Another mistake in the war on terror
Why will the administration not let Tariq Ramadan into the United States? When asked, a spokesperson for the Homeland Security department in Aug. 2004 referred to a section of the Patriot Act that bars anyone who would “endorse or espouse terrorist activity or persuade others” to do so.
Well, I don’t much want that sort of person here either. But – Mr. Ramadan says he has never supported terrorism. The executive director of the American Academy of Religion, a very respected scholarly association, refers to Mr. Ramadan as “one of the most respected scholars of Islam working today.”
He has been invited repeatedly to address academic gatherings in the United States, but his applications for a visa have been turned down multiple times.
Well, what is the government’s case for refusing? Who knows. Like so much of what Bush does, he hasn’t said, isn’t saying, doesn’t think he needs to say. No explanation has ever been given. And the state of our laws are such, in regard to non-citizens, that it isn’t clear the government has to explain. So now the ACLU and others are suing over this.
So much reports the New York Times, January 26, p.A1.
Of course, conservatives don't think Mr. Ramadan is so moderate. Campus Watch dismisses Mr. Ramadan with a series of arguments that sound alarming, but don’t really hit the target: Ramadan’s father founded the extremist Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Ramadan only calls fellow Arabs “my bother” and just uses last names to refer to non-Arabs, he’s never said anything nice about Christianity, he is anti-Semitic because he excoriates Jewish intellectuals who supported the Iraq war, he wishes the death of Israel, etc. What about terrorism? Well, Ramadan, apparently, was a little squishy in the days after 9/11 about who did that crime, he may sit on the board of directors of an organization with “links” to terrorists, he has a lot of friends with “links” to terrorists, his brother is “linked” to a bank that might be used by al Qaeda.
Daniel Pipes has a similar list of offenses, that argue on the theme that this man has been seen with a lot of shady people.
Tariq Ramadan has a website, of course, with writings that sound pretty moderate. Time Magazine named him one of the world's 100 leading thinkers. The Chicago Tribune decryed his visa situtation.
What is the truth? Without spending a hundred hours in research, I don't know. But I know this: in a democracy the government has to be accountable for its actions. It has to defend its decisions and people affected by the decisions have to be able to object and appeal. The real problem here is that the process is secret and instead of their being ready ways to appeal, those concerned have to find ways to pry open the process.
Comments
Thanks for allowing comments.
I believe you have hit the nail with the secret business. This administration believes it can do anything it wants and in the name of the 'war on terror'; that it can keep anything it pleases secret!
We are in big deep doo-doo and heading further into the abbess with the impending confirmation of Alito.
-Lu
The Strain with Spain is Mainly over Planes
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011606H.shtml
Posted by: Lucinda Adams | January 27, 2006 07:42 AM