Anyone who knows Ghassan Ballut and Hatem Fariz also knows they cannot be the terrorists the Justice Department makes them out to be.
I know both men, two of four co-defendants in a trial touted as a showcase of the Bush administration’s “war on terrorism”, but that most Arab-Americans have known is a sham. Their co-defendants are Sameeh Hammouda and Sami Al-Arian.
The acquittal of the “Tampa Four” on all 51 indictments this week proves that you can’t twist international causes that are unrelated to the war against Al-Qaeda and turn them into proof of terrorist activity.
Ballut and Fariz are members of the National Arab-American Journalists Association, which I helped found back in the late 1990s. We have more than 145 members across the United States.
Palestinian Muslims, Ballut and Fariz lived here in Chicago, and they wore their politics on their sleeves, but in a respectful manner.
Both writers are “Islamists” in the positive sense. They believe strongly in their Islamic faith and they also believe just as strongly that Israel is guilty of committing injustices against the Palestinian people.
They often spoke harshly of Israel, maybe more harshly than myself and others, but they never at any time denounced, criticized or spoke in threatening ways against the United States, their adopted country.
And that is where the Justice Department continues to go wrong. Desperate to prove that they are effectively fighting the “war on terrorism,” President Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft have charged anyone who is Arab and has uttered harsh words about anything.
But the conflict against Israel and the attacks of Sept. 11 are not related, just as the war in Iraq has more to do with oil and Bush family vengeance than with protecting this nation from another terrorist assault.
Too many innocent people who have spoken out against Israel are either in jail or are being charged unfairly like Ballut and Fariz. That’s not to say there isn’t terrorism against Israel or that suicide bombings are justified. Suicide bombings are immoral and wrong. But criticizing Israel is not the same as supporting international terrorism.
There is also the case of Mohammad Salah, who lives in Chicago. Salah was arrested in Israel in 1992 and charged with supporting Hamas. He was forced to sign, under torture, a confession in Hebrew, a language he does not speak or read. He served five years in an Israeli jail where he claims the torture continued until he was released by Israel in 1997.
Salah and his attorneys were about to conclude a deal that would allow him, his wife and three children to live the rest of their lives here in the US when Sept. 11 happened. Ashcroft immediately turned to Salah as the “poster boy” of his misguided “war on terrorism.”
In the past four years, the US government has harassed, intimidated and persecuted Salah. The family lives in the basement of a small apartment, barely able to make ends meet, after all of their possessions and money were confiscated. Friends who want to help have been threatened with imprisonment too, for contributing to the defense of an alleged “terrorist”.
Like Ballut and Fariz, Salah often spoke harshly against Israel. But he never said a bad word against the United States, the American people nor did he ever say anything that would suggest he supported violence.
I do not know Al-Arian, though I have read some of his statements that have earned him the reputation of being a firebrand Islamist. Nor do I know Hammoudeh. But I do know Ballut and Fariz, and I was included on the defense witness list, prepared to testify on their behalf during the trial if called upon.
Clearly, Americans should be concerned by this jury’s verdict, and not concerned that four suspected terrorists are now free and may pursue further acts of violence.
No. We should be concerned that our government is ineffectively fighting the “war on terrorism.” We should be concerned that all the Bush administration lies, the distortions, the arrests of the innocent, the weakening of our constitutional rights under the Patriot Act have made this country more vulnerable to terrorist attack.
These politically motivated prosecutions intended to veil the Bush administration’s failure to fight the real “war on terrorism” are making this country less and less safe.
While we focus on the wrong front, the real terrorists, like Osama Bin Laden, remain at large plotting, planning and waiting for the moment to strike again.
The acquittal of the “Tampa Four” sends a loud and clear message that we need to change how we define the “war on terrorism” and re-examine what this country is really doing.
— Ray Hanania is an award winning Palestinian journalist and author. He can be reached at www.hanania.com.
