Keep Hope Alive!

I was recently called to task, and rightly so, for not being specific about failed DOJ cases, and few come to mind: Yaser Hamdi (I seem to recall that a US citizen cannot be coerced by the gov’t into giving up his citizenship, and it strikes me that’s what happened here…. Detroit Sleeper Cell Brandon Mayfield (2, 3) James Yee (2) (Yes, I know this isn’t a DOJ case, but I’m working to establish a larger pattern in the gov’t in general) Terrorism Cases That Weren’t (but it doesn’t mean they weren’t guilty of something) Lackawanna Six (2, 3) Portland Seven José Padilla’s case is still pending, but I don’t know how much traction the gov’t will get with him.

These thoughts were actually not my first on the London bombings today. However, they have recently come to me, and I want to document them. The delay in my posting was due to the fact that I was waiting to hear from/about friends and family in London. (shukrunlillah, everyone seems to be OK). It dawned on me, that as much as I talk about being Muslim and American, about the search for shared humanity, and today really brought home the point that even to me, subconsciously, there is a distinction – the internalization of being the “other?” – between a…