November 20, 2009

Who's Afraid of the 'Muslim Boogeyman'?

Posted by Fahiym Ratcliffe at 11:19AM

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If there were ever a week for VH1 to turn its weekly pop culture wrap-up, "Best Week Ever," on its head, the week of November 5 through November 13, 2009 will live in infamy.

As it appeared that Democrats and progressives in the United States Congress were on the verge of civil war over the Stupak health care amendment -- which bans public funding for abortions -- names like Nidal Malik Hassan, John Allen Muhammad and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed grabbed the American consciousness -- and not in a good way.

Ever since the tragic terror events of September 11, 2001, America has been on edge when it comes to terrorism and/or terrorist threats -- both foreign and domestic. Such edginess -- or to be more blunt, fear -- has so gripped the American psyche for the past eight years that we-the-public allowed former President George Bush to pass the Patriot Act, paving the path for our most private communications via telephone, email, etc. to be tapped, intercepted and recorded at will -- without a warrant.

In addition, our country also invaded another sovereign nation based on the rumored but never substantiated evidence that Iraq possessed "weapons of mass destruction." The culprit in both of these actions happened to be "radical Islamic extremism," which in turn put a negative face on Islam and Muslims living in the U.S., and Arabs and Indo-Pakistanis in particular. Though recent years have been less tenuous for Muslims than circa 2001-2004, Muslims were recently granted the "worst week ever."

When the shootings occurred at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas on November 5 -- allegedly carried out by U.S. Army psychiatrist, Major Nidal Malik Hassan, killing 13 people and wounding 30 others -- I cringed and was deeply saddened by the loss of life.

Though I briefly wondered if there were ever any extenuating circumstances i.e., U.S. foreign policy towards the Middle East, or the occupation of Iraq and the Afghanistan war, compelling enough to lead an individual to commit such inhumane crimes, I quickly resolved within myself that no actions -- political or otherwise -- could justify the taking of innocent human lives as a measure of retribution.

Think the tragic nature of this horrifying event was enough?

Try recounting those memories of terror for citizens of the Northern Virginia-D.C.-Maryland area that convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad after a murder-filled October 2002. Well, Mr. Muhammad was put to death by lethal injection on November 10, and his death sentence again raised the specter of a "militant Islam" waiting to overthrow America from within.

Last, but certainly not least, was the transfer of convicted, alleged "mastermind" of the September 11 terror attacks and top Al-Qaeda operative, Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, from Guantanamo Bay to New York City for a federal civilian trial on November 13. The transfer restarted the debate over whether captured foreign (terrorist) combatants should be tried in military tribunals or civilian courts. All of this activity occurred within a span of seven to eight days, dominating an American news cycle that could be seen as not especially friendly to Muslims.

It's not that these events should not be covered. On the contrary, they were too major to deny. However, the coverage seemed to dominate the public airwaves at a time when Democrats were losing ground (again) in the debate about the Health Care Reform bill in the House. But it was not just the turmoil over the Stupak amendment that was dimmed; It was also the heightened debate around President Barack Obama's impending decision on whether or not to add an additional 40,000 more American troops to the war effort in Afghanistan.

The depiction of the "Muslim boogeymen" -- Allen, Hassan and Mohammed -- could not have come at a worse time when the U.S. tries to delicately handle its foreign policy in the Islamic nation of Afghanistan.

I'm not saying there was some sort of conspiracy afoot to get the American people amped up to okay additional troop levels in Afghanistan by using the mugs of these Muslim men. Yet the timing does make one wonder. Like Muslims don't have enough suspicions, perception problems and theological mischaracterizations to deal with already.