences of the Joint Task Force Guantanamo mission have all contributed to the picture many of us as Americans have painted about Islam and Muslims. And now, this universal religion of more than one billion followers worldwide is scrutinized by a population that has little knowledge of its basic tenets and practices. It is with a fearful eye that Islam and its worshippers are now being examined with the notion that they have become our nation's greatest enemy. However, a truly objective look makes it quite clear that Islam is really nothing to be afraid of at all.
The meaning of the word Islam is "submission'' and "peace." For a Muslim, the goal of attaining inner peace is achieved as one strives towards "submitting" oneself completely to God. Six articles of faith and the five pillars of Islam begin the process of transforming a mere physiological heart into a spiritual one.
The six articles of the Islamic faith indicate what a Muslim believes. They consist of belief in: 1) One God – The Almighty, All-Powerful, All-Knowing, All-Merciful, the Sole-Creator of all that exist; 2) The Angels - created by God to carry out various functions in service to Him, e.g., The Angel Gabriel's role was to bring divine revelation down to the Prophets; 3) The Divine Books - to include the Scrolls of Abraham, the Torah, the Psalms, the Gospels and the Qur'an; 4) The Messengers of God - to include Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, Joseph, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad; 5) The Last Day - being raise before God to account for one's belief and actions; 6) The Divine Decree - meaning all things happen according to His decision and not without His permission.
The five pillars of Islam which Muslims perform are: 1) Openly declare their belief in the Oneness of God and the finality of the Prophethood of Muhammad; 2) Prayer five times a day; 3) Give charity to the poor; 4) Fast during the month of Ramadan; and 5) Make a pilgrimage to Mecca, the holy city of Islam, at least once if able to do so.
This is Islam in the mainstream, and looking a bit deeper into the core of its values, one finds a religion that affirms God's justice and insists on man's moral responsibility. However, it's a shame that every group is plagued with a small minority that falls prey to the pitfalls of following its own interpretations and agendas; and thus darkening the reputation for the majority.
Yes, another terrorist attack or the possibility of hidden Iraqi weapons of mass destruction are enough to strike fear in the American people. But in reality, the majority of Muslims around the world from Indonesia to America are God-loving people. So why has it been so difficult for most in our society to distinguish these millions from the extreme fanatical minority? Why are we still afraid of Islam, the religion?
Answer: lack of knowledge and unfamiliarity with Islam and Muslims. In most cases, people have limited personal experiences with Muslims and know Islam only through references made towards Muslim extremism.
The strength of the nation we defend is our diversity, but not knowing each other only creates an obstacle keeping us from really coming together as one cohesive force. A verse from the Holy Qur'an reads: "O Mankind! … (God) has created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, so that you may know and learn from one another. Verily the most honorable of you in the sight of God is the one who is most righteous." Practically speaking, this is as easy as smiling, and saying, "Hi, my name is ... " to a fellow JTF member who is Muslim. With almost certainty, your response will also be met with a smile and the words, "Hi, it's nice to meet you..."
]]>We then marched from Tonkawa Falls Park in to downtown Crawford. This was a good mile. Crawford is a very, very small town. As I walked in to town lots of the local residents were sitting out on their porches watching the day’s activities. I tried to smile and wave to them. As I looked at the pretty but run down houses I couldn’t help but think that 87 billion dollars could have gone a long way to spruce up the place.
There were some local town folk (I’m guessing) dressed up in military garb counter protesting so I asked my fellow Muslims to hold up my end of the banner and I hopped out of the march and shook one guy's hand and said, "my name is Ian Benouis and I'm a West Point grad combat vet for peace." They all were in a state of shock and didn't know what to say.
Downtown Crawford is basically 2 traffic lights so we made a big U coming in to the town. One right and then another and then back the mile to the park. On the way back I saw the former Air Force veteran who was blocked in traffic that the news reports mentioned. He was doing his best not to look at us and maybe later he put up his cowboy hat in front of his face as the reports indicated.
Right before we got back in to the park, there was a family counter-protesting right next door. The news reports later informed that they had been there for a chili cook off and on the spur of the moment decided to protest against the peace rally. That really warmed my heart that he we were in America where we all had the right to speak our piece.
It was kind of interesting however that they weren’t really for anything (other than Bush and Cheney for another 4 years) as they were against what we were doing. They had red, white and blue balloons, a Bush Cheney 04 sign and were playing military marching music. They were dancing around doing their best to ignore our presence and pretend like we didn’t really exist. It kind of reminded me when kids put their hands over their ears and go, “la, la, la, la. I can’t hear you” when you are trying to talk to them.
Before the march there were some speakers and musicians performing. One speaker definitely got my attention when she was introduced. Her name is Shannon Sharrock and she is a West Point graduate from the class of 1997 and 2nd year law student at Baylor. She is a former Chinook helicopter pilot and her husband who is also a West Point graduate and Blackhawk Helicopter pilot with the 101st Airborne Division had just completed a full tour of duty in Iraq and was in Kuwait on his way back to the US.
I got the chance to talk with her after the march and she was kind enought to send me her speech. I have included the full text of her speech and also included the one that she gave last year at a similar rally at Crawford below. She is also a member of Military Families Speak Out. Hearing her made me wish that I had brought my poem "America is Babylon" to read at the rally that I wrote before the war began:
I've also included some articles about the rally (including a Republican and Bush Supporter who is against the war) at the end of this entry and some links to some other West Point Alumnus with commentary about the current war on terror and other current events. I've even included some pictures from the event.
March 20 2004 Speech, Crawford Texas
I am Shannon Sharrock. Wife to a soldier deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom since March of last year. I am a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. I am a second year law student at Baylor University, and I am a proud member of Military Families Speak Out. I am not here to endorse Mr. Nader or any other candidate for President of the United States. Contrary to what some may think, this gathering was not meant to be a forum from which to debate national issues or gain political clout, and it certainly should not be used as such.
I am here for a sole purpose: to fight for our soldiers and give voice to the military families who refuse to sit idly by and watch as their loved ones are sent to a war that has never been justified and never will be. Simply put, I am here to speak out against the war in Iraq- against the dishonorable, deplorable, deceptive foreign policy fashioned by the Bush administration, which now has our soldiers mired in an ethnic battle for which there is no end- an elective war hatched by the chicken hawks now roosting in the White House who feather their pockets with soft money from soft contracts- who know nothing of combat or Islamic culture or the sacrifices that our soldiers and their families make every day that this is allowed to continue.
We are all familiar with the lies and the deceit and the selfish, swaggering, self-promoting, preemptive policies that have lead to this blood soaked debacle. All of us feel betrayed, angry, frustrated, cast out by a society- albeit an ever decreasing society- which would rather label us unpatriotic or traitorous than face the truth that President George W. Bush sent our soldiers to die in an ill-conceived, ill-planned, ill-begotten war. We all know these statements to be true- we have known their truth for over a year now. We have spoken out, demonstrated, protested, called for action, called for justice, and called for peaceful alternatives to war. And much has changed… Yet much remains inadequately and unconscionably the same.
Over the past year, there have been repeated boastful statements made by our Commander-in-Chief that our soldiers have the best equipment that $87 billion can buy- yet for an entire year, my husband’s soldiers lived in tents shredded by both age and the elements. Over the past year, there have been repeated perfunctory promises made by Congress to equip our soldiers with the best armor, weaponry, and defenses available- yet after a year in the desert, my husband and most of his unit left Iraq just two days ago without having ever received bullet proof vests. Over the past year, there have been repeated adamant denials that our military was stretched too thin, that we have adequate numbers of soldiers both to defend our country and to deploy to other countries, yet the first wave of soldiers to return from Operation Iraqi Freedom have already received return orders to Iraq- some of whom will have had as little as six months of stabilization before their redeployment.
And soldiers and civilians continue to die and continue to be wounded. And excuses continue to be made. And there has been no accounting and no accountability. No weapons of mass destruction, no link between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, no end in sight to the life of the war beast created and nurtured by those who understand nothing of the convolution of ethnic war.
And we continue to be vilified. And we continue to be labeled unpatriotic.
And still we are here, and we are many. We stand today, ever-united, ever-focused, ever-ready to continue what we have started- to continue our own battle against the political corruption that waged a war which has cost [565] American lives, thousands of Iraqi lives, and thousands more wounded. We will not be intimidated; we will not be deterred. We will continue to fight until our voices are not just heard but HEEDED, and this we use as our rallying cry: We will not rest until this elective war has come to an end. We will not lower our voices in protest until ALL of our sons and daughters, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters have returned safely to American soil.
August 23 2003 Speech, Crawford Texas
I am Shannon Beth Sharrock, wife to a soldier serving in Iraq since March of this year. I am a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and served overseas in Korea and in the United States at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where I was discharged in 2002 because of injuries incurred while on duty that disqualified me from further service. But for that injury, I might well be serving with my husband—also a West Point graduate—in Iraq. And, I would be proud to do so were I in the least convinced that our presence there is justified and our cause meritorious. I am not… It is not...
Ignorance, arrogance, and mendacity by our administration in the White House and Pentagon have been a lethal combination for 273—and counting—members of our military serving in Iraq, and hundreds more wounded, as well as thousands of Iraqis.
There is no question but that we were misled by our elected and appointed leaders, including our Commander-in-Chief, our Secretary of Defense and his staff, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. If we were misled intentionally- it is unforgivable; if we were misled unintentionally, then our leadership is, at best, incompetent to the task upon which they embarked the young men and women of our military. Either is inexcusable. It is not the “American Way” in which I strongly believe and which led me to serve my country as a soldier.
Arrogance has isolated us from most of our traditional allies—the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and of the United Nation. Now, in our hour of need, these nations justifiably decline to join us in the reconstruction of the nation that we have destroyed, unless and until they are given a meaningful voice in decision making—a voice denied them in our rush to war, based on the false premises of the existence of weapons of mass destruction, development of nuclear weapons, and a connection with the Al Qaeda terrorist organization.
In this instance, it is clearly a truism that those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. Our ignorance of the religions and cultures of Islam has been at no time more evident than now. Our system of democracy can no more be imposed on a culture and on a people to whom it is completely foreign, than a totalitarian form of government could be imposed by force on us. Those in Washington to whom we entrusted the lives of our young men and women of the armed services should have known and considered this before they placed our nation’s finest young men and women in harm’s way. It is unconscionable that they did not know- even more unconscionable if they did know.
Make no mistake, I served my country willingly and with pride. I support my husband and the rank and file of the military who have had no or little voice in the decisions for which many have already made the ultimate sacrifice.
I will not…I can not… in conscience support our invasion of the sovereign nation of Iraq and the continuing occupation based on the false information with which we were provided and by which most of us were initially beguiled. I understand that we can not now abandon the good people of Iraq to yet another totalitarian despot, which is the inevitable consequence of a simple retreat of our armed forces from Iraq. We are clearly in for the long haul and must make the best of a bad situation that was not of the making of the brave men and women in uniform. Let us pray for more enlightened guidance than that which led us into the situation which we today protest.
We must be mindful of the words of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg which I here paraphrase: that we highly resolve that these 273 of our loved ones shall not have died in vain. We must also embrace the words of General Douglas MacArthur who said, “The soldier above all other people prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
Our men and women who wear the military uniform are not warmongers. They do not seek battle or the death and destruction it brings. They are in Iraq simply because it is their job to serve. It is their job to go where our elected officials send them. They do this selflessly, knowing that there is always a chance that they will not come home. Our loved ones knew this when they took the oath to serve and defend our nation. They did so willingly and without reservation. Therefore, it is not proper nor is it acceptable for them to speak out against the war and against their presence in Iraq. It is not their job to question the validity of intelligence that brought us to war; it is not their job to challenge the reasoning for their continued occupation in Iraq.
THAT IS OUR JOB- We as voting citizens; we as the constituents of our elected officials; we as the wives and husbands, mothers and fathers, daughters and sons of those who sacrifice in Iraq every day. It is our job to raise our voices in opposition to our soldiers’ continued presence in Iraq. It is time to take a stand. It is our duty…our obligation…our purpose today to protest a cause that has been weighed in the balance and found wanting.
Republican Speaks at Crawford Texas Antiwar Protest Antiwar.com March 23, 2004
Activists converge in Crawford
Anti-war demonstration mixes talk of peace with election-year politics Dallas Morning News March 20, 2004
Here is the website for a classmate of mine Mark Vakkur:
David Wiggins is a conscientous objector from the first war in Iraq.
I just realized that both of these guys are doctors. Maybe we should listen to "the doctor" and take our medicine so that we can get better. Otherwise we may be in for a long illness and those West Point grad, former Army helicopter pilot, lawyer types will continue to stand on their soap boxes. ;)
Pictures
View image This War Brought to You By Halliburton
View image Veterans for Peace
View image If the People Will Lead, the Leaders Will Follow
View image Bush Puppet
View image Bush Snake
View image We Don't Want This War
View image Obey, Resistance is Futile
View image Lies, the Real Weapons of Mass Destruction
View image Anti-Authoritarians Against War
View image Patriot Act burning up the Bill of Rights
View image Veterans for Peace Memorial to Solider Killed in Action
View image The Stage
View image Palestinian Posters
View image Peace Signs and Crowd
View image Peace Flags
View image US Out of Iraq, Bush out of DC
View image Veterans for Peace taking a smoke break
View image War Pigs
]]>Army review: Agents erred in UT conference investigation Fort Worth Star-Telegram March 15, 2004
Army Screwed The Pooch by Spying on Academic Conference Attendees Capitol Hill Blue March 16, 2004
Editorial: A rare but needed apology San Antonio Express March 17, 2004
Original blog entry: Spiritual Kung Fu
Army Says Its Lawyers and Intelligence Officers Overstepped Their Authority
in Texas Inquiry Monday, March 15, 2004 By MICHAEL ARNONE
U.S. Army lawyers and intelligence agents were out of order when they
attended a conference on Islam last month at the University of Texas at
Austin's law school and aggressively questioned students and staff members a
few days later, the Army said in a written statement on Friday.
"The special agents and their detachment commander exceeded their authority
by requesting information about individuals who were not within the Army's
counterintelligence investigative jurisdiction," read the statement, which
was issued by the Army's Intelligence and Security Command.
In response to the incident, the Army command has provided all of its
counterintelligence operatives in the United States with extra training to
remind them of the legal limits on their investigations, the statement read.
The command could not be reached for comment on Friday.
It could not be learned if its agents had been punished for their actions in
the Texas incident.
The law school is "very glad the Army took this seriously," said Douglas
Laycock, associate dean for research at the law school. He said he
understands that law-enforcement agencies have been extra vigilant since
September 11, 2001, to prevent another terrorist attack and that it is
sometimes easy to overreact to situations. But it is important, he
continued, that law-enforcement leaders stress to investigative agents that
they know the law.
The statement confirmed that on February 4, two Army lawyers attended a
university-approved conference, "Islam and the Law: The Question of Sexism?"
The symposium drew a multiethnic crowd interested in an academic discussion
of how traditional Islamic law treats women (The Chronicle, March 5).
The lawyers were from Fort Hood, an Army base in nearby Killeen, Tex., and
were preparing to go to southwestern Asia to handle legal issues between the
U.S. military and the local Muslim population, the statement read.
At the Texas conference, the lawyers became suspicious of a man who
pointedly and persistently questioned them about who they were and what they
were doing there, the statement read. Following Army regulations, the
lawyers reported the man and two associates to intelligence officials at the
base.
On February 9, two counterintelligence agents visited the law school to
identify the three men, the statement continued. The agents identified
themselves and requested a list of people who had attended the conference.
But no one cooperated with them, and they left the campus.
The incident aroused some of the same concerns that emerged at Drake
University last month, after federal officials subpoenaed the Iowa
university for information on an antiwar student group and persuaded a judge
to impose a gag order on the institution (The Chronicle, March 5). The
University of Texas has not received any subpoenas for information.
Sahar Aziz, the Texas conference's organizer, and William C. Powers Jr.,
dean of the law school, said at the time that they did not know why the
conference had attracted the interest of the military.
After the Army's visit, Ms. Aziz speculated that the word "Islam" in the
conference title had triggered an inquiry by intelligence officials. Malcolm
N. Greenstein, her lawyer, said that one of the counterintelligence agents
had told her he was seeking three "Middle Eastern-looking" men.
Mr. Greenstein could not be reached for comment on the Army's statement.
Copyright © 2004 by The Chronicle of Higher Education
]]>WHEREAS..... our founding fathers recognized and acknowledged our Divine source in the creation of our government and indicated such in the Declaration of Independence which is the foundational document in our Constitutional form of government and
WHEREAS..... the religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam all worship the One God of all mankind and we all trace our religious heritage to the same patriarch Abraham and
WHEREAS..... Islamic civilization during the nine centuries spanning from approximately 600 to 1500 AD contributed immensely to the course of human knowledge in such diverse fields as: astronomy, geography, history, mathematics, medicine and physics to name a few, thus heralding and enabling the European Renaissance. By acting as a bridge for Greco-Roman learning to Europe, Islamic civilization is an integral component of America’s Judeo-Christian heritage par excellence and
WHEREAS..... historically our country’s religious heritage has been described as Judeo-Christian and
WHEREAS..... our nation has always had Muslims living in it and now these Muslims constitute a significant number making it the third or likely the second largest religion in the country and the world and
WHEREAS..... we live in the most diverse and pluralistic country on the planet and our success and our blessings have been directly related to our ability to recognize, respect and integrate our various backgrounds and
WHEREAS..... we live in a time when global and political realities necessitate that we engage in the utmost effort to understand one another and build bridges of faith and community be it therefore
RESOLVED that we collectively acknowledge the common Judeo-Christian-Islamic heritage of our country and be it further RESOLVED that we encourage the use of this language as an effort to further strengthen and unify our country in our striving to make it a more perfect union.
]]>Here is some background on the show and then some questions that I created and then answered in preperation for the show.
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Why Should People Care About what is going on with Chaplain Yee?
His situation represents a choice that America has to make. The government has used 9/11 and the fear that has resulted from it to slowly and steadily chip away at the civil liberties and civil rights of all Americans. Unfortunately this is in the exact opposite direction from that envisioned by Martin Luther King, who saw a future where all people were treated fairly and with respect regardless of their race, regardless of their religion, and regardless of their belief. No one knows how far back we might go in the direction that the government is headed. We might end up in the time before the civil rights movement, we might go back to the time of McCarthyism, we might even go regress to the time when Japanese Americans were put in interment camps during WWII.
And this isn’t just a philosophical issue. It is a practical one as well. Just because Americans are in a group that is in the government’s favor today, doesn’t mean that they won’t be in a group that is out of favor tomorrow, especially during war time. Nazi Germany is a stark reminder of this danger. There is a great quote that came out of that period from Pastor Martin Niemoller. “In Germany they came first for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me- and by that time no one was left to speak up.”
Why do you think that this is happening? Why are Muslims being targeted?
First off the government has not provided any official explanation as to why they are doing this, so there is lots of speculation on the issue. It’s my own personal opinion that the government is reacting out of fear, which is the same fear they are trying to sell to the American public. The government doesn’t understand Islam very well and as a result has concerns about the loyalty of Muslims in the military. This isn’t any different that the same doubts that the government had about the loyalty of Japanese Americans during WWII. The government felt that they couldn’t trust Japanese Americans even though they were born and raised in this country, because the feared that their ultimate loyalty was to their ethnic and even religious identity.
Is this just another form of ethnic and religious discrimination?
Well the facts certainly seem to support that claim and this is what Chaplain Yee’s parents have said. Col Farr who was also stationed at Guantanamo was charged with the offense of mishandling classified documents. He is not a Muslim nor is he a minority. He was never incarcerated after being charged. Chaplain Yee on the other hand after being charged only with the same offense was initially thrown in a maximum security prison for 76 days, placed in solitary confinement where he was manacled hand and foot. His captors refused to tell him the time of day or direction towards Mecca so he could perform his religious duties correctly, which ironically is the very reason that he was sent to minister to the prisoners in Guantanamo was to provide for them these basic human rights.
It’s kind of ironic that we have always been expecting the WWIII that we imagined in our collective unconscious during the Cold War. When the real World War III actually snuck up on us it caught us off guard. This is evidenced by the fact that most people don’t realize that this the war that we guarded ourselves against – a worldwide war that every country participates in, as according to our president in this global war against terror that “you are either with us or against us” - is going on this very minute.
This presidential election does represent a historic choice for our country, and because we do determine the future of the world, for our planet. However as much as some would like to believe that it is a choice between the Republican and Democratic parties, it is not. That is a choice between Coke and Pepsi. Which ever you choose you are still drinking bubbly sugar water and too much of it isn’t good for you. This is a referendum on whether we want to choose Hope over Fear. Peace over War. This is a choice if we want to have a King govern us or we want to take our democracy back. It’s important to note that the current and previous administrations haven’t so much taken democracy from us as we have abdicated it to them.
As always history is instructive. In this case however it is useful to go back to ancient Israel before the time of rule by kings. Samuel, a prophet, was a judge over Israel. He judged Israel with fairness and justice during his life, but when became old and made his sons judges after him they, “Did not follow in his ways, but turned aside after gain; they took bribes and perverted justice.” Now I’ll leave it to the reader to ponder the pervasive influence of money in the political process over the last 30 years up to the current administration, culminating in events like the Halliburton scandal.
The elders of Israel gathered and demanded from Samuel that he, “Appoint for us a king to govern us, like other nations.” Samuel then prayed to God. We should all heed God’s words back to Samuel.
The Lord said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. Now then, listen to their voice; only--you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them."
So Samuel reported all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, "These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you in that day."
But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, "No! But we are determined to have a king over us, so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles." When Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. The Lord said to Samuel, "Listen to their voice and set a king over them."
So do we want a king who will force our sons and daughters in to the military? [There is currently a bill in Congress that would reinstitute the draft and provide no option for conscientious objectors nor could anyone go to Canada or Mexico this time around.] Do we want a king who will take our money and give it to his benefactors who helped put him in office? [Corporations pay less and less of their share of taxes and individual taxpayer’s burden continue to increase all while we face the biggest deficit in our nation’s history.] Do we want a king who will fight our battles by engaging in preemptive war around the world or do we want a king who will eliminate the need for fighting in the first place by engaging the world with justice and fairness and will not tell the rest of the world, “Do as a I say, and not as I do.”
God has given us the choice. “And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves.” We are blessed with a democracy in this country but it doesn’t work correctly unless we operate it ourselves. The current administration is happy to do our work for us if don’t demand otherwise. Listen to the words of the man who could be king, “"If this was a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." President George Bush, December 18, 2002.
So it’s your choice. It’s our choice. We can get out and vote and we can take our country back. However, be forewarned, it’s not just that we vote in a new administration and can believe that our work is done. We must reengage ourselves in our civic duties in order to make this a more perfect union. Our duty as citizens goes beyond voting and paying taxes. The cost of democracy is our time and effort to be involved in the process.
There will those who argue that in this time of “war” that we have to sacrifice our liberty at the government’s altar of national security. Well one of our founding fathers knew better, “They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin Franklin
It occurred to me that this is the same logic that religious fundamentalists use in support of their position. People such as Osama bin Laden and others like him, claim that if Muslims really loved Islam, they would support those people who “defended” it against its “attackers.” Osama bin Laden and his ilk claim to represent Islam just as these “defenders” in the US claims to represent America. Both sides mistakenly believe that the other side is out to destroy their own way of life.
Both of these positions are based on an incomplete understanding of the institutions that they claim to represent. America is based upon the Constitution and our founding fathers’ view of how man should live. Those who say that they know what America stands for, but don’t hold the Constitution as their guiding force are misinformed and mistaken. America only exists when it is true to and lives in accordance with the Constitution. America is a concept and a state of mind, not only a piece of land. America is not the government. Once we give up on the idea of America and exchange it for the idea of “my country right or wrong” or “we are right because we are America” then all is lost. We are not Americans because we live in America, we are Americans when we live as Americans.
The same is true of Islam and religion in general. For Muslims Islam is literally surrendering to God’s will and his vision of how humans should live. The Qur’an is the living constitution that explains how this is to be accomplished. Islam is something that man does for God, not the other way around. When Islam becomes something that man has to defend against attack, then somewhere the original intent and purpose has been lost and forgotten. Muslims are not righteous because they are in the religion of Islam, they are righteous only if they follow the religion of Islam.
If you say you love America but don't love and honor the Constitution and the spirit embodied therein, then you are like the religious fundamentalists who love and honor their religion but don't love and honor God. This type of belief is just another form of idol worship. These idolaters are taking the symbol as the object of their worship instead of the underlying essence and source from which it springs.
Both John the Baptist and Jesus taught on this subject. John the Baptist challenged some of his fellow Jews who believed that being the children of Abraham was sufficient for their salvation. He confronted this belief and pointed out its inherent falsity. So significant was this incorrect reliance that he offered the radical symbolic ritual of baptism to bring them to the realization that their salvation lay in repenting of their sins and turning to God. Identification with and membership in a particular group was not the basis for God’s judgment.
Jesus was preaching to a large crowd. When told that his mother and brothers were asking for him, he challenged this limited understanding of identification and relationship and taught that whomsoever does the will of God is truly his mother and his brother. Being members of his family, being connected to him in a most intimate and direct way, was not as important as doing God’s will.
The Qur’an challenges this idea of self-selected salvation when it asks, “Do men think that they will be left alone on saying, ‘We believe’, and that they will not be tested? We did test those before them, and God will certainly know those who are true from those who are false.” Even so many Muslims are guilty of this same misunderstanding and are in even greater danger of missing the mark. In the Qur’an Muslims are also warned of the mistakes of their older brothers-in-religion who preceded them. God reminds Muslims with the same lesson by describing some of the Jews and Christians who believed that because God had specially chosen to send them a unique Message and a unique Messenger, membership in each community alone was sufficient to make them secure and protected from making mistakes and committing sins. God points out that if Muslims as a whole can learn not to make this same mistake, that they will indeed be a great community having fully benefited from the experience of their predecessors and more completely and effectively implemented this teaching. Unfortunately, many Muslims simply believe that because they can be a great community that they automatically are the greatest community.
Sound familiar? America can be a great nation because it has the understanding to be a great nation and because of what it has learned from the nations that preceded it both in its creation and implementation. America is a great nation only when it lives up the promise of its founding fathers and implements that wisdom and vision better than any of the previous nations that have preceded it. Like great countries in the world of which America is arguably the last, Islam is arguably the last great world religion. When you come last in history, you do have the opportunity to be greater than those who came before, but only if you learn from their successes and failures and take full advantage of all the accumulated knowledge available. If not, your loss is even greater. When you think that you will succeed where others have failed because it is your destiny to succeed, you have misunderstood God’s promise.
Because Islam is the last great world religion and America is the last great country in the world, Muslims in America have a special role to play on the world stage. Muslims in America can practice their religion freely, unlike their co-religionists in many other so-called Muslim countries. We also have the vantage point of seeing and understanding better than any others, how democracy and Islam are compatible and complementary and actually arise from the same underlying principles. Muslims in America have the unique challenge to show the entire world that Islam can work in and contribute to the social good in the most powerful, modern and technologically advanced democracy in the world. If Muslims are going to reclaim the soul of Islam, it is going to happen first in America. If there is going to be an Islamic reawakening, this is where it starts.
If Mecca is the supreme example of unity in diversity for Muslims, America is the Mecca for the world. That is why so many people make the pilgrimage to this country. America is the country where people of all religions, ethnic backgrounds, cultures and nationalities must demonstrate, by working in unison, that we are a community that improves the human condition and brings people closer together in harmony and unity, instead of contributing to more death, destruction and division. America is the country that can show the rest of the world that the most diverse nation on the planet with people who are different from one another in every conceivable way can live together in mutual respect and admiration and have a better society to show for its efforts. I believe that America is the last great social experiment of history and we the people are its subjects. I pray for the sake of all human kind that we are up to the challenge.
First off some basic rules. Conflict arises out of imbalance and lack of harmony. Imbalance comes from injustice. Injustice comes from fear. Fear comes from ignorance. Ignorance comes from apathy and/or self-righteousness.
God “made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other).” We have a divine mandate to overcome our apathy and self-righteousness and exercise our God-given gift of reason and intelligence to get to know one another on a global scale.
There is conflict in the world and in the times we live in it is a global phenomenon. In the past it didn’t matter in our daily lives what was happening on the other side of the planet. Today with the ever accelerating pace of technology and globalization what happens on the other side of the planet not only concerns us, it affects us directly.
There is conflict between the Muslim world and America, but it is not a clash of civilizations as those who want to live in a black and white world childishly wish that it was. 9/11 can’t simply be dismissed as the work of religious extremists who used mass murder to accomplish their political goals and used religion to justify it. 9/11 happened because we are not in harmony with the Muslim world and it is not in harmony with us. 9/11 is the effect that resulted from the cause of injustice in our dealing with those members of our global family. Whether it’s the heart of the conflict-the Israeli Palestinian issue (where we play favorites), or it is other issues, we have not been honest with ourselves regarding our role and responsibility in creating our own problems.
What country helped overthrow the Iraqi government and helped the Baath party take over which eventually led to Saddam Hussein becoming the leader of Iraq ? US. What country funded Saddam Hussein in the war against Iran while he was simultaneously murdering his own people? US. Why is it that we have helped to create every monster that we have later come to demonize? We helped create Saddam. We helped create Osama Bin Laden. The CIA called him the greatest jihadi. We helped create Al-Qaeda. We gave money to the most extreme, hard-core, fundamentalist fighters in Afghanistan and then we seem surprised with the result after we bailed out when the Soviets left. We supported the ISI in Pakistan who in turn supported the Taliban and helped them come to and stay in power. We launched the Iranian revolution by propping up the Shah after installing him against the will of the Iranian people.
Martial arts are based upon the idea that you only use your physical force when necessary and even then to use it only to the degree and extent that is necessary to make more fighting pointless. One must know his own capabilities and how best to employ them and one must also knows his opponent’s abilities and respect and appreciate them. A rule of fighting in martial arts is that you can use your opponent’s efforts against him by redirecting them rather than trying to confront them directly. In this battle of spiritual kung fu we are continuing to use brute force against those we are in conflict against. This just creates more conflict and actually gives those actually fighting us all the ammunition that they will ever need. It is self-fulfilling prophecy where the rest of the world points to the show of force of the greatest military might the world has ever seen funded by a defense budget greater than all that of the rest of the world combined.
Islam and the Muslim world are not the enemy. Ignorance and fundamentalism are the enemy. They won’t go away when we fight them with brute force. They have to be fought with the pen. They have to be fought with the tongue. They have to be fought with knowledge. We can combat them with understanding, dialogue, communication, and respect. However we can’t fight them by attacking and oppressing Muslims.
Using army intelligence agents to spy on attendees at a conference on Islam has the opposite intended result that those perpetrating it desire to achieve. The intention is to “defeat” the enemy by finding the “bad” Muslims and removing them from participation in the conflict. All this does though is make “good” Muslims scared and angry and give all the support that is needed for the belief that America hates Islam and that our military campaigns in the Muslim world are really an attack against Islam. Additionally, it chills an open and constructive dialogue within Islam and between Islam and the US, which just results in more ignorance.
The more effective method is to have more conferences and to have Islamic law courses taught at the law school. We should invite the two army lawyers who were used to spy on the conference instead to attend Islamic law classes at the University of Texas law school. This seems like more work than spying and it is - it takes more effort. It requires our country to look at itself honestly and seriously and see what it is doing right and what it is doing wrong. If this country wants to win the real battle in the world, which is for hearts and minds (the most powerful weapons ever devised), it better understand what is in those hearts and minds.
The Qur’an teaches that, “The good deed and the evil deed are not alike. Repel the evil deed with one which is better, then lo! he, between whom and thee there was enmity (will become) as though he was a bosom friend.” There are evil deeds that are coming from some who live in the Muslim world. If we want to put an end to this evil, we have to do it with good, not more evil. Hey come to think of it, if we pull this off we will have not only the security and stability that we desire, but we will have a new friend in the world. In today’s world, who doesn’t need more friends?
Articles dealing with the conference:
http://www.utexas.edu/law/news/2004/010704_islam.html
http://www.benouis.com/Islam_and_the_Law.pdf
UT Islam conference prompts Army investigation February 12, 2003
Criminal Dissent in Alternet.org February 12, 2004
Official Statement from the Press Conference February 13, 2004
Unintelligent Intelligence Freedom and Justice Foundation February 13, 2003
Students protest Army investigation of Islam conference Fort Worth Star Telegram February 13, 2003
Army's look at Muslim conference irks some Austin American Statesman February 14, 2003
A sampling of editorial opnion around Texas Fort Worth Star Telegram February 16, 2003
Army intelligence - Visit to UT-Austin campus showed poor judgment Houston Chronicle Feb. 17, 2004
National Lawyers Guild Condemns Effort by U.S. Army to Gather Information on Students Feb. 17, 2004
Subpoenas alert universities The Daily Bruin February 20, 2004
Naked City (Austin Stories) Austin Chronicle February 20, 2004
Farrah's Bluster About Religious Intolerance Media Monitors Network February 24, 2004
Army review: Agents erred in UT conference investigation Fort Worth Star-Telegram March 15, 2004
]]>Ian, that was an eloquent argument. I have a couple of questions. If, by law, Chaplain Yee is entitled to defense counsel, how is he managing to run up additional attorney fees of over $100,000? Doesn't our system of justice provide justice without additional out-of-pocket expense?
We all seek justice and fair play. However, is the system so broken that we must tinker with defense costs in each case on a case-by-case basis? Or does every defendant just want the Johnny Cochran advantage?
May the innocent always be acquitted! Thanks.
My answer:
That is a very good question. As most of us likely did, I had my own thoughts on the issue. Instead of speculating however I asked Chaplain Yee directly.
Firstly, his own defense counsel directed him to hire civilian counsel in this case as they indicated that their level of expertise was insufficient for a case of this seriousness, complexity and prominence. BTW, the attorney that they hired, Eugene R. Fidell, is president of the National Institute of Military Justice. He is also a partner and head of the Military Practice Group at the Washington, DC firm of Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP. Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Coast Guard Reserve (Ret).
Secondly, the chain of command for the defense attorneys is supposed to be completely separate and autonomous from that of the prosecution. Events took place that clearly demonstrated that this was not the case at all as Chaplain Yee's attorneys were under undue influence from their superiors that was resulting in a compromise of their ability to mount a fully vigorous defense on his behalf.
Chaplain Yee is doling everything that he can to be as cost conscious as possible, using his military lawyers in all applicable situations and then only using his civilian attorney when necessary.
So that's a long answer to a short question: No. Our system of [Military] justice does not provide sufficient justice without additional out of pocket expense. Additionally when you are under investigation for espionage for which the punishment is death, the difference between the best possible defense and a good defense could be the difference between life and death.
Now in the civilian world I'll let the rest of you debate the same question.
Amen to your last statement.
Peace,
Ian
Here is a link to the flyer from the conference (and a link to the rest of the conference information) if you are curious as to the exact content: http://www.benouis.com/Islam_and_the_Law.pdf
http://www.utexas.edu/law/news/2004/010704_islam.html
Yes that is me in the first picture wearing the grey and maroon ski sweater asking a question. I think I remember asking a technical question about the jurisprudence around the punishments for adultery, but now that I think about it I might have really been asking a question that was "suspicious in nature" and maybe it just didn't "sit right" with some people. I'm glad that they didn't show the picture of me having a private discussion with three Middle Eastern men. Hey wait a minute, I was also talking with two other Middle Eastern men at one point - could I be the third? Am I considered Middle Eastern? Oops. Obviously I've said to much. ;)
Peace,
Kemal Ian Benouis, JD
----- Original Message -----
From: The Freedom and Justice Foundation
To: freedom_updates@freeandjust.org
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2004 4:35 PM
Subject: [freedom_updates] F&J-Racial Profiling in Academia, Is it okay when Islam's the subject?
If you experience difficulty, click here --> http://www.freeandjust.org/Unintelligent_Intelligence.htm
"Connecting the Dots!"
On April 30, 2003 the Houston Chronicle quoted a Texas House of Representative, Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin as saying concerning a debate on a 24-Hour waiting period to have an Abortion "Just put a burka over me and put a veil over me because women have no rights."
This was one more example of how the popular impression of Islam's treatment of women as being oppressive and denying them rights has set so deep into the psyche of so many people. It was due to factors such as this that Sahar Aziz, a Board Member at F&J among several other hats, decided to clear up some misconceptions about Islamic Law and Women's Rights by organizing a successful Symposium at UT Law School last Wednesday February 4th.
The Freedom and Justice Foundation along with the University of Texas School of Law; the Center for Middle Eastern Studies; the Student Bar Association; the Texas Journal of Women and the Law; the Center for Women's and Gender Studies; the National Lawyers Guild at UT; and the Muslim Law Students Association sponsored this Symposium.
Now what has since happened is nothing short of a disgrace to our constitutionally protected rights such as Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Association. Army Intelligence officers, attending the conference undercover, apparently heard some private discussions expressing views that they found questionable from some "three Middle Eastern men". They then relayed that information to superiors who dispatched another officer to UT's Law School asking for the event's video tape, and attendees sign-in sheet so that background checks may be run on audience attendees.
Now aiding the government's investigation to keep all of us safe is all of our responsibility, but the Freedom and Justice Foundation is calling for more professionalism to be presented in this investigation so that the Freedoms of Association and Speech are not stymied.
"What Texas needs is more Islamic Law studies and perhaps an endowment to better understand its half-million Muslim neighbors. We certainly don't need scare tactics based on ethnic profiling or the thought police curtailing civil discourse in an apolitical and academic environment." said Mohamed Elibiary, President of F&J.
Daily Texan: Army Agent Questions Law Students
Army agent questions law students
Agent wanted list of Islamic law conference attendees
By A.J. Bauer
www.dailytexanonline.com/news/2004/02/12/University/Army-Agent.Questions.Law.Students-605345.shtml
The organizer of an Islamic law conference at UT Law School is questioning whether ethnic discrimination brought a Special Agent for Army Intelligence to campus Monday.
Special Agent Jason Treesh confronted students at the law school, demanding a list of people who attended a conference about women and Islamic law. The conference, Islam and the Law: The Question of Sexism, included speakers from around the nation and focused on the rights of women under Islamic law.
Treesh would not comment about why he was at the law school, but his supervisor, Commander Demetria Marria, said Treesh was following procedure.
Army Intelligence was investigating allegations of two Army personnel who attended the conference, Marria said.
She said the two reported being approached by three Middle Eastern men who asked questions that were "suspicious in nature."
"They felt uncomfortable with foreign students or foreign members at the conference," Marria said. "Nothing is ever obvious. It's just that one question that doesn't sit right, so they report it, and we figure it out."
Law student Liz Stephenson said she was intimidated when Treesh began questioning her and others in the office of the Texas Journal of Women and the Law.
"The way he was approaching the whole thing was really forceful," Stephenson said. "He gave us just enough information to get us to keep talking with him."
Jessica Biddle, another law student who was present, said she felt unnerved by Treesh's methods of interrogation.
"I felt like I was on 'Law and Order,'" Biddle said. "He and another woman showed their badges, but we really didn't participate in the conference, so we didn't know what he was talking about. He said he wanted a roster, because he said they were investigating some attendees."
Treesh tried unsuccessfully to reach the conference organizer, law student Sahar Aziz, who said since it was an open conference, she had no roster of attendees.
"There was a lunch list, because we had limited seats, but that's it," Aziz said. "I don't know what I would do with all of those people's names and contacts."
Aziz said she was disappointed that the conference, which she considered apolitical, raised such suspicion. She also said she was skeptical of the allegations.
"It was very boring as far as [controversy] is concerned," Aziz said. "I question whether those suspicions are more affiliated with ethnicity than anything else."
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Pictures from the Islam & the Law Symposium
http://www.freeandjust.org/Audience1.jpg
http://www.freeandjust.org/Imam_Nabil1.jpg
http://www.freeandjust.org/Panel_Discussion1.jpg
The Freedom and Justice Foundation
Home of the Texas Muslims Legislative Day and the Texas Halal Law!!!
"Connecting the Dots!"
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My name is Kemal Ian Benouis. I am an American of Berber-Arab-Scottish-English descent. I am a West Point graduate from the class of 1986, Company F-2. I am a former United States Army Officer having served my tour of duty in the Aviation branch of the Army in the US and in Panama, where I participated as a Blackhawk Helicopter pilot and staff officer in Operation Just Cause. I am an attorney. Lastly, I am a Muslim having been raised by a Muslim father and a Christian mother. I attended and was confirmed in the Methodist church as a youth and converted to Islam after leaving the military. My wife is Christian.
Chaplain James Yee is a fellow West Point alumnus from the class of 1990, Company F-2. He is an American of Chinese descent. He also served his country performing his tour of duty as a United States Army Officer in the Air Defense Artillery Corps in the US, Germany and in the Middle East. He is a Muslim, having been raised up in the Lutheran church as a youth and converting to Islam while in the military. He volunteered to reenter the United States Army as a Captain and one of its first Muslim Chaplains (the first from West Point) after studying Islam in Syria. He was initially assigned to Ft. Lewis, Washington, and then last November the Army sent him to Guantanamo to minister to Muslim prisoners.
The rest, as they say, is history. He was subsequently arrested while under investigation for espionage, which is a crime punishable by death. He spent 76 days in a maximum security prison where he wore manacles cuffed to his hands and feet. He was not able to perform his five daily prayers correctly because they refused to tell him the direction of Mecca and the time of day.
Now he is out of jail having been released on his own recognizance and is currently serving at Ft. Benning, Georgia. Yet his ordeal is not over. The US Army immediately upon his release charged him with adultery and pornography, adding to the other previous charges of mishandling of classified material and making a false official statement. If court-martialed and convicted on all charges, Chaplain James Yee could face up to 13 years in prison.
Chaplain James Yee’s top notch legal team is continuing to fight hard to have all of the charges dropped. However he has already accrued over $100,000 in legal fees. These costs continue to accumulate. The US Army refuses to allow Chaplain James Yee to actively raise or solicit funds to cover his own legal expenses. I call on each and every one of you my fellow Americans, of whatever religious persuasion or not, veteran or not, to come to the aid of your brother and fellow human being Chaplain James Yee and help him from being oppressed.
You can go to our web site (www.justiceforyee.com) and make a PayPal donation by credit card directly to his legal defense fund or you can find the address to mail a check to his legal defense fund. Additionally from the web site you can find information on how to speak out against our brothers in the military and government who are oppressing Chaplain James Yee by continuing this unnecessary and unwarranted prosecution.
I learned at West Point that the definition of duty is choosing the harder right over the easier wrong. It is easy with all of the injustice that exists in the world to think that making one small effort to right a wrong does not make a difference. To the contrary, it is the only thing that has ever made a difference. Jesus, peace be upon him, taught us through the story of the Good Samaritan that we shouldn’t let our religious or ethnic differences prevent us from helping someone in need.
Not only is it our responsibility to help our oppressed brother, but we must do so for our own sakes. Just because one might not currently be a member of a minority ethnic or religious group in this country does not mean that one will never be in danger.
Martin Niemoller said of Hitler’s Germany, “In Germany they came first for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me- and by that time no one was left to speak up.”
I leave you with the quote from Edmund Burke that my mother signs off all of her email with - “The only thing necessary for evil to succeed is for good people to do nothing.”
Peace be unto you,
Kemal Ian Benouis
Executive Director
JusticeForYee.com
1) Do you have a take on how the average Muslim on the Arab Street views our Super Bowl complete with its weekend shenanigans? My guess is that those pre-inclined to anti-American anyway would just view it as another example of American brutality and pornography. Thank goodness that most of the world ignores our Super Bowl. I'm trying to figure how the Islamic Fundamentalist terror groups would portray this incident in their propaganda.
2) Another question that you might have some insight to: It was recently reported that in the last election 72% of Muslim citizens voted for Bush. Think that he will be able to repeat that level of support in the Muslim community?
To answer your first question, I think that the average Muslim on the street just like the average American is not too surprised. With the proliferation of satellite TV around the world this isn't a new phenomenon to them. I'm sure that plenty of people on the Muslim street have already seen plenty episodes of Baywatch.
This latest event does however represent the fear though that lots of Muslims have of the exportation of American culture, that they believe is part and parcel of the whole American package that we are promoting around the world. Your average person on the street likes the freedom and capitalism part, but is afraid of the loss of Muslim identity in the face of the US dominated mono-culture. They see the downside of the freedom in our culture (divorce rate, drug abuse, teen pregnancy, STD's, etc.) and are afraid that if they adopt the good part of the package that they'll also get the bad part.
In the khutbah (sermon) today at one of the mosques in Austin for Friday prayers, the imam (prayer leader), who is an American born and raised convert, was talking about his visits to Internet cafes in the Middle East and he was remarking about the HUGE problem (news to me) of Muslim youth being majorly addicted to pornography. He said that in today's world of globalization there is no place to run to and no place to hide that there is effectively one global culture and I guess in many ways he's correct.
It is definitely more fodder for the fundamentalists, but they are always going to find what they are looking for - even if the half-time show consisted of nuns in habits singing religious songs. I don't think it figures in their propaganda though, as all of their propaganda that I've seen is about the West's "attack" on their way of life-not the West's negative impact on it's own members. You know that kind of they get what they deserve sort of thing.
On the second question, I don't think that Bush can count on that level of support this time around. It is ironic and the irony hasn't been lost in the Muslim community that with such a close election and with there being a sizeable number of Muslims in Florida that Muslims were albeit a small but determining swing vote that maybe gave Bush the win with their bloc vote.
The reason that Muslims bloc voted for Bush was because during his campaign he made an indirect reference that he would repeal the Secret Evidence Act and he made some positive gestures to the Muslim community. I can speak first hand that we felt that enough here in the capital in Austin, TX that when he was governor we held an event on the capitol grounds where they let us have a program with speakers and we conducted congregational prayers outside in public. We were very encouraged that he would take our concerns with him to Washington. Additionally, his father was less pro-Israel than all other modern presidents and I think that there was a secret hope, especially with the families oil ties in the Arab world, that the son would follow in the father's footsteps.
Well as they say, 9/11 changed all that. There was an entirely new calculus to contend with.
I don't think that Muslims cared about Lieberman as being a pro-Israel Jew as a reason to vote for Bush. No American president in the modern era has ever seriously questioned our relationship with Israel and I don't think the Muslims thought that either candidate would be a radical change from the status quo. Just like most Americans, most Muslims are not single issue voters.
So Bush will definitely get less support than last time. How much less? It really depends upon whether or not any of the Muslim political groups endorse the Democratic candidate and whether or not Muslims feel any obligation to listen. The average Muslim on the American street has some idea of what these Muslim political groups are trying to do, but doesn't hold them in very high regard and like the average American thinks politics are rotten and that getting in the game is just going to compromise their values and not achieve anything. I think these American Muslims are wrong, but I think that all Americans who think this way are equally wrong.
I know that in our community we had a voter registration drive at our Eid celebration (one of two festivals during the year) last Sunday and that the person who gave the sermon put forth the challenge that God Almighty would hold each and everyone of us accountable on the Day of Judgment if we didn't register to vote and then go out and cast our vote in the upcoming election. He even threatened not to end the sermon until the voter registration table was brought inside the prayer hall. Wow! That's the kind of call to action that we all need in this country.
What is more intriguing to me is the fact that the slow and steady cultural inoculation that goes on every single day in this country, generally proceeds unnoticed. The best encapsulation of this phenomenon that I can remember is from a Simpson’s episode in 1995 called “Lisa’s Wedding” where Lisa visits a fortune teller who allows her to see her life in the future. While watching TV in the not too distant future from now, Marge says, "You know, Fox turned into a hardcore sex channel so gradually, I didn't even notice."
This is the same approach that is used for vaccinations against serious infectious diseases where the patient is exposed small or less virulent does of the agent repeatedly until they are capable of withstanding what would otherwise be a lethal exposure. A snake handler is similarly able to build up a tolerance to deadly venom by being exposed to small amounts over time.
This is what the pop culture media relies upon. Additionally there is a generational phenomenon that occurs that doesn’t occur in the natural world that speeds up the process. Whenever a child is first exposed to the mass media of our culture, this begins their measurement of socially acceptable standards. Just like kids who grow up today don’t remember a time before computers and the Internet, kids who see these types of things in pop culture don’t remember a time when they weren’t readily available for mass consumption.
This situation is compounded by the competitive nature of the media industry. Capitalism encourages competition and while in business this can mean that ideally the best product or service wins, in the media this does not mean that better quality wins. Usually the reverse is true as the media will have higher viewership by going after the lowest common denominator. Unfortunately greater choice and access to more venues, especially on television, further exacerbates the problem. In a world with 500+ channels and channel surfing being a pervasive social phenomenon (thank God for my PVR), broadcasters need to grab their viewer’s attention. Sex and violence does grab people’s attention. Tivo said the halftime stunt drew a 180 percent spike in viewership, the biggest ever measured.
With the pace of cultural change ever increasing and the shelf life of the entertainment products ever decreasing, artists and the media outlets that distribute them will continue to seek the opportunity to top one another in breaking the latest barrier that someone else has set. What weapon does the average American have in his arsenal against this onslaught? The only one we’ve ever had – the power of choice - not to watch, or listen or read. And in this case it’s backed up by one of the most powerful tools ever created – your pocketbook.
