History and Geography point out striking affinity amongst the players in the global viewpoint of the American sponsored “War on Terror”, and the British PM Blair and the minority Liberal leadership in Canada.

Disinformation being the tool for political propaganda, the 37 neocons originators of the Iraqi WMD mythology, have added attraction of lies and deception to foster the generational conflict envisioned in the “War on Terror” - an explicit formula-based crusade to punish the Muslim people and destroy Islamic civilization across the globe.

Undoubtedly, Bush’s ephemeral judgment, unilateral “terror” will create more conflicts and favorable business opportunities for the administration’s Oil Cartel. Time may be different but means and methods show clear replica of the German Nazi’s thinking of safety and security measures implied during the Holocaust and killings of millions and millions of innocent human beings throughout Europe.

Time and history are not fixed, and the danger of costly miscalculation is more apparent from the war on Iraq that Canadian policy makers needed to be alert and responsible, if they blindly follow the American lead. Barbara Tuchman (The March of Folly), once traced out the recurring pursuits by governments of policies and practices contrary to their own public interests. American administration had few “Orange Alerts” as the necessary groundwork for the “War on Terror”, and to evolve favorable public mind setting for President Bush’s re-election, whereas, Canadian intelligence apparatus worked out the Project Awaken for societal discard and racial hatred.

In just two years, racism increased by 38 per cent as reported by CTV.ca (Dominion Institute: 03/2005), against Muslims and Arabs in Canada. Rudyard Griffiths (Executive Director, Dominion Institute), calls it a “horrible shame”, and points out that “Canada needs to work on being a more tolerant multicultural nation.” The Government denies it ever professed or propagated ethnic hatred as a policy aim. For sure, the mainstream mass media follows the official stance on terrorism myth.

Under the Anti-Terrorist legislation, Canadian Intelligence establishments seem to have a free hand to embark on concerted rampage to arrest and torture many Muslim and Arab families across the land. The data will support the meaning of officially sponsored Project Awaken in the years to come. But time, logic and history will question the framework of the “War on Terror” as a racist doctrine and unilateral plan of action aimed exclusively at terrorizing the Muslim people and nobody else. History shall judge the people and nations by their actions, not by their claims.

Experience at Gunpoint

In any set up, educated and intellectually proactive people are the precious mind of a progressive society. To disable the mind and to dump the body in junk piles, the Canadian Intelligence Police planned and targeted us for their war-like action. We have repeatedly asked the Canadian Minister of Safety and Security to provide us any reasonable legal evidence of wrongdoings to justify the armed attack at our residence and the arrest of my family members including my own while working overseas. “No comments” is the response, we got from the government. It was a “unilateral” plan of action representing the American strategy for the “War on Terror.” Its sole purpose was to cripple us from the society as unwanted digits and numbers. There is law to punish the innocent public but no workable law exists to hold the officials accountable for their violations of the laws. Even the Minister responsible would prefer an escape from the reality. There cannot be two distinct orders of truth. Truth is one and cannot be fragmented. For truth and justice, facts are considered to reach the conclusion. In complete contrast to the prevalent essence of truth and justice, the Canadian authorities appear to have used the end dogmas, not facts, to explain their perception of the manufactured fantasy. According to the CBC web site, on March 29, 2004, 60 plus agents of the Canadian intelligence police, FBI agents and British Secret Service agents raided the Khawaja family house in Orleans, looking for “bomb making” materials. Earlier, Momin Khawaja, 24 years old Computer Scientist, working on contract for the External Affairs Department, was arrested at his office. The masked police gunmen smashed the doors and damaged the property, and arrested my wife and 4 children at gunpoint. No search warrant were presented to the family like most disciplined and civilized police forces would do in the democratic world. The agents tied the hands of my daughter and son, and questioned them on religious and political issues, irrelevant to the allegations. The search turned out no evidence of any bomb-making materials or explosives as alleged by the authorities.

The Minister Was Kind to Offer “No Comments.”

In mid April, I approached the Canadian Minister of Safety and Security, Honorable Ms. Anne McLellan, and asked for a public apology, in case it was a mistake on the part of the government to attack my house, arrest of family and confiscation of the materials. Several written communication went unnoticed until my return to Canada at the end of summer 2004, and meeting with few of the parliamentarians. Further, I asked the Minister, why our house was bugged with listening devices, and why our names were being flagged in lists with the FBI and British police at international airports and elsewhere. I offered to meet the Minister, and explained that we had no record of any wrongdoings or criminal activity. Therefore, it made no sense to us as to why the intelligence authorities would do such a clear violation of the rights of the law-abiding citizens of Canada? Later on, I got few replies from the Minster offering “no comments” on the specific questions. However, I appreciate, at least, she did not get upset on my questioning. Those in power politics are always working under stress and fear of unknown, and are often insensitive to normal human THINKING and human behavior.

Police Raid or an Armed Robbery?

Like the violent tornado, they destroyed in minutes, what took us years to build - the human dignity, social well being and living together in a civilized community of educated people. The law enforcement agencies follow the laws written in books for the human society. Legal stipulations are composed of paper and dry ink, and have no mind, heart or other consideration of their own, but those who implement the laws, do. Our experience clearly shows that we were treated like the sub-human citizens living in 21st century Canada. The RCMP/CSIS armed raid was exact replicated action of the American troops behavior against the Iraqi civilians. But there was no war going on in Orleans (Canada), why did the RCMP/CSIS act like fighting in a war zone? Was this show of Armada force necessary to the public interest? Most of our immediate neighbors were outraged at the massive display of force, 60 plus RCMP armed squad, aiming loaded guns at the ordinary law-abiding citizens, just to implement the house search warrant for 24 hours. It defied the logic and necessity. Other voices of reason and concerns were loud and clear throughout the local neighborhood community.

At the time, I held an academic position in Arabia. The Canadian Government requested Saudi Arabia to arrest me and she helped me to become helpless, and portrayed the academic in strategic studies and Western-Islamic civilizations as an alleged “terrorist” and “bomb-maker” on global TV networks. The news media, particularly, the Citizens from Ottawa and the CBC network lied and falsified the facts on an on-going basis to gain the official credits. The fake imagery of my family and associating “terror” to the Islamic faith, was a blessing in disguise for the RCMP/CSIS to be seen as doing something useful in the public interest. Those who saw and heard it, must have believed in it. My professional integrity and lifelines were cut into pieces. The Canadian supplied document served as the working charge sheet. It took two weeks of unpleasant captivity to be freed again without charges. The Canadian Government denies it ever asked for my arrest. The available documentary evidence speaks its own language of truth. Does the Canadian Government ever lie? Eric Hoffer must have felt the same sensitivity:

“Those in possession of absolute power can not only prophesy and make their prophecies come true, but they can also lie and make their lies come true.”

To synthesize and support their first accusations of “bomb making” and later on of ”terrorism”, the police confiscated cash money from the room belonging to my elder son Qasim (Computer Scientist), electronics materials, computers; health card and passport for my daughter Sabeen, and for the two youngest sons, their school identity cards, watches, toys and passport; wife’s bank book, passport, plane ticket and numerous other items which make no logical connection to the accusations under discussion. With computers gone, my youngest sons lost one academic year as all their final exam preparations and materials were taken away. Could any law or court return the lost time to them? The physical and psychological dimensions of harm and cruelty cannot be described in words.

To Reason the Unreason

Recently, Chalmer Johnson (“Sorrows of Empire”), noted four sorrows, and the first one being: “ is the replacement of truth by propaganda, disinformation, and glorification of war, power and the military legions.” The mass media being in high gear for money making propaganda, disregards the facts of life only to pursue one-sided preconceived notion of dogmas, readily available from the stockpiles of North American and European intelligence police establishments alleging that Muslims are “terrorist” and Islam preaches animosity not peace. It is a political drama full of pretensions, fake stories and biased assumptions implied to portray a fantasy against Muslims and Islamic religion. British author and producer Adam Curtis (“The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear”, BBC documentary challenging the American version of ‘War on Terrorism’), pointed out clearly: “ international terrorism is a fantasy that has been exaggerated and distorted by politicians. It is a dark illusion that has spread unquestioned through governments around the world, the security services and the international media.”
In an age of knowledge, wisdom and human respect, we are the latest victims of this ‘dark illusion’; a political fraud intended to glue the Muslims to terrorism myth.

The American and British ruling elite has invested heavily to institutionalize animosity towards Muslims and Arabs. The new 21st century colonial masters view the humanity just in numbers and digits, not as living moral beings with rights and dignity.

Logic seeks truth and opinions cherish propaganda. The Intelligence agencies are keen to acquire some credibility to rationalize their actions. Most often, they influence the news media to describe Momin Khawaja as being indicted on specific charges. It is misleading and untrue. The truth is that only a court of law and a judge after the formal trial could indict any accused person if proven guilty. The rumor mill operated by the agencies is itself stands in desperate need of some public credibility to be assumed for a reference point. Momin’s case has not gone to the trail stage yet, and he has not been indicted by any court of law in Canada. It is another attempt of false propaganda to distort our image and disable us in the mainstream of Canadian society. While the Canadian intelligence agencies will adore the disinformation as a stimulus for progress towards investigative journalism, it could distort the image of a professional man and seriously harm the integrity of the law-abiding citizen who claims innocence and has no criminal background. The ultimate goal of the ‘war on terrorism’ remains intact that all the Muslims should be projected as terrorists, and should be disabled socially, making the masses to view them as crazy, uncivilized and undesirable people. Knowing well how the American and Canadian governments mistreated the people of Japanese and Italian ethnic origin during the 2nd World War, it is unthinkable that educated and open-minded Canadian people would ever favor such a preposterous policy aim of the neo-conservatives in America. Unlike the draconian age laws, Canada has a credible system of legal justice. Justice presupposes the existence of injustice. Given the trust, one hopes that justice will prevail over the false accusations of terrorism against Momin. Obviously, judges deliver justice based on tangible facts of human life, not on opinions dramatized in the media circus.

While in short terms, the American perpetuated ‘War on Terrorism’ helped President Bush to get re-elected and the neocons to become celebrity of ‘global terror’, its long terms objectives explore new and innovative conflicts, and strategies promote ‘dark illusions’ to distract the mankind from achieving peace and understanding; and to poison the source of judgments for justice, and to rob the humanity of its universal values, heritage and UNITY.

To all conscientious, educated and intelligent proactive human minds striving to save the ‘humanity from the scourge of war’, and searching for global peace and harmony, I should share my utmost concern and try to remind you of what Northrop (The Meeting of East and West), once observed:

“Ours is a paradoxical world. The achievements which are its glory threaten to destroy it… it would seem that more civilized we become, the more incapable of maintaining civilization we are.”

Mahboob A. Khawaja, Ph.D.

An academic specializes in Strategic Studies with special interests in Western-Islamic Civilizations, Change and Conflict Resolution. He has authored many publications including Muslims and the West: Quest for Change and Conflict Resolution, Maryland, USA, 2000, and a forthcoming book, Muslims and America: Search for Peace or Terrorism. E-mail: mahboobk@gmail.com

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