Ginny:
Thanks for your comments once again.


I think you raised some very pertinent question in your response to my post.
I would like to answer as many of them as possible to the best of my ability.
 But first I would like to take up your concern that Muslims are being
victimized.

In answer to this I do not think most Americans equate Islam with violence.
G. Bush extolled the beauty and peaceful ways of our religion in his speech
to the Senate after the Sept 11, which was televised live to the Nation.
Also, in my work related travels to small town America, I have talked to
various folks with different education or consciousness levels and most have
given me the impression that they do not fault Islam for the tragedy of Sept
11. So IMO, I do think most folks understand that this issue has more to do
with politics than it has to do with religion.  I certainly would not take
some off the wall remarks by Ashcroft to gauge public attitudes towards
Muslims.

Unfortunately many young Arabic men were detained after the attacks. With the
advancement of the investigation some of them have been released while others
have been tried and prosecuted for crimes ranging from immigration violations
to lying under oath.  Nevertheless, you certainly cannot blame the FBI and
other authorities for casting a wide dragnet after the attacks, which were so
horrifying that drastic action had to be taken to at least start to make sure
this becomes a safer place.  I would also like to point to the fact that most
arrested were either visa violators or fundamentalists with known terrorist
ties.  These men were arrested for good reason and though some were
eventually released, I think the justification for their arrests was solid.

On civil liberties, the bottom-line is we need to give up some to make this
place safer.  After all, the terrorists used some of these liberties we have
here to facilitate the planning that went into the attack.  But in cutting
back on some of these liberties, we must also be vigilant in not allowing the
powers that be to infringe too much on the freedoms we have. I agree with you
here..


On the Palestinian-Israeli issue, I have completely given up on trying to
justify which side is being oppressed and what not..  When you have a
situation where each side violates the other so randomly, it becomes
difficult to support one or the other..  I am very pessimistic as to whether
a solution will ever be reached there...


On your analogy to Jammeh's detention of prisoners, with all due respect I
think you are comparing apples and oranges.  Of course a few mental midgets
will try to use this analogy in their defense of the atrocities the regime
commits.  Please note that you cannot compare and administration that
violates every single aspect of the human right's doctrine to one which
epitomizes the adherence to due process & human rights.  Again, I would like
to reiterate that this line or argument is unfair to those of us who do not
recognize the administration in The Gambia as a legitimate one..

Finally, I really think that once one starts to bring Islam into your train
of thought it really does a disservice to one's objectivity.  After all,
Osama and his gang of murderers claim that the war against terrorism is one
against Islam..

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