The FBI has stopped quizzing Arab-American immigrants about
potential election-season terrorism. But the fear and resentment
linger. "Why me?" said Matt Daghstani, a Westlake engineer interviewed
by the FBI in August. "I have no criminal background. Why would I know
more about terrorism than anybody else?" Daghstani, a Syrian native and
U.S. citizen, said the FBI agents explained only that "my name came
through." In May, according to Angela Albanna of Fairview Park, two
agents asked her husband, Taha, about sums of up to $4,000 wired to his
Jordanian homeland. In truth, Angela, an American native, said she had
wired the money to relatives of Taha, a legal U.S. resident. The agents
also wondered if anyone had asked Taha, a trucker, to ship illegal
goods. And "they asked if we knew anyone who didn't like Bush . . .
that we felt would be a threat against the president," said Angela.
Angela, an American-born Muslim and a secretary at Cleveland's Al-
Ihsan School of Excellence, said, "It's nerve-racking when you have the
FBI want to come visit you." The sweep ran in 100 cities, including
Cleveland, from May until the day after the presidential election. [more]
Palestinians called "FILTHY ANIMALS' on MSNBC'S "IMUS' Show [more]
Imus anchor on Palestinians: "Stinking animals. They ought to drop the bomb right there, kill 'em all right now" [more]
An American Milestone: MSNBC's Call to Genocide [more]
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