No free speech for Muslims in US

Shahid Saleem

Rajab 11, 1433 2012-06-01

Letters To The Editor

by Shahid Saleem (Letters To The Editor, Crescent International Vol. 41, No. 4, Rajab, 1433)

When US President Barack Obama (an Uncle Tom if there ever was one!) or even petty officials talk about America the “land of the free,” it makes me sick.

In his last State of the Union address, Obama said those who talk about American decline do not know what they are talking about. Others proclaim America as the light unto nations. The reality of life, especially for Muslims, in America, is one never-ending nightmare.

This is most strikingly illustrated by the case of Dr. Tarek Mehanna as you reported in the Crescent (May 2012). The FBI wanted to recruit him as an informant to spy on fellow Muslims. When he refused, a number of charges were brought against him and he was given a long prison sentence. What was his “crime”? He supported the Iraqi resistance against US invasion and occupation. Are people not permitted to disagree with official US policy?

The Iraqi invasion was launched on absolute lies. There were no weapons of mass destruction; instead the US and its allies destroyed the infrastructure of Iraq as well as killed more than 1.5 million innocent civilians. A number of influential figures, among them Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, have called for a UN probe into the war and if found to be illegal (Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary General has said it was “illegal”), to put George Bush and Tony Blair on trial for war crimes. Instead innocent Muslims are being convicted on false charges. It is a disgrace.