First it was the case of the "terrorists" plotting to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago. Now we have "terrorists" caught supposedly red handed by the feds plotting to blow up synagogues in NYC.
In each case the men are a collection of bumblers and sad sacks; men down on their luck, hardly the picture of dangerous and sophisticated terrorists carrying out jihad. In each case they are black men, appeared to have been easy targets of federal informants sent out to entrap men to save their own hide.
As always they prey on black men because they know this is the one group America will have no sympathy for, and the government can appear to be "fighting terrorism." My fear is that these cheap "victories" come at the expense of real investigations of terrorist plots in the works. My fear is that "terorist" is fast becoming the new n-word, with dire consequences.
"In Bronx Bomb Case, Missteps Caught on Tape"
"Salahuddin Mustafa Muhammad, the imam at the mosque where the authorities say the confidential informant first encountered the men, said none of the men were active in the mosque. An assistant imam, Hamin Rashada, said Mr. Cromitie and Mr. Payen occasionally attended services."
"Mr. Cromitie was there last June, and he met a stranger."
"He had no way of knowing that the stranger’s path to the mosque began in 2002, when he was arrested on federal charges of identity theft. He was sentenced to five years’ probation, and became a confidential informant for the F.B.I. He began showing up at the mosque in Newburgh around 2007, Mr. Muhammad said."
"The stranger’s behavior aroused the imam’s suspicions. He invited other worshipers to meals, and spoke of violence and jihad, so the imam said he steered clear of him."
Read the full story here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/22/nyregion... Also check out this link to get a profile of the men involved, the so-called "Newburgh Four:"
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/... The FBI apparently told the informant, if you want to get out from under your case, which had nothing to do with terror in the first place, go out and find me some "terrorists." They would have never said that to him had he been white, but because he was Pakistani, they assumed he would be able to find some terrorists since they believe terrorists are always arab, south asian or black, but never white. So of course he goes to a mosque and picks out the guys most vulnerable to being duped in a plot like this.
Several thoughts on this:
- Its interesting how they go after black "terrorists" using informants who plan the entire plots, and charge them with masterminding the plots by virture of them having said "yes" to what the informant suggests. I'm no lawyer and while in a technical sense that makes them legally culpable it is hardly the picture of terrorists plotting to do something.
- Yet, they don't go after the white supremacy and militia groups, who parade around in the wilderness with guns and have a record of not just threatening but carrying out violence against the government by targeting American citizens, in most cases non-white citizens. They're the ones who have demonstrated time and again the means and motives to do something serious, and in many cases have done it. Look at McVeigh and Nichols. Yet we go after blacks struggling with drug and personal issues, not because they exhibit the same propensities as these white groups do, but because they are vulnerable and suscepatable and a case can be made against them. So are they really about going after terror, or just racking up notches on the belt?
- Once again, we see any time America needs an easy target, for anything, they go after blacks. Not to say that these guys didn't go along with whatever they were led into, but its a pattern.
- The other day I was listening to a liberal talk show on Sirius and this guy calls in talking about plans to send Guantanamo terrorists to supermax. He's saying essentially that these guys are so dangerous that they cannot be sent to a supermax prison. He also says, erroneously, that because these guys aren't Americans they have no rights in the US system, which is not true. The host reminds him we already have terrorists in supermax -- Terry Nichols, Ted Kazinsky et al. The caller says, "they're not terrorists, they're Americans." He also said that McVeigh was "not a terrorist."
This statement is telling. The right sees a terrorist as someone who is non-white and foreign. Its become part of the racist lexicon for the right. If a white militia man blows up a building or kills some people, they sympathize with that person, but don't dare call him a terrorist. They call him part of the "patriot movement." They even present his gripes as being wrong but in a sympathetic light. But imagine the outcry that ensued if the FBI ever got the gumption to infiltrate a white militia group and planted someone to goad them into making a strike. It would be Branch Davidians all over again.
My question is, what are the racial implications of the war on terror as it is being practiced?
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Sunday, May 24th 2009 at 10:42AM
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