Abdul-Hakim Shabazz's brother is serving in the Air Force, leaving Shabazz of Springfield to advise him: "Keep your head down, and your mouth shut, and you'll be all right." But the FBI is to interrogate tens of thousands of Iraqis living in America -- 25,000 in San Diego alone -- under an order from the Justice Department, ostensibly in search of information that may help the military campaign and prevent Iraq-backed terrorism.
Imam Mustafa al-Qazwini said that many members of his mosque in Costa Mesa, California, had already been detained, including many who have become US citizens. "It's a bit ironic," he said, "that after escaping Hussein's tyranny, they travel thousands of miles away from Iraq to find refuge, and are approached by FBI agents to interrogate them."
In Pittsburgh, Omar Slater, president of the local Islamic council, was surprised to get a friendly call from the Feds asking for his co-operation in the scheme, and even more amazed to find himself sharing the FBI's podium at a press conference -- despite the fact that local businessman Dall Mohaged said: "We are being targeted as if violence was endemic in our community, but we have no power to stop the targeting, so we'd rather have a working relationship with law enforcement."
Demonstrations swept across America faster than the troops were able to move across the sand, with that in San Francisco the most dramatic in America since the Seattle riot of 2000.
More than 1,300 were arrested as the protesters halted the financial district, blocked bridges and 40 intersections, fought with the police and clashed with pro-war patriots
But smaller rallies spoke for larger numbers like that in Jackson, Mississippi, under the slogan "Support our Troops," and a thicket of American or Confederate flags.
But, said Victor Marshall, back in New York and come to pay his respects at "Ground Zero," where it all began: "It's very scary. I can't imagine what the people are feeling in Baghdad. Perhaps it's like what we felt here."
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