by Akir Khan

We here at Muslims for American endorse and fully support the idea of President Musharraf of Pakistan to bring a Muslim peace Keeping Force into Iraq under the direction of the United Nations.

In November 2006, Muslims for America proposed a similar idea and we are pleased that other world Islamic leaders are supporting our plan of Muslim peacekeeping troops. Even though we are thankful for our American Soldiers putting their life on the line in Iraq and Afghanistan for the battle of freedom, we feel that to have a long term solution to the Middle East, we need the help of pro-American Muslim Nations to help battle the insurgents and bring stability to Iraq and Afghanistan. If Muslim nations do not become involved in the conflicts of Iraq and Afghanistan, then the religion of Islam will continue to weaken and the message of a peaceful religion with 1.2 billion people around the world will be replaced with a philosophy of deceit, brainwashing and falsely-justified suicide bombing. We continue to call on Muslim nations such as Pakistan, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, and others to lead this Muslim peacekeeping force so we can put an end to the religious factions engaging in a civil war and future genocide of the Iraqi and Afghani citizens who are trying to restore normalcy to their everyday lives.

By Seeme Hasan

It was a shock to me that my last visit to Pakistan was a scary one. I heard from more than one of my family members how individuals were being picked up by a secret police, or as it is known in Pakistan, the ISI (Pakistan Inter-Service-Intelligence). Some of the picked-up individuals have done nothing wrong, therefore they cannot be charged in a court of law. However, many were still taken to hidden jails and tortured. I was glad I lived in the USA. In the United States, the law enforcement has to produce a charge to arrest you. Then you have the legal right to defend your self in a court of law.

The Military Commissions Act, which was made into law in fall of 2006, clearly states, that the US government can declare a person to be an “enemy combatant” and arrest them without a charge, holding them indefinitely, without ever allowing access to an attorney or appear in front of a judge. Suspects cannot defend themselves and in most cases, may not even know what they had done wrong or are being accused of. The Congress, when it passed this law, made it clear that it would not be exercised over US citizens, however, people visiting here on legitimate visas and/or legal long term arrangements were not to be exempt.

Of course I am the first one to ask for all kinds of protections to safeguard us from terrorism. The terrorists are dangerous and we have to keep our eyes and ears wide open to look out for them. Yet, I don’t understand why, if we suspect someone of terrorism, we can’t charge him/her under our existing laws and give them the right to defend themselves. There is a possibility that someone may be innocent, after all, we do believe that one is innocent until proven guilty.

In the past we have said that if President George W. Bush were personally in charge of charging and arresting people, we would give him all kinds of latitude. We know he is honorable and all orders would be fair and just. But it would be overreaching to invest complete trust within every aspect of our country’s security system. Our security systems are not perfect and failure is an occurrence that can happen easily. Abu-Garib is a good example of this, a truly shameful chapter in our lives.

Therefore, we strongly disagree with the Military Commissions Act. We believe in the Constitution of the United States of America; that every man/woman has a right to defend him/herself. If we imprison people without producing a legitimate charge against them, then what is the difference between us and other dictatorial governments around the world?

We humbly ask our Congress to review this law and make appropriate changes to protect our Constitutional Rights and traditions. We are proud that Senator Salazar, Representatives Diana DeGette, Ed Perlmutter, and Mark Udall are co-sponsoring the Habeas Restoration Act of 2007, a bill that has been introduced in Congress to restore many civil rights taken away by the Military Commissions Act.

Muslims for America, therefore, is joining the ACLU to help bring this to the attention of the American Muslim community and participate in educating people on their civil rights and how to protect them.