Department of Homeland Security Islamist payday to AMANA /AMER and Shukrijumah spokesman Zakkout?

MIM: Sofian Abdelaziz Zakkout had named Adnan Shukrijumah's father Gulshair as a director of his Shamshuddin Islamic Center and helped fundraise for the Islamic Association of Palestine aka Hamas as the vice president of the now defunct terror "charity" Health Resource Center Palestine.

I saw (El Shukrijumah, Padilla and Mandhai) at different times in different mosques, and I always said hello. Does that make me a terrorist?"

Click image to enlarge

http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/927

24 Million Sent to At-Risk Nonprofits

By EILEEN SULLIVAN – 1 day ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than $24 million was sent out Friday to mostly Jewish nonprofit organizations in major cities nationwide because the federal government considers them to be at high risk of a terrorist attack.

The Homeland Security Department decided which nonprofits would receive these 308 grants based on threat and risk information. Organizations in Chicago and New York were the top recipients.

The funds are to be used to increase physical security and screening systems and to train personnel in terrorism awareness and preparedness. The grants went to medical centers, schools, temples and synagogues. One went to an Islamic organization in Miami.

That Jewish organizations received the bulk of the funding does not mean there is new or heightened threat against Jewish Americans, the department said.

"One faith group is not necessarily at greater risk than another," said department spokesman Russ Knocke. "Risk is often circumstantial and it is constantly evolving."

But it is no secret that Jewish communities are targets, whether they're in the United States or in Israel, said a former FBI agent who works in counterterrorism. He spoke only on condition of anonymity, because he is not authorized to speak publicly in his new post.

In July 2006, for example, a Muslim man shot six people, killing one, at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. And in 2003, the FBI warned about possible attacks on more than 300 synagogues and other Jewish organizations in Michigan.

While most of the grants went to Jewish organizations, the department found other nonprofits, such as the American Red Cross in Washington, D.C. and St. Michael's Medical Center in Newark, N.J., are at risk as well.

Harper-Hutzel Hospital, part of the Detroit Medical Center, received funding to upgrade its computer systems to increase video surveillance, said Jenny Atas, disaster coordinator for the hospital. Atas said the hospital has not received any specific terrorist threats, but the fact that Detroit has one of the largest Arabic populations in the country makes it vulnerable, she said.

The Miami-based American Muslims for Emergency and Relief also received a grant this year. Director Sofian Abdelaziz Zazakkout said Islamic centers across the country are vandalized, and his organization is also vulnerable.

"Myself, I receive threats — different people calling, and they say 'Go back to your country, I will kill you,'" he said.

The Homeland Security Department received 612 grant applications from organizations across the country. None of the organizations will receive more than $100,000.

"Risk is not exclusive to political jurisdictions or critical infrastructure," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a statement.

This is the second year the department issued grants to nonprofit organizations. The first year was in 2005.

Also Friday, the department awarded $113 million in grants for preparedness training for state, local and tribal governments.

The department hands out about $2 billion each year to states and local communities to help prepare them for terrorist attacks and other disasters.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gSPDljLyoaq2t5hqU_-Qx5UDuLcgD8RUNBK80

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By Aaron Shea
STAFF WRITER
It was billed as an enlightening evening with Islamic leaders and scholars to raise money for a new, permanent mosque in the heart of Boca Raton – a sprawling 27,000-square-foot complex planned to include a worship center and education facility.
Among the speakers at the Islamic Center of Boca Raton's Nov. 16 fund-raising dinner last year was Dr. Rafil Dhafir, a respected Fayetteville, N.Y., oncologist and nationwide lecturer.
Four months after his speaking engagement at the benefit held at the Hilton in Deerfield Beach, however, Dhafir was arrested by the federal government for allegedly conspiring to funnel more than $2.7 million to Iraq—a country that has been subject to economic sanctions since the first Gulf War in 1991.
Dhafir's appearance at the fundraiser and his subsequent arrest are among several incidents that worry well-known terrorism researcher and "American Jihad" author Steven Emerson. He joins other critics who question the political views and intentions of the organization's spiritual leader, Imam Ibrahim Dremali.
"There are questions of [Dremali's] associations in the past which I think merit further investigation," Emerson told the Boca Raton News.
Dremali and others at the mosque, however, strongly deny that he and the local Islamic center have any goal other than to provide a peaceful place for Muslims to worship and for others to learn about Islam.
In any case, Dhafir certainly knew a lot about fundraising before his arrest, federal officials said. After a three-year probe, federal officials said Dhafir and three other alleged conspirators — using an Iraqi aid charity called "Help the Needy" — solicited contributions from people in the United States, deposited the funds in several New York banks and laundered much of the money to Iraq through accounts maintained in the Jordan Islamic Bank in Amman. The charity failed to obtain the required licenses to provide humanitarian aid to Iraq, prosecutors said.
The February indictment also alleges Dhafir directed checks as large as $100,000 to be cut from the relief group for individuals located in Baghdad.
Dhafir, who has been charged with 12 counts of money laundering and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, remains in jail without bail.

‘An unfortunate
coincidence'

Since Dhafir's arrest, leaders at the Boca Raton mosque have denied any prior knowledge of Dhafir's alleged illegal activities. His appearance at the mosque's November fund-raiser, they say, was simply an unfortunate coincidence.
"He just happened to be [in Florida], and we invited him for the fundraiser," said Dr. Bassem Al-Halabi, a Florida Atlantic University computer engineering professor who co-founded the Islamic center, which today is based in a storefront on Northwest 20th Street. Al-Halabi is also a former treasurer for the mosque and current board member.
"We know that he is a good fundraiser," he explained. "Not too many people know him in the mosque, but the people involved in fundraising in this mosque do know about him. He's visited many [Islamic] centers in the past."
In a brief phone interview with the Boca Raton News, Dremali, who has been the imam of the mosque since its inception in 1998, said he did not know Dhafir.
But Dhafir's presence at the fundraiser has added fuel to the fire for critics of the mosque and its spiritual leader. Detractors point to published reports quoting Dremali allegedly supporting Arab martyrdom against Israeli Jews and affiliations the mosque has made in the past.
All the accusations have been denied or discounted by Islamic Center of Boca Raton officials, including Dremali.
"We're a small mosque, but even when we are a small mosque, some don't want us to exist," said Dr. Mohammad Khalid Hamza, a FAU professor who co-founded the Islamic center with Al-Halabi. The mosque today has more than 200 members.
One of the mosque's most determined critics has been Joe Kaufman, chairman of a group that calls itself "Citizens Against Hate."
Kaufman, who is Jewish, is leading a crusade to halt construction of the planned 27,000-square-foot Islamic center and mosque.
Recently, the Tamarac resident's Web site, www.Joe4Rep.com, was criticized by a national Muslim group for having a link to an anti-Arab Web site, which in turn linked to Kach, a Jewish organization recognized as a terrorist group by the U.S. government. Kaufman has since removed the links.
The 3.3-acre mosque project on Northwest Fifth Avenue north of Glades Road, which has gotten the go-ahead from the city, is far behind in its fundraising goals, Dremali said, and the mosque will hold another fundraiser May 10 at the Hilton in Deerfield Beach to raise cash for the complex.
Kaufman is convinced that a new, large mosque could attract anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish elements and should not be built in Boca Raton.
"It's not the Muslims we are fighting," Kaufman has said. "The mosque might be a threat to the community. If it is built, we don't know what is going on behind the walls."
Bill Gralnick, southeast regional director for the American Jewish Committee, supports Kaufman's views.
"It's not necessarily the physical mosque or Islam that gives me anxiety," Gralnick said. "It's who might be going through its doors or the types of other things that might or might not be going on in a political, social respect."

‘A question of character'

Just as he refuted knowing Dhafir, Dremali also denied to the Boca Raton News that he had any close ties to accused terrorist and Sunrise resident Adham Hassoun, who was arrested by a South Florida terrorism task force last June for his alleged ties to Jose Padilla. Padilla is a former Broward County resident accused of having ties to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network al-Qaeda and conspiring to explode a radiological device in the United States. Padilla is being detained by the federal government as an "enemy combatant" of the U.S.
Hassoun remains locked up in the Krome Detention Center in Miami on an immigration charge.
Yet in an August 2002 bail hearing at Krome Detention Center Dremali was called as a witness for Hassoun's defense. Dremali, however, said he only met Hassoun once when the alleged terrorist visited the Boca mosque four or five years ago.
"I don't know the guy," Dremali said, adding that the testimony he gave during the hearing "was not about [Hassoun]. It was about Islam."
Hassoun, a Palestinian, has also been accused of being a member of a militant Islamic group linked to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, engaging in an assassination plot and soliciting people to engage in terrorist activities.
Hassoun has denied the charges.
Hassoun's Miami attorney, Akhtar Hussain, said Dremali was primarily used as an expert witness during the hearing to discuss how a mosque runs and how charitable donations are handled. But, Hussain added, Dremali did speak about Hassoun's character as well.
"He was for the most part an expert witness," said Hussain. "[He discussed] how a mosque runs, its membership, how charities work and where the money goes. It boiled down to [Jose] Padilla, because he was a member of Hassoun's mosque.
"Dremali slightly spoke about how long he knew [Hassoun]. What kind of person [Hassoun] is," Hussain added. "[Dremali] has known [Hassoun] more than a couple of years. I know that."
Hussain would not offer further details.
In addition, Hassoun founded the Florida chapter of the Chicago-based Benevolence International Foundation, which was shut down by the government for suspected terrorist ties on the same day the Global Relief Foundation was raided.
In December 2001, the government shut down and froze the assets of the Global Relief Foundation based in Illinois after alleging the charity had links to terror financing. The Boca Raton Islamic Center donated nearly $17,000 to the charity, but officials from the mosque have said all along they were under the impression they were only giving money to the destitute in the Middle East.
"When people come to your mosque for money, you cannot say, ‘No,'" explained Dremali, referring to the importance the Muslim faith places on the worshipers to help those in need. "It's not our job to investigate [charities]. That's the job of the government."

‘Further investigation'

Among those who say he is taking a hard look at the Boca Raton mosque and its leader is Steven Emerson, the nationally recognized terrorist expert, former CNN correspondent and founder of the Investigative Project, which was created to root out possible terrorist cells in the United States and came to prominence following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
"I think the activity of Dremali and the mosque has raised serious questions on whether he is tethered to a militant Islamic group," said Emerson.
Emerson also produced the controversial 1994 PBS documentary video "Jihad in America" and wrote the best selling book "American Jihad," in which he claims members of the al-Qaeda network had set up shop in Boca prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. It was discovered shortly after the planes hit the twin towers that several of the hijackers lived in nearby Delray Beach.
During the 1990s, Emerson insisted there were Muslim professors at the University of South Florida active in the terrorist organization Islamic Jihad, which was documented in his video. It wasn't until this past February, however, that federal agents arrested USF professor Sami Al-Arian and Emerson's accusations were substantiated. Al-Arian has been charged with running the U.S. operations of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Some have accused Al-Halabi—the Boca Islamic Center's co-founder—of associating with Al-Arian. But the FAU professor and former USF student denies any such link.
"He was a teacher at the university when I was a student there, but I had no relations with him of any kind," Al-Halabi said.

‘Disparaging words'

Critics of Dremali and the mosque have also focused on issues unrelated to anyone indicted for alleged terrorist ties.
Following the escalation of Palestinian violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in late 2000, known as the intifada, tempers began to flare among many Jews and Muslims in the United States. One of the hot spots in South Florida was in Miami.
During one pro-Palestinian rally there in October 2000, according to a report from a Web site called IslamOnline, demonstrators issued a call for Muslims to stage a "jihad" to reclaim land they said was rightfully theirs.
During the tense demonstration, Dremali—a native of the Gaza Strip who is constructing a second home in the war-torn territory—reportedly "urged the crowd not to be sad for those who were martyred, and to not be afraid to die for what they believe in," according to the Web site report.
Last year, former Boca Islamic center spokesman Hassan Shareef, who now lives in Saudi Arabia, told the News that Dremali had made the comments in the heat of the moment.
But this month, Dremali, married and the father of four, denied to the Boca Raton News that he ever made the comments, although he acknowledged attending the rally.
"I never said that. I don't know where [the author of the article] got that," said Dremali, who came to the United States 15 years ago from Egypt. "I need peace and nothing else."
The author of the article could not be reached for comment.
A year after the rally and shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Dremali invited Rabbi Merle Singer of Temple Beth El of Boca Raton and Gralnick to his home. According to the Palm Beach and Broward county editions of New Times, Dremali told the two Jewish leaders that the Muslims do not like the Jews in Israel, but don't hold the same kind of animosity towards Jews in America.
"He did say that," Gralnick confirmed. "That's not an uncommon thing with anti-Semites. [Jews] don't make that distinction between the ones in Israel and the ones here."
In addition, a story in the Boca Raton News recently publicized a link on the Islamic center's site that provided access to the Palestine Information Center, which in turn offered anti-American and anti-Israeli articles and photographs. The major link to the site, called Islam Q&A, was removed days later and all other remaining links were severed from the site within the following week.
Mosque leaders including Dremali, Hamza and Islamic center spokesman Dan McBride denied having any knowledge that the Palestine Information Center site had been accessible from the Islam Q&A link.

‘We are not terrorists'

Today, Dremali said he can't understand those who claim he promotes anything other than peace and his Muslim faith at the mosque on Northwest 20th Street.
"We are not terrorists. We want to live in peace with no problems," said Dremali, who is a professor. "We have a very peaceful religion. We are Americans. I love this country and that is why we stay in this country."
An FBI spokeswoman at the Miami bureau would not comment on whether the mosque or Dremali has ever been investigated or is under investigation now.
Hamza said he cannot figure out the determination of some to run the mosque out of town.
"We've had it up to our ears with [opposition] spreading rumors," said Hamza, who accuses FAU professors of anti-Arab bias against him and plotting to rid him from the university. A state board cited discrimination as a factor in Hamza's denial of tenure. University officials have disputed the report.
"They're scaring the hell out of our community," he added. "What do they want us to do, go away and die?"
Among the more frightening moments for the mosque came immediately following Sept. 11 when Dremali told Boca Raton police he and other members of the mosque had experienced anti-Muslim backlash firsthand. The religious leader also claimed to have been threatened with guns by unknown assailants outside his Boca Raton home.
"I want to live in this country in peace," Dremali said. "We are Americans and people have to understand that. We work in this country together. I say all of this from my heart."

Staff Writer Brian Bandell contributed to this report.

http://www.bocanews.com/index.php?src=news&prid=5239&category=LOCAL%20NEWS

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MIM: On his website Dremali describes himself as an advisor to AMANA

Sheikh Ibrahim Abdelrahman Dremali was born to the late Sheikh Abdelrahman Dremali. He is the eldest of 4 brothers and 6 sisters, all of whom studied Qur'an and Fiqh under the wing of their father.

Sheikh Ibrahim graduated from Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, with a Bachelor's degree in Geology, and a Masters degree and PhD in Sharia (Islamic Law) with a specialization in Fiqh (Jurisprudence). After coming to the United States in 1989 he continued his studies in Geology, earning a Masters degree in Geology from Florida Atlantic University and a PhD in Geology from Florida International Univerisity.

He served as the Principal of Dar ul-Uloom Institute in Pembroke Pines, Florida for 5 years and as the Imam of the Islamic Center of Belle Glade. In 1998 he co-founded the Islamic Center of Boca Raton in Florida, where he was the Imam for 7 years, and Garden of the Sahaba Academy in 2003 where he taught Qur'an and Karate. He has over 20 years experience as a Geologist and taught college level Geology and Oceanography courses for 7 years. He is currently the Imam of the Islamic Center of Des Moines and the Principal and Qur'an teacher of New Horizons Academy in Iowa. He holds a 3^rd degree black belt and teaches Karate to the students at New Horizons Academy. He is also professor at the American Open University and a professor at Drake University. Sheikh Ibrahim is a member of the permanent Fatwa Committee for the Assembly of Muslim Jurists in America (AMJA) and an advisor for the American Muslim Association of North America (AMANA).

http://www.dremali.com/ibrahim-abdelrahman-dremali-biography/index.php

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LOCAL MOSQUES SUPPLIES EARMARKED FOR BILOXI, MISS. ALEXANDRA ALTER, Miami Herald, 9/10/05 Twelve South Florida mosques have been collecting powdered milk, bottled water, canned food, plastic cups and other supplies as part of a nationwide hurricane relief effort sponsored by the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR). Tuesday, Sofian Abdelaziz Zakkout, director of the American Muslim Association of North America, will drive supplies donated by local mosques to Biloxi, Miss. -- one of the hardest hit cities on the Gulf Coast. "The Muslim community, they are so eager to help and to work for the victims," Abdelaziz said. "As a matter of fact, people are getting mad at me because there's not space to take more people with me." Imams in mosques across South Florida have urged their congregants to show charity -- a central tenet of the Islamic faith -- and designated their buildings as drop-off centers for supplies, said Altaf Ali, director of the South Florida branch of CAIR. Non-Muslims are also bringing supplies to mosques in their neighborhoods, Abdelaziz said. "This really makes us feel that we are doing the right thing," he said. "Disaster doesn't have a nationality, it doesn't have a color; it is the enemy of all human beingshttp://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:y4rZ0X8vO6QJ:www.mhrtf.net/readarticle-19.php+islamic+relief+zakkout&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=25&gl=us

MIM.Another strategic blunder.The DHS's Daniel Sutherland spoke at the Saudi funded ADC conference in 2005

Remarks by Daniel W. Sutherland at American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee's Silver Anniversary National Convention

Daniel W. Sutherland, Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, made the following remarks during a speech before the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee during their Silver Anniversary National Convention on May 28, 2005.

"Thank you to Congresswoman Oakar, to Kareem and Nawar Shora and to the rest of the ADC national office. Thank you for providing me with this tremendous opportunity today. This is a tremendous opportunity for two reasons. First, because of the incredible people who are receiving awards today. It is an honor to serve alongside Alex Acosta. It is a privilege to work regularly with SALDEF, and to meet so many people from the Sikh community. It is a privilege to work with the ACLU and MALDEF. Laura, I wish you all the best and I look forward to crossing paths with you again in the future.

This is also a tremendous opportunity because of the occasion – the Silver Anniversary of this effective and important organization. My wife and I recently celebrated our fifteenth anniversary. Curiously, she did not invite me to give a speech on that occasion.

ADC has access to senior government leaders who are anxious to hear this organization's views on policy. Along with us, ADC has met with Secretary Chertoff, and with the leaders of the immigration, customs and border agencies within the Department of Homeland Security. ADC has worked with us on a number of difficult circumstances relating to aviation watch lists – leading to ADC's April 27 press release, "TSA Improves No Fly List Procedures." From the title of the press release, you can see that they worked with us and made a difference. They worked with us on the recent national preparedness exercise called "TOPOFF 3" – the largest exercise to test our preparedness efforts ever. ADC observed the TOPOFF 3 exercise, and provided us with valuable insights that we are now inserting into the "after action review" of that exercise. They have worked with us in training our law enforcement officers, even traveling to our academy in Georgia to give a seminar to the faculty. Throughout my remarks today, I will note other ways that ADC has worked with us over the past two years and has helped us to make significant progress in our work.

The topic I wish to address with you today is the need for the federal government to engage with Arab-American and Muslim-American communities, and other ethnic and religious communities in America. I will talk about why it is important that we develop close partnerships. I will point out that there is a good level of engagement now that will be made even deeper over the upcoming months and years. Indeed I will tell you why I believe that we will see levels of engagement between the government and Arab-Americans and Muslim-Americans that have never been reached before in the history of this country. Finally, I will talk about some specific ways that I believe we can work to better engage with one another.

Before proceeding, let me give you some background.

While you are celebrating twenty-five years of work, the Office I have the privilege of leading has just celebrated its second anniversary. The Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties provides proactive legal and policy advice to the senior leadership of the Department on a wide range of issues, seeking to help them to shape policy in ways that are mindful of our civil rights and civil liberties. DHS is a place of firsts in many respects. One such first is the establishment of a team of attorneys who specialize in civil liberties issues and report directly to the Secretary.

It is notable that an agency that has a largely law enforcement and military mission has a civil libertarian in the senior leadership.

And it is paying off. We have had the privilege of assisting our colleagues in many ways – such as in:

• improving the operation of watch lists;
• improving training for our law enforcement officers;
• helping people with disabilities to be better prepared for emergencies;
• investigating and resolving complaints from citizens about Department policies and actions;
• significantly increasing the employment of people with disabilities into our agency; and,
• helping improve our nation's immigration policies.

When I started in this position, I quickly realized that issues affecting Arab-American and Muslim-American communities had to be prominent in our work. Over the past two years, I have spoken with and learned from dozens of Arab-Americans and Muslim-Americans, as well as friends from the Sikh community and other religious and ethnic communities, and traveled to cities across the country. I have met with officials at every level of government (local, state, national and even international), and read as much as I possible could. After this immersion experience, my chief conclusion is this:

The United States government must develop, cultivate and cement long-term and stable relationships with Arab-American and Muslim-American communities, as well as with other ethnic and religious communities in America.

There are, of course, many elements to our nation's counter-terrorism strategy. We must protect air travel. We must inspect cargo shipments. We must better control our borders. We must prepare our critical infrastructure. We must have access to intelligence about the threats our country faces.

These are the elements of the strategy that you always hear about. I want to suggest that another critical element of the strategy must be to better connect the federal government to the great communities you represent, to listen to your concerns and ideas for improvement, to ask for your help in educating us, to communicate with you about our policies and actions so that you can better understand us – in short, we need to build a level of communication, trust, and confidence that is unprecedented in our nation's history.

There have always been people and organizations that support greater involvement of various communities with the government. ADC has done this for over two decades. But, the recognition has been growing within government and among counter-terrorism experts that an important element of our nation's strategy must be to build bridges with the Arab-American and Muslim-American communities, and with the Arab and Muslim world. You can see this reflected in the 9/11 Commission's report – see pages 374-78.

You can see this in studies and books by counter-terrorism experts. Let me cite, as an example, a book titled Understanding Terror Networks, by Dr. Marc Sageman. Dr. Sageman's book, which is becoming quite influential, concludes by arguing that the government needs, "active support from American and other Muslim communities." He states, "U.S. government agencies urgently need to implement active measures to restore their previously good relationship with the Muslim community and elicit its support." He warns: "Strong-arm government tactics antagonizing Muslim communities in the United States will not earn their support[.]" Instead, "[This engagement will] require[] skill and cultural sensitivity."

In dozens of conversations I have had with senior government officials – intelligence analysts, prosecutors, military leaders, politicians, and, law enforcement officers – I have seen that key leaders are reaching this same conclusion. I believe that there are good levels of engagement now, and that it will be made even deeper over the upcoming months and years. Indeed, I believe that we have the hope of seeing levels of engagement between the government and Arab-Americans and Muslim-Americans that have never been reached before in the history of this country. For example, within the last two months, ADC and other leading Arab-American, Muslim-American, Sikh-American and other groups have met with the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Attorney General and the Director of the FBI.

Of course, the government must be careful to choose constructive people to partner with, and you must be careful to select government officials to talk to who you know will be reliable. We have really appreciated working with ADC, and many others, because you tell us when we need to do better and when we have done something right. You give us constructive criticism – you try to give us realistic options for improving our work.

Why is the level of engagement between the federal government and the Arab-American and Muslim-American communities increasing?

First, because it is the right thing to do. We have a common goal of protecting the civil rights and civil liberties of all of our people; this is a fundamental element of our government.

However, even if one had absolutely no concern whatsoever for the inherent moral values in the Bill of Rights and complimentary federal laws, we would still engage for a purely utilitarian reason: it will help us be successful to meet the challenges that face us.

When the Supreme Court was considering the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education in the early 1950s, President Dwight Eisenhower encouraged the Supreme Court to strike down racial segregation. President Eisenhower understood that it would be difficult to win the war of ideas against the communist threat while a substantial portion of America did not enjoy equal rights. Likewise, as we live up to our highest ideals in these days, we demonstrate that the violent extremists are deeply and desperately wrong. Taking steps to protect the civil rights and civil liberties of religious and ethnic minorities has a strong strategic value in the war on terror.

John Quincy Adams once wrote, "Individual liberty is individual power, and as the power of a community is a mass compounded of individual powers, the nation which enjoys the most freedom must necessarily be in proportion to its numbers the most powerful nation."

If we want to be a powerful nation, we must do many things -- and enforcing our civil rights laws is one of them.

For these reasons, government is increasingly recognizing that we need to establish good partnerships. On the basis of all of my travels, conversations and reading, it is clear to me that Arab-American and Muslim-American communities agree – that you want to work with the government to help us meet the challenges that face us in these critical days.

This idea is nothing new to you at all; I think that those of us in the government are just catching up to where you have always been. In 1926, Khalil Gibran wrote an article for the first edition of a magazine called "The Syrian World." In it, he wrote an essay to "young Americans of Syrian origin," and he stated: "I believe that you have inherited from your forefathers an ancient dream, a song, a prophecy, which you can proudly lay as a gift of gratitude upon the lap of America…I believe that it is in you to be good citizens. And what is it to be a good citizen?," Gibran asked. "It is to acknowledge the other person's rights before asserting your own, but always to be conscious of your own. It is to be free in thought and deed, but it is to know that your freedom is subject to the other person's freedom…It is to stand before the towers of New York, Washington, Chicago and San Francisco saying in your heart, ‘I am the descendant of a people that built Damascus, and Byblus, and Tyre and Sidon, and Antioch, and now I am here to build with you, and with a will.'"

The question now is this: How? How can the government better engage with Arab-American and Muslim-American communities?

First, we need to work together to ensure that our civil rights laws are fully enforced. Those of us who have practiced civil rights law as our profession have long recognized that there are certain issues that are the most important and persistent facing our profession, such as "affirmative action," and the rights of people with disabilities.

But it is important for us, as a country, to acknowledge that the issues facing Arab-American and Muslim-American communities are now among the most important in the civil rights field. The issues here are numerous, they are complex, and they are going to be with us for the foreseeable future. We need to place a top priority on ensuring that Arab-Americans and Muslim-Americans are given full and equal opportunity in education, in employment, in housing, and in their interactions with government agencies, and in so many other areas of public life.

Along with the challenges, there is a great deal of good news to report in this area. The Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties has resolved a number of complaints that individuals and organizations have brought to us. For example, we reviewed allegations concerning a young Muslim man from an African country who came to the United States seeking asylum. As a result of our review, we recommended to border and transportation security officials that they consider strengthening asylum policies in several ways, including the health and medical services provided to detainees, the length of time in detention prior to a hearing in court, and the process for determining the age of asylum applicants. Border and transportation security officials have agreed with many of our recommendations, and we are working with them to make these changes in asylum policies.

As a result of several complaints that ADC has brought to us, we have worked with transportation security officials to improve the operation of aviation watch lists. For example, ADC brought us two complaints about young children who experienced difficulties in flying apparently because, as one airline told the family, these children appeared on a "security list." During the course of our investigation of these matters, we worked closely with transportation security officials. We concluded that in both cases the airlines had not properly followed our security directives with regard to these lists. Transportation security officials have since made improvements in the operation of the aviation watch lists that help to minimize the times that airlines make errors in misidentifications.

We are in the process of reviewing several complaints dealing with religious symbols that people of the Sikh religion often carry, and expect to develop new policies as a result of those complaints.

The key, of course, is to take steps to try to prevent civil rights problems from happening in the first place. We are trying to be as proactive as possible in helping the officials who lead our agencies. For example, we prepared a CD-ROM that gives our law enforcement officers a tutorial on President Bush's policy prohibiting unlawful racial profiling. The tutorial takes about 20-25 minutes, taking the officers through a series of hypothetical fact patterns; it does not allow them to move through the tutorial without thinking because there are test questions embedded in the presentation – wrong answer, it takes you back.

We have also engaged in a great deal of outreach to community leaders in cities like Los Angeles, Buffalo, Detroit and Washington. Together we have identified a number of issues and worked to address them before they mushroom.

Of course, our colleagues in other civil rights agencies in government are also doing great work in this area. My point is that we are making great progress in the effort to protect the civil rights of Arab-Americans and Muslim-Americans. There is, of course, much more work to be done in this critical area.

The second area in which we need to engage with each other is in the area of employment. We need to seek ways to encourage people with specialized language skills and cultural competencies to seek employment with the federal government. Engagement is a key: if people in Arab-American and Muslim-American communities are convinced that, for example, the Department of Homeland Security understands their concerns and is actively engaging with them, it is likely that more people from these communities may seek employment with us. That means that we will have more people with critical language skills and, just as importantly, cultural competencies.

We need people with these skills to enter specific jobs that will help with the war on terror, from translators to intelligence analysts to airport screeners to law enforcement officers. But we also need people with these skills to work in human resources, as financial managers, as IT specialists, as attorneys – in other words, we need to make the federal government a welcoming environment for those with these experiences and skills. We are studying ways to increase our employment of people with specialized language skills and cultural competencies, and have reached out to ADC and a number of other organizations for their assistance. We would greatly appreciate any thoughts you have on how we could accomplish this worthy goal.

I want to mention that we will be working actively with the interns that ADC brings to Washington this summer; if we do a particularly good job, perhaps some of them will join us permanently some day.

A third area where we can better engage is in the area of training. Our workforce needs to better understand the cultures, values, customs and traditions of Arab-Americans and Muslim-Americans, and other ethnic and religious communities in America. Dr. Margaret Nydell of Georgetown University has written a widely read book on Arab culture. She states, "Perceptions become realities to the people who hold them, and people who lack cross-cultural experience can easily misunderstand the attitudes and behaviors they confront." We must work hard to ensure that these misperceptions and misunderstandings are addressed.

This is another area in which I see a great deal of consensus. Organizations like ADC often raise the issue of training, but I have also had dozens of conversations with people inside government who have independently expressed a need for training in this area.

In fact, this need for training has spawned a problem: there are so many people who offer to do this kind of training that it is hard to ensure that the source is legitimate. We must make sure this kind of training is accurate and effective. In February, ADC brought to us a complaint about a course being taught at the academy of one of the DHS agencies. The course was to give an overview of Arab and Muslim culture. According to the complaint, the course contained inaccurate information and offensive stereotypes.

As a result of ADC's complaint, we opened an investigation, with the full cooperation of the leadership of the agency in question. We have thoroughly reviewed the documents involved in the course, and taken statements from a number of people who were students in the class. We concluded that the course was so poorly conceived that it often reinforced some of the worst stereotypes of Arab and Muslim culture and values. As a result of our investigation and recommendations, the officials from this agency have suspended the course. Moreover, they have asked us to work with them to develop new training in this area – training that is credible, accurate and relevant. The leaders of that agency have thanked us for exposing this situation, and we want to thank ADC for bringing it to us. When you help us to see problems at the earliest possible stage, it helps us to be the best possible agency we can be.

I want you to know that other parts of DHS, and the federal government, are training quite effectively. For example, the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection training office has put together an extremely effective and helpful training session on Arab and Muslim culture. I have recently traveled to our academy in Georgia to personally take the course, and was very impressed.

Another example is this: my office has sent a CD-ROM with basic information about Arab and Muslim culture to thousands of DHS employees. The CD-ROM, you should know, prominently features ADC's Nawar Shora, and was prepared by the Community Relations Service of the Justice Department.

Finally, we need to work together to establish solid lines of communication between law enforcement and the Arab-American and Muslim-American communities. It is critical that we talk with each other – when an inflammatory incident happens, if community leaders know to call a law enforcement official the incident can be addressed or explained quickly and the tensions eased. Moreover, if a community leader grows to know and trust a law enforcement official, he or she will feel comfortable to call that official if there is something of concern happening within the community. Most of all, these open lines of communication can help improve the government's work – if community leaders have constructive criticisms, they will have an open door to share those ideas and help us to improve.

We are working to increase the level of communication between DHS and the Arab-American and Muslim-American communities. We already have formal, regular communication meetings here in Washington, in Detroit and in Chicago. ADC is a leader in all of those. We also have had good dialogue with community leaders in Buffalo and Los Angeles. I know that our colleagues at Treasury and Justice are also meeting with community leaders and listening to their concerns.

In conclusion, I want to acknowledge that this will not be easy; it will be road with many peaks and valleys. There are all sorts of pressures that seek to pull us apart; we have to resist those.

We have to make sure that those who believe in cementing positive relationships are the voices who shape opinions, that these are the people who are influencing the debate. It will not be easy, but it must be done. We can draw inspiration from the words of Abraham Lincoln who said, "Still the question recurs 'can we do better?' The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall nobly save our country."

Thank you."

http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/structure/editorial_0627.shtm
--------------------------

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=26926_Homeland_Security_at_ISNA_Right_Next_to_Hizb_Ut-Tahrir&only

Homeland Security at ISNA Right Next to Hizb Ut-Tahrir

Wed, Sep 5, 2007

Here's a photo from the Islamic Society of North America convention, showing the booth of Hizb ut-Tahrir, the Islamic supremacist group openly dedicated to the establishment of shari'a over the entire world, with a poster advertising "The Shield."

And in the disgrace of the year, right next door to this most radical of radical front groups: the Department of Homeland Security, apparently trying to recruit employees. Notice how "The Shield" is conspicuously placed on the side of the booth facing the DHS exhibit.

MIM:The Department of Homeland Security representative Dan Sutherland also spoke at the ISNA convention.

-----------------------------------------------------

http://www.imana.org/mc/page.do?orgId=imana&sitePageId=50770

Registration for Pre-ISNA 2007 is now open. We have managed to secure the same rates as last year for you, as well as at least 10 CME hours. You won't want to miss it! The meeting will take place on Thursday, August 30th and Friday, August 31st. It will follow the same format as last year. There will be a lunch on Thursday as well as a banquet dinner later that evening.

Confirmed Speakers include:

Mark Ward - Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator, USAID

Dan Sutherland - Officer for Civil Rights and Liberties, Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

Dr. Ingrid Mattson - President, Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)

Farhana Khera - President, National Association Muslim Lawyers (NAML)

Todd Shea - Comprehensive Disaster and Relief Services (CDRS)

...and more!

All of your rooms will be in the Hyatt O'Hare for the $99 rate for the entire ISNA convention as well for your convenience. However, you must be registered for the CME program to qualify for these rooms; those who are not registered for CME are subject to room cancellation. Please fill out the registration form on the next page. The call for abstracts is also attached to this page. If you are planning on presenting, submit your abstract ASAP! The deadline for registration is July 31st, 2007 and the rooms are first come, first serve only to CME registrants. Our rooms filled up quickly last year, so please take advantage of this as early as possible!

--
Shiraz Malik
Executive Director

--------------------------

MIM: A 2004 press release by Sofian Abdelaziz Zakkout for AMANA condemning the assassination of Hamas leader Sheik Yassin calling him a "scholar" and "founder of the leading Palestinian Resistance Movement".

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.terrorism.world-trade-center/browse_thread/thread/862a1a5fe5f5398c/674c9119dc4b4c3d?hl=en&lnk=st&q=al+amana#674c9119dc4b4c3d
> 22 March 2004
> Press Release
>
> The American Muslim Association of North America, AMANA
> Condemns Israel's Terror Assassination of Shaykh Ahmad Yasin
>
> The American Muslim Association of North America, AMANA condemns in the
> strongest terms Israel's terror assassination of Shaykh Ahmad Isma'il
Yasin,
> the renowned Islamic scholar and founder of the leading Palestinian
> Resistance Movement - Hamas which where established to free the
Palestinian
> territories against the illegal occupation by Israelis.
>
> "This evil act of state terrorism against an old and disabled man is
> outrageous. As Shaykh Ahmad Isma'il Yasin was leaving the mosque after
the
> morning prayers, an Israeli helicopter missile launch killed him and
enraged
> the entire region with vows of revenge.
>
> "We hold the international community directly responsible for allowing
the
> Israeli Occupation Forces to continue with its policy of wanton killing
and
> terrorizing of Palestinian civilians. No amount of military force and
> assassinations will bring about a Final Solution to the Palestinian
> dehumanization and continued oppression.
>
> The American Muslim Association calls upon our US Government and its
> partners in the European Union to take immediate and effective measures
to
> bring about an end to Israel's decades-long illegal occupation of the
> Palestinian territories and uphold the rule of international law. The
double
> standards being employed in the so-called "War on Terror" are not only
> counterproductive, but with these recent terrorist attacks, it will not
> bring peace to the region or peace to the civilized world.
>
> We also demand criminal charges brought against Sharon and his terror
regime
> who planed the assassination of Shaykh Ahmad Isma'il Yasin and other
> innocent civilians who are being killed every day under the Israeli
> occupation forces.
>
> Our hearts, prayers and condolences go out to the Palestinian people in
> their struggle to live in peace, dignity and freedom in their own
homeland.
>
> [Ends]
>
>
> The American Muslim Association of North America, AMANA has a long
history
> of promoting peace and justice for all. Trough our campaign to stop the
> killing of Muslim, Jewish and Christian civilians in our messages and in
our
> website.
> http://www.al-amana.org/gallery.php
> =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
> The American Muslim Association of North America, AMANA.
> Proudly Serving the U. S. Communities Since 1992
> (