MER Article Civil Wrongs Within 24 hours of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Bush administration had announced the identities of the alleged perpetrators, all but one dead, and had largely reconstructed the plot as it understood it. In short order the administration put forth the notion that another such attack was immin Louise Cainkar • 13 min read
Current Analysis Torture and the Lawless “New Paradigm” The president who campaigned on a pledge to “restore honor and dignity to the White House” has now been compelled to declaim: “We abide by the law of the United States, and we do not torture.” In the closing months of 2005, President George W. Bush has been forced to repeat this undignified denial s Lisa Hajjar • 14 min read
Current Analysis Bush's Flawed Flypaper Theory Forget for a moment how shamelessly President George W. Bush tried to manipulate Americans’ emotions by invoking September 11 six times during his recent prime-time sales pitch for staying the course in Iraq. There is no need to recall the reports finding no connection between that day’s terrorist a Chris Toensing • 2 min read
Current Analysis Beating a Slow, Stubborn Retreat at Guantanamo Bay Just under a week after the collapse of the Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan, President George W. Bush issued Military Order 1 to establish principles for the “ detention, treatment and trial of certain non-citizens in the war against terrorism.” The order, promulgated on November 13, 2001, was the fir Charles Schmitz • 21 min read
Current Analysis Torture and the Future There is a popular belief that Western history constitutes a progressive move from more to less torture. Iron maidens and racks are now museum exhibits, crucifixions are sectarian iconography and scientific experimentation on twins is History Channel infotainment. This narrative of progress deftly b Lisa Hajjar • 24 min read
Current Analysis Targeting Muslims, at Ashcroft's Discretion On September 11, 2002, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), then part of the Department of Justice, began implementing a broad program of "special registration" for certain "non-immigrant aliens" resident in the United States to facilitate the "monitoring" of people so registered "in Louise Cainkar • 10 min read
MER Article The Post-September 11 Arab Wave in World Music Music from the Arab world has traditionally been a minor player within world music, the marketing category encompassing a wide variety of international music that emerged in the late 1980s. Aimed at an NPR listening “adult” audience, world music has a small market share of roughly 2-3 percent (compa Ted Swedenburg • 12 min read
MER Article A Part of US or Apart from US? Is the American public willing to accept suspended freedoms, if not for everyone, then for a select few disfavored groups, such as Muslims and Arab-Americans? Much press reporting has said yes, but a survey conducted directly after the September 11 attacks says no. Kathleen Moore • 8 min read
MER Article No Longer Invisible Unlike other ascribed and self-described "people of color" in the United States, Arabs are often hidden under the Caucasian label, if not forgotten altogether. But eleven months after September 11, 2001, the Arab-American is no longer invisible. Whether traveling, driving, working, walking through a Louise Cainkar • 16 min read
MER Article Arabs, Race and the Post-September 11 National Security State In the face of a post-September 11 wave of racially motivated attacks against people from the Middle East and South Asia, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced in a September 13, 2001 press release that "any threats of violence or discrimination against Arab or Muslim Americans or Salah Hassan • 14 min read
MER Article The US Media, Samuel Huntington and September 11 Paradigms do not have to be true to become accepted wisdom. Samuel Huntington’s “clash of civilizations” is a case in point. When in 1993 Huntington first presented his notion that future international politics would be based on cultural conflicts -- especially between Islam and the West -- most commentators Ervand Abrahamian • 7 min read
MER Article Financing Terrorism or Survival? Armed with a wide range of new legislative powers, in the months following September 11 the Bush administration stepped up action on the “second front” of its war on terrorism. The USA Patriot Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act provide Federal officials with the authority to freeze assets Khalid Mustafa Medani • 17 min read
