Musings, perspectives, rants

Sep 24, 2005 at 02:22 o\clock

4 years on and they're still picking on the innocent

by: enzedder   Category: "Terrorism"   Keywords: Iraq, terrorism

Iraqis and other muslims are still being 'rounded up' and interrogated four years after 9/11.  Hmm - where's the logic in this, when the overwhelming majority of 'hijackers' were Saudi Arabian AND the whole family of Osama Bin Laden were escorted out of the US just days after the actual event.  It's not enough to have innocent people locked away and tortured in Guantanamo, but they want to find more innocents to lock up.  Everyone's a suspect simply because they're of a certain race or religion.

Read an excerpt from Tram Nguyen's book "We Are All Suspects Now: Untold Stories From Immigrant Communities After 9/11."

The Great Immigrant Crackdown

There's an Iraqi woman at my work whose husband had to travel to the states last September.  She didn't want him to go, afraid that they'd arrest him simply for being from Iraq.  He wasn't too keen himself but it was work-related.  I can imagine their fear.  As it happens all was ok.  He managed to get there and back safely.  I've spoken to a lot of NZers who no longer want to travel to the states - it's now viewed as an oppressive regime, basic rights having been taken away from many people purely on suspicion - no legal right to defend themselves.  Anyone can be regarded as a 'terrorist'.  Anyone, that is, except Bush himself.

See also:

128 Guantanamo prisoners go on hunger strike

Incidentally, I'm currently reading  Inside the wire : a military intelligence soldier's eyewitness account of life at Guantanamo by Erik Saar and Viveca Novak.  He went in there full of pride and wanting to do his bit to catch terrorists only to find that the majority of 'detainees' had been randomly caught by the Northern Alliance (for money) and had nothing to do with Al Qaeda or even heard of it.  Yet these innocent people are still being held there with absolutely no rights to be heard.  Check out the link to Guantanamo Human Rights Commission.

Comments for this entry:

  1. insider2 wrote at Sep 24, 2005 at 02:35 o\clock:The more I look at George W. Bush and his administration (to say nothing of Tony Blair), the more I see echoes of Stalin and Hitler. In America right now, dissension is frowned upon and brings accusations of unpatriotism. In England, we are close to getting thrown in jail for calling terrorists \"freedom fighters\". In both countries imprisonment without charge or trial is becoming commonplace.



    What I fail to understand is why the ordinary people of both countries cannot (or will not) see what is happening in front of their eyes and marching in the streets every day to stop it.



    I\'m disabled and probably can\'t do a lot of marching in the streets, but I\'ll make the tea and ham sandwiches.
  2. insider2 wrote at Sep 24, 2005 at 02:37 o\clock:On reflection, I guess the German people in the 1930\'s chose to ignore the signs as well.
  3. enzedder wrote at Sep 25, 2005 at 02:11 o\clock:I fail to understand it also. And as an \'outsider\' I\'m not supposed to have an opinion or point out the faults of their governments. I always get the stupid comeback \'I don\'t criticize your country\'. Feel free. It\'s not the point. The point is when was the last time New Zealand invaded a country, declared war, or imposed their culture and way of life on anyone? What America and Britain are doing affects every citizen of the world. I will continue to protest as one of those citizens.

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