Wednesday, August 25, 2004
Aljazeera.net recently interviewed Dr Muthana al-Dhari, editor-in-chief of al-Basaer newspaper and media officer of the Association of Muslim Scholars who was briefly imprisoned and interrogated by the US's occupying force. Here' s the best part:
What subjects did they bring up during the interrogation?
Basically, because the AMS have made efforts in the releasing of several captives in Iraq, they suspected that we have links with the captors, but the truth is that the AMS is highly respected and the only link between us and the them is our appeals in which we remind them of the principles of Islam which prohibits Muslims from harming people.
They also mentioned the names of prisoners in Abu Ghraib and wanted to know if I knew any of them. The interrogators were keen to find out anything about the Iraqi resistance.
They think because we are a revered Sunni Muslim organisation, we might have information about the so-called Sunni resistance, but the truth is the resistance is Iraqi not Sunni.
They asked me, why we hate them? I told them that we do not hate the American people, they are welcomed as tourists, traders…etc., but not as occupiers.
An interrogator blamed the Israeli-Arab conflict for the hostility between Arabs and Americans, and if Israel removes the settlements everything would be alright.
I did not agree with him, and reminded him of Jerusalem, and how it is occupied. I let him know that Muslims do not mind Jews and Christians living with them in Jerusalem, but they must ask for permission not come by force.
What was your conclusion?
I got the impression that US interrogators and CIA officers have not a clue about what they are doing. Their questions were shallow and indicated serious ignorance of the Iraqi scene.
I also noticed they are so keen to mock, ridicule, and insult us. Some of them are good people, and are very angry at George Bush, one of them told me if [Bush] loves Iraq so much, why does he not bring his family and live here?
But interestingly, some of [the US soldiers] are just thieves. They stole my agenda and wrist watch in front of my eyes.
