Song in the Head: Peace in our lifetime...Peace in our lifetime...Peace is our song, won't you sing along...Peace in our lifetime

In Season: Cherry blossoms, tulips, shorts


From the March 28, Oregonian
FBI agents interview 400 Iraqis in Oregon
MARK LARABEE

The FBI has interviewed about 400 Iraqis in Oregon since the war began as part of a national effort to gather intelligence about Saddam Hussein's military and government as well as information about potential terrorist plots. Charles Mathews, who heads the FBI in Oregon, said agents visited homes of people born in Iraq, told them the interviews were voluntary and asked questions about the situation in Iraq, including whether they knew people there who would be willing to talk to U.S. officials.
He said the interviews opened valuable lines of communication.
"In the day of satellites and cell phones, it's incredible the amount of information that can move when you know who to talk to," Mathews said. "I can't go into detail, but there was specific information that was important to the war effort -- information that we were providing in real time to our intelligence representatives in Iraq and to our military sources."
More than 5,000 interviews have occurred across the country and the FBI has said it plans to talk to about 11,000 Iraqis. News reports indicate about 30 people have been detained on immigration charges, although Mathews said no arrests were made in Oregon.
"Overwhelmingly, it was a positive experience," he said. "We were welcomed. I'm not saying that everybody greeted us with open arms and asked us to stay for dinner, but many of them did."
For many Iraqis, government agents knocking on the door is intimidating because it reminds them of the strong-arm tactics used by Saddam Hussein.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon is offering legal help to anyone being questioned. Executive Director David Fidanque said a handful of people have requested legal help. He criticized the FBI interviews as intrusive, saying they create mistrust and fear.
The Hate Free Zone Campaign of Washington also is urging people approached by the FBI to insist on having a lawyer present, saying agents were arriving unannounced at people's homes.
"They should call us before," said Muzafar Rasheed, an Iraqi Kurd who came to Portland in 1996 after being accused by the Iraqi government of high treason for working with a humanitarian group in Northern Iraq. "As a Kurd, we have spent all our lives under the threats of Saddam Hussein, so when they knock it's kind of a shock. It's scary. I told them that."
Yet Rasheed and others said the agents were professional and appreciative of the information they were given. They said the agents asked normal questions and were not intimidating.
"They didn't force me to answer," he said. "They said you are totally free to answer the questions or not. It was my pleasure."
Azad Mohammadi, a senior engineer with the Portland Water Bureau, is an Iranian Kurd who was born in Iraq. He said the FBI came to his home Monday.
"They said you don't have to talk to us if you don't wish to, but I invited them in," he said. Mohammadi said he gave the agents a history of the Kurds and his perspectives on current events and how they will influence the geopolitics of the region. The meeting last three hours, he said.
Iraqi culture revealed Mathews said agents learned a lot about Iraqi culture and will stay in contact with members of the local Iraqi community. He has been meeting with leaders of various religious and community groups about the interviews.
Shahriar Ahmed, president of the Bilal Mosque in Beaverton, said he thinks it's important for people in the Muslim and Middle Eastern communities to get over their paranoia that the U.S. government is out to get them.
"I personally don't think hunkering down is the way to go," he said. "We've hunkered down for the last 15 to 20 years, and we should have been more engaged."

Then, thanks to Tbogg..I was alerted to this frightening article from today's Oregonian:

FBI, Joint Terrorism agents search home in Hillsboro
03/21/03
MARK LARABEE and LES ZAITZ

A software designer was being held Thursday as a material witness in a terrorism investigation after FBI agents searched his Hillsboro home and his office at Intel.
According to neighbors and co-workers, Maher Mofeid Hawash, 38, was the target of Thursday's searches by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Hawash was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on Thursday afternoon and put on a "material witness hold" at the request......blah blah blah

WTF!!!! This is an outrage. There is a web page with more complete info http://www.freemikehawash.org/

This man is an American citizen, his basic constitutional rights have been exterminated by some out of line authority. I urge everyone to contact their state reps and senators. This is totally unaccaptable in our time, in our country. I can only offer conjecture on what happened like everyone else. It makes me wonder if this guy knew the 5 Muslims( a supposed terror cell) that were arrested last year. I believe they were from Hillsboro. Or did Mike attend a peace rally and was watched, did he say something anti-Bush? This just disgusts me.

I would like to acknowledge my nephew Jason B. He was deployed from Colorado two days ago to do his duty. All my love dude.....be safe.....

Finally...If Bush hasn't Screwed the World Enough..ther's this further blemish to our pox marked country.

From the aflcio.org site:

Bush Proposal Would End Overtime Pay for Millions of Workers

The Bush administration proposed new rules March 27 that would erode the 40-hour workweek and deny overtime pay protections to millions of workers. The proposed changes to Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regulations would affect a wide range of the more than 80 million workers protected by the FLSA.
FLSA’s current overtime rules protect workers from employers who do not now require workers to unreasonably long hours because they are required to pay overtime. The Bush rules could mean that many workers would face unpredictable work schedules because of an increased demand for extra hours for which employers would not have to pay time-and-half.

The Bush administration claims its proposal to raise the income ceiling for workers to automatically qualify for overtime pay would extend protection to some lower-income workers currently excluded. But most of these workers already are covered by overtime protections because of the nature of their jobs. In contrast, the Bush administration’s proposed changes in workers’ job definitions and duties that must be met to allow an employer to classify workers as “exempt” and thus ineligible for overtime would affect many more hundreds of thousands of workers.
Many working families depend on overtime pay to balance their checkbooks and pay bills—especially during the current economic recession

Depressed yet...?

Shrub is anything but Humanitarian

From the Church World Service regarding Iraq:

CWS depends heavily on contributions from private, public and ecumenically-based fundraising and has said it will not accept U.S. government funding for the initial emergency phase of the current Iraq conflict. Prior to the war, CWS stated deep concerns over the U.S. government’s “embedded humanitarian response” strategy announced for the early days of the war and what, from initial government information, was characterized as insufficient preparedness.

Alluding to the neutral position and trust traditionally held for humanitarian aid relief workers, Augsburger commented, “That control over reconstruction and humanitarian activities in Iraq has been placed with the Department of Defense flies in the face of humanitarian principles

Comapssionate Conservative my ASS!