Fri 19 Feb 2010
Rounded Up: Artificial Terrorists and Muslim Entrapment After 9/11
Posted by k under Civil Liberties , Katherine's Writing[4] Comments
A Review by Katherine Hughes
In a time and place where Muslims have learned it’s prudent to be silent, we should be especially grateful to Shamshad Ahmad for having the courage to write his book Rounded Up.
The book opens with a quote from the Prophet Muhammad, “The highest form of jihad is to speak the truth in the face of an unjust ruler,” and Ahmad’s book is the embodiment of this quote. Understated and powerful, with respect for fact, each page is testament to his belief that the truth can indeed set us free.
Rounded Up tells of an FBI instigated fake terrorist plot that not only terrorizes a whole community, but also sends two members of the Albany, New York, Muslim community to prison for 15 years each. Ahmad’s perspective is unique because of the many vantage points he occupies simultaneously as, Muslim, immigrant, U.S. citizen, mosque president, and professor of physics.
Government press conferences, political photo-ops, and news flashes about “terrorists” are juxtaposed with community disbelief and impotence to counter the effects of a frenzied media circus feeding on duplicity and omission. Initial feelings of impotence are ultimately overcome by two bold initiatives from a diverse Albany community that has come together through tragedy: the Muslim Solidarity Committee, which gives direct support to the two convicted men and their families, and Project SALAM (Support and Legal Advocacy for Muslims) which addresses the wider context of what is happening nation wide.
Not to be missed – and perhaps to be read first – are the appendices. Taking samples from government transcripts of sting tapes, Ahmad illustrates how lack of context, omission, and mistranslation contribute to distortions of reality that are then fed to an eager press in the “war on terror.” Thank you to Shamshad Ahmad for documenting this individual case of a cruel, tragic, scenario that is, unfortunately, being played out over and over again in cases across the country.
Katherine Hughes attended nearly every day of the 14- week trial of Muslim Dr. Rafil Dhafir. Dismayed by the injustice she witnessed, she has spent the last five years trying to educate the public about Dr. Dhafir’s case and the plight of Islamic charities in the U.S. She is currently working on a documentary about his case. www.dhafirtrial.net
February 19th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
katherine,
thanks for bringing this book to our notice. and thanks especially for the truth and jihad quote.
it reminds of words attributed to joseph goebbels: “…the truth is the greatest enemy of the state.”
ed
February 21st, 2010 at 12:05 am
Thanks from me too! The sting operation would have been ludicrous had it not convinced the juries and press. As it is, there is a sense of tragic inevitability about the book instead of farce. Shamshad Ahmad gives a brilliant account of cynical entrapment. His conflicts with Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain and efforts to save them from their lack of experience with the American system and the English language add to the heartbreak. In a just world, those setting up such stings would be the ones arrested. It boggles the mind that anyone with access to the sting tapes would think Aref and Hossain could be guilty of anything.
February 21st, 2010 at 8:07 am
An excellent review of an excellent book.
February 22nd, 2010 at 9:39 pm
Thanks Katherine, I can’t wait to read the book. The whole war on terrorism is so phony. We would have to be pretty stupid to believe any of it. This was done by the Nazis and the Fascists in the 30’s and 40’s to instill fear and hate for their own purposes. Now, it is the Zionists,the US and various toadies for the same reason. This time, “First they came for the Muslims.”