US Arabs feel squeezed by tighter security

In the past three weeks, the FBI has been calling in Arab-Americans and other Muslims to ask them about their travels and whom they might know.

"People are calling us and saying, 'The FBI wants to talk to me,' " says Laila al-Qatami, communications director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) in Washington. "We're not saying not to cooperate, just to know your rights."

The FBI's increased interest coincides with worries that terrorists will try to disrupt or influence this fall's presidential election, the first since Sept. 11. Arab-Americans, who have worked hard to develop a relationship with the FBI and other agencies, say the questioning is emblematic of their vulnerability.

Yesterday, for example, the University of Michigan released a new survey of the Arab-American and Chaldean population in the Detroit area that found 15 percent have had a "bad experience" since Sept. 11that they attribute to their ethnicity.

"Where there are domestic or international events, we feel the impact on our community," says Monica Tarazi of the ADC in New York.

The FBI's inquiries, even though low key, are something of a surprise to the community - which had formed an advisory council that meets with the FBI on a regular basis. "They didn't say it was going to happen," says Ms. Qatami.

This month, Attorney General John Ashcroft said the FBI would be conducting some interviews to see if it could identify any threats. An FBI spokeswoman, Donna Spiser, says those interviews are all "intelligence driven" - that is, there is some specific information to cause the interview to take place. "We're hoping to identify any kind of valid threat if there is one," says Ms. Spiser, a supervisor special agent.

But to the lawyers of some of those questioned, it seems like more like an FBI "fishing trip." James Hacking, a lawyer and Muslim activist in St. Louis, did pro bono representation for four Muslim Arab-Americans recently when they were interrogated by the FBI. One of the people questioned was born in the US to Iranian parents.

"The questions they asked him were about his family members - do they keep contact with people at the Iranian mission, do they give money to the Iranian mission or other Iranian organizations. This man had no idea," says Mr. Hacking.

The new questioning is indeed something of a setback for Arab-Americans, who have worked hard to become part of the political mainstream. Last month at the ADC annual convention, Teresa Heinz Kerry was a keynote speaker. Four years ago, Arab-Americans voted overwhelmingly for President Bush, who told them he opposed the use of "secret evidence" that could be used against defendants without even their lawyers aware of it. After the crackdowns of Sept. 11, however, the community became disillusioned, says Qatami" "People started flocking to Kerry."

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