America.org was taken down three months ago. Anticipating the site going down after it became clear that James Ujaama would be indefinitely detained by the FBI, I took it upon myself at InterNation to save what I viewed as his most important pages. I have also included a link to his statement in the Seattle PI just before his arrest.
A Webmaster myself, I was impressed by Mr. Ujaama's Website long before he was arrested, mainly as it is professionally built - and fits the topic. (For the sake of comparison, visit the Website built to counter StopAmerica.Org, at
www.stopamerica.com, supposedly "run by patriots who love America.")
Further, I was impressed by Ujaama's universal statement of purpose:
We are doctors, lawyers, students, bus and taxi drivers, businessmen and women; We are Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Catholic; black, white, red, yellow and brown; African, American, Native American, Caribbean, Jamaican, Oriental, Asian and European; clergy, sheikhs, rabbis, pastors; construction workers, grocery store clerks, butlers and bakers, artists, fashion designers, male and female, poor, rich and middle class. We are people from all around the world, who look different, think differently, but who want to see peace, not America's New War.
At the time, he was speaking about the war in Afghanistan, but he might as well have been speaking about the new war with Iraq. Although no charges have been filed since Ujaama was detained on suspicions of terrorism, the government is widening its dragnet to many who dare to dissent. On the other hand, many (not only government agents) have asked pertinent questions, such as how Ujaama gained the moneys necessary to travel to London and Pakistan, or just what sort of "target practice" was going on at his so-called "jihad training camp" in Bly, Oregon. (
Read columnist Michelle Malkin's column).
A large problem is, that an inquisitive activist/journalist like Ujaama may very likely have spoken to people who knew people involved in al Qaeda. The red flag for both British and American authorities apparently went up when it was learned that he apparently worshipped under the militant Muslum cleric in London, Sheikh Hamza Al-Masri. Yet Al-Masri is a free man, and who is to say that worshipping in the Mosque where Al-Masri is teaching, makes one a terrorist? As to the charges that Ujaama was supplying al Qaeda operatives with labtops, so far, the public has not been given evidence of this, anymore than evidence that he was about to begin an Afghanistan style, terrorist training camp in Bly, Oregon.
A more serious problem than legitimate questions about Ujaama's travels and associations, is the reality of yet another American citizen arrested and detained without due process. Not only are his rights lost, but our right to know (i.e., a jury of his peers, allowed to view the evidence) is forfeited because as Ashcroft would have it, "we are at war." Yet it is in such times as war that our civil liberties are especially put to the test. I say it is time to Stop America not only from committing more atrocities abroad, but it is time to end the US government's uneven handed treatment of civil liberties of which I believe Ujaama now epitomizes.
Barely three weeks before he was arrested, Ujaama wrote:
Last year, Congress passed the USA Patriot Act, which allows the FBI and CIA unimaginable powers to wiretap phones, download computers, sneak into homes and imprison people who engage in speaking out against their government. These agencies have committed many crimes against foreign and American people, abusing their authority. And we are again allowing them to repeat history and unleash more crimes against innocent people.
Interestingly, to read his words, we learn that he is against war, whatever its form; and so it seems particularly odious that although he has not killed combatants or civilians, he faces life in prison as a 'terrorist,' or for having associated with terrorists. Possibly his most succinct comments to these accusations are found in the article by Candace Heckman for the Seattle PI,
James Ujaama speaks out against scrutiny.
The best way to understand the mind of Ujaama is to visit his Website. This is why - after a lot of thought, and quite a few people giving me caution - that I have placed it on InterNation. What is most clear to me is that his purported "association" with terrorists is little next to nothing in terms of the actual terrorism perpetrated by the "foreign policy makers" of the United States Government. -Tod Zankert, Editor InterNation