Just recently BBC aired a documentary by Salman Ahmed on the conditions faced by the US based Muslims in the post 9/11 era.A few sections were interesting especially when Salman talks with Dr. Hassan's family, a millionaire muslim family who is now a staunch supporter of Bush Jr, it is documented that he considerably supported the Bush campaign and also funds the website Muslimsforbush.com. A few excerpts form the documentary.
Salman talk with Seeme wife of Dr. HassanI was shocked to hear such comments from a spoilt rich family. I am saddened to hear that as muslims they still believe that the invasion of Iraq was necessary read Seeme's comments when Salman asks her about the Invasion.... Ruthless.
SALMAN: ... you know, a lot of the Muslims in the world feel you know, scared, that hey, my, my Muslim country might be next.
SEEME: Personally I wanted to invade Iraq, because I think if there is a country that will not allow us into its borders and has the money and the reasoning to attack United States, then we have to go in, because -
SALMAN: With force?
SEEME: Yes. Absolutely, because – look what one 9/11 did to us American Muslims. I don’t want a repeat.
SALMAN: I mean if you disagree with the United States, it gives the United States the right to go and blow up your country?
SEEME: So sooner or later they were going to go in, I mean it just happened that it got linked with 9/11, but sooner or later it was going to happen, I mean Saddam was asking for it.Excerpt of discussion with Aliv - cousin of Seeme, the media junkie and the key person behind the website Muslimsforbush.com
ALIV: I was asked off an, off of an aeroplane. Aliya was with me, so we both had to leave the aeroplane.
ALIYA: I mean we were treated very well, and it was awkward to be taken off the plane and everybody looked at us, and we came back and everybody looked what’s going on.
ALIV: The bigger incident was I was checking into a plane at LAX, in Los Angeles, and I was surrounded by four LAPD officers. They read me Miranda rights, and then they said if you’re the terrorist that we think you might be then we’re going to take you down to the station, and I had to wait there in that terminal with four LAPD officers around me, while everybody was getting their tickets for one hour, and then the FBI agent showed up.
SALMAN: Cat Stevens, also known as Yusuf Islam, was deported from the airport, so I was trying to figure out, these people, how can there be a questionably on their -
DR HASAN: Under the same programme under which Cat Stevens was deported, Senator Ted Kennedy was denied boarding of a plane because he was on a terrorist list. Now who in this country does not know Senator Edward Kennedy?
SALMAN: Except that he’s a Democrat.
DR HASAN: It doesn’t matter. I’m telling you, we never had a training to be an imperialist or a police state. So anything to do with enforcement of the law is done so poorly, because this is not part of the fabric of this society.
ALIV: Those incidents happened pretty close to each other and I told Mum and Dad, and Mum and Dad, Dad, told the administration, and they listened to it seriously, they took it very seriously, and from that point on I haven’t been interrogated again.
Secondly it irks me when the family openly claims to have used contacts with the White House, where is the so-called justice or does the Patriot Act allow such things to happen.
I anxiously await your comments on this development....
