veiled4allah: be careful not to know anybody who might be deported veiled4allah: be careful not to know anybody who might be deportedA local Arab-American leader who was scheduled to receive a national award from the FBI was suddenly stripped of the honor, according to Local 4 reports. Imad Hamad, of Dearborn, who is the director of the Midwest region of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, was scheduled to receive the 2003 Director's Award for exceptional public service.He's quite correct about one thing: the job of a civil rights organization is to provide legal support or representation for people who need it but are not otherwise able to obtain it. For the Muslim and Arab-American community, that will include people in deportation proceedings. Similarly, a person who works for a public defender's office is going to have associations with people who have been charged with crimes, perhaps being listed as someone to contact. There may well be more to it than this but what has been reported so far tells us nothing.
Hamad says he was called last week by Detroit FBI Director Willie Hulon, who said a flight attendant who died on one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, would instead be the honoree at the awards ceremony.
Hamad says there was no conflict over the change in recipients for the award, but a statement released by Cassandra Chandler, the FBI's assistant director of public affairs, says otherwise, Local 4 reported.
The following is the statement released by Chandler on Tuesday:
Mr. Imad Hamad, director of the Midwest Region of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and a community leader in Detroit, Mich., was a nominee selected for the 2003 Director's Award for exceptional public service. It has recently come to our attention that evidence referencing Mr. Hamad has been filed in connection with an upcoming deportation proceeding against associates of his. Accordingly, this award has been withdrawn."
Hamad referred to the statement as puzzling, Local 4 reported. He told Local 4 that he would be shocked if that was the reason behind the FBI's change in plans.
Hamad told Local 4 that in his line of work -- being the director of a local civil-rights organization -- he has had several associates who may or may not have been subject to deportation.
The national and local offices of the FBI were not available for comment on the apparent award controversy.
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Subject: Re: be careful not to know anybody who might be deported
I don't know if it's that clear-cut - there's certainly some evidence to suggest that Hamad has a questionable past, and has made disturbing statements in support of terrorist groups. See this New York Post column.http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/6059.htm
I dont know what the details are, but there certainly is some controversy. This isnt an arbitrary snub, there actually is some rationale behind it. Whether or not its justified, I dont know.
Subject: Re: be careful not to know anybody who might be deported
Thanks for providing that information, Aziz. I would like to see further information from a less biased source than that opinion column, if possible. The original Clipboard post that I mentioned provides a very different view of the same history. You may wish to read it as well.The purpose of this blog entry was to draw attention to the official reason being given, the deportation proceedings of an associate because that is simply not sufficient reason. As I stated, there may be more to it than what is mentioned. There may well be.
Subject: Re: be careful not to know anybody who might be deported
For those who would like to read Imad Hamad's side of the story, I recommend this.Subject: Re: be careful not to know anybody who might be deported
I would also like to add here that after doing a Google search on Imad Hamad the only confirmation I found of what Aziz is claiming was on Free Republic (the freepers), LGF, and Meryl Yourish.Aziz, please don't insult my intelligence like this again.
Subject: Re: be careful not to know anybody who might be deported
I don't think much of any Arab or Muslim "leader" who would earn, let aloneaccept, an award from the FBI--America's agents of repression. Never forget the Jewish "leaders" in Germany who worked hand in glove with the Nazis and led the Jews to the concentration camps. While we're at it let's not forget the Japanese internees or the scores of children murdered by the FBI at Waco. Maybe that's not going to happen to Arab and Muslims but to cozy up to the police and the FBI is not the way to prevent it. Ashcroft, the FBI, etc. are not your friends or mine. Unless, of course, you're on the side of repression and US terrorism.
Subject: Re: be careful not to know anybody who might be deported
Actually, quite a number of Muslims and Arab-Americans agree with you, but they may also fear the repurcussions if they don't cooperate, because those are pretty severe. I am not in those peoples' position and do not know what pressures they may be under, therefore I will focus my critique on their actions not on them personally.Subject: Re: be careful not to know anybody who might be deported
I would also like to add here that after doing a Google search on Imad Hamad the only confirmation I found of what Aziz is claiming was on Free Republic (the freepers), LGF, and Meryl Yourish.
excuse me, but so what? I linked to an article in the NY Post, and I also heavily qualified the link. Its not surprising that LGF/Yourish et al will assume the accusations against Hamdi are true without scrutiny. I made no such blanket asertion that Hamdi doesnt deserve the award. Invoking those Israeli partisans is almost guilt-by-association.
Aziz, please don't insult my intelligence like this again.
I'm at a loss for words.
Subject: Re: be careful not to know anybody who might be deported
Let me be more clear here. The mainstream media sources that I checked out told the same story that Hamad did in the links I provided in previous comments, namely that Hamad had been the victim of secret evidence that did not amount to much of anything. The claim that you are passing on, that there is more to the story, is so far supported only by right-wing extremist websites. Meryl Yourish's is the only one I would give even the slightest credibility to; LGF and Free Republic I give none to.What it sounds like is that you are passing on a right-wing smear. If you've got something real on Hamad, feel free to post about it. If all you've got is unsubstantiated claims from right-wing extremist sites, then I'd appreciate it if you'd peddle it somewhere else.
And yes, I do consider it an insult to my intelligence that you think I'm going to take this seriously when LGF and Free Republic are behind it.
Subject: Re: be careful not to know anybody who might be deported
I dont care about what LGF and Yourish say. I linked to the NY Post, which I am not aware of as being a right-wing extremist source (I may be wrong).
and you've completely discounted my own qualifying of the NY POst link - I didnt assert it was true, I just noted that there were some questions. Youre subsequent update with a link to Hamdi's side of teh story was quite convinvcing.
I think you're being way too hard on me here.
Subject: Re: be careful not to know anybody who might be deported
Debbie Schlussel, the author of the NY Post piece, is cited approvingly by WorldNetDaily and Ann Coulter, among other "paragons" of the extreme right wing. She described Darrell Issa (a Republican who happens to be Arab American) as "jihad Darrell" and wrote a series of columns about his alleged support for terrorists. Details here. A simple Google search on her name proves most educational.Please, before you pass on claims like this, do a little basic fact-checking. It took me less than ten minutes with Google to turn up all of the information that I've cited in these comment threads.
Subject: Re: be careful not to know anybody who might be deported
convincing, but then again I was already convinced when you posted the link to Hamdi's own take. You're still determined to assume I took teh NY Post column at face value, and I guess I have to simply forfeit on that score.
Had I not posted my comment, you'd not have provided all eth extra links, though - which have really been instrumental in giving added depth to this story. Taken together, including the NY Post, it all underscores the fact that Hamdi should have rec'd his award.
The FBI statement linked to the by the Detroit Free Press seems to undercut the assumption that he is being denied the award on the basis of Schlussel's claims, however. Its likely not because he's Arab or because of teh (most likely false) allegations. Its just because they found someone else they wanted to give it to. Its not like they;ve thrown him in Gitmo.
side note. If you disagreed with me on Syria, wouldn't it have been better to leave a comment telling me why, rather than joining in the smear campaign at MWU? Their misrepresentation of my recent posts is simply disgraceful.
Subject: Re: be careful not to know anybody who might be deported
That's a fair complaint about the MWU piece, especially since I've criticized you in the past for not contacting me before you attack my positions in public. I am sorry.The Schlussel column struck me from the get-go as biased (when people throw around terms like "Islamic hate", it usually indicates some bias) so I did a little research to see if I was on base or way off. What I've found so far leads me to think I was on base. I couldn't understand why you would cite a source like that. It appears now that you simply failed to do any further checking on the story rather than that you knew where it came from when you posted it. I am glad that you explained further what your motivation was because it was not at all clear from your initial comment. I was wrong in my first assumption and I thank you for setting me right.
As you know, I do not hesitate to criticize Muslims who promote or endorse terrorism. However, not all individuals claimed by the right-wing to endorse terrorism are in fact doing so, and it is worth the effort to do a little fact-checking before posting these allegations. This is a perfect case in point.
Surah al-Hujurat ayah 6 tells us that if a person of questionable reputation and motives brings a story, we should first verify it to avoid injuring someone who is innocent and then repenting of what we have done.
I would do well to take heed of this, although I had not considered MWU to be of questionable reputation or motives, and I think that we all can benefit from the reminder.
I seek forgiveness of you and of Allah for any harm or injury that I have done to you.
Subject: Re: be careful not to know anybody who might be deported
thats exactly what i did - the ny post story didnt tsrike me as particularly biased enough to set off my warning flags for further inquiry (and frankly, the background story of Hamdi didnt interest me that much either). So the bias slipped past me.The real surprise is the venom at MWU. I dont know if you saw what the commentator above you had wrtten before the editor redacted it... but the fact that the MWU blog has such a hatchet job as a main post is I suppose not as out of character as I had initially assumed
apology accepted - dont worry, if you and i cant disagree once oin a wile, then our use to each other is limited indeed
BTW, for those who are interested in following this story, the Detroit Free Press has an editorial. Excerpt:
That's not the way it's supposed to work in this country, and Hamad's supporters are justly outraged at any suggestion that the ball is in their court.
Hamad can hardly defend his reputation when the FBI has yet to offer a coherent explanation for its misgivings about him. It's the bureau, not its erstwhile honoree, that owes the public some better answers.
Until such answers are forthcoming, the rest of us should regard Hamad's treatment as an affront to fairness. To do otherwise would suggest that the values we are so eager to defend from external enemies are already rotting from within.