November
02, 2007
Bush’s
Sputtering “War on Terror” Loses Again
The stunning
defeat of the Bush administration’s war
on American Muslim charities should lead to a
major reassessment of how the government carries
out its anti-terrorism policies. In a Dallas courtroom,
the government failed to get a conviction on a
single count of its almost 200 count indictment
against Holy Land Foundation and its senior officers.
Holy Land Foundation was the single largest Muslim-American
charity before it was shut down just after 9/11
on the grounds that it was financing terrorism.
Holy Land was not accused of involvement in attacks
on Americans. Rather, its support of Palestinians
in the West Bank and Gaza, who were the recipients
of its aid, constituted support for Hamas, which
was engaged in acts of terrorism against Israeli
targets.
While most Americans accepted this as a necessary
step at the time, American Muslims were greatly
disturbed that no due process was followed and
no opportunity for the charity to defend its actions
was allowed. The government shutdown was carried
out by the Treasury Department on the basis of
“secret evidence”, a chillingly Orwellian
term, and a clear violation of the Constitutional
right to confront and rebut one’s accusers.
Fortunately for Holy Land, the government was
forced to eventually offer them a day in a court,
although the shutdown essentially destroyed the
charity, and the millions in the accounts that
were given in good faith by donors fulfilling
a religious obligation were now subject to possible
confiscation. Some even lobbied Congress to have
those funds turned over to victims of Hamas attacks.
At the trial, it turned out the secret evidence
was in fact an Israeli secret agent, who was allowed
to testify at trial with his name and identity
withheld from the jury and the defense. The case
turned on the issue of where the funds were sent
by Holy Land. HLF transferred its monies to local
“Zakat Committees” that existed in
West Bank and Gaza localities to provide charitable
relief. These committees had never been designated
by the US government as terrorist groups, and
HLF based its defense on that fact. Many other
international and European NGOs used these same
committees to transfer aid. The Israeli agent
claimed that they were all Hamas-controlled fronts,
but offered no proof of that other than his word.
The defense countered with Edward Abington, the
former Consul General of the United States in
Jerusalem, and the second-highest ranking intelligence
officer in the State Department before he retired.
He testified that he had visited every Zakat Committee
and did not find any links to Hamas or terrorism,
and he attended daily CIA briefings while in Israel
at which the CIA never stated the Zakat Committees
were linked to Hamas. In the end, the jury, unlike
the US government, found our own officials more
convincing than Israeli secret agents.
This misguided assault on HLF was perceived by
American Muslims as part of an assumption of guilt
by association that permeated the culture and
the government after 9/11. Along with a vast expansion
of the no-fly list, FBI surveillance of mosques,
the USAPATRIOT Act, and Bush’s assertion
of his right to declare anyone an enemy combatant
and lock them up without trial indefinitely, American
Muslims felt themselves under siege. It has been
gratifying to see that average Americans, when
called to review the evidence in a jury, have
retained their sense of justice and fair play.
The attack on Holy Land is not merely a Muslim-American
issue, it should be of great concern to all Americans.
The vast expansion of executive power after 9/11
should trouble all those who want to protect our
freedoms and way of life. We cannot allow fear
to stampede us into fundamentally changing the
basic character of this great nation. The government
will never take away our liberty by attacking
the average American, rather it will pick on the
despised and feared, telling the rest that this
is done for their own good, and don’t ask
too many questions. But in the end, the freedoms
it takes from one it can take from all. Comments
can reach me at Nali@socal.rr.com.
