"For the last nine months, I've heard from Muslim and Arab Americans who feel uneasy about their relationship with their government."
Look, there's one standing behind you.
Posted on 11/21/2009 7:27:06 AM PST by Son House
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder continued the federal government's campaign to reach out to local Arab Americans, saying last night in Detroit that civil rights must be respected even as the country deals with security threats.
"For the last nine months, I've heard from Muslim and Arab Americans who feel uneasy about their relationship with their government, who feel isolated and discriminated against by law enforcement," Holder said, according to the Detroit Free Press. "It is inconsistent with what America is all about."
Holder spoke at the Detroit Marriott as part of the Advocates and Leaders for Police and Community Trust awards banquet less than a month after FBI agents shot Detroit Imam Luqman Abdullah during a raid at a Dearborn warehouse.
Followers have questioned the FBI's use of force against Abdullah, and local civil rights groups have called for further investigation.
"The dialogue between law enforcement and those in the Muslim and Arab-American communities has been tested in recent weeks by events here in Michigan and events far away," Holder said, also referencing the massacre at Fort Hood in Texas.
Holder's visit is the latest in a string of attempts by the federal government to reach out to Arab Americans in Metro Detroit. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and CIA Director Leon Panetta both visited Dearborn community leaders in recent months.
The symbolism of Holder's visit wasn't lost on Imad Hamad, the Midwest regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
"He is setting the tone for the nation and all law enforcement, and that is very important," Hamad told the Detroit News. "He managed to define the line between the new administration and the Bush administration."
The shootout occurred during an FBI raid designed to disrupt a variety of illegal activities being carried out by Abdullah and at least ten of his associates—activities that were uncovered by an undercover investigation stretching back for about three years, and a series of transactions pursuant to a Group I Undercover Operation. According to local news reports, the shooting came after FBI agents and police from the Joint Terrorism Task Force “surrounded a warehouse and trucking firm on Miller Road near Michigan Avenue where Abdullah and four of his followers were hiding.”
Abdullah did not surrender when ordered to; instead, he opened fire. He was shot to death, as was an FBI K-9, a three-year-old Belgian Malinois named Freddy. Although press reports do not detail how the dog was shot, it is common practice for the FBI to introduce a K-9 to “locate and detain” a suspect who refuses to surrender. The four men with Abdullah did lay down their arms and allow themselves to be arrested, although the DOJ’s press release leaves some ambiguity as to whether they did so before or after Abdullah was killed.
The FBI has arrested ten of Abdullah’s associates, most of whom were members of his mosque and the al-Ummah movement. Three of them—Yassir Ali Khan, Mohammad Philistine, and Abdullah’s son Mujahid Carswell—were arrested in Windsor, Ontario, to which they fled following the raids. Windsor is located directly across from Detroit, over the U.S.-Canada border.
The Al-Ummah Movement
Al-Ummah is either a splinter from, or a cover for, the Darul Islam movement. One commonality between the two movements is the leadership of Jamil al-Amin, who was formerly known as 1960s firebrand H. Rap Brown. Though al-Amin is reportedly still considered al-Ummah’s leader by the group’s members, he has not been involved in day-to-day operations for some time: he is currently serving a life sentence at the Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, following his 2002 conviction for shooting two police officers in Georgia.
From;
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/28/luqman-ameen-abdullah-lea_n_337763.html
Agents were trying to arrest Luqman Ameen Abdullah, 53, at a Dearborn warehouse on charges that included conspiracy to sell stolen goods and illegal possession and sale of firearms. Authorities also conducted raids elsewhere to try to round up 10 followers named in a federal complaint.
No one was charged with terrorism. But Abdullah was "advocating and encouraging his followers to commit violent acts against the United States," FBI agent Gary Leone said in an affidavit filed with the 43-page criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday.
FBI spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold said Abdullah refused to surrender, fired a weapon and was killed by gunfire from agents.
In the complaint, the FBI said Abdullah, also known as Christopher Thomas, was an imam, or prayer leader, of a radical group named Ummah whose primary mission is to establish an Islamic state within the United States.
"He managed to define the line between the new administration and the Bush administration."
As soon as they stop shooting at us we will start respecting their rights.
then, for their safety .... ROUND THEM UP and send them to MECCA
Great to see someone who hates America with his every fiber as AG. How many attacks on Mooselips and vice versa?
Pray for America’s Freedom
Well many whites feel “isolated” and “discrimimated against” because of lost admissions, promtions, or jobs because of “affirmative action” and “diversity.”
Will Mr Holder meet with them to hear their concerns and then publicly express them?
**In the complaint, the FBI said Abdullah, also known as Christopher Thomas, was an imam, or prayer leader, of a radical group named Ummah whose primary mission is to establish an Islamic state within the United States.**
I dON”T CARE IF HE WAS THE POPE... he fires a weapon at me.. he’s going DOWN.
Perhaps Holder can explain why America has become vastly more fractured and racial since the 2010 election.
Obama administration line: "We're with you."
Let me correct your statement.
As soon as they stop shooting at us, and they are all dead or deported, we will start respecting their rights.
The 0 Regime seems far more worried about the perpetrators of, rather then the the victims of, violence. Why is that?
Sums it up for me.
MUSLIM OBAMA SAYS IN HIS BOOK HE’S ON THE SIDE OF MUSLIMS
http://www.americanconservativedaily.com/2008/03/muslim-obama-says-in-his-book-he%E2%80%99s-on-the-side-of-muslims/
“J. Grant Swank, Jr.
“In the wake of 9/11, my meetings with Arab and Pakistani Americans … have a more urgent quality, for the stories of detentions and FBI questioning and hard stares from neighbors have shaken their sense of security and belonging,” he laments. “I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”
That is what Barack Obama wrote in his book, “Audacity.”
Now you can be sure that when Obama is in the White House, something “ugly” will occur to offend the nation’s “Arab and Pakistani Americans”—in other words, Muslims.
So whose side will Obama then take?
He will side with the Muslims per his own public statement in his book. There is no question. It is right there.
That is not the closet Muslim which he’s been. That’s the out-in-the-open Muslim hinted about even present-tense.
“I will stand with them. . .”
"The President's pledge for a new beginning between the United States and the Muslim community takes root here in the Justice Department where we are committed to using criminal and civil rights laws to protect Muslim Americans,” Holder said in June. “A top priority of this Justice Department is a return to robust civil rights enforcement and outreach in defending religious freedoms.”
And this moving the terrorist detainees onto America's mainland is stirring the pot. He wants something to happen.
Is Holder a MUSLIM???
FBI Kills Islamic Cleric, Arrests Followers, For Being Muslims At The Wrong Time In America
Imam Umar Responds
In a widely distributed message, an Imam Umar wrote:
...“The FBI is not only tricky and devious….they are extremely dangerous thugs and murderers.”
"For the last nine months, I've heard from Muslim and Arab Americans who feel uneasy about their relationship with their government."
Look, there's one standing behind you.
2010 is not coming fast enough for me! This must become a HUGE election issue. “The truth doesn't mean anything, it just IS”, so spare me the PC / BS and just tell the truth!
In this environment, telling the truth will win elections!
The Fort Hood Massacre showed the citizens of the United States that certain Muslims are our ‘enemy within’. How many rights should be afforded to our resident enemies? Has congress established some sort of sliding scale to accomodate Muslims when it comes to enemy rights? An affirmative action Enemy Rights Committee? Or some such?
Yes, they want something to happen. Obama has a Charlie Manson mentality.
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