Muslims
May Garner the First Benefit of Supporting John
Kerry
By Hazem Kira
CA
Politics is like a kaleidoscope; every turn produces
a different combination and a different pattern.
Despite being triumphant, the Bush Administration
has taken half a turn within ten days after the
election. Attorney General John Ashcroft had resigned.
Don’t underestimate (or as President Bush
would say, don’t misunderestimate) the significance
of his departure.
“Mr. Ashcroft’s resignation and the
subsequent nomination of White House Counsel Alberto
Gonzales has created a huge opportunity for an
expanded and revived civil libertarian coalition
to have a potentially policy-altering debate during
the confirmation hearings”, AMT Chair Dr.
Agha Saeed said.
If confirmed the White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales
will become the first Hispanic American to occupy
this position.
The confirmation hearings for Mr. Gonzales in
the Senate would be the first major, post-election
2004 opportunity for the Democrats to redeem themselves
in their own eyes and those of the rest of country.
It would be a major opportunity to focus the debate
not on Mr. Gonzales’ personal qualifications
and capabilities alone, but also on the policies
he is likely to adopt and implement. This focus
on policies and procedures will be a useful first
step toward a full-fledge national debate on the
USA PATRIOT ACT. Many articles of the USA PATRIOT
Act are legislated to sunset in 2005 unless renewed
by the Congress.
This two-step debate can begin with a demand for
an unambiguous public commitment by the incoming
Attorney General to due process and equal justice
as well as to prohibition against ex post facto
laws, secret evidence and secret trials.
The Muslim American community can garner the first
benefit of its qualified yet highly disciplined
support for John Kerry. With its 93% vote for
Sen. John Kerry, the American Muslim voters have
shown the greatest internal discipline of any
voting community in the United States.
Here is a general outline of the confirmation-hearing
specific action plan being contemplated by the
leaders of the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil
Rights and Elections (AMT).
1. Consolidate and expand the National Civil Rights
Coalition consisting of AMT, ACLU, NAACP, Green
Party, Libertarian Party, Reform Party, and elements
of the Independent campaign.
2. Mobilize the National Civil Rights Coalition
to pressure as well as support the Congressional
Democratic leadership to take a principled stand
during the confirmation hearings. Pressure them
to act, and support them when they do.
3. Enlist the support of the media and the academia
in broadening this debate and increasing the pressure
on the Attorney General-designate to commit himself
to uphold Constitutional Principles listed above.
4. Work with the Democratic Leadership, Black
and Latino caucuses in particular, to get prominent
civil libertarian legal thinkers to testify before
the Senate Judiciary Committee.
5. Engage Muslim activists and other civil libertarians
to launch a district-level grassroots movement
to Democrat members of the Congress and even moderate
Republicans to join in organizing a precedent-setting
confirmation hearing as well as in developing
a framework for balancing security and liberty.
6. Approach and persuade Democrat leaders at city
and state levels to contact, encourage and support
their Congressional colleagues for repealing the
manifestly unconstitutional aspects of the USA
PATRIOT Act.
The AMT leadership also plans to use the window
of opportunity created by confirmation hearing
to accomplish three additional goals: 1) deepen
the internal consensus, 2) strengthen the internal
discipline which had resulted in 72% Muslim vote
for Bush in 2000 and 93% for Kerry in 2004, and
3) keep the American Muslim community actively
engaged with the political process.
So far the announcement of Mr. Gonzales’
nomination has received mixed responses. While
the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) has
welcomed the nomination of White House Counsel
Alberto Gonzales to the position of US Attorney
General, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has declined
to any formal position. A statement by HRC reads:
“We are hopeful that Alberto Gonzales will
take a moderate approach and reject discrimination,”
said HRC President Cheryl Jacques. “We look
forward to confirmation hearings where we can
further explore his position on issues of privacy,
civil liberties and civil rights. At this time,
the Human Rights Campaign takes no formal position
on this nomination.”
Yet another organization, Center for American
Progress (CFAP), has issued furious denunciation
of Mr. Gonzales: According to a statement titled
‘ A Record of Injustice’ posted on
CFAP’s website, Mr. Gonzales has previously
approved memo authorizing torture. “An August
2002 Justice Department memo “was vetted
by a larger number of officials, including...the
White House counsel’s office and Vice President
Cheney’s office.” According to Newsweek,
the memo “was drafted after White House
meetings convened by George W. Bush’s chief
counsel, Alberto Gonzales, along with Defense
Department general counsel William Haynes and
[Cheney counsel] David Addington.”
It is further asserted that the “memo included
the opinion that laws prohibiting torture do “not
apply to the President’s detention and interrogation
of enemy combatants.” Further, the memo
puts forth the opinion that the pain caused by
an interrogation must include “injury such
as death, organ failure, or serious impairment
of body functions-in order to constitute torture.”
The analysts for Center for American Progress
(CFAP), go on to point out that “the methods
outlined in the memo “provoked concerns
within the CIA about possible violation of the
federal torture law [and] also raised concerns
at the FBI, where some agents knew of the techniques
being used” overseas on high-level al Qaeda
officials.”
It is obvious that the lines are already being
drawn for a major policy debate. The nascent,
albeit qualified, working alliance of American
Muslims with the Democratic Party in general and
Senator John Kerry and Senators Edward Kennedy
would be an important resource for the community
in the days and months to come. “Now that
the elections are over, both Sen. Kerry and Sen.
Kennedy seem far more willing to take a bolder
stand on civil liberties than they were during
the elections”, one AMT source said.
This collaborative effort will be a living proof
of both the relevance and importance of the American
Muslim bloc vote in 2004.
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