After reading Mr. Bolos's latest blog, I found myself with a lot of leftover thoughts. To many thoughts, in fact, for a simple comment. My thoughts are pretty all over the place, so I'm sorry if this post is a little random. However, the blog mostly reminded me a lot of a case I was reading about when researching The 2001 USA Patriot Act as a part of my Perilous Project. It is the story of a man named Albader Al-Hazmi.
Al-Hazmi's name is significant because it is very similar to the names of two of the suicide hijackers known to be involved in the attacks on 9/11. Shortly after 9/11, when Al-Hazmi (our innocent radiologist from San Antonio, Texas) tried to book a flight to San Diego for a medical conference, he was arrested as a "material witness." He was held incommunicado for six days before his lawyers were able to access him, and was not ultimately released for a few more days after that.
After his release, Al-Hazmi's lawyer said "This is a good lesson about how frail our processes are. It's how we treat people in difficult times like these that is the true test of democracy and civil liberties that we brag so much about throughout the world" (Feinstein 2001).
Without a doubt, this story shows some existence of bias against Muslim Americans, mostly following the 9/11 attacks. Are "random security checks" at airports really random? I believe "The Narrative," and I know that if I was an active Muslim living in America, I would feel that my religion was being threatened by the War on Terrorism. Just like with the Japanese in WWII, the American people are blaming a large group of people for the actions of a select group. In my opinion, we all need to get more educated about the war we're fighting, and unite with the primarily peaceful Muslim community to stop the bias and the hate. But how can we do this? What do you think America is doing wrong in terms of educating the public on the War on Terrorism and our enemies? How can it be fixed?
1 comment:
I definitely agree that everyone should be more educated about the war we're in. I for one don't know much about it. It's hard to get the straight facts on a controversial topic like the War on Terror. I feel like every story concerning it reeks of bias. I'm just waiting for it to end so someone can write about it in a history textbook. It's alot easier for people to assume that we are fighting a war against Islam than it is to gain a thorough understanding of the conflict. Because of this, people like Albader Al-Hazmi unjustly end up in confinement. I would think that government directed updates on the war is the simplest solution to our general lack of knowledge on the subject, but after having discussed the government's reports during the Vietnam war, I would be unable to except the full truth.
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