Should Muslim Americans Be Afraid?
Sheila Musaji

In this issue there is an article about a new Rand Corporation Study which suggests exploiting Sunni, Shiite and Arab, non-Arab divides to promote the US policy objectives in the Muslim world.

Some months ago we had published an article on a previous Rand Corporation study: Rand Corporation’s Ungracious Strategy for a “Civil Democratic Islam”: Muslims Searching for Partners, Javeed Akhter, Executive Director, International Strategy and Policy Institute, TAM #26 Mar/Apr 2004.  This study was discussed in a series of articles we collected under the title “RELIGION BUILDING”:
-Looking for Good Muslims, Ahmed Nassef
-Daniel Pipes, the Voice of Moderate Islam?, Sheila Musaji
-How To Deal With Islam and Muslims
-U.S. From Nation Building to Religion Building, Jim Lobe
-Pipes Forming Islamic Institute, Anwar Iqbal
-Civil Democratic Islam (Rand Study), Cheryl Benard
-Fixing Islam, Daniel Pipes
-Leaking Pipes: Daniel Misses the Point Again
-MWU Starts New Jewish Organization: Moderate Jews Invited
-Neocons Seek Islamic Reform, Jim Lobe
-Mission:// Reforming Islam, Abid Ullah Jan
-A Battle Plan Against Radical Islam
-Islamic Progress Institute
-Bridging the Dangerous Gap Between the West and the Muslim World, Paul Wolfowitz
-Do You Believe in Modernity, Daniel Pipes
-Rand Corp.
-Mission Reforming Islam, Abid Ullah Jan

In our last issue we published an article about a recently released survey by the Media and Society Research Group in Cornell University’s Department of Communication which indicates, among other things, that 44 percent of Americans believe the government should curtail the civil rights of American Muslims in some manner. The entire survey report can be viewed here (.pdf file).
-See CAIR report “1 in 4 Americans Holds Anti-Muslim Views”.
-see also 52% of Europeans Unhappy With Muslims
-Polluters of U.S. Perceptions

Daniel Pipes has a new article on Why the Internment of Japanese Americans Still Matters, and Pipes’ article was discussed in Editor and Publisher in an article entitled Columnist Pipes Calls for Crackdown on Civil Liberties for all Muslim-Americans.  Already, others are noticing the dangers of the thought process expressed in this article for example, A Dangerous Argument, Paul Campos

There have been a series of articles written in the past couple of years about the possibility of internment of American citizens happening again.
-Is the Internment of muslim Americans Looming Ahead? by Mahjabeen Islam
-The Quandary of Muslim-Americans by Ahmad Faruqui
-Margins and Mainstreams, Asma Barlas
-It Could Happen Here, Laila al-Marayati
-Japanese Americans See Similarities to WWII Conditions
-The New Style of Internment
-Mineta sees Acts of Friendship Towards Arab Americans and Muslims
-Japanese Americans Recall Internment, Worry That Lessons Not Learned (.pdf file)
Japenese Internees See Modern Parallels
-Internment Today
-Rounding Up The Enemy by Chisun Lee
-and a series of articles at Asia Source which has numerous articles by Japanese Americans who see parallels in current events to what happened to their community during WWII.
-Arabs in U.S. Could Be Held
-An article on the same general topic aboutBritish Muslims, Tradition or Extradition, Abdal Hakim Murad

Islamaphobia is increasing, as are anti-Muslim incidents and rhetoric.

Our civil rights are being eroded.

The separation of church and state is being questioned.

The clash of civilizations theory is commonly accepted as inevitability.

A new Crusade mentality is becoming more widespread.

Propaganda and disinformation is common, and the media view of Islam and Muslims is primarily negative.

Alarming quotes that show intolerance abound.

I for one am beginning to be afraid.

see also

I’m An American Muslim and I’m Afraid, Rhonda Roumani http://www.beliefnet.com/story/87/story_8733_1.html