HAPPY MEN'S DAY -- which will never come!

You will love this specially the part in Urdu written in Roam script.

Worth sending to every man to make him smile & every woman to make her realize his worth!!

HAPPY MEN'S DAY -- JO KABI NAHI AAYEGA..

Who is a MAN?

A man is the most beautiful part of God's creation who starts compromising at a very tender age.

He sacrifices his chocolates for his sister.

He sacrifices his dreams for just a smile on his parents’ face.

He spends his entire pocket money on buying gifts for the girl he loves just to see her smiling

He sacrifices his full youth for his wife & children by working late at night without any complain.

He builds their future by taking loans from banks & repaying them for lifetime.

He struggles a lot & still has to bear scolding from his mother, wife & boss.

His mother, wife & boss all try to control him.

His life finally ends up only by compromising for others' happiness.


BECHARA MARD...!!

Agar aurat par hath uthaye to BESHARAM;

Aurat se maar khae to BUZDIL;

Aurat ko kisi ke saat dekh ker ladai kare to JEALOUS;

Chup rahe to DARPOK;

Ghar se bahar rahe to AAWARA;

Ghar me rahe to NAAKARA;

Bachhon ko dante to ZALIM;

Na dante to LAPARWAH;

Aurat ko naukari karne se roke to SHAK KARNE WALA;

Aurat ko naukari karane se na roke to BIWI KI KAMAI KHANE WALA;

Maa ki mane to CHAMCHA;

Biwi ki sune to JORU KA GULAM...

Na Jane Kab Aayega,

"HAPPY MEN'S DAY"

Respect every male in your life.

U will never know what he has sacrificed 4U.

Note: This is a reformatted version of a post put on Face Book by Salim Sarang

on July 31, 2013

ISLAM’S ROLE IN “ISLAMIC TERROR”

By Gulamhusein A. Abba

The wide media coverage of death and destruction, accompanied by some truly gruesome horrors being perpetrated by a large number of Muslims in many Muslim countries, including Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Egypt, Mali and others, has understandably changed the perception of non-Muslims towards Muslims and Islam itself. This is causing a rift between Muslims and non-Muslims all over the world, even though the majority of Muslims do not embrace the cult of death and violence.

In the city in which I live, Danbury itself, I have noticed, on many occasions, non-Muslims distancing themselves from Muslims in buses, the library, Senior Center and other public places. Indeed Muslims themselves are wary of befriending another Muslim, afraid that he might be a sympathizer of the extremists and may be under surveillance by the authorities. They do not want to get involved through associating with such a person. This growing schism between Mulims and non-Muslim is not good either for the Muslims, non-Muslims or the country as a whole.

Also, the extremists are using the media to win recruits from moderate Muslims by brainwashing them with their extremist version of Islam. In this context, it is imperative to reassure non-Muslims and educate Muslims as to what Islam really has to say in this matter, and this can be done only through direct quotations from the holy book of the Muslims, the Quran itself.

The current situation clearly requires this.

To begin with, it needs to be emphasized that, in the matter of co-existence between Muslims and non-Muslims and between one sect of Muslims and another sect, there is no problem in Islam. The problem is with those Muslims who, though large in number are nevertheless in a minority compared to the total Muslim population.

These terrorist Muslims have forgotten three important and fundamental considerations. Firstly, they have forgotten that the Quran acknowledges that there are different tribes and nations (and sects). According to the Quran, God himself created this diversity, and for a purpose: “O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things). Surah 49 Verse 13

Secondly, they have forgotten that the Quran makes it clear that each person is accountable for his choice and that the accounting will be between the person concerned and God. There is no compulsion in religion in Islam. "Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from error" Al-Qur’ an 2:256

The Qur'an anticipates the fact that there will be a plurality of religious communities on the earth, a fact which does not threaten it. Numerous verses speak about this. In addition to what is stated in Surah 49 Verse 13 cited above, are the following: "Do not the Believers know, that had God (so) willed, He could have guided all mankind (to the Right)?" Qur'an 13:31 "If it had been thy Lord's Will, they would all have believed; -- all who are on earth.! Will thou then compel mankind, against their will, to believe?" Qur'an 10:99

Islam never declared the concept of converting others into the faith as part of the Muslims’ duties. On the contrary, Islam limited the Muslims’ duties in this respect to merely conveying the message of God to the people. But, if they paid no heed and turned away, the Quran says: “If then they turn away, We have not sent thee as a guard over them. Thy duty is but to convey (the Message). …” Surah 42 Verse 48

From a religious point of view, there is no need for Muslims to force others to embrace Islam or force one sect of Islam to embrace another sect, much less kill them if they refuse. The Sunnis and the Shias who are killing each other and the Muslims who are killing Christians need to remember these verses from the Quran.

As for the Sunnis in Pakistan, they will do well to also remember that among those who served Pakistan well in the early days of Pakistan were non-Sunni Muslims.

To mention just two. Prince Aly Khan was appointed Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations by President Iskander Mirza of Pakistan on February 6, 1958. He was a member of the United Nations Political and Security Committee, was elected a vice president of the United Nations General Assembly on 17 September 1958 and also served as chairman of the U.N.'s Peace Observation Committee. He was not a Sunni but an Agakhani Muslim, more widely known as Ismaili Muslims

Then there was Muhammad Zafrulla Khan who in 1961 succeeded Aly Khan as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN. He is known for drafting the Pakistan Resolution, and was the first foreign minister of Pakistan. He also served as a judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. He too was not a Sunni but belonged to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

Lastly, the extremist Muslims have forgotten that religion cannot be forced down people’s throats through threats of death. Such “conversions” have no meaning and add no glory to Islam. Like in any other belief system, the only way to get people to accept Islam is through example, through behavior and actions of Muslims.

The world needs to understand that those perpetrating violence and horrors in Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere in the Muslim world, though presenting themselves as revolutionaries for democracy and defenders of Islam are, in reality, no lovers of democracy and are acting against the teachings of Islam, fighting merely for power and position.

I think it is necessary to let the readers of this piece know that I am a Sunni Muslim.

Gulamhusein A. Abba Danbury The writer can be contacted on gaabba2000@yahoo.com

 

GOODBYE (sort of, for now)

For well over half a century I have thrown myself, body and soul, into social and political work, including the struggle for my country’s independence, creation of Pakistan, organizing and unionizing workers and prostitutes, seeking justice for the exploited, the voiceless, the tyrannized, exposing government ministers, international smugglers, slum landlords, corrupt judges and police officers, and, preaching non-violence and the rule of law.

In the process I have completely neglected my personal affairs and not paid much attention to building up and maintaining family relationships. The result is that I now find myself rather alone and my personal affairs in shambles! Much work has to be done to tie up loose ends, bring some sort of order in my life and try to reconnect with family.

I came face to face with death at an early age when my mother passed away with me barley ten years old. Since then I lost my father two years later and, later my first born, my brother and recently my elder sister.

I have always known that our life in this world is fleeting and death can come quite unexpectedly at any moment. My mortality has stared at me for years.  So far I have ignored it. The recent death of my elder sister has brought home to me forcefully that my own death is not far away.

The need to tie up all loose ends and reconnect with family is pressing. Besides, I am really tired and need to rejuvenate myself.

 And so, most reluctantly and with a heavy heart, I am suspending indefinitely my participation in activism of any sort as also in any dialogue on Face Book.

I am indebted to my family, my real life friends, my Face Book and internet friends and all my activist friends and I thank them from the bottom of my heart for all the support, help and friendship extended by them to me.

If and when all that has to be attended to is done, God willing, I will return.

Till then, to all of you, a heangrtfelt GOODBYE (sort of, for now)

Note: Please note that starting May 27, I will NOT be visiting Face Book. I request my family and friends to e-mail me if there is anything I need to know or if there is any message they want to convey to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

BOSTON BOMBING, SELECTIVE COMPASSION AND THE “MUSLIM FACTOR”

By Gulamhusein Abba.

As I write this (morning of Tuesday, April 16) my thoughts, my heart, my sympathies, my condolences, my everything is with the people of Boston, especially those families who have lost a loved one and those who lie injured.

What a terrible tragedy. A day of rejoicing was reduced to a day of death and mourning. What could be more despicable than to launch an attack on such a day, a day designated as Patriots Day, and target those who were running to raise thousands if not millions of dollars for worthy causes, including those related to the recent Sandy Hook tragedy?

The noise of the explosions; the smoke billowing upwards; nails, pellets and shrapnel flying all over; those who had come to cheer others running, themselves running as they had never run in their lives before; dismembered limbs littering Boylston Street; blood all over; frightened people running helter-skelter trying to find escape routes, entering stores and exiting from backdoors into an adjoining street.

Family members attempting to contact those who had gone to the Marathon, to ascertain if they were safe, only to find that cell phones were dead.

First responders rushing in to tend to the injured. Medical workers treating patients with severed limbs and children with severe burns in a temporary medical tent at the road race.

Mayhem. Complete chaos. A bustling scene of cheers, hope, joyous victory, rejoicing suddenly turned into a war zone.

Imagine the fear of those on the scene. The anxiety of their loved ones. The desperation of those trying to contact them.

Two people, one of hem an eight year old boy, dead; 160 injured, 16 critically; several with a limb missing, at least 4 with their legs amputated in the hospital; nails sticking out of a girl’s body.
 

There was no need to imagine all this. Videos being projected round the clock on TV screens showed the unimaginable horror and tragedy in stark detail. Watching, I felt I was there. Having suffered tragedy and fear myself, the whole scene became very personal and palpable.

I was glued to the TV till well past midnight. Had a very disturbed sleep and was back watching TV as soon as I woke up the next morning.

A myriad thoughts and emotions ran through me.

One of the things I greatly appreciated was that President Barack Obama lost no time in going on the air and telling the nation that the authorities did not yet know who is behind the Boston Marathon bombing and urging caution in assigning blame. "We still do not know who did this, or why, and people shouldn’t jump to conclusions before we have all the facts," he said.

Another fact  that struck me was the contrast between what was happening here and what was happening in other parts of the world.

In Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and elsewhere around the world, such horror and tragedy did not occur once in a blue moon. They were a daily occurrence, routine. Drones buzzed  overhead in the skies 24 hours a day. The people  huddled in fear, not knowing when a bomb or a missile would swoop down on them, obliterating their home and killing or paralyzing them or their loved ones. When it did and all hell broke loose, no first responders rushed to tend to them.

 And not just two or twenty six died but hundreds did.

In fact, just a few days before the Boston bombing, a NATO air attack in the Shigal district of restive Kunar province, Afghanistan , killed at least 18 people, including as many as 11 innocent children. There was no ambiguity as to who had killed them and how. They were killed by a NATO air-strike.

Yet, though these tragic occurrences are far worse than what happened at Boston or Sandy hook, they receive hardly any coverage, if at all, unlike the round the clock coverage given by the media in the US to Sandy Hook shooting and Boston bombing. Consequently, neither those who suffer so grievously nor those who die so ingloriously receive any sympathy or condolences or support from any American. No American tears are shed for them.

Can compassion be selective? Should it be?

Very disturbing was that, ignoring the appeal made by none other than the President himself, the anti-Islamists in this great country immediately started trying to implicate Muslims!

For example, one of Fox News contributors, Eric Rush, in response to the Boston attack tweeted -- then deleted -- what he claimed was a joke about rounding up Saudis and killing them.

When one Bill Schmalfldt tweeted back, “Sweet God. Are you ALREADY BLAMING MUSLIMS??”, Eric replied “Yes they’re evil. Let’s kill them all”.

Though Eric deleted his original tweets, in later messages he called his critics "Islamic apologist worms" and "vermin."

The New York Post published a report, under a screaming headline “FBI grills Saudi man in Boston bombings”, claiming that a "Saudi National" had been taken "into custody" by police at a local Boston hospital. In Its initial stories the paper said that the person taken into custody was "identified as a suspect." In fact, nobody had been taken into custody and nobody had been identified as a suspect. 

Anti-Islamic blogger Pamela Geller was quick to jump on the New York Post's report, labeling the tragedy “jihad” on her blog, Atlas Shrugged.

Others, while not directly accusing Muslims of being somehow responsible for the bombing, asked the question that regularly pops up in such situations: Where is the Muslim condemnation? Implying that the silence of the Muslims itself proves that the Muslims in America are salivating at the massacre!

So where WAS, where IS the Muslim indignation, outrage, condemnation, expressions of sorrow, grief and sympathy in the Boston bombing?

 According to  Sound Vision, “There were many Muslims in the Marathon, both as victims, as well as doctors trying to save lives…..…. condemnation by Muslims was not reported by the national media … Radio Islam was on air reaching 60,000 plus listeners sympathizing with the victims within hours of this tragedy.

 

“The Muslim community in the United States and abroad began issuing their condolences and condemnations of the Boston incident within hours of receiving news reports about the attack. However, these statements of sincerity and sadness receive little to no attention in the majority of media outlets, specially the Radio and the TV.”

This is sad -- and dangerous. As pointed out in the said report: “Omitting Muslim statements of condemnation directly leads to Islamophobia, translating into deadly hate – attacks on Masjids and Islamic centers, Islamic schools, and anyone who ‘looks Muslim’.

”

As I was about to close this writing, the reassuring words of Obama were ringing in my ears: "We still do not know who did this, or why, and people shouldn’t jump to conclusions before we have all the facts," Obama said. "But make no mistake: we will get to the bottom of this, we will find out who did this, we'll find out why they did this. Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups, will feel the full weight of justice."

This triggered a faint echo from the past. Bush, responding to the 9/11 attacks, speaking about flushing out the perpetrators, tracking them down, holding them accountable, bringing them to justice or taking justice to them.

Suddenly, out of nowhere frightening questions formed.

Did families and friends of innocent men, women, children and babies killed in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine ever say to themselves that they would track down the perpetrators, hold them accountable and bring them to justice or take justice to them?

Did any of their governments ever vow to do this?

What if all of them start doing it?

MAKING THE UNBEARABLE BEARABLE

Late Saturday evening I got a phone call informing me that my 92 years old sister, who lives in California, had passed away about two hours back.

This loss has been difficult for me to bear.

I lost my mother when I was 10 and my father when I was 12. After the death of my mother, my sister became my mother too and looked after me till my adulthood. She then turned into my friend in whom I could confide. This continued till she left to live in her husband’s house.

I have so many endearing memories of her. Now she is gone. So have my father, mother and elder brother.

The pain in losing my sister is specially sharp because, though we spoke on the phone, we did not spend any time with each other for the last 6 years or more. Worse, I was not able to fly out to California to see her one last time, pay my respects and take part in the burial rituals.

For the last few days I have been going about with a mask so as to spare my family and friends, already coping with their own burdens, having to put up with my pain too. But I hurt inside. 

Each message of sympathy or condolence received by me during this period, slight in itself, contributed towards lessening the burden of grief and pain crushing me, and, collectively they make the unbearable bearable.

Each and every message that I received has been a great help and is precious to me.

I take this opportunity to offer my sincere appreciation and heartfelt thanks to all those who sent them.

I also beg to be forgiven by those whom I may have missed thanking individually.

Gulamhusein Abba

 

THE DISTURBING CAE OF DR. AAFIA SIDDIQUI

 

Chris Towne, who has for years been in the struggle for justice, has been to Palestine in a journey of discovery and is a gifted artist and writer, has produced his second “comic book”, which is anything but comic. Done in Joe Sacco style, this brilliant and excellently crafted  book details, through drawings, the strange, disturbing and horrifying stranger-than-fiction true story about the plight of neuroscientist Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. In the telling of her story, light is thrown on the way Pakistani police and the US justice system works.  

Sentencing her, in what is widely viewed as a sham trial on trumped up charges, to 86 years in prison, the judge is reported to have remarked  that she would now be spending the rest of her lIfe in a federal prison.

                                              
 

 

 

 

 

As noted in the book, Siddiqui was sent to the “notorious Carswell Prison where abuse of female prisoners has been rampant, and, though she was never charged with terrorism,Dr. Siddiqui’s imprisonment includes ‘harsh terror enhancements’   

CIndy Sheehan has said, “I believe Dr.Aafia Siddiqui is a political prisoner and now the political bogey-woman for two US regimes. 

At present Dr. Siddiqui languishes in prison. However, an international movement has been growing to demand her freedom. Please read about her, and share with family and friends! 

ChrisTowne’s book: http://postubermensch.tumblr.com/aafia 

Please check out this video of Victoria Brittain on the case of Dr Aafia Siddiqu:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xx6lgc_victoria-brittain-on-the-case-of-dr-aafia-siddiqui_news#.US0byjBJ72M

How  YOU can Help Dr. Aafia Siddiqui

On March 30, 2013, the 10^th. Anniversary of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui’s detention, the THE PEACE THRU JUSTICE FOUNDATION will afford supporters of Aafia in America with three opportunities to contribute to this very important campaign.

FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 2013, An Aafia Support Rally at The Embassy of Pakistan, 3517 International Court, Washington, DC 20008. Time: 3:00 to 5:00

 FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013, A Protest Rally at US District Court, 501 W. 10th Street, Fort Worth, Texas (At the intersection of 10th & Lamar Streets, across from Burnette Park ). Time: 3:00 TO 5:00

SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 2013, A Protest March & Rally at FMC CARSWELL Fort Worth, Texas Time: 12 NOON

Additionally, plans are afoot to hold a press conference on the morning of March 8th (International Women's Day) in Washington, DC, to bring attention to the impact that the so-called "war on terrorism" is having on woman in America - i.e. Mothers, Wives, Sisters, Daughters, along with nformational updates on the condition of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui and Attorney Lynne Stewart.

There will also be a special briefing on the ongoing quest for justice/accountability in the political murder of Rachel Corrie.

 

The official website of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui's family: http://www.freeaafia.org/ 

Some articles about the case:  

The mystery of Dr Aafia Siddiqui | World news | The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/24/aafia-siddiqui-al-qaida 

Dr. Aafia Siddiqui Case – A Detailed Story of Lies And Deception

http://pakistankakhudahafiz.wordpress.com/2010/01/20/dr-aafia-siddiqui-case-a-detailed-story-of-lies-and-deception-by-the-americans/ 

Yvonne Ridley reviews the case of Aafia Siddiqu

http://www.cageprisoners.com/our-work/opinion-editorial/item/3841-dr-aafia-siddiqui-for-the-9th-anniversary

Some videos for Urdu knowing public:

 

Video, in Urdu, about Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, entitled  “Truth of Afia Siddiqi”. Uploaded on Apr 28, 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwKgeYVE5uQ  

Video, in Urdu, about Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, entitled “Dr. Aafia Siddiqui New Tarana”. Uploaded on Sep 27, 2010. Contanins moving images and posters in English: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQEpmmy8YZ0

A strong video in Urdu, indicting Pakistani government regarding Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. Entitled “Zaid Hamid - Reality of the Case of Dr. Aafia”. Uploaded on Sep 29, 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qCCx_iFVc8 

Rare video of speech by Aafia Siddiqui in Houston 1991. Topic : "Women in Islam". Published on Jul 28, 2012. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skmj16h40wE

 

HOW US PUNISHES US MUSLIMS

Note: The following article was published in The Guardia. It was written by Glenn Greenwald under the heading “US Air Force veteran, finally allowed to fly into US, is now banned from flying back home” The original can be viewed at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/09/saddiq-long-no-fly-list

“This …. is a means by which the FBI metes out extra-judicial punishment”

*********************

 US Air Force veteran, finally allowed to fly into US, is now banned from flying back home

Secret, unaccountable no-fly lists are one of many weapons the US government uses to extra-judicially punish American Muslims

o            Glenn Greenwald

o            guardian.co.uk, Saturday 9 February 2013 07.40 EST

o             Jump to comments (381)

US Muslim Air Force veteran Saadiq Long is greeted at the Oklahoma City airport in November 2012 after finally being allowed to fly home to visit his ailing mother. Photograph: screegrab NewsOK

In early November, I wrote about the infuriating story of Saadiq Long, the 43-year-old African-American Muslim who - despite having never been charged with any crime - was secretly placed on a no-fly list and thus barred from flying to the US to visit his seriously ill mother. When I met with Long in early November in Doha, Qatar, where he has lived for several years with his wife and her two children while teaching English, he was in the middle of his futile months-long battle just to find out why he was placed on this list, let alone how he could be removed.

Two weeks after that article was published, Long - without explanation - was finally removed from the no-fly list and he flew from Doha to Oklahoma City to visit his mother and other family members. He took several flights to make the 20-hour journey, all without incident. He has remained in Oklahoma for the last ten weeks, visiting his family in the US for the first time in over a decade.

But now Long - unbeknownst to him - has once again apparently been secretly placed by some unknown National Security State bureaucrat on the no-fly list. On Wednesday night, as Associated Press first reported, he went to the Will Rogers Airport in Oklahoma City to fly back home to Qatar. In order to ensure there were no problems, his lawyer sent the FBI a letter ahead of time notifying them that Long would be flying home on that date (see the embedded letter below).

But without explanation, Long was denied a boarding pass at the airport by a Delta Airlines agent. Three local police officers then arrived on the scene, followed by a US Transportation Security Administration agent who "told Long he couldn't board a plane but did not give him a specific reason".

Long's lawyer, Adam Soltani of the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), was with him at the airport and repeatedly asked agents why this was happening and who they should contact. He got no answers, except was told to contact the FBI. But both the FBI and Delta refused to comment to AP, while TSA spokesman David Castelveter would only say this:

"It's my understanding this individual was denied a boarding pass by the airline because he was on a no-fly list. The TSA does not confirm whether someone is or is not on the no-fly list, as that list is maintained by the FBI."

Long and his CAIR lawyers have thus far been told nothing about why he is barred once again from flying.

The personal cost to this injustice is obvious and substantial. Long has a job he needs to return to in Doha from which he has been away for more than two months, and his family needs that income for its sustenance. "I was extremely disappointed when I was unable to board the flight this past Wednesday," Long told me through his lawyer. "My family in Qatar feels crushed that I will not be returning home as expected."

The sense of humiliation and outrage should not be hard to fathom. Just imagine being a US citizen, denied the right to travel home - first to your own country, then back to your family - by a government that has never charged you with any crime or indicated you have engaged in wrongdoing of any sort. Imagine going to the airport and having local and federal agents arrive to prevent you from boarding a plane, treating you like a criminal - a Terrorist - without any tangible accusations. "I don't understand how the government can take away my right to travel without even telling me," he told me back in November. "If the US government wanted me to question or arrest or prosecute me, they could have had me in a minute. But there are no charges, no accusations, nothing."

But what's particularly infuriating here is that, if they had evidence that Long has done anything wrong, they easily could have arrested him at any point over the last ten weeks when he was in the US. The reality is that they could have arrested him at any time over the last decade because he has lived in three countries with highly US-loyal autocracies: Egypt, the UAE and Qatar. But he was never arrested, never charged with anything - just denied the basic right to travel.

Here is what CAIR's Gadeir Abbas told me about all of this on Thursday:

"It is not as if the FBI actually thinks Saadiq is a threat. If it did - and it had actual evidence - the FBI would simply arrest him. As they surely recall, they let him fly just a few months ago. It turns out, though, the only reason for doing so is because it is, in the FBI's view, slightly more indefensible to prevent an American citizen from flying home than it is to prevent him from flying abroad.

"And because we told the FBI ahead of time when Saadiq would be flying, hardly the behavior of a criminal, they could have stuck an air marshal right next to him. They could have subjected his person and luggage to extra scrutiny. But the FBI does not do these things because the No Fly List is not used to protect aircraft. This watchlist - and the many others like it - is a means by which the FBI metes out extra-judicial punishment."

How can anyone argue with that? Even leaving aside that he just flew into and around the US less than three months ago without incident, the very idea that he poses a threat to this flight is patently ludicrous given their advance knowledge that he was flying and the multiple precautions they could take if they really were concerned.

Plainly, air travel safety is not what any of this is about. It is about inventing ways to punish US Muslims and deprive them of the most basic rights without so much as providing any notice, let alone any due process that would enable the secret, unknown accusations to be discovered and rebutted. And it is a very common weapon.

Use of this repressive tactic has worsened significantly under the Obama administration. Last February, Associated Press learned that "the Obama administration has more than doubled, to about 21,000 names, its secret list of suspected terrorists who are banned from flying to or within the United States, including about 500 Americans." Moreover, as I detailed last November based on that AP report:

"Worse, the Obama administration 'lowered the bar for being added to the list'. As a result, reported AP, 'now a person doesn't have to be considered only a threat to aviation to be placed on the no-fly list' but can be included if they 'are considered a broader threat to domestic or international security', a vague status determined in the sole and unchecked discretion of unseen DHS bureaucrats."

There should be no doubt of the FBI's desire to harass Long. Although they never charged him with any crime or arrested him while he was in Oklahoma, he was, along with his sister, Ava Anderson, handcuffed and put on the ground the day after Thanksgiving after they drove to their local police department in fear when they noticed they were being followed. It turns out that the FBI had falsely told local police that Long and his sister were "fleeing felons", but when the local police learned that was false, they never arrested Long or his sister. They were simply told to leave without explanation. Here's a video report on those incidents from a local Oklahoma television station back in December:

NOTE: In the original, there is a VIDEO here. To see it CLICK the LINK near the top of the article. Continue reading the article.

As Abbas told me after that incident occurred: "Our sense is that a particular FBI agent, or perhaps a small group of them, in Oklahoma City are looking to inflict some pain on Saadiq and his family - maybe in retaliation for the embarrassment he caused them or the thousands of emails that ended up getting sent to their field office there."

The worst part of all of this is the complete lack of remedy available to Long. Abbas told me: "unfortunately, because of arcane jurisdictional complications, we don't think seeking a preliminary injunction is necessarily an expeditious option for getting Saadiq on a plane." Even worse:

"We'll likely try again in a couple of weeks, but if there isn't some change by then, this puts Saadiq in the position of rolling the dice and trying to get to a country by land or sea that will actually let him fly. Even in these situations, however, we've seen detentions and interrogations by foreign authorities, such as here and here."

So now he's just in a no-man's land. He can't contest the accusations against him because there are none. After being blocked for months from visiting his own country and his terminally ill mother, he's now barred from returning to his home, his job, and his own family. All of this is done by his own government without a shred of due process, transparency or accountability.

When I wrote on Tuesday about the Obama DOJ's "white paper" justifying due-process-free presidential assassinations, I wrote that "the core distortion of the War on Terror under both Bush and Obama is the Orwellian practice of equating government accusations of terrorism with proof of guilt" and that "if the US government simply asserts without evidence or trial that someone is a terrorist, then they are assumed to be, and they can then be punished as such." This is exactly what I was talking about: I'm sure there will be no shortage of people justifying this by insisting that he must have done something wrong: even though the government has never said what that is, offered evidence for it, or provided any opportunity for the accusations to be independently examined.

This is also a perfect example of what New York Times editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal meant when he wrote last March that the US now has "what's essentially a separate justice system for Muslims". State punishment without charges and trials is now perfectly normal - for Muslims.

CAIR letter to FBI

Ltr to SAC Finch [1.29.13] by Glenn Greenwald