Gitmo force-feeding manual reveals gruesome practices
Last week the U.S. government submitted to the District Court in Washington, D.C., the most recent standard operating procedures (SOPs) for force-feeding in the Guantánamo Bay detention facility. What remains of the documents, after redactions, is a shameful exercise in doublespeak that attempts to disguise what is really happening in...
Some Chaldeans’ misconceptions about Muslims cannot be ignored
October 17th, 20140 Imam Sayyad Hassan Al Qazwini of Dearborn's Islamic Center of America shakes hands with Chaldean Bishop Ibrahim N. Ibrahim as Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako stands in the center.Being Chaldean and working as a reporter in Dearborn covering metro Detroit’s Arab and Muslim communities is not easy. It never has been. Over the years I...Political engagement is crucial this election season
This election season, statewide candidates have given special attention to the Arab American community. Gov. Rick Snyder visited the Arab American National Museum and spoke at several apolitical events hosted by community organizations, including the Arab American and Chaldean Council and ACCESS. His opponent, Mark Schauer, has held...Attention next attorney general: More justice wanted
Secret laws, secret courts, secret evidence, secret dragnet snooping, too big to fail, too big to jail… the Department of Justice (DOJ) has not been fully living up to its name.As Attorney General Eric Holder prepares to step down, it is time to look forward and ask what his replacement must bring to the table for our country. The...Bill Maher is a bigot
When HBO comedian Bill Maher brought professional anti-theist commentator Sam Harris to bash Islam on his show last weekend, there was no Muslim on the show to make the case for Islam. But actor and director Ben Affleck came to the defense of Muslims, not because of any connection he has to the religion, but because he saw the racism...Nolan Finley, Benjamin Netanyahu are of the same evil
On Sunday, the Detroit News published an article by Editorial Page Editor Nolan Finley titled, "Hamas, ISIS are of the same evil."Finley, whose hatred for Palestinians is no secret, hits a new low with this article. He bases his column on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent speech at the UN General Assembly. In his column,...What if ‘Islamic State’ Didn’t Exist?
What if the so-called "Islamic State" (IS) didn’t exist? In order to answer this question, one has to liberate the argument from its geopolitical and ideological confines. Flexible language Many in the media (Western, Arab, etc) use the reference “Islamist” to brand any movement at all whether it be political,...
Yemen should not slip into civil war
October 3rd, 20140 In 1985, the late publisher of the Lebanese daily Annahar wrote a book titled "A War of Others." The book’s premise was that the then-ongoing Lebanese civil war was a proxy conflict fought by regional and international powers through Lebanese factions and militias. Today, we are witnessing multiple wars of others unfolding...In Memoriam: Mustapha Al-Abed Hammoud : The loss of an extraordinary man
Hammoud, who hailed from the Lebanese village of Tebnine, never surrendered easily. He was an extraordinary man who lived a full life and excelled in every aspect and at all levels. Hammoud, the oldest son of a southern farmer, as he used to proudly describe his father, reached for the stars. He was fearless and stood head-to-head...Local community should stand with Rasmea Odeh
Palestinian American activist Rasmea Odeh was tortured and sexually abused in Israeli prisons 45 years ago. Now, the U.S. government wants to punish her for what she has endured. The Department of Justice is replicating the State Department's policies of persecuting and prosecuting the Palestinian victims in favor of Israeli...The U.S. intervention in Syria is not credible
The United States and its allies started a military campaign against "Islamic State" (Daesh) in Syria this week. President Obama vowed to build a coalition to "eventually destroy" the terrorist group.However, the United States did not bother to seek the United Nations' approval for the military operation.On the first night of U.S....Fighting ISIS: A coalition of uncertainty
One way to grasp the immense difficulty facing President Obama as he tries to forge an effective international coalition to oppose the Islamic State is to examine the difference between this effort and the last time the United States led a diverse group of countries to take on a conflict in the Middle East: Operation Desert Storm, in...Detroit police should stop intimidating gas station owners
Last week, Detroit Police Chief James Craig was supposed to meet gas station owners in the city to listen to their grievances. More than 65 gas station entrepreneurs gathered at the DoubleTree Hotel to tell the chief about the shortcomings of his force— from repeated ticketing for the same offense to neglect and delayed response....
On the 13th anniversary of 9/11, we are less safe
September 12th, 20140 On Sept. 11, 2001, more than 3,000 innocent people lost their lives when terrorists struck the United States. On the eve of Sept. 11, 2014, 13 years and two wars later, the president addressed the nation about combating yet another growing terrorist threat, one already targeting our citizens abroad and planning to reach our...Losing the plot: Israel’s premier to face new Gaza reality
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war-turned-genocide in Gaza has backfired badly - his strategy has helped resurrect Hamas, the very movement he tried desperately to crush.Aside from being a major military setback, Israel’s war on Gaza has also disoriented the policies of Netanyahu like never before. Since the......
Voices of sectarianism should be silenced
The Arab World is facing serious threats of further fragmentation. Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, as we know them, might no longer exist as unified states. The "Islamic State" is gaining a greater foothold in the Levant and enforcing a criminal order of literally slaughtering its foes. Meanwhile, Israel continues to "appropriate" (read: steal)...Winners and losers in Gaza: On victory and false victory
In the rush to analyze the outcome of Israel’s 51-day war in Gaza, dubbed Operation Protective Edge, some may have neglected an important factor: this was not a war by traditional definitions of warfare; thus the conventional analyses of victory and defeat is simply not applicable.That being the case, how can we explain Israeli Prime......
The influence of the Saudi lobby in Washington
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia speaks with President Obama.Usually one speaks comically of the Arab lobby in Washington, D.C.. Since the oil boom in the 1970s, various Arab-American businesspeople and crooks traveled to the Middle East offering their services to Gulf regimes and promising—in return for large sums of money—to launch...The real threat from the “Islamic State” is to Muslims, not the west
"I was like any other regular Canadian. I watched hockey, I went to the cottage in the summertime, I loved to fish, I wanted to go hunting… I was a regular person," said Abu Muslim in the last video he recorded before his death. And then came his pitch: "Everyone can contribute something to the Islamic State, as it is obligatory on...The federal government should help flood victims
"Unusual", "phenomenal", "unprecedented" and "extraordinary"— Dearborn Mayor Jack O'Reilly, Jr. used these words to describe the flood that devastated Metro Detroit on Aug. 11. However, thousands of flood-stricken Michiganders feel like they were left to face this stunning disaster on their own. The state and municipalities have...Time to strengthen the United Nations
Sometimes, amid the heated political debate about what should done by the U.S. government in world affairs, a proposal cuts through the TV babble of the supposed experts with a clear, useful suggestion.That proposal came on August 17, when Pope Francis told journalists how he thought the world should cope with the challenge posed by......
Honor journalist James Foley: Don’t watch the video
If the early reports are correct and journalist James Foley was, in fact, executed by the Islamic State, you can honor him -- and not play into the terroristic hands of that organization -- simply by not watching the video of his murder.Video voyeurism of the worst variety exists when we feast on the death of journalists who strive,...The Land of the Free is running out of freedom
Lesley McSpadden and Louis Head, the mother and stepfather of Michael Brown, on Aug. 9.Six bullets. Michael Brown, an unarmed young man, was shot six times by a police officer named Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Mo. Brown, 18, was Black. Wilson is White, as is the overwhelming majority of the police force in the town that is mostly African......
Hashtag Genocide: Gaza fought back
GAZA – My old family house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza was recently rebuilt by its new owner, into a beautiful three-story building with large windows adorned by red frames. In Israel’s most recent and deadliest war on Gaza, the house sustained significant damage. A large hole caused by Israeli missiles can be seen from...Local reaction to report smearing Dearborn fell short of its significance
Last week, The Intercept, an online news source, leaked a federal document that alleges Dearborn has the second highest number of "known or suspected terrorists" in the country. Within hours, it made headlines across the country and front page news in local media.The report was not only inaccurate, it was an insult to the city and the......