[thechat] Arguments for war

[Jonathon Isaac Swiderski]

> Certainly you can contrast the current mood with respect to
> Muslims and Arabs to the treatment Japanese-Americans experienced during the
> 1940s.

Sure -- it's just as bad, if not worse.  Last Tuesday a federal judge
ordered that Michigan cleric Rabih Haddad, a Lebanese immigrant, must be
given a hearing within 10 days or be released.  After *nine* months.  He
was arrested in December on a visa violation, and has been held since
without charge, without bail, without visitors.  The Justice Department
classified him a 'special interest' case, and he's been locked up in INS
custody, *in solitary confinement*, since.

   Haddad had three closed immigration hearings before a lawsuit was filed
   calling for open hearings in his case. Several Detroit newspapers, the
   Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and U.S. Rep.
   John Conyers (D-Detroit) sued the federal government at the end of
   January.           (Michigan Daily 3 Sept 02, http://tinyurl.com/1kmf)



   Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller said the government has not
   yet decided whether to appeal Edmunds' latest decision.

   "We are reviewing the judge's order, and we have not made any other
   determination at this time," he said.
                     (Michigan Daily 18 Sept 02, http://tinyurl.com/1kmi)



   [W]hat could we question at such a time of national unity, a time when
   more people then ever stand up to put their hands over their hearts when
   some B-list celebrity belts out the national anthem prior to a baseball
   game?
	...
   Question why a secret service agent investigating a Muslim man suspected
   of carrying fake checks at Detroit Metro Airport wrote anti-Muslim slurs
   on a prayer calendar found at the man's house and received only a
   six-month suspension. Question why these are the people we're trusting
   to carry out our domestic "war on terror."
	...
   Question why John Ashcroft pushed to suspend a number of civil
   liberties. Question why it takes a court ruling against the federal
   government to ensure deportation hearings for Ann Arbor resident Rabih
   Haddad are open proceedings. Question why there are others like Haddad,
   who has been held at undisclosed locations since December for allegedly
   residing in the United States on an expired visa. Question why news
   organizations have been forced to sue the federal government.
         (David Enders, Michigan Daily 12 Sept 02, http://tinyurl.com/1kmq)



--
Jonathon Isaac Swiderski \\ dangercat-20 at dangercat.net
cs.oberlin.edu/~jswiders  \\  www.dangercat.net/?id=mt

We have enough youth.  How about a fountain of smart?