According to current (within the past two years) research and news reports, what are

some of the changes the United States has made to policies concerning the
treatment of Muslim and Arabic members of society?

I could find no reliable sources reporting changes in U.S. policies toward Muslims and Arabs in the last two years.

What have you found?

I have found nothing, I am not sure where to look for this information

I don't think either of us found anything because that information doesn't exist. We can conclude that the U.S. has not changed its policies toward Muslims and Arabs.

I don't know what class this is, although I suspect it's an Axia class. We've had many questions in the last couple of years that show an anti-U.S./pro-Muslim bias. As far as I know, no one on this board has found any factual evidence supporting this question or answering it.

Does your text material or your instructor have suggestions about sources to answer this question?

How did you know this was an Axia class, lol

I have read the material, and there is no updated information. So I guess we can conclude that there has not been any changes.

I will ask my instructor where I can find this information; maybe it is a trick question!

Good luck! Please let us know what your instructor says. I would really like to know.

How odd, I came upon this site looking for info on the same question.

LOL I too am in Axia and working on this exact checkpoint. The links that SRA gave are really helpful. The only thing I could remember is the racial profiling motion that airport security can not target Muslim or Arabic people specifically for extra security measures.

You guys play to much LOL

There is alot of good information here:

AMP Report – July 3, 2008

American Muslims alarmed at the new profiling policy

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

American Muslim community is alarmed at the proposed Justice Department policy change that would allow the FBI to investigate Americans without evidence of wrongdoing, relying instead on a terrorist profile that could single out Muslims and Arabs.

Under the new guidelines, which are expected to be implemented later this summer, the FBI would be permitted to consider race and ethnicity when opening an investigation, according to an Associated Press report.

Agents would also be allowed to ask open-ended questions about the activities of American Muslims and Arab-Americans, and could initiate an investigation if a person's employment or background is labeled as "suspect" by government analysts looking at public records and other information.

Currently, FBI agents need specific reasons — like evidence or allegations that a law probably has been violated — to investigate U.S. citizens and legal residents. The new policy, law enforcement officials said, would let agents open preliminary terrorism investigations after mining public records and intelligence to build a profile of traits that, taken together, were deemed suspicious.

The policy changes would allow FBI agents to ask open-ended questions about activities of Muslim- or Arab-Americans, or investigate them if their jobs and backgrounds match trends that analysts deem suspect.

Among the factors that could make someone subject of an investigation is travel to regions of the world known for terrorist activity, access to weapons or military training, along with the person's race or ethnicity.

American Muslim organizations and civil right groups have expressed concern over the proposed policy.

American Muslim Voice founding Executive Director, Samina Faheem Sundas, while expressing concern over the proposed policy, said that the seven-million strong American Muslim community has seen erosion of its civil rights and profiling of Muslims has now become institutionalized.

“Official profiling of Muslims and Arabs began with the Attorney General Ashcroft’s announcement in November 2001 to target about 5,000 young men of Middle Eastern and South Asian heritage who entered the country in the last two years on non-immigrant visas but who were not suspected of any criminal activity for questioning by the federal government,” she said.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) National Executive Director Kareem Shora urged Americans not tolerate in any way profiling based on race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin. “We will continue to address this issue until we can confirm that these new guidelines do not violate our constitutional principles of justice, freedom, due process, and equality under the rule of law,” he added.

The Arab American Institute (AAI) President Dr. James Zogby said that millions of Americans who, under the reported new parameters, could become subject to arbitrary and subjective ethnic and religious profiling. “This will compromise basic civil liberties and constitutional protections, having a negative impact not only on the affected communities, but on the United States' overall effort to combat terrorism,” said Zogby.

The National Legislative Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Corey Saylor, said "Initiating criminal investigations based on racial or religious profiling is both unconstitutional and un-American."

Salam Al-Marayati, Executive Director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), said If implemented these new guidelines will make suspects out of our communities.

The FBI will be allowed to begin investigations simply "by assuming that everyone's a suspect, and then you weed out the innocent," said Caroline Fredrickson of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Arab, Muslim and other civil rights organizations contacted John Miller, FBI Assistant Director for Public Affairs, to raise alarm and opposition to any form of racial or religious profiling which violate Constitutional principles of equal protection under the law. Miller said that the Department of Justice is still in the process of drafting the guidelines. “Any review and change to the guidelines will reflect our traditional concerns for civil liberties, the First Amendment, and our emphasis on using the least intrusive instigative tools possible,” he added.

According to the AP report, Attorney General Michael Mukasey acknowledged the overhaul was under way in early June, saying the guidelines sought to ensure regulations for FBI terror investigations don't conflict with ones governing criminal probes. He would not give any details. "It's necessary to put in place regulations that will allow the FBI to transform itself ... into an intelligence gathering organization in addition to just a crime solving organization," Mukasey told reporters.

The Associated Press said although the guidelines do not require congressional approval, House members recently sought to limit such profiling by rejecting an $11 million request for the FBI's security assessment center. Lawmakers wrote it that was unclear how the FBI could compile suspect profiles "in such a way as to avoid needless intrusions into the privacy of innocent citizens" and without wasting time and money chasing down false leads.

The denial of funding could limit the FBI's use of profiles, or "predictive models and patterns of behavior" as the government prefers to describe the data-mining results, but would not change the guidelines authorizing them. The guidelines would remain in effect until a new attorney general decided to change them.

AMP Report – May 14, 2008

Muslim, Arab Groups express concern on latest
Government Report on “Homegrown Terrorism”

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

American Muslims are alarmed at a new government report on “homegrown terrorism” which claims that the threat posed by “violent Islamist extremists” now comes increasingly from within the U.S.

The report - titled Violent Islamist extremism, the internet, and the homegrown terrorist threat – was released on May 8 by Senator Lieberman, Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee and Senator Susan Collins, the committee member.

“No longer is the threat just from abroad, as was the case with the attacks of September 11, 2001; the threat is now increasingly from within, from homegrown terrorists who are inspired by “violent Islamist ideology” to plan and execute attacks where they live,” the report said.

Four leading Arab-American and Muslim-American advocacy groups, in a joint letter to the two senators, have expressed deep concern about the report that the report heavily relied upon a widely criticized and deeply flawed New York Police Department study on domestic radicalization that claimed that typical “signatures" of radicalization include wearing traditional clothing, growing a beard, or giving up cigarettes, drinking, and gambling.

The four groups who sent the letter are: American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), Muslim Advocates and Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC).

“Perhaps most disturbing is the fact that the report relies upon a now-discredited 2007 report by the New York Police Department that recommends particular scrutiny of American Muslims and Arab-Americans,” said Kareem Shora, executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC).

“The NYPD report, and its shoddy analysis, are widely regarded as unreliable by counter-terrorism experts and federal law enforcement officials – who have privately rejected the report’s contents and methodology. We’re stunned that the Committee based its own conclusions on so flawed a study,” Shora added.

Not surprisingly, in August 2007 when the NYPD report was issued, American Muslim community protested at the report that contains sweeping generalizations which are likely to reinforce negative stereotypes and unwarranted suspicions about the seven-million strong American Muslim community.

Consider the statement from the report that suggests “there is no useful profile to assist law enforcement or intelligence to predict who will follow this trajectory of radicalization.” It is followed by a detailed description of exactly who the NYPD considers suspicious: Muslim men, ages 15 to 35, of middle-class origin often with college degrees. The typical homegrown jihadists, the report continues, may “look, act, talk and walk like everyone around them” and “are often those who are at a crossroad in life.”

The NYDP report purports to outline a four-step process of radicalization, but in fact describes ordinary activities, associations and behaviors as indicators of a potential terror threat. The report lists sites that are likely to be visited by any American Muslim as radicalization 'incubators.' The sites listed include mosques, cafes, cab driver hangouts, student associations, nongovernmental organizations, butcher shops, and book stores.

Tellingly, the new report has reproduced the four steps of so-called radicalization process.

The NYDP report also claims that signs of radicalization include positive changes in personal behavior such as giving up smoking, drinking and gambling. It also makes similar claims about those who wear Islamic attire or a religiously-recommended beard. Is Islamic attire or giving up bad habits, which is something recommended by leaders of all faiths, now to be regarded as suspicious behavior?

It will not be too much to say that the NYDP report virtually laid the foundation for the blanket surveillance of the entire Muslim population. To borrow Christopher Dunn of the New York Civil Liberties Union: "this report appears to treat all young Muslims as suspects and to lay the groundwork for wholesale surveillance of Muslim communities without any sign of unlawful conduct."

The letter of the four civil right groups also drew sharp contrasts between integration and radicalization levels in the U.S. as opposed to Europe.

“Numerous terrorism experts, including Dr. Marc Sageman and Peter Bergen, have observed that the United States simply does not share the problem of “domestic radicalization” seen in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe. Measures that unfairly and inaccurately label American Muslims as a suspect class thus fail to aid our security. In fact, such policies can actively undermine security by perpetuating the myth of opposition between “the West” and “the Muslim World” that this nation’s enemies seek to propagate.”

According to Corey Saylor, national legislative director with the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR): “Inaccurately labeling American Muslims as a suspect class, as this report comes very close to doing, will do nothing to aid our collective security. We really expected more in the form of recommendations from this committee.”

The new “homegrown terrorism,” report comes at the heals of a controversial security drill in Illinois in which the drill target was named “Irving Mosque.” American Muslim groups have expressed concern that the use of a fake 'mosque' in this type of drill sends a wrong message to law enforcement officials who may now view mainstream institutions, such as Islamic houses of worship, as potential security threats.


AMP Comment – June 2, 2008

Keffiyeh: The Politics of Symbolism

By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

Dunkin' Donuts has withdrawn an ad in which Rachael Ray - the talk-show host, cookbook author and magazine editor - wears a scarf that resembles a keffiyeh (a traditional headdress worn by Arab men) - after anti-Islam, anti-Muslim and pro-Israel activists criticized the ad and even threatened to boycott the company.

The ad, which appeared earlier last month on the doughnut chain's web site to promote its iced coffee, was first attacked by Pam Geller, who posted it under the headline "Rachel Ray: Dunkin Donuts Jihad Tool." "Have you seen Rachel Ray wearing the icon of Yasser Arafat and the bloody Islamic jihad," Geller wrote. "This is part of the cultural jihad."

Another Islamophobist, Michelle Malkin, following Geller, wrote on her website: "The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad. Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant (and not so ignorant) fashion designers, celebrities and left-wing icons."

Dunkin' Donuts, after pulling the ad May 24, issued a statement from Margie Myers, senior vice president of communications for Dunkin' Brands: "In a recent online ad, Rachael Ray is wearing a black-and-white silk scarf with a paisley design. It was selected by the stylist for the advertising shoot. Absolutely no symbolism was intended. However, as of this past weekend, we are no longer using the online ad because the possibility of misperception detracted from its original intention to promote our iced coffee."

Trendy clothing store Urban Outfitters initially sold keffiyeh-like scarves until Jewish customers protested but reintroduced them with different colors in several global markets. Fashion house Balenciaga glamorized them on the runway.

Before the latest keffiyeh controversy, there was a row over the pop singer Ricky Martin’s sporting of a red keffiyeh to show support for the Palestinian human rights. Other celebrities, such as Collin Farrell, Mary Kate Olsen and Kanye West, have been wearing the keffiyeh.

It is deeply regretted that a small group of dedicated Islamophobists tried to demonize the traditional Arab headdress (keffiyeh) worn by millions of people around the globe.

To borrow Laila Al-Qatami, the Arab Anti-Defamation Committee Communications Director, those making a big uproar about the matter very often seem to have negative comments about anything that's related to Arabs or Islam.

Ms. Al-Qatami added: “It’s a sad commentary when an article of clothing is labeled in such negative and derogatory terms and used as a premise to vilify Arabs and Muslims. That they were incorrect in their allegations did not, as usual, deter their hate campaign against an article of clothing and more generally against Arab and Muslims and specifically against Palestinians”.

The criticism of keffiyeh by Pamla Geller and Michelle Malkin is not surprising as a visit to their blogs will only find anti-Islam, anti-Muslim, anti-Arab tirades.

Ms. Geller has managed to build up a large audience at her blog “Atlas Shrugs” with her ferocious attacks on Islam. In a bid to attract more web surfers her blog now shows the anti-Islam Dutch movie the Fitna.

On the other hand, Michelle Malkin, the daughter of Filipino immigrants, has made a career out of being among the strongest critics of immigration and immigrants' rights. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks she has been one of the most hostile commentators toward the Arab American and Muslim American communities, consistently arguing in favor of discrimination and profiling, and describing the backlash of hate crimes and discrimination against the communities as a "myth."

In her 2004 book - “In Defense of Internment: Case for Racial Profiling in World War II and the War on Terror” - Malkin argued that it was not racism that led to mass internment but rather the result of “secret codes” intercepted and supposedly revealing nefarious plots by a small number of Issei (Japanese aliens) and Nisei (Japanese-Americans).

However, it will not be too much to say that considering the political climate in the post 9/11 America, Malkin’s book is not really about the Japanese but about Muslims and Arabs.

Actually, Malkin was preparing the ethical skids for internment of Muslim Americans who are, simply by virtue of their religion, considered somehow less than American and deserving of a concentration camp if there was another terrorist attack. She claimed that the “civilian liberties Chicken Littles” were using the issue of racism to prevent the discussion of curtailing the movements of American Muslims during the Bush administration “war on terror.”

The campaign by Geller and Malkin against the innocent use of keffiyeh in a commercial ad is the latest episode of anti-Arab, anti-Muslim and Islamophobic diatribe which is the best seller in the post-9/11 America where our administration has created a culture of fear, hate, anger and division among all Americans.

I DID NOT KNOW ALL THIS...LOL..

I AM STUCK ON THE SAME QUESTION I ALSO GO TO AXIA AND I JUST STUMBLED UPON THIS SITE.. ITS HELPED ME OUT ALOT ON FINDING INFORMATION TO THIS CHECKPOINT FOR THIS CLASS. SO NOW JUST BECAUSE OF SOMEONES BACKGROUND THEY ARE ALLOWED TO PREFORM A PRE-TERRORISM INVESTIGATION.

THATS CRAZY!!! I DID NOT KNOW THAT.