Maybe only one good thing came out of Ahmed Mohamed’s arrest in Irving TX, a suburb of Dallas. Because he was arrested, cuffed, detained and interrogated by police who claimed the clock he made to show his engineering teacher was a weapon, and later released to parents who didn’t cower, but protested his illegitimate detention, almost 4 million people have met Ahmed through this interview:
President Obama invited him to the White House, tweeted him, and joked about the incident. But the president has no standing to stand up for Ahmed’s rights, when he’s increasing the number of targeted killings in the Middle East, aimed at people who look and believe as Ahmed does.
Glenn Greenwald brings out the wider picture of the U.S. global “war on terror,” through direct strikes and cover actions — as well as support of regimes like Saudi Arabia and Israel — which work to enhance U.S. domination of the Middle East:
The U.S. government just formally renewed the “State of Emergency” it declared in the aftermath of 9/11 for the 14th time since that attack occurred, ensuring that the country remains in a state of permanent, endless war, subjected to powers that are still classified as “extraordinary” even though they have become entirely normalized. As a result of all of this, a minority group of close to 3 million people is routinely targeted with bigotry and legal persecution in the Home of the Free, while fear and hysteria reign supreme in the Land of the Brave.
Revolution newspaper also contrasted the acts of the United States with the pious comments of its president:
This is post 9/11 America, where if your family is from a certain country… If you’re Muslim… It doesn’t matter if you’re just a KID who’s interested in science. It doesn’t matter if you wear a NASA T-shirt to school and want to start a science club. The police will treat you like they consider you a “terrorist threat” and you will have NO rights.
No matter how much Obama and other voices in high places are now rushing to criticize how Ahmed was treated—this incident shines a light on the racist, anti-Muslim atmosphere promoted by the so-called “war on terror” and the illegitimacy of the police who consider a kid with a clock a dangerous suspect to be arrested and interrogated.
Debra Sweet is the Director of World Can’t Wait and can be reached at debrasweet at worldcantwait.net.