An Open Letter to The Interfaith Association of Central Ohio

THE PEACE AND JUSTICE FOUNDATION
11006 Veirs Mill Rd, STE L-15, PMB 298
Silver Spring, MD. 20902

In the Name of God, Most Beneficent, Most Merciful

October 11, 2007




Greetings of Peace:

This comes in response to an article submitted to FrontPage Magazine by a deeply disturbed bigot by the name of Patrick Poole. At the conclusion of a recent trip to Columbus, I was given a copy of an article titled “HAMAS in the House.” This bigoted commentary intrigued me for a number of reasons.

For starters, it impugned the integrity of a number of people and organizations that I happen to know personally: Anisa Abdel Fattah, Ahmed Yousef, Robert D. Crane, Abukar Arman, Ahmad Al-Akhras, Mohamad Salah, the American Muslim Council (AMC), Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), United Association for Studies and Research (UASR), SAAR Foundation and the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT).

In addition to the aforementioned individuals and organizations, Mr. Poole also attacked a number of others who I’ve come to know only through careful research, in my capacity as an advocate with a Metropolitan Washington-based human rights organization - individuals and organizations such as Fawaz Damra, Sami Al-Arian, Sheikh Ahmed Yasin, Mousa abu Marzook, the World Islam and Studies Enterprise (WISE), HAMAS, the Muslim Brotherhood, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and al-Qaeda.

Mr. Poole also referenced an incident that unfolded on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, this past August (2007), with the clear intent in mind of hoping to help orchestrate a similar embarrassment for Ohio officials at the State Capitol in Columbus. With this in mind I would like to offer a little food for thought, God willing.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., once noted that the true measure of a man (or woman) is not determined during times of “relative comfort and convenience,” but rather, during times of “challenge and controversy.” In this hour the Interfaith Association of Central Ohio is being challenged by the powerful winds of religious bigotry. In order to help you collectively STAND UP to the challenge, I offer the following FACTS.

1. Anisa abd el Fattah is not an “extremist.” She is an intelligent, opinionated and deeply committed activist who cares (among other things) about the tragic plight of the Palestinian people - a people who for the past 60 years have been trapped in an ongoing genocide. That being said, IF she stated, in a letter to the editor of the Columbus Dispatch (as Poole alleges she did) that, “There are no Israeli civilians in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. There are only illegal Jewish settlers, who, by Israeli law, are also citizen-soldiers…” - with the implication being that it is permissible for any and all Israelis to be deliberately targeted (according to Islamic law) - she clearly mis-spoke; and if given the opportunity I’m sure that she would correct this misperception.

2. Dr. Ahmed Yusuf is not an “extremist.” He is a deeply committed and caring Palestinian activist; someone who is routinely described by those who know him as a “moderate” - and someone who is understandably committed to the liberation of his people. As one of the principle founders of UASR, I always found him to be genuinely committed to dialogue and peaceful resolution whenever possible. (And I’ve known Dr. Yousef for many years.)

Concerning the work of UASR, I had the pleasure of attending a number of their periodic Roundtable Discussions - including one, by the way, in which the well known islamophobe Daniel Pipes was the featured presenter. (Even he was accorded, from start to finish, far more courtesy than a number of participants thought he deserved.)

There is a book entitled Islam And The West: A Dialogue, edited by Imad Ad-Dean Ahmad & Ahmed Yousef, and published jointly by the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR) and the American Muslim Foundation (AMF). It features a number of these thought-provoking dialogues between leaders and activists from the Muslim community, and writers, journalists and policymakers from the non-Muslim community. This is what the UASR was really all about - conflict resolution through productive dialogue!

3. With all that Mr. Poole had to say about Dr. Robert D. Crane and his dubious connections to UASR (a “HAMAS terrorist front“) and the American Muslim Council - a now defunct organization whose good work he impugns simply because of the personal failings of one of its leaders - he failed to mention that Dr. Crane also served in a number of Republican administrations. (I guess Poole’s operational model is Guilt by association, but avoid the inconvenient truths.)

4. Abukar Arman and Ahmad Al-Akhras are two very active Columbus, Ohio residents who are also not deserving of Mr. Poole’s scare-mongering. As the national vice-chairman of CAIR - an organization that has done much to foster good, healthy American-Islamic relations for over a decade now - one would think that the city of Columbus would feel privileged to have someone like Ahmad Al-Akhras as a resident. As for Abukar Arman, a very decent and caring man, who I know well and interact with often, it was shocking to learn (again, according to Mr. Poole) that someone of such quality and temperament would be forced off of the board that oversees Central Ohio Homeland Security. (If this is indeed true, it is Central Ohio’s loss.)

5. Mohamed Salah, a U.S. citizen of Palestinian birth, was imprisoned and tortured by Israeli authorities for nothing more than exercising his material concern for the humanitarian plight of his own people! After his subsequent return to the U.S. - after approximately five years of unjust confinement - he and his family were then persecuted by his own adopted government. A political trial ended several months ago with Mohamad Salah and his codefendant being found innocent of ALL terrorism-related charges - despite the poisonous (pro-prosecution) post 9/11 climate that surrounded the trial, and the millions of dollars that the US Government devoted to its prosecution!

6. In the opinion of many observers (both Muslim and non-Muslim), the ordeal of Imam Fawaz Damra - like that of Dr. Sami Al-Arian - was also nothing more than a totally unjustified, politically and religiously-driven witch-hunt, which at the end of the day has brought enormous shame on the better of the two Americas.

In the case of Dr. Al-Arian, Mr. Poole failed to mention that when the controversy first erupted around the now defunct World Islam and Studies Enterprise (WISE) at the University of South Florida, many years ago, an outside independent investigation of WISE was commissioned by the university. At the end of the investigation, the finding was that not only were there NO OVERSEAS TERRORIST LINKS to the enterprise, but that WISE was deemed to be an asset to the University of South Florida community!

7. As for Musa Abu Marzook, he too was considered a “moderate” leader within the Hamas organization. Despite this, however, after many years of legal and productive residence in the U.S., Marzook became a political prisoner for a number of years before agreeing to leave the country and never return. When the Clinton Administration designated Marzook a global terrorist in 1995 (if I‘m not mistaken, AFTER his deportation) it was pure politics - US/Israeli style - and nothing more.

As for the punitively disparate treatment accorded to HAMAS - and, by extension, to the Palestinian people by the power brokers within the “international community“ - human rights advocates from a variety of persuasions have for years raised the question: If America and other western nations could recognize a distinction between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and its political wing, Sein Fein; between the openly terrorist wings of anti-Castro Cuban organizations and their American-based political wings, why aren’t the same distinctions made for the political, humanitarian, and military resistance wings of Hamas?!

(We won’t even mention the US and European based organizations that regularly contribute to the brazen violations of well established international law in the occupied territories of Palestine. And as for Israel’s brutal execution of the paraplegic Palestinian leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yasin - along with other innocent bystanders, a few years ago - we were also among those who condemned that extrajudicial murder; and for good reason.)

8. Regarding the raids on the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) and the SAAR Foundation (ala, “Operation Greenquest”), we have yet to see a prosecution come out of it; and thus, as far as we are concerned it was nothing more than another well publicized witch-hunt of prominent Muslim organizations in America.

As I near my conclusion (I’ve already gone on a lot longer than I had planned to) I would like to end with a few thoughts on the aborted Capitol Hill conference. I have some first hand knowledge on that initiative because I was one of the main organizers.

It is true that the Sergeant-at-Arms at the U.S. Capitol canceled our use of space on the day before a scheduled event (in the process, violating our rights as U.S. citizens). This action, needless to say, rankled the feathers of a good number of people beyond our own ranks (i.e., senior and mid-level staffers in other offices on Capitol Hill). Why, and how, did it happen?

On the day before the event - a Friday that also signaled the summer recess for the members of both chambers - the Sergeant-at-Arms contacted the congressional office who had reserved the space for our event. He then contacted the congressman directly (he was about to board a plane for a flight out of the country), with a message that his office had received some sort of “intelligence” that raised security concerns about the event that was scheduled to be held the following day. He wanted to know if the congressman was planning to be present - and of course the answer was no.

The short of it is this. We have since met with the congressman; he apologized for the mishap and assured us that we will be able to plan the event again with his full knowledge and support. Should Anisa Abd’el Fattah, Abukar Arman, or Ahmed Al-Akhras wish to be included in the lineup of speakers again, they will be more than welcomed.

(I’m sorry to have to burst Mr. Poole’s bubble, but the “precedent” that he so joyfully alluded to in this matter, will soon be reversed. I pray that the Ohio State House will be spared such an embarrassing ordeal.)

As a final thought, it would behoove us to revisit an observation made by former U.S. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brezinski, writing in the March 25, 2007, edition of The Washington Post. (We also feature these excerpts among the closing thoughts in our book titled Islam & Terrorism: Myth vs. Reality.)

“The war on terror has created a culture of fear in America. The Bush administration’s elevation of these three words into a national mantra since the horrific events of 9/11 has had a pernicious impact on American democracy, on America’s psyche and on U.S. standing in the world… The damage these three words have done - a classic self-inflicted wound - is infinitely greater than any wild dreams entertained by the fanatical perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks..” He also noted, “The terror entrepreneurs, usually described as experts on terrorism, are necessarily engaged in competition to justify their existence.”

I can’t help but wonder if this is the primary motive behind Mr. Poole’s shrill episodes of fear and hate-mongering. Whatever it is, people of good will (and sincere faith) must resist such demagoguery, and lead the way to the better angels within human nature. If not now, when?

May your October 28 conference be a blessed event!

Mauri’ Saalakhan
Director of Operations
The Peace And Justice Foundation